Backpacking Kentucky: Your Guide to the Most Beautiful Trails in the Bluegrass

First Edition: Second Edition now available.

Backpacking Kentucky is your personal guide to the best trails in the state. Written for both beginner and experienced backpackers, this book will get you off the beaten path and into the beautiful backwoods of the Bluegrass state. Endowed with a proliferation of sandstone arches, tumbling waterfalls, towering hemlocks, spring-fed creeks, and gorgeous wildflowers, Kentucky has an impressive array of overnight options for the backcountry adventurer. Each entry includes lively trail descriptions, detailed color topographical maps with water sources marked, camping recommendations, and full-color photographs. A special section on backpacking with kids is included to get the next generation out on the trails!

Valerie Askren, after spending more than 20 years as a university researcher and professor, traded the ivory towers of academia for the great outdoors. Her background in natural resource economics and love of nature translated into a second career of writing outdoor guides, including "Hike the Bluegrass and Beyond", "Backpacking Kentucky", "Five Star Trails: Louisville and Southern Indiana" and "Fly Fishing Kentucky". An avid outdoorswoman, Valerie has swum in Africa's Lake Malawi, climbed China's Mount Tai, sailed the coast of southern France, biked Nova Scotia, and backpacked the überchallenging West Coast Trail of Vancouver Island. Her honeymoon was spent kayaking the Grand Canyon with her husband, Ben. The mother of four, Valerie lives in Lexington, Kentucky and hits the trail every chance she gets.