Tag Archives: hiking

Kentucky, Tennessee

Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area

February 22, 2023 Raven About The Parks 4 Comments

Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area

Kentucky, Tennessee

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Southern Region

170,310 acres

Website: https://landbetweenthelakes.us/

Overview

In western Kentucky, the U.S. Forest Service manages 106,458-acres as Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area (and not part of any National Forest). It gets its name from the narrow strip of land left after the damming of the Tennessee River to create Kentucky Lake and the Cumberland River to create Lake Barkley. The dams were constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, who managed this area for recreation until 1999. In 1991, this area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, but was withdrawn from the program by the Trump administration. On December 10, 2021, an EF-4 tornado hit the northern portion of the National Recreation Area and recovery is ongoing.

Highlights

Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway, Elk and Bison Prairie, Golden Pond Planetarium, Homeplace 1850’s Farm, Golden Pond Visitors Center

Must-Do Activity

In addition to the traditional watersports, Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area has several attractions found along the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway. These include developed areas (with fees) like the Golden Pond Visitor Center and Planetarium, Elk and Bison Prairie, Woodlands Nature Station, Turkey Bay Off-Highway Vehicle Area, and Homeplace 1850’s Farm (across the border in Tennessee). The roadside pullout for the Great Western Furnace is worth a stop to check out the 1854 charcoal furnace used to create pig-iron.

Best Trail

The North-South Trail runs 59 miles from Kentucky’s Nickell Branch Backcountry Area to Tennessee’s Devils Backbone State Natural Area (near where Civil War-era Fort Henry was submerged beneath Kentucky Lake).

Instagram-worthy Photo

Starting in the 1970s, the Tennessee Valley Authority conducted prescribed burns and reseeded to expand patches of native grasses on 700 acres that became the Elk and Bison Prairie (that officially opened in 1996). There is also a South Bison Range along the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway in Tennessee.

Peak Season

Summer

Fees

It is free to drive through Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area and park at many trailheads, but most attractions require an admission fee.

Road Conditions

Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway is paved (as is the 3.5-mile loop in the Elk and Bison Prairie) and the gravel roads are well maintained.

Camping

There are several lakeside campgrounds, including Wrangler’s Campground with horse stalls. For those interested in backpacking, there are multiple free backcountry areas to explore, including the Devils Backbone State Natural Area where we camped. The unique Annual Backcountry Camping Permit only costs $30 per person (three-day permits $7).

Related Sites

Fort Donelson National Battlefield (Kentucky-Tennessee)

Big South Fork National Recreation Area (Kentucky-Tennessee)

Daniel Boone National Forest (Kentucky)

Nearest National Park

Mammoth Cave

Explore More – Where were the elk reintroduced from into the Elk and Bison Prairie?

Kentucky

Daniel Boone National Forest

February 15, 2023 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Daniel Boone National Forest

Kentucky

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Southern Region

2,047,092 acres (706,680 federal/ 1,340,412 other)

Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/dbnf/

Overview

Daniel Boone National Forest is spread across the Cumberland Plateau in Kentucky, covering more than two-million acres when including private land and the 145,839-acre Redbird Purchase Unit. The National Forest also surrounds three popular State Parks: Buckhorn Lake, Cumberland Falls, and Natural Bridge. The latter is adjacent to the spectacular Red River Gorge Geological Area, which is a major reason Daniel Boone National Forest sees more than one-million visitors annually. The forest has nearly 100 developed recreation areas and 600 miles of trails, plus several historic sites like Clear Creek Iron Furnace, Nada Railroad Tunnel, and Camp Wildcat (site of the first Civil War engagement of regular troops in Kentucky).

Highlights

Zilpo Scenic Byway, Red River Gorge Geological Area, Nada Tunnel, Cave Run Lake Recreation Area, Lick Creek Falls, Clear Creek Iron Furnace, Camp Wildcat, Laurel River Lake Recreation Area, Chimney Top Rock, Chestnut Knob, Yahoo Arch, Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail

Must-Do Activity

In the rolling hills of the Cumberland Plateau, Red River Gorge Geological Area is full of enough sandstone arches to keep you busy exploring for days. Although 91-foot long Koger Arch was closed during our visit, we enjoyed short hikes to 75-foot Sky Bridge and 32-foot Princess Arch. Rock Bridge Trail is a 1.3-mile loop that passes the sole natural bridge in the area with water flowing through it, and the only one formed by a waterfall cutting through the sandstone.

