Destinations – Pine Mountain WMA

Daniel Boone would feel right at home at Pine Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Few places in Kentucky evoke the same sense of unspoiled wilderness as this 5,000-acre treasure in Letcher and Harlan counties. The area has been spared from the strip-mining and clear-cutting of some of the state’s other mountains. The area stretches for approximately 10 miles along some of Kentucky’s higher elevations.

Lynn Garrison, public affairs director for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR), said Pine Mountain WMA is a special place.

“It’s unique to find a 5,000-acre tract of forestland that’s pretty much intact,” he said. “You just don’t see that anymore. We don’t have many places in Kentucky where you can feel the wildness.”

Clouds of white and pink trillium blanket the hillsides in spring. The area straddles the crest on Pine Mountain more than a half mile above sea level. Neighboring mountaintops appear to bob above a sea of early morning fog clinging to the valleys below.

Pine Mountain WMA features a handful of rare mountain bogs. These spring-fed bogs are found on the more protected west side of the mountain.

Chestnut oaks, some 200-300 years, old dot the ridges and deep hollows of the mountain. Boone would have seen some of the same trees still standing today.

“Some of these trees were more than just saplings in Daniel Boone’s time,” said Garrison, who has explored the area extensively.

Pine Mountain WMA also supports a diverse mix of wildlife and songbirds. Around October, visitors can witness hundreds of migrating hawks as they catch the updrafts created by the steep sides of the mountain.

The area once served as one of Kentucky’s strongholds for wild turkey. In 1972, when turkeys were a rare sight in Kentucky, the WMA received an experimental stocking of birds from Ohio.

“That was one of the first places we stocked with out-of-state birds,” said turkey biologist George Wright. “For a while, (Pine Mountain WMA) was one of only a handful of places to hunt turkey.”

Other wildlife found within the WMA includes bobcat, grouse, squirrel, black bear and two unexpected visitors. “I found elk tracks up here last April,” said Will Connelly, a hunter training officer who lives at the base of the mountain. “I think they were moving through here from a (recent) release.”

Pine Mountain WMA offers something for hunters, naturalists, birdwatchers and families alike. It’s a place for the Daniel Boone in all of us.

— Dave Baker

Directions: Little Shepherd Trail (KY 1679) splits the crest of Pine Mountain WMA.

From the south, follow the signs to Kingdom Come State Park, located north of Cumberland, Ky. The main road (gravel) continues onto the Pine Mountain WMA. From the north, take US 119 (the road linking Whitesburg to Cumberland) to Little Shepherd Trail near the crest. Signs mark the entrance.