Carter Caves State Resort Park, KY
The park is in the northeastern area of Kentucky, the Appalachian region. Area is beautiful, hilly with forests, rivers and lakes. The road into the campground was tricky in parts, Tom had no problem at all (easy peasy). There are hiking trails that can be accessed from the campground, a Welcome Center about a mile down the road, Lodge with nice restaurant (basic southern menu), swimming pool and access to the lake.
Campground sites are pretty tight but are leveled. Right now it is full, it’s Memorial Day weekend, so I’m not surprised. Interestingly, most people here are local, within 1-2 hours drive. We only saw a handful of out of state plates, met one couple from Seattle but all people met have been very friendly. Our neighbors, a local couple Cassie and Ron, rented a trailer that was delivered and setup in the campground. Pretty good deal!
We hiked the 3 Bridges trail, just 3.5 miles, but close to 800ft elevation gain. Trail was very nicely maintained, it went passed 3 natural bridges. We learned the difference between arch and bridge - it’s the presence of water! There’s a large section reserved for climbing and repelling, lots of smaller overhangs and caves along the way. I was thinking about Pat, Dave and Chris C., how much they would have enjoyed exploring these caves. There’s another bridge close to the Welcome Center, pretty spectacular as well. They do have cave tours, we opted out, seeing the bridges and small caves was plenty.
There was a golf outing as well at the Grayson Lake Resort State Park. The course was very nice, with plenty of hills, fun to drive with the golf car. I’m now a certified expert! Tom had a blast and we ended up playing with another gent and his daughter. Perfect day for golf.
The area is isolated, just small hamlets (not towns) along the way. We went through town of Grayson after golf and could not find a grocery store, though I’m sure there’s one. We saw lots of churches, fast food joints, but no groceries. We finally found surprising good place to eat, Hogs Trough, in a back of service station. I had pulled chicken sandwich (vegetarian choices are just not there…) and it was very good! I went for unsweetened tea, that sugar just gets to you after a while.
No bike trails around, it’s easy to bike around the campground and the park. There used to be a 9-hole golf course but it could not be maintained, so now it’s abandoned. You can bike the cart paths but to call these bike trails, it’s a stretch.
I do like that there are so many activities you can do without driving far or even leaving the grounds. Watching the evening parade of people walking with or without dogs, is entertaining enough. And of course, there are golf carts as well!
Now, we are ready to go and explore West Virginia!
