Big South Fork/Tenntucky-TR

“Day one – 6.5 miles

After a long drive IndyRob, and myself arrived at Big South Fork about 2:30. We secured our permit, and then drove to the Leatherwood Trailhead. After crossing the wooden bridge at the start of our hike we were treated to constant views of the Cumberland River, and many streams, and waterfalls with large boulders thrown in. After hiking about 2 miles we came to Falls Branch Creek which reminded me a lot of the Smokies. Large mossy boulders with a good water flow coming down. After snapping a couple of pictures we hiked another mile to the hike up to the Angel Falls Overlook. Very nice overlook to which you’re probably looking down 2 to 300 feet, and are seeing nothing but trees, and the rocky outcroppings on the other side. We both commented,”What a great place it would be in the Fall to see all of the trees change color.” We then hiked on to the Grand Gap Loop, and camped under a rock overhang about halfway around the loop.

Day two- 13.5 miles

Hiked out the other side of Grand Gap to John Muir. Headed North for 4.5 miles until we found a nice stream to fill-up our water bottles. After taking a long break we backtracked to the Grand Gap Loop, and continued on almost back to Angel Falls. Rob spotted what we believe was an orange Salamandar on the trail. Very cool looking little guy. Hopefully, the pictures turn out. It started spitting rain a little, so we decided to make camp under another rock overhang.

Day three – 3 miles back to the car

Probably the most scenic miles of the trip. Lots of rocky areas, and creeks, and streams with large boulders in them. Cumberland River had a good flow in it. Making us wish we had also brought Kayaks. This was both of our first time to BSF, so it was great to hike some of it, and see all the diversity it offered. After we hiked out, and drove a little ways until we found a nice breakfast spot, and ate well.  Rob especially liked the fact that I put ketchup on my eggs. hehehe

All in all a very nice hike, and the rain held off until the drive home.

I will try to post some pictures sometime this week.”

“fyi, i was once ticketed by a ranger for camping under a rock overhang in daniel boone national forest, which i believe bsf is a part of.

i absolutely loved the honeycreek loop down there. the part you just hiked sounds totally cool too. i'll have to get back down to check it out. the bsf river would be a great float. there are lots of rapids and big, big boulders. i've also seen some choice campsites along the river.”

“Big South is park of the NPS and the part they were in is in TN, the DBNF is in KY. The KY portion of BSFNRRA was part of DBNF before its creation.

You must have been in Red River Gorge because camping in rockhouses is OK everywhere else.”

“oh, that's good to know. i thought the whole thing was part of dbnf.”

“Ducttape and Sticks,

I seen someone post about the Honeycreek loop. I'll definately have to go back in the Fall sometime for a longer hike. You can camp under the rock overhangs, but you can't have a campfire under the overhang.”