Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Kentucky / Cave Run Lake

Cave Run Lake: Buck Creek and Sheltowee Loop

Daniel Boone National Forest (Clear Creek and Pioneer Weapons Wildlife Management Area, near Salt Lick)

Cave Run Lake, in the northern Daniel Boone National Forest, is ringed by trails, including a long stretch of the Sheltowee Trace and the network in the Pioneer Weapons Wildlife Management Area. A 2023 solo trip report on a University of Kentucky blog describes a 13.5-mile, three-day loop from the Clear Creek Recreation Area, climbing past the Tater Knob fire tower and dropping to the lakeshore on the Buckskin Trail.

It’s a lightly documented route, so treat this page as a starting point and plan with a current Forest Service map.

The hike

The trip started at the boat ramp parking lot at the Clear Creek Recreation Area, near Salt Lick, and headed north on the Sheltowee Trace, according to the report. It turned onto the Buck Creek Trail, which the writer found steep at first, then the Tater Knob Trail, and camped the first night just past the Tater Knob fire tower, about 3.5 miles in. The writer describes the tower as about 50 feet tall on a natural knob, with a “360 degree view.” The Outbound, in an undated description, says the tower is a 35-foot steel structure that was closed after arson damage, with the center of the deck burned away. A Forest Service order (11-02-15) prohibits going into or upon the fire tower site, so the view the 2023 writer describes is off-limits, and the first night’s camp needs to be outside the closed area.

Day two covered about 6 miles: the Cave Run Trail to the Hog Pen Trail, lunch at a designated campsite, down Trough Lick Branch to the Buckskin Trail, then along the shore of Cave Run Lake. The writer camped on a ridge rather than at a designated site. Day three rejoined the Sheltowee Trace for about 4 miles along a ridge with lake views, back down to Clear Creek. Near the finish, the report mentions a mid-1800s iron furnace at the Clear Creek picnic area.

Hiking Project describes the larger Sheltowee section here, Section 9, as 15.2 miles from near the Cave Run Lake dam to near Clear Creek Campground, through the White Sulphur horse area and Pioneer Weapons Wildlife Management Area, shared with horses and, on parts, ATVs. The Sheltowee Trace Association runs a group hike on the Caney Loop from the Stony Cove area, describing a 4-mile out-and-back or an 8-mile loop with the “old Sheltowee” along the lakeshore.

The report mentions a horse caravan at the trailhead, red-headed woodpeckers, and a large black snake, and notes that iodine-treated creek water got the writer through the last day.

For a better-documented Sheltowee overnight, see Cumberland Falls to Bark Camp Creek.

Tips

Camping

Dispersed camping on the Daniel Boone National Forest needs no permit or fee outside the Red River Gorge, according to the Forest Service; stays are limited to 14 days in 30. At Cave Run, Forest Service orders ban camping, except at designated sites, within 300 feet of the lake’s water’s edge or roads and trails leading to it, within 300 feet of FS Road 918 in the Pioneer Weapons WMA, and within 300 feet of the White Sulphur OHV Trail from May 1 to Nov. 30. Camping within 100 feet of cliff bases or rock shelters is also prohibited forest-wide.

Inside Intel: The 2023 trip report’s first camp was just past the Tater Knob fire tower, about 3.5 miles from Clear Creek, and The Outbound recommends the knob at sunset. The tower site is now closed by Forest Service order, so pick a camp outside the signed closure and keep your tent 300 feet from any road.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

A ridge-top bed above Cave Run Lake:

With the shoreline off-limits for camping, the trip report's camps were up on the ridges. A comfortable pad helps wherever you land. See the pads testers like.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.