Canal Campground, KY
Canal Campground is in the north side of Land Between the Lakes, which spans Tennessee and Kentucky. It was created in the 1940s and 1960s when Kentucky Dam across Tennessee River was created to manage repeated flooding, with Lake Barkley created in the 60s across Cumberland River. It became the largest inland peninsula and it’s now a National Recreational Area. When it was created, many families were displaced, it reminded me of Delaware Water Gap Recreational area, specifically around Blue Mountain and Crater Lakes.
Our site is water facing, with the trailer fully looking over the lake. There’s a lot of boat traffic, fishing boats, pontoon party boats and huge barges pushed by tug boats. It’s fun watching them go back and forth, but this results in some debris in the water. I’m reluctant to swim and it’s still not blazing hot.
While exploring the area, we found a golf course, and of course, Tom wanted to play. Very pretty course, well maintained, part of the Kentucky State Parks. I got to drive the golf cart!
There are not a lot of dedicated bike trails in the park, we went some miles south and had a great ride across Lake Barkley bridge, but the trail changed into single track lose gravel which felt too much like mountain biking trail to me and that was a hard “NO” on my part. I enjoy biking around the campground, it’s spread out with 6 loops and some hills to make it fun for the e-bike!.
The LBL Recreational Area has dedicated horse and mountain bike trails and then there’s Turkey Bay Off-Highway-Vehicle area http://landbetweenthelakes.us/seendo/trails/turkey-bay/, 2500 acres and 100 miles of trails. As you can imagine, Tom was absolutely excited to see it, we drove through it, but F350 is not a good vehicle to go off-roading. Consolation price was great home-made ice-cream and fudge (snickers and rocky road) at Hitching Post in Aurora
We met many nice people here, Jackie at the Wood-n-Wave Bicycles and Watersports where I rented a kayak and Tom had in-depth discussion of mountain bikes, Jimmie at Bikes and Moore, who adjusted Tom’s bike (was recommended by Jackie) and many others.
On one of our evening walks, Tom started asking about the boat one couple was putting on their trailer and next thing I know he’s on the boat. Talked about boats and camping and retirement.
Explored Grand Rivers, small town close to the campground. Reminds me of some of the Jersey shore towns, that are sleepy until Memorial Day and then all activities and crowds invade. There’s a nice little place for lunch, Craig’s Dairy, a shack really with great sandwiches and burgers and ice cream of course. The town has few lodgings, one or two restaurants, antique and gifts stores etc.
One notable thing is that so many visitors have golf carts to get around, you see them around the campground and the town.
We also spend time in Paducah, on the Ohio River, across from Illinois. The historic downtown is pretty, there’s a flood wall which has beautiful murals. The concrete wall is 3miles and the rest 9.25 miles of earthen levee. Sadly, the town was a stop on the Trail of Tears in 1838, that is commemorated along the river. We did have a great lunch at Doe’s Eat Place , basic southern food with lots of sweet tea.
This is the last long stay for us, next couple are shorter, 4-5 days. We are off to enjoy more campgrounds in Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland.
