[Hide Comment] If anyone is planning to hike to Jewel Pinnacle hopefully this can help them with the approach. Park at Gladie visitor center, hike around the side of the visitor center and south across the field behind it toward the Red River. Once you cross the field and reach the tree line at the river there will be a nice path that's usually mowed and heads West and away from the visitor center. Walking this path, the Red River will be on your left and you're heading West. You'll reach the end of the mowed area and walk down the creek bank at the convergence of the Red River and Gladie Creek. Cross the Red River here. You can go straight across here as it's the most shallow spot right before Gladie Creek converges into Red River. Once you reach the rock/sand bar in the middle of Red River you'll be able to see a couple of distinct trails going up the bank. Take any one of the trails up the bank that you can easily reach from the sand bar. Now that you're on top of the bank on the south side of Red River, turn left and follow the trail that runs along the bank. Now you'll be heading back East (upstream) along Red River with it on your left side. Now begins the section of the hike where I hope this comment will help you. You will notice a lot of trails that branch off the trail running along the bank that head up the hill to the right toward Jewel Pinnacle. Some of these trails branching off may look promising and will be tempting to take and stop hiking along the river. Do not take the trails that lead up the hill yet, you'll likely regret it. As you're hiking along the river you'll go over and under a lot of fallen trees and the traill will get very faint in sections due to little traffic and heavy foliage in the summer. Stay on the trail following the bank until you are directly across from the field behind Gladie visitor center. You can see the field even in summer with full trees across the river. As soon as you are across from the far West end of the field where the mowed path that lead to the creek crossing began, look right, toward the hill. You'll notice the large boulder often described as a marker for the path leading uphill. Note, if you walked along the river until you reached a clearing where a power line crosses the river toward Gladie Visitor Center, you've walked too far. Follow the trail leading toward the boulder and continue left around the boulder following the trail up the hill. After rounding the boulder and continuing uphill the trail reaches a plateau area about halfway up the hill and starts meandering West along the plateau area. There used to be a defined trail that didn't meander along the plateau area and lead straight up from here that took you to the left side of the wall right at the start of Diamond In The Crack. It's kind of hard to find and follow as it's gotten grown up and isn't distinct anymore. If you want to be certain to not get lost, follow the trail along the plateau area halfway up the hill to the far West side of the ridge where you can see it will drop downhill again if continuing West. The trail turns and heads uphill. Pay close attention to the trail as there are a few turns, cross a log or two, hike a steep section and continue uphill to the North West corner of Jewel Pinnacle. Good luck! Sep 2, 2018

[Hide Comment] RE : You can scramble to the summit by hiking around the east (left) side to the southwestern aspect. You can also scramble off after climbing. Just be careful (ABOVE).

Can anyone describe the difficulty of the aforementioned scramble?
4th class unprotected climb?
Exposed?

Thanks! Jan 8, 2024

[Hide Comment] There are couple of 5th class mantle moves that are challenging to down climb on the top descent ramp. I rap the ramp to the notch. Follow the ridge, looking for a breakdown on the left. Use the breakdown chute to slide down to the ground. Walk left, back to the wall, to go around the corner back to the base of the climb. Oct 17, 2024

[Hide Comment] Can also get all the way to the ground in one rap, as long as the anchors don't get chopped. Seems a lot easier than trying to scramble off Oct 17, 2024

[Hide Comment] This place is worth the visit just for Diamond in the Crack. Getting there is a bit odd, and if you have one of the older Red River Gorge North Guide books, it talks about two approaches. One starts from the parking lot by the bridge right before the visitor center. I would avoid that one and just park at Gladie. Getting to Pinnacle is part of the fun, with the river crossing and very steep terrain on the approach. Jul 13, 2025