Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park: Big Sink Trail (Blog Hike #633)

Trail: Big Sink Trail

Hike Location: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

Geographic Location: south of Hodgenville, KY (37.53283, -85.73116)

Length: 1.5 miles

Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)

Dates Hiked: 1997, May 2017

Overview: A series of loops on the site where Abraham Lincoln was born.

Park Information: https://www.nps.gov/abli/index.htm

Hike Route Map: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=614749
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of SR 61 and US 31E on the south side of Hodgenville, drive US 31E south 1.3 miles to the park’s picnic area parking lot on the left.  If you reach the main park entrance on the right, you have gone about 500 feet too far.  Turn left to enter the picnic area parking lot, where you should park.  The hike begins behind the picnic area.

The hike: The year was 1809 when Thomas and Nancy Lincoln welcomed their new son Abraham into the world.  The couple and their first daughter Sarah had just moved to a new farm called Sinking Spring Farm from their previous farm only 14 miles to the northeast.  The Sinking Spring Farm’s red clay soil was marginal farmland, and it sat on the edge of a large treeless swath of burned land called the barrens.  The farm’s only good qualities were its location less than three miles south of Hodgen’s Mill, which is present-day Hodgenville, and the presence of a semi-reliable spring.

            The Lincolns’ stay at Sinking Spring Farm was short: in 1811 they moved to another more fertile farm on Knob Creek 10 miles to the northeast.  Although Abraham was born at the Sinking Spring Farm, his earliest memories were of the Knob Creek Farm.  Although the farm sites are about 12 miles apart, these two pieces of farmland comprise today’s Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park.  While the Knob Creek site features only a reconstructed cabin, the Sinking Spring site features a Visitor Center, a picnic area, a large stone Memorial Building as its centerpiece, and some short hiking trails. 

The Sinking Spring site is bisected by US 31E with the Memorial Building and Visitor Center west of the highway and the picnic area east of the highway.  For hikers, a pair of short nature trails totaling less than 1 mile form loops near the Memorial Building, but the park’s best hike is the 1.5 mile Big Sink Trail, which starts behind the picnic area.  The Big Sink Trail is the one described here.

Big Sink Trail trailhead

            The Big Sink Trail’s trailhead is marked by a fancy sign featuring push-button activated audio recordings that describe the trail’s three loops, which lie end-to-end.  The three loops are labeled A, B, and C with this trailhead on the middle loop B.  Turn left to begin heading north and clockwise around loop B.  Note that loop B is wheelchair accessible with a good assistant.

            The crushed gravel trail heads north and then east as it approaches paved Keith Road, which is open to vehicles.  At 0.2 miles, loop A begins across Keith Road to the left.  If you wanted a shorter hike, loop B continues straight and is only 0.4 miles long.  This hike turns left to carefully cross Keith Rd. and begin loop A, which takes you through the extreme northern part of the park.

Approaching Keith Road

            Now you learn why this trail is called the Big Sink Trail, as the trail drops steeply into a large 30-foot-deep sinkhole.  The Lincolns would have relied on a spring that flowed at the bottom of this sinkhole, but the spring dried up in the 1930’s and has not restarted since.  The trail climbs out of the sink and passes near the park’s north and east boundaries before recrossing Keith Rd. to close loop A.  Turn left to continue a clockwise trip around loop B.

            Loop B stays near Keith Rd. briefly before curving right to head into the forest, which consists mostly of maples with a few tulip poplars and oaks.  At 0.75 miles, loop C exits left just before loop B closes at the trailhead.  Turn left on loop C to head into the southern part of the park.

Large tree on loop C

Loop C features some of the park’s largest trees as the trail heads downhill to the lowest elevation of this hike.  The difference between the highest and lowest elevations on this hike is only 50 feet, and only here and at the sinkhole will any elevation change be noticed.  Some sounds from a neighborhood along SR 61 to the south may filter in as you near the hike’s southernmost point.  A right curve and gradual climb brings you back to the trailhead, the close of loop C, and the end of the hike.  Be sure to check out the impressive Memorial Building and Visitor Center exhibits before you leave.