Thunderstruck Shoals Trail

This trail routing is a work in progress. The author's description is very ambiguous. He describes a trail
that appears to cross unmarked countryside, rather than follow the main watercourses 
(Indian Creek and the Cumberland River) that flow more or less directly to the trail's ultimate destination. Humm.

The Sheltowee Trace through this area seems to conform to traditional trail routing primciples.



Excerpted from "Prehistoric Trails of the Upper Cumberland River Basin" 

By Charles Mayer Dupier, Jr. 

"This trail is mentioned, but not named, by Myer as being a connector between the prehistoric settlements 
near Williamsburg, Kentucky, and the settlements to the west on the middle section of the Cumberland River 
in Wayne County, Kentucky. It crossed the Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail in McCreary County at the 
community of Wiborg, about six miles north of Whitley City.(28) This writer has named it the 
"Thunderstruck Shoals Trail" because it crosses the Cumberland River at Thunderstruck Shoals. 
On April 24, 1750, Thomas Walker and two companions were exploring the area west of their campsite on the 
Cumberland River south of Barbourville. Walker records in his journal, "This day we Came on the fresh 
Track of 7 or 8 Indians, but could not overtake them."(30) This writer has traced Walker's steps on 
April 23-25, 1750, using the journal, maps and on-site reconnaissance, both forward and in reverse 
(which is often the only way his exact location can be detennined). Walker's position here is about six 
or eight miles east of Young's Creek (Walker called it Rocky Creek), which he turned down to reach the Cumberland River. 

The Thunderstruck Shoals trail is probably the one shown on the 1894 topographic map of the area as being 
the only uninterrupted road leading from the area north of Whitley City, across the Cumberland River, 
to State Highway 26 northeast of Williamsburg,(32) where it intercepted a north-south trail 
(It leads east from Wiborg along Beulah Heights Ridge (The old locals called it Bullet Mold Ridge, 
but that name has passed from usage) to Indian Creek. It generally follows Indian Creek to the 
Cumberland River at Thunderstruck Shoals about a mile above the mouth of the Creek. One and one-half miles 
from the mouth the trail turns north about a mile, to avoid extremely rugged terrain, before descending 
to the river. Once across the shoals the trail leads eastward along a crooked ridge to "The Steps," 
an erosional feature involving a number of strata of sandstone which are arranged like stair steps 
descending to a lower elevation. From "The Steps," the trail makes a "U-shaped" swing to the south 
to avoid the breaks of Calf Pen Fork Creek, then resumes its eastward direction crossing Young's Creek 
and Blake's Fork Creek and on to State Road 26."