Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

Length: .5-mile loop
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Not quite moderate, but certainly not easy

The Turnhole Bend Nature Trail is a half-mile loop trail located on Brownsville Road, a 10-minute drive from the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center. The trail gets its name due to its proximity to a large, tear-drop shaped bend in the Green River. It leads to an overlook of Turnhole Bend Spring, though the view is now largely obscured by vegetation.

The hike starts off up a wooden staircase for a short distance to where the loop starts. I took a left, traveling around in the clockwise direction, and in hindsight, this is the best way to go. This report is written from that perspective.

Typical terrain at the start of the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

The Turnhole Bend Nature Trail heads uphill for a tenth of a mile. At the top of the hill, which is somewhere between easy and moderate to climb, is a side trail on the left that leads to an observation deck overlooking a sinkhole. When done checking it out, there is no need to retrace your steps. Continue straight on the side trail, as it reconnects to the main trail just up ahead.

View from above the sinkhole on the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

Past the sinkhole, the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail continues along a ridge on a well-groomed trail suitable for a golf cart to travel on. There is a fairly steep hill to descend just prior to the Turnhole Bend overlook, which comes at the far end of the loop.

Typical terrain at the far end of the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

Turnhole Bend Spring, the largest spring in Kentucky, is 75 feet below the observation deck. It is so large that riverboats traveling on the Green River in the 1800s would enter Turnhole Bend in order to turn around and reverse course, thus the name. If you hiked the Cedar Sink Trail, you might have seen a short segment of the Hawkins-Logsdon River, which is an underground river that surfaces briefly at the Cedar Sink before disappearing back underground. Turnhole Bend Spring is where it finally comes out and empties into the Green River. As mentioned, there is not much of a view anymore.

Observation deck overlooking Turnhole Bend Spring and the Green River on the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

View from the Turnhole Bend observation deck at the far end of the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

From the overlook, the Turnhole Bend Trail heads uphill once again. Towards the top, which is just a hundred yards from the bottom, is a side trail that leads into the sink hole that you saw from the first overlook. The reason I recommend hiking the trail in the clockwise direction is because you first get to see the sinkhole from above and then later get to enter into it. Seems like a logical progression.

Inside the sinkhole on the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

The rest of the hike is along hilly terrain similar to what has come before—not easy, but not quite moderate either. It is a .2-mile walk back to the parking lot from the sinkhole.

End of the Turnhole Bend Nature Trail in Mammoth Cave National Park

Back to the Top