Broke Leg Falls

Southeast of the Red River Gorge is a little town called West Liberty, Kentucky. It’s been over a decade ago that a devastating tornado ripped through the town, killing several people. At the time, I remember watching a video of the tornado climbing over the hillside and barreling towards town that a woman had taken from the local McDonald’s.

Broke Leg Falls is a little roadside county park right on the edge of town in a picture perfect gorge. This is one of those waterfalls that were part of the original dozen or so that were known or documented online in some fashion before I got into waterfalling. It was high on my list to visit, as this waterfall and the gorge above and below it were filled with a mature old growth hemlock forest that was just spectacular to see.

Unfortunately, I never made it to the falls before the tornado wreaked havoc on West Liberty. The picture above is my photo from maybe a week after the tornado hit. The place has started to regrow. My last visit was only a few months ago, and there are a lot of maple trees and other quick growing deciduous trees coming up all over now. The hemlocks are gone, probably forever, especially with the hemlock woolly adelgid that has now invaded them.

If you happen to be in the area, you can stop by and look from the overlook. You can cross the bridge and go down some concrete stairs to see the waterfall from below. You can even walk behind it in the rock shelter and come up a different way back to your car. At this point, I probably wouldn’t make a special trip, but if you happen to be in the area, it’s just a pull off on the side of the road and it’s well worth it.

The waterfall: Broke Leg Falls, Menifee County