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| Broke Leg Falls Photo by Roger D. Hicks |
On Labor Day, Monday, September 3, 2018, my wife Candice & I traveled about 30 or so miles from our house to Broke Leg Falls County Park in Menifee County, KY, between Ezel and Wellington right on US 460. Since Candice is in a wheelchair, she could not hike or even easily access the handful of available picnic tables since there are either steps or rough routes across grass to all of them. She gracefully had come up with the idea for the trip so I could get some hiking in and continue my daily exercise routine. She took a book and her reading glasses and found a shady spot in the edge of the parking lot to read. I took our camera, which is possibly on its last legs. I do not waste my time, money, or effort on an I-Phone since I really do not care to see the majority of people with their faces stuck in their phones in a multitude of places where they should either be paying attention to those around them or the scenery. I sure as hell have no intentions of becoming a part of that rampant desocialization of America. I also somewhat despise the practice of taking selfies and have never done that and never will. I use the internet every day of my life but last October on a 26 day road trip vacation across the south and southwest I was probably not on the internet five days total for any amount of time and did not miss it. But, anyway, I took some photographs of the area around Broke Leg Falls and will add some of them here.
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| Broke Leg Falls Photo by Roger D. Hicks |
Broke Leg Falls has a long and interesting history and I am certain that it extends well into prehistory as well. Since I am not very well versed in geology, I am uncertain just how far back in prehistory the area was formed. There are several commonly used travel and hiking websites which have pages devoted to the falls and I have provided links to two of those above. The website KYHomeTownLocator is one to which I have not bothered to provide a link because of their erroneous and condescending decision to list it as Broken Leg Falls which is not and has never been the correct name of the site. It has always been and will always be Broke Leg Falls. Enough said about that website and their condescending ignorance. For many years, Broke Leg Falls was under private ownership and for awhile you had to pay ten cents to see the falls and there was a restaurant beside the highway run by the owners. Then for a few years, it was leased by the Kentucky Parks Department and operated as a state park. Then, presumably because of low traffic and/or money losses, it was allowed to revert to private control. Eventually, a few years ago, Menifee County bought the property and returned it to use as a county park. The tornado which destroyed West Liberty, KY, on March 2, 2012, ravaged the trees around the falls and they are still not fully recovered. The county wisely, and partly due to the difficulty of the geography, decided to leave most of the down timber around the falls to lay where it fell but cleared the paths and steps down to an area below the falls, built two picnic shelters, and set up a few other picnic tables after the tornado.
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| Broke Leg Falls Photo by Roger D. Hicks |
No one knows exactly how Broke Leg falls got its name but it is safe to assume that some person or animal most likely suffered a broken leg in the area in the early days of white settlement. I have never seen or heard any claims as to any Native American name the falls might have had. But I am certain that the tribes which commonly hunted in the area before the white settlers came had to have a name for such a unique place. The major waterfall is somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty or sixty feet high with a narrow, damp, and slick rock overhang which must have been used by both Native Americans and settlers at times. The overhang is not deep or dry enough to have been a long term living situation for either of those groups. But I am certain that it has provided brief shelter in bad weather for thousands of years. The stream which runs over the falls is small and in places can be jumped across above the falls and most probably below also although I have never hiked the downstream area. The stream flows from a small hilltop not far to the north of the falls and drops over a few small riffles until it arrives at the major fall. There are a few pools of water which might be knee deep at times but are still not filled with fish, frogs or turtles. The only wildlife I saw while I was there was a skink but there were several people in the area and some wildlife might have disappeared to avoid the noise and foot traffic. But I also suspect that the falls are too high and the stream too small to support much wildlife of an aquatic nature or to allow it to return to the area after washouts.
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| Broke Leg Falls, Photo by Roger D. Hicks |
Broke Leg Falls is a beautiful spot in Northeastern Kentucky, not far from Natural Bridge State Park, the Daniel Boone National Forest, the Red River Gorge, and Cave Run Lake and is well worth spending an hour or two hiking or having a picnic. I actually met a couple from Northern Indiana who were on a motorcycle trip who had stopped to see the falls. Visit it whenever you are in the area. But be aware that there was no Porta-Potty on site and you would be well advised to go to the bathroom before you arrive. There is also no overnight camping, no food available, and the area is thinly settled, but in a nod to modern business practices, there is a Dollar General Store at Wellington, KY, about three miles away which has a public bathroom and everything else you need to avoid starvation.
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| Broke Leg Falls Photo by Roger D. Hicks |
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