Carter Caves State Park, Olive Hill, KY: 9-13 May 2018

We just got back from 5 day trip, 9-13 May 2018.  I will do the review of the Carter Caves State Park first for those that just want to learn about the location.  After that I will write about our experience.

Reserving the site:  I made the reservation through the "All Stays Camp & RV" mobile application using my Reserve America account with no issues.  We paid 33.00 a night.  

Travel to site:  From Frankfort, KY it was about a 2 hour drive.  The roads were all highway until exiting off I-64 East at Olive Hill.  For about 7 miles the road was a 2 lane curvy road.  Once you enter the park its a very curvy (about 2 miles) road to the campground.  Entering the campground was very easy with wide entrance.

Checking in:  Arrived at the campground on Wednesday at 1430,  check-in was 1400.  The campground had a sign that said you needed to stop at the store to check in prior to moving to designated spot.  Got a mirror tag and reservation tag at our site was already affixed to the site pole.  Check-in took no more than 5 min as no one was in front of us.  Check out is 1300.

Site:  Our site was 82, yeah same as Green River, which was on the left side backing up to the road.  This was a flat graveled site angled for easy backing into with minor leveling needed front to back.  The site had mature pine trees that kept the site shaded for most of the day.  The fire pit was full size with a really worn picnic table.

The site did not need any leveling from side to side.  Only the sites on the left side of the campground running along the road had septic so make sure you check your site information to see what is included.  The sites are nicely spaced apart to not feel jammed.  The campground had 50 amp service and the electric boxes were within close proximity of the site.  The water source was very far away for alternating sites. Our site needed 35 foot of hose to reach our trailer.  The septic connection was close to the trailer.  Water pressure was VERY low.  It was so weak that we had to fill up our fresh water tank and turn on the water pump to take showers.  The campground did not have an explanation for the low pressure.  

Dump Station:  One dump station exiting the campground.  We did not have to utilize it as we had septic.  However it did look like there could be a lengthy wait if you leave during busy time.  

Activities:  This park had something for everyone.  Putt-putt golf for $5.00 although it was a bit run down.  Hiking, ATV, biking, cave tours (guided and unguided), and horse back riding trails. There was a really nice 3 pool swimming complex down the hill from the campground.  There was a boat launch to Smoky Valley Lake but anything bigger than a John boat would be almost impossible to get to the water as the road down to the lake needs 4WD vehicle and parking was only available for 2 vehicles.  Locally there was a rafting outfitter that offered weekend trips but you will need to reserve well in advance Tygart's Creek Paddling

Facilities:  There was one bathhouse for the RV campers and another for the primitive campers.  The RV bathhouse was a bit run down, not really dirty just old.  It has several showers, latrines, and sinks. 

Welcome Center

Overall campground:  This was a great campground that was full of activities with nice location.  There was a nice breeze and it was really quiet and peaceful.  A limited supply store was on site that stayed open until 1930 daily.  There is no grocery story close so be sure to get what you need before getting off I-64.  Quiet time started at 2300 and for the most part everyone adhered to that policy.  The only noise that we heard on Fri night was a few kids that were still playing well after midnight.  I did not see any signs that prohibited the use of external fire wood.  The staff was friendly and there were host campers onsite to assist with issues.  We will definitely come back to this campsite.

Our Experience
This was our first trip where we had specific activities that we wanted to do at this park.  It was our first 5 day trip, the first one that we had septic connections, and the first time we used the fresh water tank and water pump.

Wednesday - Arriving on midday Wednesday is really nice as the campground had less than 10 occupants.  Set up was uneventful except we noticed the really low water pressure.  Jennifer had made pulled chicken BBQ and we just put it in the crock pot.  She took advantage of the down time to give our trailer a much needed washing.  Rest of the evening some reading and relaxing in the hammocks and a visit to the welcome center.

Wednesday

Thursday - Took a hike on the 3 Bridge Trail which was a great hike.  The Smokey Bridge was amazing and much bigger than we expected.  The trail was well shaded, thank goodness, as the temperature was in the low 80's.  Well marked trails with little to no underbrush.  The only animals we saw was deer, squirrels, a snake (unfortunately) and a raccoon.  There is a unique fox that is known to the community. She was very social and has started to depend on campers/visitors to feed her and her kits. 

Smokey Bridge                 

Ringed Neck Snake

Smokey Bridge from other direction

Fox                                            Fern Bridge                  Raven Bridge

They actually had a sign asking people not to feed her as they were trying to acclimate her back to night hunting and taking care of herself and kits.  Jennifer's favorite dinner...hot dogs over camp fire

Friday - We decided to put in a full days hike and did the 4Cs trail.  From the campground and back we clocked just shy of 9 miles over 5 hours.  Again the heat was up but almost all the trail was well shaded with no steep inclines.  Some really good rock formations, couple cool creeks, and 2 suspension bridges.
 

 

Dedicated rappelling section.  Bolts are prefixed

We would recommend a couple water backpacks and a few snacks.  They were actually running a half marathon on Saturday that included parts of this trail....No thank you, we will stick to hiking! Back at the trailer a shower and nap was in order and a big spaghetti dinner.

Saturday - We wanted to do a cave tour.  There are 2 offered guided this time of year.  After Memorial day there were more offered.  For those that wants to got it alone you can get same day permits explore a couple caves unguided.  We chose the Cascade tour as it was described as having good formations.  Our time was 1430 so we had some time to get in another attraction.  The Natural Bridge trail was a nice short hike and the formation was awesome. 

Natural Bridge

There was actually a wedding getting ready to happen when we exited. 

The cave tour cost was $10.00 each.  We had to drive to the cave entrance about 3 miles away.  The group was really big, about 80 people.  The distance was only about a mile and took about an hour. 

We felt sorry for our guide as he had a hard time talking over people who just didn't  care to hear about the cave...sad.  The temperature was about 50 degrees which was a great reprieve from the heat.  Some chicken and pasta for dinner and Jennifer enjoyed a campfire and I watched a movie "127 Hours".  My review

Sunday -  Jennifer finished washing the RV, a quick pack-up and was home by 1500 to our new storage location!  Let me tell you, that's a whole other story....If you have good storage, keep it!

Learning Tip: I was trying to verify if it was ok to use the water pump to augment a city water connection to increase pressure,  From all the research I did I gather that you should only use the pump when you have water in the fresh water tank.  So after the first day of low pressure issues I used the city connection to keep our fresh water tank full.  You can leave the pump on and it will only activate when water is being used

Campground rankings (best to worst) to date: #1 - Carter Caves, #2 Green River, #3 KY Horse Park

Next stop is Oklahoma City