East Kentucky, that is. We loaded up the Datsun and headed to Carter County, in far eastern Kentucky and Carter Caves Kentucky State Park.
Carter County is named for Kentucky State Senator William Grayson Carter. Apparently the neighboring counties got too big and had to be redistricted and this new county was named after him. Kentucky has a ridiculously large number of counties for a state of its population. A tremendous amount of taxpayer money could be saved by consolidation. But that is not the subject of this post.
Carter Caves State Park is situated in the typically beautiful East Kentucky hills. It does have a number of caves (twenty), but they were all closed due to the corona pandemic. Actually, nearly all the park’s amenities were closed, including the canoe tours, swimming pool, playground, restaurant, and miniature golf course. Nevertheless, it was worth the trip.
Perhaps because so many of the family activities were not available, it wasn’t very crowded. All the hiking trails were open, and we were able to see lots of trees (lots), lots of big rocks (lots), and big rock bridges, which were as impressive as caves and much less claustrophobic.
We stayed in the motel in the park. It was the usual park motel room, with a deck that allowed us to listen to the birds sing, and one night, watch a deer eat. Deer are surprisingly noisy eaters.
I enjoy hiking the Kentucky woods, and had a great time. CVH was less pleased with the way the hills kept going up and down and up again.