Best Trail

The 282-mile-long Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail runs from Tennessee north into the southern end of Daniel Boone National Forest and Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (where a camping permit is required by the National Park Service). The trail marked by white turtle blazes passes through Alum Ford primitive campground on the Big South Fork of the Columbia River. From Yahoo Falls Scenic Area, a short jaunt takes hikers to 113-foot-tall Yahoo Falls, which you can walk behind. Yahoo Arch (17 feet tall) is accessible further up that two-mile section of trail or from a separate Forest Service trailhead on KY700, as is Markers Arch on a separate half-mile spur.

Watchable Wildlife

Major mammals found in Daniel Boone National Forest include black bear, coyote, bobcat, red fox, gray fox, mink, white-tailed deer, gray squirrel, muskrat, opossum, raccoon, cottontail rabbit, woodchuck, and three species of bat. Wild turkey, northern bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse, red-cockaded woodpecker, and bald eagle are some of the 194 bird species identified. Copperheads and timber rattlesnakes are two types of venomous snakes found here. Lakes and streams have rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill, crappie, and muskie.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Kentucky is riddled with caves—from the manmade Louisville Mega Cavern to Mammoth Cave National Park. Daniel Boone National Forest has an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 limestone caves, in addition to small overhangs in the sandstone of Red River Gorge Geological Area.

Peak Season

Summer

Fees

There is not a day use fee to park, hike, or picnic in Red River Gorge Geological Area (unless you park overnight).

Road Conditions

Most of the trailheads in Red River Gorge Geological Area are accessed by well-marked and well-maintained dirt roads.

Camping

South of Interstate 64, Cave Run Lake stretches across 8,270 acres in northeastern Kentucky where we spent the night at a Forest Service campground on a cross-country roadtrip in 2007. There are campgrounds in Red River Gorge Geological Area, where backpacking in the Clifty Wilderness only costs $5 per day per car for a permit.

Wilderness Areas

Beaver Creek Wilderness

Clifty Wilderness

Related Sites

Big South Fork National Recreation Area (Kentucky-Tennessee)

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park (Kentucky -Tennessee-Virginia)

Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area (Kentucky-Tennessee)

Nearest National Park

Mammoth Cave

Conifer Tree Species

eastern hemlock, loblolly pine, Virginia pine, pitch pine, shortleaf pine

Flowering Tree Species

chestnut oak, scarlet oak, black oak, northern red oak, white oak, rock chestnut oak, tulip-poplar, American beech, mockernut hickory, bitternut hickory, pignut hickory, black gum, white ash, sassafras, mountain laurel, basswood, red mulberry, witch hazel, sugar maple, red maple, sourwood, cucumber magnolia, bigleaf magnolia, flowering dogwood, serviceberry, pawpaw, river birch, sycamore, silver maple, black willow, sweetgum, devil’s walkingtick, white rhododendron, Cumberland azalea

Explore More – In what year did the frontiersman Daniel Boone fight in the Battle of Blue Licks during the American Revolution?

Learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests in our new guidebook Out in the Woods

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Kentucky

Camp Nelson National Monument

February 8, 2023 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Camp Nelson National Monument

Kentucky

Managed by National Park Service

Established 2018

525 acres

Website: nps.gov/cane

Overview

Camp Nelson National Monument occupies 525 acres where a Civil War fort was located 20 miles south of Lexington. During the war, Kentucky was technically a Union state so the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did not apply to the state’s slaves. Many local slaves were impressed by the U.S. Army to build the camp and their owners were compensated for the work. In May 1864, when freedom was offered to any black man to join the United States Colored Troops, thousands of escaped slaves brought their families (who were not granted freedom) to this supply depot, which led to numerous conflicts between refugees and Army officials.

Highlights

Museum, film, Oliver Perry House, barracks, Fort Putnam, Fort Jones, Home for Colored Refugees Site

Must-Do Activity

Unlike many new National Monuments, this one was already developed as the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park so it has a historical museum, hiking trails, and interpretive film (that made our Top 10 list for NPS films). The Oliver Perry House is the only original structure on site, although a barracks building and the earthworks of Fort Putnam have been reconstructed. A living history weekend is typically held during the summer in the park, which is adjacent to Camp Nelson National Cemetery (see photos below) where hundreds of Civil War soldiers are buried.

Best Trail

There are four miles of trails in Fort Nelson National Monument with numerous interpretive signs and flags placed to identify the former locations of the bakery, prison, stables, Quartermaster Office, and other structures. The Fort Jones/Overlook Trail accesses extensive stone revetment walls that provided defenses for the eastern side of Camp Nelson. There is little shade in this grassy landscape, so come prepared on hot summer afternoons.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Built in 1846, the Oliver Perry House (also called the White House) is the only remaining original structure on site, which served as officers’ quarters.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/cane/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

There is no campground on site, but there are some nice ones found throughout the Kentucky state parks system and Daniel Boone National Forest (where we recommend Cave Run Lake).

