Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Park: Frazier Knob Trail (Blog Hike #362)

Trail: Frazier Knob Trail

Hike Location: Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Park

Geographic Location: southeast of London, KY (37.08592, -84.04377)

Length: 4.4 miles
Difficulty: 6/10 (Moderate)

Date Hiked: October 2011

Overview: An out-and-back hike to the trail’s namesake knob.

Park Information: https://levijacksonpark.com/
Hike Route Map: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=96705
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: In southern Kentucky, take I-75 to SR 192 (exit 38).  Exit and go east on SR 192.  Take SR 192 to SR 229 and turn right on SR 229.  Take SR 229 2.8 miles to the Laurel County Fairgrounds on the left.  The trail starts from the picnic shelter beside the fairground entrance.

The hike: The two proper nouns Wilderness Road and Levi Jackson that make up this park’s name represent two of the sentinel figures in Kentucky’s frontier history.  As most students of history will know, the Wilderness Road was the route blazed by Daniel Boone in 1775 across the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky’s interior.  This route facilitated Kentucky’s development by allowing settlers from the east coast to enter the Bluegrass in large numbers, displacing the native American Indians in the process.

            Levi Jackson is lesser known on the national level but just as famous on the regional level: he was one of the first white settlers to call present-day Laurel County, Kentucky home.  Jackson moved into the area in 1802 and established the Laurel River Post Office and the Wilderness Road Tavern on this site along its namesake road.  The area became known as Jackson’s Farm, and in 1931 Jackson’s descendants deeded the property to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to honor the Kentucky’s pioneers.  The state transferred ownership to the City of London in 2019.

            As you might expect, Jackson’s Farm today comprises the center of the state park that bears Jackson’s name.  The park features a developed campground, an old mill site, and many picnic areas.  For hikers, 3 main trails traverse the grounds of the park.  The 2.3 mile Boone Trace Trail winds through the developed area of the park, and the easy 1.3 mile Wilderness Road Trail follows a section of Daniel Boone’s historic Wilderness Road.  The Frazier Knob Trail described here leads into the undeveloped northeast portion of the park and to the park’s highest point.  This hike is an out-and-back, so you will need to hike 2.2 miles out to the knob and then retrace your steps 2.2 miles back.           

Trailhead

            Begin behind the picnic shelter at a large brown and gold sign which announces your entrance into the park’s trail system.  The trail heads into the young brushy forest and descends gradually to enter a wet area.  The Frazier Knob Trail is unmarked, and the presence of many wild trails near this trailhead makes it hard to stay on the official route.  In general, the trail heads northeast and parallel to the fairground boundary, which can be seen through the trees to the left.  Side trails head right to a 4-H camp and left to the fairground.  Some blazes would make it much easier to follow this initial segment of trail.

Hiking through brushy forest

            After passing through the wet area, the trail climbs gradually to reach a high-voltage power line clearing.  The trail used to continue straight across the clearing, but a recent reroute now has the trail turning left just after passing under the power lines to remain in the clearing and run parallel to the power lines.  Again, no signs or blazes mark this turn, and the old trail can still be found on the other side of the clearing.

            For the next 0.5 miles the eroded gravel trail undulates as it stays in the power line clearing.  Laurel County Fairground is now in full view to the left.  1 mile into the hike, the trail leaves the power line clearing and enters the forest on the right.  As you would expect by now, this turn is unmarked; if you reach a blacktop road, you have missed the turn by a couple hundred feet.

Gravel trail in power line clearing

            Just after leaving the power line clearing, you cross paved Conley Road.  The park map says you could start the hike at this point, but that option does not seem practical: there is no place to park a car here, and you would be hard-pressed to find this point while driving along the road.  Across the road, the trail climbs steeply but only for a short distance to gain the ridge that will lead to Frazier Knob.

Trail intersection at top of hill

            At the top of the hill, you reach another unmarked trail intersection.  The trail going left ends in a short distance at the power line clearing, so you should turn right to remain on the Frazier Knob Trail.  What has thus far been a less than spectacular hike now starts to redeem itself as the wide dirt trail assumes a ridgetop course following the height-of-land and undulating gradually.  Brushy broadleaf forest dominated by maple trees falls away on either side of the trail.

            At 2.1 miles, an unmarked side trail exits left while the main trail angles right.  Less than 2 minutes later, you make the final, very steep ascent to the summit of Frazier Knob.  The knob is covered in broadleaf trees which preclude any views during the warmer months, but during the leafless months a partially obstructed 360-degree view can be had of the surrounding area.

Final ascent to Frazier Knob

            The official trail ends atop the knob.  An unofficial trail continues down the other side of the knob, but it leads to private property and does not form a loop.  Thus, you will need to retrace your steps 2.2 mostly downhill miles to the picnic shelter to complete the hike.