5 Kentucky Back Roads That Beat the Parkway for Fall Color

Fall color is making its way across Kentucky, and the parkway isn’t the only place to catch it.

Slow down, and back roads can reward you.

Here’s where to find fall color off the main routes.

1. Old Frankfort Pike

Old Frankfort Pike makes Kentucky Tourism’s fall color list for a two-mile stretch with centuries-old limestone fences, pastures, barns and a tunnel-like canopy of oak trees.

You’ll pass horse farms surrounded by rock and wooden fences on Kentucky Route 1681, between Frankfort and Lexington.

Hungry?

If you stop for a meal, try Wallace Station Deli and Bakery.

2. Red River Gorge Scenic Byway

Kentucky Tourism recommends the Red River Gorge Scenic Byway for fall color, noting the deeply forested terrain around the paved roads you’ll be driving.

Bikers especially enjoy it.

The gorge also has zip lines, trails and places to camp or rent a cabin.

If you want a stop, Natural Bridge is a 78-foot-long sandstone arch surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest.

The one-lane Nada Tunnel is 900 feet long and dates to the early 1900s, built for timber hauling.

3. Zilpo Scenic Byway

Zilpo Scenic Byway is one of the Daniel Boone National Forest drives Kentucky Tourism points to for fall color, in heavily wooded, mountainous terrain.

The Forest Service lists it as the shorter of the forest’s two scenic drives, an 11-mile road through an eastern hardwood forest that takes about 20 minutes each way.

You can stop at scenic overlooks, look for wildlife and see Cave Run Lake.

The byway is open year-round, with no fees.

From Salt Lick, take Kentucky Route 211 south for 4 miles.

Then you turn left onto County Road 129, also called Clear Creek Road.

After about 4 miles, you turn left again, onto Forest Service Road 918.

4. Woodlands Trace

Woodlands Trace is a 43-mile National Scenic Byway, and the Federal Highway Administration describes its fall color, spring blossoms and green summer canopy.

It starts at Grand Rivers and passes through the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, according to Kentucky Tourism.

Along the way, you can visit the Woodlands Nature Station for local wildlife and drive through the Elk and Bison Prairie.

Yes, that means elk.

Land Between the Lakes describes the prairie as a 3-mile loop you can travel through 700 acres of restored native habitat and says October brings elk bugling.

You can also visit the Golden Pond Planetarium and Observatory, where the theater has a 40-foot dome.

5. Pisgah Pike

Pisgah Pike appears in Kentucky Tourism’s scenic fall drive article.

VisitLEX’s fall guide points you to it for a ride under the canopy of trees, past The Kentucky Castle, historic Pisgah Church and horse farms.

You’ll find the byway between Versailles and Lexington, where the Federal Highway Administration lists it at 5.1 miles.

The agency’s description of the area mentions horse farms and wildflowers.

The road runs north and south from Old Frankfort Pike to U.S. 60, with Keeneland farther east along U.S. 60.

When the Color Arrives

For fall color, elevation matters.

The higher elevations of the eastern mountains usually go first, according to Kentucky Tourism.

In the Bluegrass, people start watching the trees once October and November arrive.

Under the right conditions, you can see dogwoods and sumacs turn red and purple, sugar maples orange and red, and poplars and hickories yellow and gold.

You can see oaks, sourwoods and sweet gums take on red hues, too.

Oak-hickory forest makes up 75 percent of Kentucky's forestland, according to the state's Energy and Environment Cabinet.

Trails and Views off the Road

Daniel Boone National Forest has hiking trails in and around Slade, which Kentucky Tourism points to for fall color.

From those trails, you can see geological features such as Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge.

Driving works too.

Any one of the state routes through the forest would satisfy many leaf-peepers.