The Whitley County Cooperative Extension Horticulture Hiking Club is an active group of individuals who love to enjoy the beautiful aspects of Horticulture in the outdoors. We welcome anyone and everyone to join us on our monthly adventure. 

     The Horticulture Hiking Club began in May, 2022 as a way for the Horticulture and Fine Arts programs to interact with each other. The goal was to introduce folks of our community to popular hiking destinations in our local environments. The horticulture agent will provide educational information throughout the hikes on tree id and the variety of plant life along the trailsides and canopy. The Fine Arts agent will provide an opportunity for members to draw or sketch landscape views from the destinations. One of our beginning goals was for the group to start with some beginner level hikes and build our hiking base to where eventually the group could tackle a few longer more difficult hikes. 

     In May, 2022 our first adventure was to the beautiful Dog Slaughter Falls in Whitley Co, KY. Dog Slaughter was a beginner level hike of an easy 4.1 mile out-and-back trail covered with beautiful hemlock groves, wild flowers, mountain azaleas, and runs parallel to the roaring Dog Slaughter Creek to ends final destination a roaring 24 ft waterfall. Our first adventure 5 community members along with 3 youth decided to join us. 

     In June, 2022 our monthly meeting fell on an extremely hot day. We still were pleased with the amount of people who wanted to join our second adventure on a 4.8 mile out-and-back to the Bark Camp Creek Cascades, in Whitley Co, KY.  7 community members as well as 5 youth join us as we treked through Maple, Hemlock, and Sycamore Groves on a trail running parallel to Bark Camp Creek and its amazing rock formations. The group was able to have lunch at the foot of some roaring cascades and enjoyed time for the fine arts agent to talk about the various aspects of the landscape and of course, play in the water. 

     July, 2022 was no different for the temperature on adventure day. A hot, humid 93 degree morning the Horticulture Hiking Club treked 5.1 miles on an out-and-back trail to Van Hook Halls, in Whitley Co, KY. 6 community members and 4 youth enjoyed some time in the Daniel Boone National Forest. We were able to educate the group on various wildflowers, wild blueberries and was fortunate enough to see some different wildlife including a couple of whitetail deer and a coyote. 

     August, 2022 we decided on another local hike to the beautiful Eagle Falls. This trail included some beautiful timber stands, amazing views of the Cumberland Falls along with the Cumberland River. 3 Community Members and 2 youth joined for the 4.1 mile out-and-back adventure. The views were incredible on this hike and this allowed time to stop and educate folks on the various landscapes they were taking in. A couple of our members were unfortunately out of town on this day, but even with some of our group missing, a great time was had by all. 

     September, 2022 was the Horticulture Hiking Clubs longest hike to date. The group decided to take on a strenuous hike in the Cumberland Gap National Forest on a 9.3 mile loop to the White Rocks Overlook and the famous Sand Cave. Club members were quickly greeted with a 2 mile uphill climb taking in views of fall foliage on the mountain ridges, an incredible amount of Oak and Hickory Trees, the last of a few mountain wildflowers for the year and some beautiful rock formations. This was a tremendous confidence builder for the folks in our group as it was the longest most strenuous hike most of the members have done. Folks were commenting on how good they felt and how much better physical shape this group has allowed them to be in. 

     This group is large success for me due to the fact people in the community I love are getting outside and enjoying the natural beauties of living in Southeastern Kentucky all while getting healthy and promoting an active lifestyle. We continue to go on a monthly adventure to keep exploring the beautiful horticulture in the great outdoors.