Related Sites

Daniel Boone National Forest (Kentucky)

Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument (Kentucky)

Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)

Explore More – When was Army policy changed at Camp Nelson to allow the families of United States Colored Troops to have a mess hall, school, and housing?

Montana, South Dakota

Custer National Forest

January 25, 2023 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Custer National Forest

Montana, South Dakota

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region

1,278,749 acres (1,188,130 federal/ 90,619 other)

Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/custergallatin

Overview

Custer National Forest is split across multiple units from the Absaroka Mountains in southern Montana east to five isolated patches in the northwest corner of South Dakota. It ranges in elevation from dry prairies to glaciated summits, including the highest point in Montana (12,807-foot Granite Peak). In eastern Montana, Capitol Rock is a sandstone and white clay formation that looks like a capitol dome from the east. In South Dakota, the National Forest also encompasses The Castles National Natural Landmark. Since 2014, Custer and Gallatin National Forests have been managed together as Custer-Gallatin National Forest.

Highlights

Beartooth All-American Road, Rock Creek Vista, Hellroaring Plateau, Granite Peak, East Rosebud Lake, Impasse Falls, Crooked Creek Canyon, Big Ice Cave, Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range, Lost Water Canyon, Cook Mountains, Tongue River Breaks, Poker Jim Lookout, Chalk Buttes, Capitol Rock, Slim Buttes, The Castles, Glacier Lake, Basin Creek National Recreation Trail, Basin Lakes Trail

Must-Do Activity

Custer National Forest is most famous for its stretch of Highway 212 (Beartooth All-American Road) that climbs switchbacks from the prairie around Red Lodge, Montana up to 10,947 feet at Beartooth Pass across the Wyoming border in Shoshone National Forest. These two National Forests also share with Gallatin National Forest the giant 943,626-acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, which contains 12,807-foot Granite Peak. Backpackers come from around the world to this Wilderness in the summer because its trailheads start at such high elevations that it does not require much climbing to reach scenic alpine lakes.

Best Trail

There are more than 1,500 miles of hiking trails in Custer National Forest, mostly concentrated in the western mountains. From the Glacier Lake Trailhead (high-clearance vehicle required), the two-mile Glacier Lake Trail steadily climbs 1,100 feet then drops into a bowl containing a stunning reservoir that straddles the Wyoming-Montana state border. You can turn around here at 9,691 feet in elevation or continue around the north side of the lake up to Goat and Sheep Lakes. We backpack camped at Glacier Lake for one night during Labor Day weekend and had the place to ourselves.

Watchable Wildlife

In addition to the raptors typical of western National Forests, merlins (a type of small falcon) are more common here than anywhere else in the country. Mammalian predators include grizzly bears, black bears, gray wolves, coyotes, red foxes, pine martens, mountain lions, and bobcats. Ungulates found here are pronghorns, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk, and bison (on private ranches).

Instagram-worthy Photo

During our backpacking trip, the Glacier Lake reservoir was especially scenic during the jaw-dropping twilight hours when the mountains were drenched in alpenglow.

Peak Season

Summer

Fees

None

Road Conditions

The paved Beartooth All-American Road (Highway 212) is typically open only June to October due to snow. At the bottom of the “Beartooth Switchbacks” on Highway 212 in southern Montana is Main Fork Rock Creek Road, a rough dirt road that follows the shallow creek past campgrounds and dispersed campsites back to Glacier Lake Trailhead. A high-clearance vehicle or an ATV is required if you want to drive the entire eight miles. Many recreationists bring the latter to tackle the nearby road that steeply ascends to the top of 11,000-foot-high Hellroaring Plateau.

Camping

There are more than 30 campgrounds in Custer National Forest, as well as numerous dispersed camping options (especially on roads west of Red Lodge, Montana).

Wilderness Areas

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (also in Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests)

Related Sites

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (Montana-Wyoming)

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (Montana)

Beaverhead National Forest (Montana)

Nearest National Park

Yellowstone

Conifer Tree Species

Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, limber pine, whitebark pine, Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, Rocky Mountain juniper

Flowering Tree Species

eastern cottonwood, quaking aspen, water birch, Rocky Mountain maple, boxelder, Bebb willow, blue elderberry, choke cherry, white alder, curlleaf mountain-mahogany, sagebrush

Explore More – Found on the side of Granite Peak, how did Grasshopper Glacier get its name?

Learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests in our new guidebook Out in the Woods

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North Carolina

Croatan National Forest

January 18, 2023 Raven About The Parks 4 Comments

Croatan National Forest

North Carolina

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Southern Region

308,234 acres (159,885 federal/ 148,349 other)

Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfsnc

Overview

The sandy soil of North Carolina’s coastal plain is where you will find Croatan National Forest, the land of the longleaf pine (which is the official state tree). Longleaf pines are adapted to frequent surface fires by going through a “grass stage” when young, so the Forest Service conducts controlled burns in some stands. Much of the National Forest has standing water (in pocosins and Carolina bays), which is why there is not a single trail through its 31,000 acres of designated Wilderness areas. Pocosins are raised bogs and home to 11 species of carnivorous plants, including the federally-protected Venus flytrap. A Carolina bay is one of many oval-shaped depressions typically filled with water that are oriented in a northwest-southeast direction across the coastal plain. They range in size from small ponds to two miles in diameter, but the exact cause of their formation is unknown.

Highlights

Cedar Point Tideland National Recreation Trail, Flanner Beach, Fishers Landing, Brice Creek canoe trail, Black Swamp OHV Trail, Island Creek Trail, Patsy Pond Nature Trail, Cedar Point Tideland National Recreation Trail, Neusiok Trail

Must-Do Activity

To find some of the 11 species of carnivorous plants in Croatan National Forest, you will have to work a little bit. Pull off one of the highways that bisect the area and hike to the edge of a pocosin, where scrubby vegetation grows in highly-acidic black soil. Pitcher plants, bladderworts, sundews, and Venus flytraps utilize different methods to capture insects and spiders in order to sap their nitrogen and other nutrients that are scarce in the water-logged soil. To trigger a tiny Venus flytrap to close, an insect must touch one hair twice or multiple hairs within 20 seconds. They are often found adjacent to larger pitcher plants, which lure insects inside by color or odor, then are too slick-walled to escape. Sundews and the butterwort utilize a sticky substance to capture their prey. The five species of bladderworts float in shallow water where they capture swimming prey that trigger a trap door.

Best Trail

The Cedar Point Tideland National Recreation Trail is a 1.4-mile loop located partially on a boardwalk near the mouth of the White Oak River. There are also two long trails through the swamps and pine forests: Neusiok Trail (21 miles) and Weetock Trail (14 miles). There are no designated trails through Croatan National Forest’s 31,000 acres of designated Wilderness areas.

Watchable Wildlife

Black bears in this region can get very big since they generally do not hibernate in the winter. Other large mammals found are bobcats, raccoons, river otters, and muskrats. Great blue herons, snowy egrets, ospreys, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, wild turkeys, woodcocks, and northern bobwhite quail are major bird species. There are a variety of reptiles and amphibians, including alligators, anoles, cottonmouths, copperheads, canebrake rattlesnakes, pigmy rattlesnakes, and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. The tannic-stained blackwater supports fish like warmouth, redfin pickerel, sunfish, bowfin, yellow bullhead catfish, and the rare swampfish (a species of cavefish).

Instagram-worthy Photo

Carnivorous pitcher plants have large showy flowers that bloom in early May.

Peak Season

Spring and fall

Fees

None

Road Conditions

The major highways (17, 58, 70) that cross the National Forest are paved, and the sandy, unpaved roads are generally in good shape except when flooded.

Camping

There are Forest Service campgrounds at Flanner Beach on the Neuse River and Cedar Point along the White Oak River.

Wilderness Areas

Catfish Lake South Wilderness

Pocosin Wilderness

Pond Pine Wilderness

Sheep Ridge Wilderness

Related Sites

Cape Lookout National Seashore (North Carolina)

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (North Carolina)

Moores Creek National Battlefield (North Carolina)

Nearest National Park

Congaree

Conifer Tree Species

baldcypress, longleaf pine, loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, pond pine, eastern redcedar, Atlantic white-cedar

Flowering Tree Species

black gum, umbrella magnolia, southern magnolia, northern red oak, southern red oak, white oak, water oak, chestnut oak, overcup oak, black cherry, sassafras, American holly, yaupon holly, Hercules’ club, sweetgum, red maple, sugar maple, white alder, witch hazel, American beech, black walnut, tulip-poplar, hophornbeam, musclewood, red mulberry, flowering dogwood, loblolly bay, red bay, sweet bay magnolia, titi

Explore More – What is the origin of the National Forest’s name and how does it relate to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site?

Learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests in our new guidebook Out in the Woods

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area

Daniel Boone National Forest

Camp Nelson National Monument

Custer National Forest

Croatan National Forest

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