Shanklin Creek - FS 158

Trail Overview

Shanklin Creek Road (FS 158) is a gravel forest service road through the center-east Kentucky section, Lake Barkley side, of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. The 158 comes off from the Energy Lake Road (FS 134) heading northeast, going to the southeast shorelines of the unnamed bay it rests on, with the greater Lake Barkley just to the East. The road is generally gentle, with clean gravel, tracking downhill along the ripples of the fading ridge, only having ruts formed from the active erosion, which has been attempted to be mended in the past, from the signs of fresh gravel. The biggest thrill of the road is the final hill, a mild grade with a larger erosion rut from top to bottom, ending at the shoreline turnaround. From the turnaround, riders can walk east out to the shoreline and get a great view of the US Route 68 Lake Barkley Bridge, this spot being the closest northern non-paved view of the bridge.

Photos of Shanklin Creek - FS 158

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Difficulty

Shanklin Road is given a base rating of 2/10, for having ruts with 12 inches or less of depth, and potential cobble-sized (10 inches or less) natural rock lying on the road, potential sections that fade to natural coarse gravel and dirt/clay mix, with potentially loose unpacked coarse gravel and sand at the bottom right before the shoreline. Full-size vehicles can traverse the trail; just be warned that the turnaround could be tight, and there are low-hanging and tight trees. Difficulty could increase in wet conditions, heavy use, or a lack of maintenance.

History

In 1932, the Henry R. Lawrence Memorial Bridge was constructed, crossing the Cumberland River, named after the 1933 deceased Kentucky Speaker of the House of the same name. The bridge took tolls up to 1945, and between 1962-1963 was temporarily closed to be rehabilitated, and raised 10.5 feet for the future use of Lake Barkley; a temporary ferry was used in its place during this time. The lake project came to completion in 1966 when TVA finished Barkley Dam and impounded the water. This bridge served the area until the winter of 2018 (being demolished in April) when the new Lake Barkley Bridge was finished in February 2018 to take its place, just north/downstream from the original bridge. The name of FS 158 comes from the Shanklin Creek running into the west end of the unnamed bay that the road rests on. The history of the roads FS 154-158 is all connected in one way, that being the old Kentucky Road 289, which historically ran right along the bottom of the eastern ridges of LBL or the western shore of Lake Barkley, connecting all the old county roads that either became or were replaced with FS roads. These roads connected to the old 289 at roughly 25-200 feet in the water from the modern shoreline. The south end of old 289 started at the US Route 68 and Kentucky Route 80, at 36.80202, -87.98454, going north all the way to the Crossroad Church (FS 123), which completely rests on the old 289 track, and hosts its northern endpoint, at 37.01368, -88.09205. The old Crooked Creek Bridge, part of old 289, can still be seen in the winter pool at the end of the FS 154. Documented by Christopher Menz, 10/25.

Technical Rating

Shanklin Creek - FS 158 can be accessed by the following ride types:

• High-Clearance 4x4
• SUV