Bad Branch Falls is a 60-foot plunge waterfall on the south face of Pine Mountain in Letcher County, Kentucky, inside Bad Branch State Nature Preserve. The stream drops over a sandstone cliff into a jumble of huge boulders, and a moderate trail up the gorge from KY 932 reaches its base.
The falls
Bad Branch pours off the top of a band of sandstone cliffs about 100 feet high and lands among massive boulders. The drop is 60 feet. The stream falls more than 1,000 feet in less than three miles before reaching the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River, and the cold, clean water earned it state wild river status in 1986.
Getting there
From the junction of KY 15 and US 119 in Whitesburg, take US 119 south for 8 miles, then turn left on KY 932 for 2 miles to a gravel parking area on the left with about 16 spaces. The route to the falls is 2.1 miles out and back and rated moderate; it follows an old logging road built when the gorge was cut in the 1940s, then narrows and steepens below the cliffs, ending with steps at the falls. The preserve, run by the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves and The Nature Conservancy, is open sunrise to sunset, and overnight parking is prohibited.
For a longer day, the strenuous upper gorge loop continues through Ran Polly Gap to High Rock, a sandstone outcrop on the mountain crest with views of Black Mountain.
When to go
The falls are at their most powerful after a heavy rain, form dramatic ice in winter and thin to a delicate cascade by midsummer. Spring brings wildflowers along the trail.
On site
As a state nature preserve, the area is open to foot traffic only. Pets, horses, bicycles, rock climbing, rappelling, camping, picnicking and fires are prohibited, and visitors must stay on the trail because of eroding slopes and venomous snakes; timber rattlesnakes, copperheads and black bears live on Pine Mountain. The area above the falls is off limits. In September 2016 a hiker who climbed to the top fell nearly 70 feet and was airlifted with serious injuries, and rescuers said climbing to the top is the leading cause of deaths they see at the preserve.
History and name
The state's first purchase, 435 acres from The Nature Conservancy, came in 1985. The preserve has since grown to 2,639 acres and protects more than thirty rare species, including Kentucky's only known nesting pair of common ravens. A few massive old-growth hemlocks spared by the loggers still stand along the trail.
Nearby
All the closest listed falls are across the state line in Virginia: Benges Falls is about 13.6 miles away, Cove Creek Cascades about 18.9 miles and Crab Orchard Falls about 21.7 miles.
Distances are straight-line.