Cane Creek and VanHook Falls

Posted 11/28/10

Location: Cane Creek Wildlife Mgt. Area, in Laurel County Kentucky. Not far from the Bee Rock campground, by the Rockcastle River.

Directions to the trailhead:

• From Somerset: Head east on highway 192 until you reach the intersection with highway 1193. There is a small parking area near the intersection. The trail head is beside 192, at the intersection.
• From London, KY, head west on highway 192 until it intersects with 1193.

The trail is number 100, the Sheltowee Trace. This section of the Trace is only a small part of it, and the distance from the road to Cane Creek is 2 1/2 miles. I walked it once.

Another, shorter, way to get to Cane Creek is to walk out Forest Service Road 109. From the bridge over the Rockcastle river, at the Bee Rock Campground area, it is about two miles, going east, to FS road 109. This road is gated, with a pipe gate. The road is a good gravel road, and it goes back most of the way to Cane Creek. There is not much space to park by the gate, and it would not be good to block the gate. The FS personnel go back there some times.

It is about 1 1/2 miles to Cane Creek, where Pounder Branch joins it. The gravel road goes most of the way. From the end of the gravel, there is an old dirt road that goes through the woods a short distance, and then becomes just a trail which soon joins the official trail near Cane Creek. Not everybody wants to walk 2 1/2 miles to get to a place, plus the return walk, so this road can be a help to some people who are not so young and vigorous.

There is a short bridge over Pounder Branch, and then you come to this bridge over Cane Creek. The main trail comes near Pounder Branch about 2/3 rds of the way back, and then follows along it to Cane Creek.

This is a view of Cane Creek facing downstream, a little below the footbridge. CC is a trout stream.

This is a view from the footbridge facing upstream.

After crossing the bridge over Cane Creek, the trail passes along a rock wall. It isn't far to VanHook Falls.

After a little walk along the walls, you get a view of the falls. The trail goes on around and you come to a fork. The left fork goes down to the falls. The right fork, which is the main trail, goes up and you can continue along the Sheltowee Trace.

The falls trail goes down here, where you can get a good view of it. The water was running pretty good that day. Pretty neat place.

Lichen

| Central Contents |

| Home |