Almost the entire eastern length of Kentucky is taken up by the steep slopes, narrow valleys and sandstone cliffs of the unspoiled DANIEL BOONE NATIONAL FOREST . Few Americans can have been mythologized as much as Daniel Boone , said to have been one of Kentucky's earliest fur-trapping pioneers, in 1767. Perhaps the most famous legend tells of the time he was captured by Shawnee Indians and initiated as Sheltowee , or Big Turtle. Learning of their plans to attack pioneer communities, Big Turtle escaped just in time to warn the citizens of his own settlement at Boonesborough , southeast of Lexington. But all did not end happily ever after. Boone failed to legalize his land claims, and lost practically all of the land in Kentucky he had claimed for himself and his sponsors. The resultant animosity forced the ageing frontiersman to press further west to Missouri in 1798, where he died in 1820 aged 86.

Daniel Boone National Forest

• Daniel Boone National Forest

Explore Daniel Boone National Forest

• Natural Bridge
• Toward the southeast

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