Cumberland by Canoe

Eight Kentucky rivers of exceptional quality and aesthetic character are protected from development by the Wild Rivers System enacted by the Kentucky Legislature. The rivers' rights-of-way are protected from strip mining, the construction of any impoundments, new roads, and buildings, or timber cutting within 2,000 feet of the middle of the watercourses.

The eight rivers, six of which are classic paddling streams, are remote and as unspoiled as any in Kentucky, and have rocky cliffs, sweeping forests and abundant fish and wildlife resources along their free-flowing paths. They are essentially untouched by the works of human, and are rich in recreational opportunity. Their protection is in the hands of Kentucky's Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.

Six of Kentucky's eight wild rivers are in the upper Cumberland basin, one is in the Kentucky River drainage, and one is in the Green River system. There is one wild river in each of Kentucky's two national parks and six in Daniel Boone National Forest, including one in the Red River Gorge Geological Area. The wild rivers and their boundaries are:

Cumberland River - 16.1 miles, from Summer Shoals to the backwaters of Lake Cumberland, in McCreary and Whitley counties.

Red River - 9.1 miles, from the KY 746 bridge to the mouth of Swift Camp Creek, in the Red River Gorge Geological Area; in Wolfe and Powell counties of the Stanton District of Daniel Boone National Forest.

Rockcastle River - 15.9 miles of whitewater, from the Old KY 80 bridge to the backwaters of Lake Cumberland, in Pulaski and Laurel counties.

Green River - 26.0 miles in the confines of Mammoth Cave National Park; a classic flatwater run with camping allowed on islands or riverside sites, abundant wildlife, and rivers bubbling up from underground caverns.

Big South Fork of the Cumberland River - 10.2 miles of one of the most celebrated whitewater runs in the eastern U.S., from the Tennessee border to Blue Heron, in Whitley County.

Rock Creek - 18 miles of good rainbow trout stream, from the Tennessee border to the White Oak Junction bridge.

Martins Fork of the Cumberland River - 3.9 miles of shallow, non-navigable water extending from the eastern boundary of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to KY 987. The headwaters of this crystal clear, brook trout-stocked stream are in a grove of virgin hemlock trees.

Little South Fork of the Cumberland River -10.4 miles, from the KY 92 bridge in the backwaters of Lake Cumberland, in Wayne and McCreary counties.