Gunpowder Creek is the most playful creek in Boone County and kids LOVE IT!!! The creek is broad and depending on weather, is generally very tame and accessible. This time of year is by far the best to visit with a plethora of wildflowers to enjoy - especially nearest the creek.
Read MoreThis is my favorite trail combination at Big Bone - and I’ve probably run a few hundred miles across these loops. Springtime is the ideal time for a visit to enjoy the many varieties of wildflowers lining the trails - especially near the creek. And, Big Bone is home to a small, beautiful herd of bison!
Read MoreBoone Cliffs State Nature Preserve was closed for a good while before re-opening with a new trail route. While the trail is unmarked, there are benches located about every quarter mile to show you the way. This is a great little hike with plentiful wildflowers and fungi under a mature forest.
Read MoreBy far, the most popular hike at Middle Creek Park is on Trail #1. At just short of 3 miles, the loop takes you from the bottomland forest along the creek to the hilltop and back while providing that deep woods feel. Along the way, you’ll pass one of the largest and oldest sycamores you’ll find in the area, and the park is home to an enormous variety of wildflowers.
Read MoreWith Boone Cliffs and Middle Creek Park busy, I headed over to Conservancy Park Belleview that only had a couple other visitors. This is a nice little park that was formerly a gravel pit. Through a lot of effort, the area is being restored with native grasses, wildflowers, and plenty of birds to see.
Read MoreFort Wright Nature Center is a 16-acre city park that is home to Moser Branch Double Falls. This is a short hike, but loaded with wildflowers and the double falls make for a serene spot to sit and enjoy a break from the daily grind. I did a quick out and back, but other trails are available to explore.
Read MoreOf all the seasons to hike local, Spring is by far the best! It’s wildflower season throughout Kentucky and this hike had plenty to admire. This trail is local to me - a short drive from home - and this is the best time of year to take a walk in the woods to simply enjoy the forest.
Read MoreThis was a fantastic hike featuring an arch and four waterfalls. I was a bit late after recent rains (more than 24 hours earlier), so these could certainly have more flow closer to rain - especially at Nellie’s Falls. Horseshoe Falls is amazing, but Joe Ponder Double Falls steals the show. With the double falls in the foreground, Upper Joe Ponder Falls can be seen in the background on lookers’ right. Simply amazing!
Read MoreThese arches are so close to the trail, but I’ve passed them by a number of times completely unaware of their existence. The Red is cool like that! Unicorn Arch is a gorgeous little arch that reminds me of a cartoon character that I can’t quite place. Osborne Bend Arch is a playful one not unlike Arch of Triumph. This is a short, sweet hike with a couple small, fun arches.
Read MoreHopewell Arch is the most beautiful arch I’ve seen so far in Red River Gorge. While I’ve published trail navigation before, I took some extra time to put together detailed directions for this out and back. The reason is simple - when hikers don’t have marked trails, a zoo of trails invariably forms. These zoos detract from the hiking experience, damage vegetation and habitat, and generally turn what could be a beautiful forest walk into a trashy network of dirt. So, please take care to follow the trail and download an offline copy of this post in Chrome by tapping the download button. Alternatively, print a copy of this page to .pdf and save it to your device before you reach the trailhead.
Read MoreShort on daylight, I opted to hike Horseshoe Falls as a quick out and back. The trails were in great shape, and the falls were running beautifully. While the pics give you an inkling to the totality of these falls, its far, far better in person when you can see the full view from top to bottom.
Read MoreThis hike had been on my list for a number of months - it was just a matter of timing. Whittleton Arch Falls is the coolest waterfall on marked trail in Red River Gorge. The catch, of course, is you have to be there at the right time. With saturated ground conditions, local flooding, and some heavy overnight rain, it was a perfect day for a visit!
Read MoreThis short hike is mostly easy hiking with a number of staircases leading to the fire tower that provides a gorgeous view of Cumberland River in the distance. It is on the national list of historic fire towers and is one of only a handful in the country with a full residence at the top. Access to the top deck is available at announced times when the park provides tours of the tower.
Read MoreThis was the perfect hike to enjoy some long-awaited snowfall and take full advantage of waterfall season! This loop features Vanover Falls and the snow-covered rhododendron really set off an unnamed waterfall we came across in the second half of the hike.
Read MoreThis was the last of four waterfalls we visited on this day. Though it was the least impressive, it was also a nice change of pace, as this felt extremely remote with deep leaf coverage on the trails and only one set of footprints were detectable at the cascade. That said, we had a lot of fun on this short loop - especially in crossing the streams by hopping rocks and balancing on downed trees.
Read MoreThis is a fantastic waterfall with a couple added bonuses. First, it’s handicap accessible with a nicely paved path and sturdy observation deck with a terrific view of the falls. Second, there is a small hole in the rock near the edge of the top of the falls that you can sit next to when the water is right. This is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long, long while.
Read MoreOf the four waterfalls we visited on this day, McCammon Branch Falls stood out as the most beautiful. I love the shape of these falls and while this is a very short hike, it had a rope assist on the descent to the lower falls to make it interesting.
Read MoreAnglin Falls is a must-visit waterfall! We thoroughly enjoyed the hike and ran into a couple secondary falls en route to the top. There was a nice mix of beauty, challenge, and exploration making for a great day in the forest.
Read MoreThis is a seemingly short hike at just over four miles, but it takes a good bit of time if you want to keep your feet dry-ish. Plan for a half day or more to explore this hike that is unmarked and has some challenging (sometimes extremely so) sections. The falls are beautiful and Hopewell Arch is among my favorites.
Read MoreWaterfalls are best in Winter and Spring before Summer’s heat and Fall’s dryness sap their flow. Bell Falls is a beautiful and short roadside hike that can be done as a pair of out and backs to upper and lower falls or as a loop. On this day, we chose a pair of out and backs to reduce erosion impacts on the user trail near the falls.
Read MoreFinding peace and happiness on the trails of Kentucky.
