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.
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.
Great trail following the river with really cool scenic views. FYI for inexperienced hikers to this trail, the trail forks and you want to follows the left trail leading up. Not the trail to the right that follows the river. Once you reach the top it is well worth the rough hike up. Been my favorite view from atop for the last 20 years.
There are a few really cool sights toward the beginning mile of this trail and then after that it gets pretty boring, and we got lost, like 2miles out of the way and connected with another trail. We started out later in the day so we got real worried we wouldn't make it out before dark, so the last few miles were more like a trail "jog". Good exercise I suppose! Never saw the waterfall either :(