Fall trip to Kentucky

[kshayer]

We are planning a trip to Kentucky the first week in October. We want to visit the Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter, Kentucky Horse Park, Mammoth Cave and Land Between the Lakes. Would love suggestions on campgrounds and restaurants near those attractions, as well as anyplace else in Kentucky we shouldn't miss! Also, what can we expect for weather that time of year? Will it be crowded? Will we need campground reservations?

We like biking and kayaking. And we don't tow a car.

[rvnutts]

We are hoping to make a trip In September. We will be coming from Nashville to Kentucky Horse Park. We will take side trips on the way to visit Mamoth Cave and Abraham Lincoln birthplace. Once at Kentucky Horse Park, we also plan to visit the Ark. Then upward to Niagra Falls. Can hardly wait.

[Camper_Sue]

We stayed at Cave Country last year, VERY clean and great access to the highway and not that far from Mammoth Caves! Take a trip to Louisville if you have time, we toured the Louisville Slugger Museum, walk around and enjoy the shops etc. Oh and a great barbecue joint which is less than a 1/2 mile from the Cave Country campground is Bucky B's holy cow their food was amazing we went back several times lol

[Bob806]

Look into Natural Bridge SP. It's east of where you mention, but a great area to explore.

[one_strange_tex]

I too would recommend one of the bourbon distillery tours. With my background (and I don't mean consumption of alcohol), I found the description of the process very interesting.

We stayed at Cave Country RV Campground in Cave City and found it to be very nice and well run. If you are going to Mammoth Cave, be sure and reserve ahead of time if you intend to go on one of the more extended tours. I do recommend it as a site to see.

[TxGearhead]

Drive at least some of the Bluegrass Parkway. The horse farms are beautiful.
I would also do a tour of a couple distilleries. Makers Mark and Woodford Reserve. Beautiful grounds, interesting distilling process, and I think Woodford has a lunch available. Woodford also had a tasting room that had examples of different stages of the process.

[mkc]

kknowlton wrote:
KY Horse Park has a decent CG and I believe you get free or reduced admission to the park if you are staying in the CG.

Be sure to check the Horse Park calendar to make sure there aren't any large shows going on - those tend to overwhelm the campground with people using RVs while they stay for the show. It gets really crowded, there will be lots of unleashed dogs, high-speed golf carts, and what really turned us off was folks dumping grey water right on the sites. One rig even had a sewer hose connected and routed underneath, with things used to camouflage what they were doing. We alerted park management about the grey water and the hose but even with visits from the park police, the activities continued.

[RGar974417]

We stayed at Canal Campground in LBL.Very nice. They have hookups and many sites are right on the water.

[dewey02]

We stayed at Big Bone Lick state park when doing the Ark. nice campground, herd of buffalo, and interesting archaeology (site of ancient bison and mastadons).

The ark is very impressive. Enjoy your visit to KY. Very nice and friendly people here.
We are northerners and moved here permanently last year. Couldn't be happier!

[LindaAnn]

We went to Land Between the Lakes in October a number of years ago and stayed at Hillman Ferry campground...it was really nice and very pretty that time of the year. There are biking trails in the area.

We have not yet been to the Ark, but it is on our list to do this year!

[BJ_NW_Arkansas]

We stayed at Rising Star Casino RV Park in Rising Sun, IN while visiting the museum and the Ark. Thought it was about the best of what was available in the area, but it is about 20-30 miles from each.

[kknowlton]

KY Horse Park has a decent CG and I believe you get free or reduced admission to the park if you are staying in the CG. Land Between the Lakes (aka LBL) was one of our favorite camping vacations in past years; we especially liked Piney CG but there are several others that are really nice too. YES, you WILL need reservations! These are popular spots (especially LBL in the fall) and you are not likely to find a site just showing up. I might recommend renting a car in a few spots, though if the weather is fine, biking between CG and nearby point of interest is a possibility. A drive in the countryside around Paris, KY by the big thoroughbred farms is nice. Oh, don't miss Old Friends, a farm for retired thoroughbreds, in Georgetown - not far from KY Horse Park. Well worth at least a half day visit. (Allow a couple days for the Horse Park.)