Pine Mountain State Scenic Trail

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Kentucky — Kentucky’s longest hiking trail — 120 miles along the Pine Mountain ridge from Breaks Interstate Park to Cumberland Gap! The trail traverses one of the oldest mountain ranges in North America with spectacular overlooks of the Kentucky/Virginia border country. Eventually planned to extend to 230 miles.

Visitor Information

About Pine Mountain

Pine Mountain State Scenic Trail runs 110 miles along Pine Mountain in southeastern Kentucky — the longest trail in the state. Pine Mountain is a unique geological feature: a long, straight ridge formed by a thrust fault that pushed 300-million-year-old sandstone over younger coal-bearing rock. The mountain separates the Cumberland Plateau from the Appalachian coalfields and supports one of the most biodiverse forest corridors in the eastern US.

Things to Do

Thru-hiking or section-hiking the 110-mile trail, camping, birdwatching for cerulean warblers, viewing geological formations, and exploring Kentucky’s longest and most biodiverse mountain trail.

Plan Your Visit

The 110-mile trail is divided into sections accessible from multiple trailheads. Pine Mountain State Resort Park and Kingdom Come State Park provide developed facilities along the route. The trail connects to the Pine Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Benham and Lynch (former coal company towns) preserve Appalachian coal heritage. The trail is blazed with yellow diamonds. Through-hiking requires 7-10 days; section hikes of 5-15 miles are most popular.

Insider Tips

Appalachian coal country: Pine Mountain runs through Kentucky’s coalfields — the region that powered America’s industrialization but paid a devastating environmental and human price. Pro tip: The trail runs 120+ miles along Pine Mountain — one of the longest ridgeline trails in the eastern US. Coal heritage: Eastern Kentucky’s “coal camps” were company towns where miners lived in company houses, shopped at company stores, and were paid in company scrip.

Frequently Asked Questions

What were coal company towns?

Coal companies built entire towns — houses, stores, churches, schools — in remote hollows where miners lived. Workers were paid in scrip (company currency) usable only at the company store (often at inflated prices). The phrase “I owe my soul to the company store” (from Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons”) described real economic bondage. Mine wars (like the Battle of Blair Mountain, 1921) were armed conflicts between miners and coal companies. The legacy of poverty and environmental damage persists.