The Hanshaw Trails

The West Trail

This is an aerial photo of the Hanshaw property area. The West Trail runs along the westernmost quarter of the Hanshaw property.

The trail begins at the Hanshaw Road parking area.

The trail entry is on the left.

The trail route is marked by ribbons of blue tape on trees along the trail.
The taped trees are always on to the right as the trail follows a northerly path.

This is one of the blue trail marking tapes

The trail follows a gradual downslope into the property

The trail follows the path of an old logging road

There has been some recent, relatively minor cutting of trees in this area.

I worked at clearing the trail for several hours, but I was forced
to leave this 8 inch tree trunk across the trail (just too heavy to move)

About a hundred yards in from Hanshaw Road, the trail begins to steepen,
but it is still easy to navigate on foot or by horseback

About one quarter of the way in, the trail crosses a small branch

It's in the darker area in the right center of this photo

There is some old debris in the creek, but it's condition is relatively good

There is a small meadow on the opposite side of the creek that is thick with an interesting grass
The grss has bamboo-like leaves, but the stem does not have the characteristic woody segments of bamboo.

Could this be a vestigial Kentucky canebreak?

I cleared a path across the meadow, but it will need additional work to make a presentable trail.

On the otherside of the meadow is a road that in some places represents the western boundary of the Hanshaw property.

Turning left leads to a gated entry to a neighboring property. Turning right eventually turns into the north central
area of the Hanshaw property.

I turned right and went a couple of hundred yards on the road. I noticed an entry into a grassy area, so I left the road here.

Although somewhat over-grown, the track shows evidence of ATV passage, and the grass was matted down
in several areas (possible evidence of deer resting areas. I did see a very large buck run through the trees
about 10 yards away. The sound of his hooves on the ground was like thunder!

Fifty yards in, the trail splits. I went left (northerly).

At this point I stopped marking the trail with blue tape. Eventually the track ended and there were many possible routes
for our trail to follow.

Eventually I came to a lovely little creek with a number of very large trees on its banks.

This is the principle creek on the Hanshaw property.

I kind of messed up this photo. It doesn't do the creek justice.

This is the waterfall that Roger Hanshaw mentioned to me. It is soo pretty. There is a break in the shale of the creek bed,
and the water falls about two feet to a pretty little pool. The ledge is about 12-15 feet wide and the pool is 2-3 feet deep.
It's surely a spectular sight when the creek is running heavily. An image came to mind of American Indian childen playing in this pool
hundreds of years before the Europeans knew this land existed. What a blessing it is to live in Kentucky.

I noticed that the road I had turned off of earlier passed very close to the waterfall and pool, so I climbed the bank and
followed the road to the point where it met the arterial road in the center of the property where the logging took place
earlier this year. I had already walked that area last week, so I turned and followed the road in the opposite direction away
from the direction this photo was taken.

This is a good walking and riding road, although I did see one group of ATV's being driven down it.

I believe the Hanshaw property extends to the right for some distance, although it is difficult to keep one's bearings.

In the woods to the left of the road I noticed this old fallen-down shed. It may be evidence that this was once a cattle grazing area.
Our hills can return to their natural state in a surprisingly short period of time.