Just got in last night from the 687 mile drive home from Slade, KY. My college buddy and I drove up to ride the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway. @Abusfullofnuns mentioned it in a post, it looked fun so we planned our trip. Bus was going to tag along but had a driveshaft mix up. We had planned to have 3 days to get in the DBBB and visit Hollerwood and we were going to take a full day hike, but I ended up having to work a lot longer than I expected so we basically lost a full travel day.
DBBB
The DBBB is about 100 miles of just backcountry county roads that is overseen by the SFWDA . Most start as pavement then go to gravel and then into more of a “trail”. Because we lost a road day we were only able to get in approximately 60-70%. I think Spaas Creek and Pumpkin Hollow were all we had left but we were starting to run out of light.
So the first off pavement area is at Mountain Springs Rd, which is also probably the hardest of the trail. There is a “sensitive” land owner that has dug big mud holes, made a big berm that could be difficult for a stock vehicle, he’s got crap parked all along the road so it’s difficult to tell where you are supposed to go. The berm was fun; the mud holes now have a bypass which requires some tight cornering but not difficult in the Jeep; a square will have a tougher time. Brush rash is likely here. Further up there is a hill climb with a small rock ledge. Took a few tries to get over that and then there is a bigger one immediately passed it. After only about 3 tries on this rock I just drove around with no problems. Eventually this comes out to pavement.
After that there isn’t anything too noteworthy until Fixer-Leeco Rd. It has some big rocks on a hill climb that were fun. Not hard, but enough to get you excited.
After Fixer-Leeco we got off trail a little bit. We ended up in an area that looked like some SxS go play a lot. We went the wrong way for a little bit, ripped off a fender flare in some tight trees and then ran out of trail. Turned around and go back to the play area and ran into another Jeep. It just so happens that this guy is the administrator for Offroad Tracks and has a YouTube channel where he navigates through trails. He was out mapping and lucky for him, we told him where not to go! Haha. However, this guy was incredibly familiar with the area and had ever bit of gadgetry and navigation equipment you could need. We, on the other hand, had a map on a cell phone with no service
.
So we realize we’re not going to finish the trail in one day and he gave us directions to an overlook that is just off the DBBB. He knew the rest of the trail and said there was nothing too challenging left, so we decide to try to make it to the overlook before dark. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The trail wasn’t hard, but you come to a wooden bridge that is in good shape and sturdy, but still a bit sketchy. At the other end of the bridge is a good rock climb with the edge of the mountain less than 10 feet on either side. Pucker factor high! We made it up without a hitch and after a celebratory stogie at the top we headed back in for the night.
All in all it is a fun trail. Lots of creek crossings, great scenery, a few little mud holes and obstacles, nothing crazy. Now, there is tons of stuff just off of the DBBB which brings us to Hollerwood Park.
Hollerwood
As you’re in the DBBB and get on Barker Branch Rd you will see signs for Hollerwood everywhere. Eventually we passed the office so we stopped in and got a permit. On day 2 we went to see what Hollerwood is all about and really I can’t say much.
The deal here is that there are some land disputes between them and another offroad Park, so we kept running into trails that had been blocked off with trees or we would start on a trail marked with a Hollerwood sign and a couple hundred yards in there would be several No Trespassing signs. It was pretty difficult to figure out where we were. We were trying to get to Little Widowmaker but never could find it. We did get into some fun stuff but I don’t know if it was part of the park or not. But, we met some people the day before that said they were having a lot of fun so it’s promising. It was all just confusing for us.
Slade, KY
It seems that Slade just has a ton of trails that are or were open to the public. Now with the 2 offroad parks it seems like they’re trying to capitalize on them. Which isn’t bad, I just hope they can organize better and get trails marked well. And there’s a lot more to do than just off-roading. Plenty of hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing. I hope to go back and stay a little linger to get some of that in.
I got tons of pics but my wife will have to download them for me off of her camera because I have no interest in learning how. But here are the ones I snapped off my phone.
DBBB
The DBBB is about 100 miles of just backcountry county roads that is overseen by the SFWDA . Most start as pavement then go to gravel and then into more of a “trail”. Because we lost a road day we were only able to get in approximately 60-70%. I think Spaas Creek and Pumpkin Hollow were all we had left but we were starting to run out of light.
So the first off pavement area is at Mountain Springs Rd, which is also probably the hardest of the trail. There is a “sensitive” land owner that has dug big mud holes, made a big berm that could be difficult for a stock vehicle, he’s got crap parked all along the road so it’s difficult to tell where you are supposed to go. The berm was fun; the mud holes now have a bypass which requires some tight cornering but not difficult in the Jeep; a square will have a tougher time. Brush rash is likely here. Further up there is a hill climb with a small rock ledge. Took a few tries to get over that and then there is a bigger one immediately passed it. After only about 3 tries on this rock I just drove around with no problems. Eventually this comes out to pavement.
After that there isn’t anything too noteworthy until Fixer-Leeco Rd. It has some big rocks on a hill climb that were fun. Not hard, but enough to get you excited.
After Fixer-Leeco we got off trail a little bit. We ended up in an area that looked like some SxS go play a lot. We went the wrong way for a little bit, ripped off a fender flare in some tight trees and then ran out of trail. Turned around and go back to the play area and ran into another Jeep. It just so happens that this guy is the administrator for Offroad Tracks and has a YouTube channel where he navigates through trails. He was out mapping and lucky for him, we told him where not to go! Haha. However, this guy was incredibly familiar with the area and had ever bit of gadgetry and navigation equipment you could need. We, on the other hand, had a map on a cell phone with no service
. So we realize we’re not going to finish the trail in one day and he gave us directions to an overlook that is just off the DBBB. He knew the rest of the trail and said there was nothing too challenging left, so we decide to try to make it to the overlook before dark. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The trail wasn’t hard, but you come to a wooden bridge that is in good shape and sturdy, but still a bit sketchy. At the other end of the bridge is a good rock climb with the edge of the mountain less than 10 feet on either side. Pucker factor high! We made it up without a hitch and after a celebratory stogie at the top we headed back in for the night.
All in all it is a fun trail. Lots of creek crossings, great scenery, a few little mud holes and obstacles, nothing crazy. Now, there is tons of stuff just off of the DBBB which brings us to Hollerwood Park.
Hollerwood
As you’re in the DBBB and get on Barker Branch Rd you will see signs for Hollerwood everywhere. Eventually we passed the office so we stopped in and got a permit. On day 2 we went to see what Hollerwood is all about and really I can’t say much.
The deal here is that there are some land disputes between them and another offroad Park, so we kept running into trails that had been blocked off with trees or we would start on a trail marked with a Hollerwood sign and a couple hundred yards in there would be several No Trespassing signs. It was pretty difficult to figure out where we were. We were trying to get to Little Widowmaker but never could find it. We did get into some fun stuff but I don’t know if it was part of the park or not. But, we met some people the day before that said they were having a lot of fun so it’s promising. It was all just confusing for us.
Slade, KY
It seems that Slade just has a ton of trails that are or were open to the public. Now with the 2 offroad parks it seems like they’re trying to capitalize on them. Which isn’t bad, I just hope they can organize better and get trails marked well. And there’s a lot more to do than just off-roading. Plenty of hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing. I hope to go back and stay a little linger to get some of that in.
I got tons of pics but my wife will have to download them for me off of her camera because I have no interest in learning how. But here are the ones I snapped off my phone.
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