While exploring around Louisville, Kentucky, I came across Saunders Springs Nature Preserve near Radcliff, Kentucky. I was not really sure what to expect, but we decided to check it out. Three historic cabins from the 1800’s mark the entrance.

There are essentially two sections to this preserve. One is on the south side which is called the Annex and is multi-use trails for hiking and mountain biking. The other on the north side is the more well-known hiking trails and where we spent all of our time.

The trails are all fairly short so we connected a lot of them to form one big loop. We parked near the small Welcome Center and then started our hike from the Overlook as shown by the star on the map above.

From there we hiked along the Canyon Trail (red) and then down to the Tranquility Trail (green). The trail led us to one of the most remarkable features in the park, the cascade.

It is really beautiful.

Be sure to take the Tranquility Trail all the way up to the top of the cascade and then turn right and hike farther back along the stream. Up here is the other awesome feature of the park, a cave!

We then walked along the road for a bit which followed a few streams and we saw one more cabin.

We hiked the Cascade Trail (orange-ish?) back up to the reservoir and crossed over the dam.

We then hiked up the Eagle Trail (blue) back to the car. This trail has a lot of steps!

While Saunders Springs is a smaller nature preserve, it is packed full of beauty. What is even better is almost all of the features are easily accessible without much hiking involved.

Also, side note, while driving to Saunders Springs you pass by Fort Knox!