Thursday, 21 October 2004
Hiking at the Breaks State Park
Every fall my wife and I take a two day hiking trip to eastern Kentucky. Wealways spend the first day at the Breaks State Park on the KentuckyVirginia border. (Yes they do touch) The Breaks features a 1600foot deep gorge know as the "Grand Canyon of the South".
The park has camping, a lodge, picnic areas, and of course trails. Thepark's trails consist of an array of short (1-2 mile) trails. Fortunatelythey intertwine so trails can be combined to make a longer hike. Jen and Iuse the following hike and highly recommend it to others who are lookingto hike the Breaks.
We start the hike behind Shelter #2. This is the beginning of the LoopTrail. We take this trail until it intersects with the Tower Tunnel Trailand the Prospectors Trail. At this point we detour 200 yards down theTower Tunnel Trail to get our first panoramic view of the canyon. Themajor features are a towering rock and a train tunnel bearing into the mountain below. Afterwards, we retrace our steps back to the Prospectors Trail and take it. The Prospectors Trail follows underneath the cliffs of the canyon wall and have some nice rock formations. We follow the trail until it intersects with the River Trail. The River Trail slowly winds down the side of the canyon until you reach the river's edge. This is an amazingly peaceful place to stop and rest as the water rushes past.
At this point we continue on the River Trail until it dead ends into the Grassy Trail. The Grassy Trail follows the Grassy creek.During this part of the trip you can see a number of water falls providedby the creek. Soon this trail runs into Laurel Branch Trail. Laurel Branch trail follows the branch back up to the top of the canyon. All 1600 feet. This is not an easy climb. Near the top, we departed from Laurel Branch to take the Geographical Trail. This takes you past some really cool rockformations until it ends at the State Line Overlook. The State Line Overlook provides a view of the both the gorge and the Virginia-Kentucky border. From there, we take the Overlook Trail which follows the top of the canyon back to Shelter #2. This final trail provides more incredible views of the canyon.The amazing views, the rock formations, the waterfalls,and the sheer beautyof the forest around the trail as you travel down and out of the canyon make this the best hike in Kentucky. If you can make the hike in the fallwhen the leaves are turning, the trail becomes even more magnificent.
The only problem with the trail is that it is rocky in places so you willneed good boots for the hike. Other than that the trail is well marked andcleared of any major debris.
If you like to hike, then this is a trail that you shouldn't miss. Eventhough the hike is at times strenuous, I have to rate this as a five startrail. I don't know if I could find a better trail to hike.
