Princess Falls Lick Creek Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail Big South Fork National Recreation Area Kentucky Visiting a falls for the first time is always exciting and Princess Falls near the Sheltowee Trace Trail in the Kentucky section of The Big South Fork didn't disappoint. Although the flow was only on the left side of what would be a 40 ft. wide waterfall on a rainy day the scene was still gorgeous. Interestingly, I hadn't realized that I had years before rode past the falls while riding shotgun on what is probably the wildest 4X4 excursion I'd ever been on. The old road is closed to vehicles now and the 1 1/2 mile hike isn't bad at all but it was kind of cool walking along and saying to each other, "Wow! We did that?!"
Princess Falls Lick Creek Big South Fork National Recreation Area Kentucky Back in December of 2012 myself and good friends Jason Haley and Chris Morris took a weekend trip to the Cumberland Falls/Lake area of Kentucky. One of our stops on our little trip was to Princess Falls in the Big South Fork National Recreation Area, a 12 or 13 ft tall 40 ft wide waterfall on Lick Creek. This was my first time to the falls, and I'll have to admit the 1.25 mile easy to moderate hike was more than worth it although I have to admit it took me a little while to really size up this falls and figure out how I was going to shoot it. This shot here is one of my favorites!
Unnamed Falls Pounder Branch Cane Creek Wildlife Area Kentucky You know, half the fun of hiking to Van Hook Falls really is the hike. Usually for me it's mostly about the payoff, but the section of the Sheltowee Tracel National Trail as it passes through the Cane Creek Wildlife Management Area from Kentucky 192 to Van Hook is one of the prettiest in Kentucky! When you start out on the trail you have no clue about what's ahead. It's drab and boring, but after you descend into the watershed things change quickly and you find yourself among a second growth hemlock forest as the trail follows and crosses, several times I might add, a tributary of Pounder Branch. You pass two falls along the tributary, both fairly small, but when it meets the main branch things change quickly as the creek begins to drop and drop and drop. Small creeks flow across the trail and then descend into Pounder Branch as the creek is now 100 ft. below to your right. Below you hear falling water. We counted at least 11 waterfalls along the trail. My good friend Chris Morris had been here before and spotted a place he had ascended from the gorge to the trail so down we went. For me it was a little dicey, I'm not a fan of heights but I pushed on anyway and made the scramble down to creek level. Goodness, what a payoff as this was the waterfall at the bottom. Although I'm sure there have been some, it was nice to know I was visiting a waterfall many had never been to and to make it even better with this much water on it. It was so peaceful there, with the sound of rushing water all around, towering hemlocks high above my head, and rhododendrons dancing across the high water, it was truly paradise.
