Eagle's Nest Trail is a 3.7 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Wellington, Kentucky that features a waterfall and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from May until September. Dogs are also able to use this trail.
dog friendly
birding
camping
hiking
nature trips
trail running
walking
cave
forest
river
views
waterfall
wild flowers
wildlife
blowdown
muddy
rocky
scramble
Trail head is found at the parking lot at the end of the one lane bridge on KY715. It's mostly heavily wooded scenery with fairly even ground. There is a moderately steep incline at the beginning of the trail and a steep decline with loose rocks/debris at the end of the actual trail. At the end of the trail you will come back to the KY715. Approx. 3 miles up the road (eastward direction) you will arrive back at the trail head parking lot. It's best to walk next to the road on the Red River side (going with traffic). There is enough room to walk on the side of the road with the exception of a couple of places. As long as you are aware of traffic there should be no problem. Wear reflectors/lights during low light conditions.
Fifth time to RRG and it only keeps getting better. Eagles Nest Trail was my favorite hike so far. However, it should absolutely be rated as Hard.
Not only is it difficult to figure out which path at which campsite leads up to the point, the whole trail is incredibly dangerous. The hike requires traversing large slippery boulders over creeks and along riverbank cliff sides. Climbing up and over large rocks and scaling hillside tree root systems is the norm. That is before you even get to the 30+ yard runoff / wet slipper rock scramble suspended over a 5-20 yard cliff side at a dangerously steep incline. Try not to slip, but also keep your head up! We had a gut wrenchingly close call when a frisbee sized rock dislodged by someone above came crashing into the top of my girlfriends backpack at deadly speeds, just inches from her skull.
The top is not nearly as sketchy as the hike up, except for the fact that the cliff side is a good 200-400ft above the forest floor. There is a reason this is one of the deadliest places in the gorge, do not go anywhere near the inside of the eagles nest without proper climbing gear.
The view was absolutely beyond explanation, especially as twilight lifted the dense morning fog.
Nice short little hike for the family. Good variety in landscape, changed from thick shaded forest along smoke trail (which you can take to get to Eagle nest. Not too busy, good amount of wildlife. View from highest point is ok.
Definitely not moderate. Lovely views along the river, great for dogs. The fork to go up to Eagles Nest was not at all marked so we ended up walking another mile past it. Tip - it's just by the "Simba ledge." Once we'd gone a mile past and back, we were too tired to traverse the cliffs so we ended up making it an out and back hike. 24 hours later and our quads have never been more sore.
This was an amazing hike. The views from the top were incredible. I would like to know how this trail was rated as moderate though....it was a difficult hike for me and I've been on numerous moderate trails. Most people that we ran into on this trail, knew nothing about it looping back to Osborne Bend Trail Parking lot, so we ended up making this an out and back hike. We only got lost once and that's because we missed the left turn, but we didn't go too far before figuring out we had made a mistake.
This trail isn't marked on outragis maps but it should be! When the leaves are on the ground, it is hard to see where to take a left off of the trail that follows the river. The trail climbs up to Eagle Point Buttress via a trail under the giant rock shelter with scenic waterfall. We took the rope and climbed through the rock chimney, but there is a go-around. The overlook is one of the best in the gorge. The trail loops back to Osborn Bend trail via a walk in the woods with some muddy parts.
I loved this trail! Follows right along the river until a steep climb up to eagles nest and was super muddy with lots of wildlife to see. There was lots of climbing over rocks and ups and downs. I would say it's more of a rugged hike.