The Kentucky Adventure Tour or “KAT” is a challenging 1000-mile, self-guided dirt, gravel, and paved loop that travels through the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.

The Blue Line Overland Club has been planning for about a year to run the entire 1000-mile loop but, due to flooding in Eastern Kentucky, the route had to be shortened. On September 4th the group met outside Beattyville, Ky. to start the adventure and complete about 400 miles of the western half of the KAT.

Here’s how it went:

Day 1

The group headed north from Beattyville into the Red River Gorge Geological area in the Daniel Boone National Forest. In this area, the KAT and Daniel Boone Back Country Byway (DBBB) are the same trail at various locations. The trail consisted of one- lane, winding roads of asphalt and gravel for part of the day. At the off-road section, it consisted of wet, long, rocky climbs and descents with gorgeous views. Due to the heavy tree canopy, it was difficult to get good views of the skyline and mountain tops

Day 2Always make sure that during river crossings that it is safe and at established entry and exit points. Enter the water portion slowly to minimize damage to the natural habitat and hydro-locking your vehicle. Always Tread Lightly!

The group traveled from Beattyville to Mckee, Ky. This day would again consist of winding narrow roads of asphalt, gravel and two-track trails. We decided to bring our trailers to the Turkey Foot Campground in hopes of drying our stuff out from the previous couple days of light rain. Thankfully we did as the section known as “Hard 2” was a narrow cut trail in spots and the mud holes would have been near impossible with trailers. Unfortunately in this section, people haven’t adhered to the Tread Lightly principles and there are several wide patches of mud holes approximately 50 feet wide and long. Here, the trail leader had to be winched out twice as the holes he picked were deep, bottomless, wet Kentucky clay.

Day 3

It ended up being a dry out and laundry day in London, Ky. Our group had a good laugh, we found a laundromat across the street from the local farmers market. Being the farmers market wasn’t open, we opened up our camping gear to dry while we did laundry. About 20 minutes later, two local police officers pulled into the parking lot. It turns out that the police chief had received a phone call about homeless people setting up camp. It was a good laugh for all!

The Kentucky Adventure Trail includes some scenic roadways through the hills and mountains of southeastern Kentucky. The terrain varies from paved twisty roads to gravel, dirt roads and trails.Day 4

This was our last day on the KAT. We covered ground between Livingston, Ky and Jellico, Tenn. It was certainly very scenic, but not much for off-road action. Looking at the KAT map and realizing the next day would be pretty much the same, we decided to stay in Jellico and explore.

Know before you go

• The KAT is about 40% rural narrow twisty paved roads. The remainder is gravel, dirt roads and trails.
• It will take five full days of riding to complete the main loop. Don’t go alone! Some of these areas are very remote, so be sure to go with a group.
• The distance between gas stations, on average, is around 60 miles.