Casey County High Point Trip Report

Green River Knob (1,789 ft)

Date: April 20, 2002
Authors: Ken, Annette, and Alexandra Oeser

This is an almost twofer for Casey and Pulaski counties.

From Somerset, KY drive west on Highway 80 or Cumberland Parkway to exit 78, then follow Highway 80 west about 3.5 miles, then north on KY 837 and go about a mile and find parking on the left at a quarry gate on the left or a dirt road pull-off just past this.

The gate and land are posted, but a local just up the road on the right, across the road from Green River Knob, told us nobody would care if we parked and hiked up the mountain. Nobody was home at the new, large house on the left at the base of the knob just past the parking area, and we checked out the faint road to the summit shown on the topo from the north starting at a farm on Turkey Creek Road, but it didn't look as though it could be driven.

From the quarry gate, we walked just up the road to the dirt road and followed it roughly northwest up the knob to the summit. There are several roads on the knob, and our route up was not straight, but we kept going north and east until we reached the summit. Some roads are dirt, while others are grassy areas with deer trails, but none go up the whole way without confusion. A nice road from the north was encountered about 80 feet below the summit and we followed it to the top.

The benchmark is still there, and reads 'Green River.' I had checked direction with a protractor before leaving home for a heading to the liner for Pulaski county, and we hiked down at compass heading 162. We crossed the curve in the road to the summit at elevation 1700, then hiked down 20 feet and contoured both directions about 100 feet to give it a good effort with some ups and downs. The funny part is that we crossed through this area on our ascent. On the way down a dirt road heading southeast, at elevation 1,420 feet, we found a vertical cave and bounced rocks down it. We were impressed with its depth, but had no gear or lights to check it out.