Exploring the Daniel Boone National Forest

Daniel Boone:

Popularly pictured always wearing a coonskin cap Daniel Boone was born the sixth of eleven children on November 2, 1734 in Berks County Pennsylvania. Boone is best known as the Frontiersman Who Settled Kentucky, and as the “Founding Father of Westward Expansion”. Boone was also a pioneer, an explorer, an American Folk Hero, an American Revolutionary War military officer, a land surveyor, a lifelong hunter, the father of ten children, and served three terms in the Virginia General Assembly. Boone carved out the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, where he settled the village of Boonesborough, the first English speaking town in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and died from natural causes on September 26, 1820, at his son Nathan’s home on Femme Osage Creek in Missouri.

Counties:

Established in 1937 the Daniel Boone National Forest contains more than two million acres in the seventeen eastern Kentucky Counties of Wayne, with its seven National Register of Historic Places sites, including the Battle of Mill Springs Historic Areas, Clay that provides the biggest land area portion of the Forest, Owsley that possesses its famous Abraham Lincoln Rock Sculpture, McCreary that offers the Big South Fork Scenic Railway, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, and the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, but no incorporated cities, Estill with its Twin Cities of Ravenna and Irvine and its Mountain Mushroom Festival, Laurel and its eight National Register of Historic Places sites, including the Colonel Harland Sanders Cafe, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, Lee that is found in the Eastern Mountains Coal Fields region of the Commonwealth, Morgan that provides nine National Register of Historic Places sites, of which six are of archeological significance, Rowan with its twelve National Register of Historic Places sites, Powell and its Red River Gorge Geological Area and Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Jackson with its four National Register of Historic Places sites including three petroglyph locations, Menifee in the foothills of the Cumberland Plateau, Rockcastle with its popular scenic Rockcastle River cliffs, Whitley, the home of Cumberland Falls, known as the Niagara of the South, the tallest waterfall in Kentucky, Bath and its seven National Register of Historic Places sites, including the famous Confederate Monument in Owingsville, Pulaski and its forty National Register of Historic Places sites, and Wolfe that provides the Swift Silver Mine.

Cave Run Lake:

Found south of Morehead, in the Licking River valley, the approximately 8,270 acre Cave Run Lake provides a half-mile long dam, boating, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, camping, hiking, mountain biking, and famous Muskie fishing opportunities for visitors to enjoy, as well as the Zilpo Road Scenic Byway with its 355 acre Zilpo Recreation Area Park, 700 acre Twin Knobs Recreation Area, and Clear Creek Campground.

Laurel River Lake:

Located west of Corbin, and a very popular fishing, hiking, and scuba diving location, that is famous as one of the most scenic lakes in the United States, the approximately 6,000 acre Laurel River Lake possesses an earth and rock-filled dam, 206 miles of shoreline, and is one of the deepest lakes in Kentucky.

Buckhorn Lake:

Containing approximately 1,200 acres northwest of Hazard, in the foothills of the Cumberland Plateau, Buckhorn Lake provides picnicing, camping, boating, swimming, fishing, water skiing, trail hiking, and hunting opportunities, with easy access to the Buckhorn Lake Wildlife Management Area close by.

Red River Gorge Geological Area:

An approximately 29,000 acre National Natural Landmark, and part of the Pottsville Escarpment, the Red River Gorge Geological Area’s intricate canyon system provides several sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, natural bridges, rock shelters, cliff lines, the Natural Bridge State Resort Park, the nine hundred foot long Nada Tunnel, and more than one hundred sandstone arches. The Red River Gorge Geological Area is also a world famous rock climbing destination especially in the Military Wall, Left Flank, Courthouse Rock, Half Moon, Haystack Rock, and Motherlode Areas, as well as in the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve and in the Muir Valley.

Sheltowee Trace Trail:

Providing Daniel Boone’s adopted Shawnee Indian name meaning “Big Turtle” the 282 mile long backcountry Sheltowee Trace Trail travels through the Natural Bridge State Resort Park, the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, the Pickett State Park, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, the Daniel Boone National Forest, many wildlife management areas, past Cave Run Lake and past Laurel Lake.

Natural Bridge State Resort Park:

Located along the Middle Fork of the Red River, and one of Kentucky’s four original State Parks, the approximately 2,300 acre Natural Bridge State Resort Park protects a variety of rare animal species including Virginia Big Eared Bats. The Park possesses more than twenty miles of uneven terrain hiking trails leading to such scenic wonders as Henson’s Cave Arch, White’s Branch Arch, Fat Man Squeeze, Lovers Leap, Sand Gap, and Balanced Rock, and features Appalachian Square Dances and annual Herpetology Weekend, Kentucky Native Plant Society Wildflower Weekend, and Natural Arches Weekend events, however, its 78 foot long, 65 foot tall, natural sandstone arch remains its centerpiece attraction.

Yahoo Falls:

Standing 113 feet tall the historic Yahoo Falls is the tallest waterfall in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and provides picnicing, primitive camping, a scenic overlook, a one mile long hiking trail leading from the highway to the waterfall visitors can walk behind, and stairs down to its surrounding gorge that is full of many endangered plant species.

Cumberland Falls:

Known as the Niagara of the South, and the focal point of the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, the Cumberland Falls stand 68 feet high and are 125 feet wide. The Falls are also well known for their unique moonbows.

Clifty Wilderness:

Bisected by the Wild and Scenic Red River the approximately 13,000 acre Clifty Wilderness contains rugged cliffs, steep valleys, forested slopes, narrow streams, rock shelters, boulder-covered creeks, many sandstone arches, and about fifteen different varieties of rare plant species. The Wilderness also provides popular hunting, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, backpacking, and camping opportunities.

Beaver Creek Wilderness:

The Beaver Creek Wilderness contains approximately 4,700 acres of secluded hardwood forests within the Beaver Creek Wildlife Management Area that are almost entirely closed in by sandstone cliffs, many natural arches, rock shelters, flowering trees, the Bowman Ridge Trail, the Three Forks of the Beaver hiking trail, remnants of the early 1900s Bauer Coal Mining Settlement, and an extensive Black Bear population.

Sources:

This Article was compiled from several websites that provide much more information about the Daniel Boone National Forest including:

http://www.caverunlake.com
http://www.laurelriverlake.com
http://www.fw.ky.gov/pdf/buckhornlake.pdf
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/districts/cumberlandand/redriver_gorge.shtml
http://www.sheltoweetrace.com
http://www.stateparks.com/natural_bridge_powell.html
http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/yahoo.shtml
http://www.2geton.net/martin/moonbow/cumberlandfalls_ky.html
http://www.wilderness.net.index.cmf?fuse=NWPS58sec=wildView&WID=127
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/ky/trail_756php


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