TBT: Tri-State Peak - Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is located near Middlesboro, Kentucky where a narrow gap in the long ridge of Cumberland Mountain allowed relatively easy passage from the broad Powell River Valley of Virginia and Tennessee into the colonial frontier of Kentucky. Although it had been used by countless generations of  Native Americans, it wasn't discovered by Europeans until Thomas Walker reported on it in 1750. In 1775, Daniel Boone led a team of men that broadened the path into the Wilderness Road. Their work allowed wagons to finally head west toward the frontier.

The visitor center is located at an interchange on US 25E  between the Kentucky end of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel and Middlesboro. From the visitor center, drive 1.3 miles on Pinnacle View Road. Turn right onto Old Wilderness Road and then turn immediately right again into the large paved parking area. The parking area has five handicap accessible spaces, seven recreational vehicle spaces and over 40 passenger vehicle spaces.

The hike to Tri-State Peak and a pavilion marking the tripoint of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee is a 2.2 mile round trip. The first 0.5 miles is on the restored Wilderness Trail to Cumberland Gap. This wide path was the route of US25E until the tunnel was completed in 1996. The grade averages 8% on this section. The remaining 0.6 miles to the pavilion is on the Tri-State Peak Trail. This trail has an average 10% grade.

I visited the park in October 2011.

Wilderness Road Trail

Rock cut for the former highway

Indian Rock

Fall colors along the trail

Trail junction at Cumberland Gap

View from the trail

Daniel Boone's Trail marker

Remains of a Union munitions warehouse

Tri-State Peak pavilion

Virginia

Kentucky

Tennessee

State boundaries in concrete and stone

USGS reference marks the tripoint

Northern terminus of the Cumberland Trail

View of Middlesboro from the pavilion

Fall wildflowers

Fern Lake, water supply for Middlesboro

Entry to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is free.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/cuga.