Cross posted from The Chainring Report:
I grew up in Eastern Kentucky but I'm still fascinated with place names I come across on maps and road signs. There's a Wheel Rim and a Wheel Wright. Both seem to hearken back to a time before motor vehicles. There are places like Vortex, Flat Mary, and Hell for Certain Creek. Parch Corn Creek and Wolfpen seem to hint at stories long forgotten.
I grew up in Eastern Kentucky but I'm still fascinated with place names I come across on maps and road signs. There's a Wheel Rim and a Wheel Wright. Both seem to hearken back to a time before motor vehicles. There are places like Vortex, Flat Mary, and Hell for Certain Creek. Parch Corn Creek and Wolfpen seem to hint at stories long forgotten.
I like sharing my explorations because I feel like it is a way for the outside world to experience this rich landscape of human storytelling. And when I can I like for my adventures to necessarily follow story threads across the terrain.
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| Ramblin' around Lee County |
Recently it came to my attention that there's a viable connection between KY 11 near Zoe and the road up Hell Creek to the Miller Fork Recreational Preserve. That connection is proximate to the eastern terminus of Caves Fork Road which allows access into the Big Sinking Creek drainage. Without having to consult a map I realized a pretty cool, mostly dirt bicycle ride would be possible, and I wanted to check it out.
While I was familiar with the entire ride except the unnamed gravel road around the landfill and down into Hell Creek I had not ridden or even considered that as a loop until recently when the unnamed connection was brought to my attention. If you know me well at all you’ll know the untested knowledge was eating away at the inside of my brain, and I had to get out on the ground and make the connection. Over the weekend that’s exactly what I did.
What struck me is that despite being close to 40% paved this is a great gravel loop with potential for longer rides and lots of exploring. It’s never terribly technical and it has a lot of cool scenery and interesting riding. The worst part is the descent into Hell Creek and it’s a short hike-a-bike if you’re not comfortable skirting rocky ledges and ruts on steep terrain. The rest is rideable and fun.
I would recommend starting and finishing at the Park-N-Ride near the intersection of KY 11 and KY 498 and riding the loop clockwise. The entire loop is 14.3 miles with a little over 1,100’ of gain.
From the Park-N-Ride take KY 498 west to Hopewell (steep drive up to church) to Bald Rock Fork (t-instersection go right) and ride Bald Rock all the way out to Fixer Road (deep creek crossing). Go straight on Fixer Rd. for 0.7 mile and turn right and cross Big Sinking Creek to pick up Caves Fork Road. Take it all the way to the head of the valley and out to Ashland Camp Road and KY 11. Cross 11 to the landfill, bear hard left onto the gravel road and follow it 0.8 miles to a road that splits off to the right and angles up. Take this down into the valley and turn left below the steep descent and then keep bearing right out to Hell Creek Road. Take Hell Creek Rd right and climb out to the west, picking up Old KY 11 and turn right on it which will take you back to the start at the Park-N-Ride.
