Recently we had the pleasure of visiting Carter Cave State Resort Park. We were visiting family in Virginia and the park is about halfway between St. Louis and their house making for a perfect stopping point along the way. Carter Cave State Resort Park is located in Olive Hill, Kentucky near the West Virginia border. The park is a short drive off the highway, but is well-marked by signs. Margaret and her family had visited years ago, so we were excited to go back and explore the park.

As the name suggests, the park has a cave, and serves as a resort park. The road that leads you into the park stops off first at a welcome center, which has a gift shop, restrooms, the opportunity to sign up for ave tours, a place to mine gold, and a variety of trailheads. If you continue further up the road you reach the Lewis Caveland Lodge, which has rooms for visitors to stay in or a restaurant to dine at. The park also offers an opportunity for horseback riding, fishing, biking, camping, canoeing, hiking, mini-golf, swimming, kayaking, gem mining, birding, and playing at the playground, as well as caving. Visitors can go to some of the caves on their own, or participate in cave tours for more in-depth explorations. When we visited we went along a trail behind the visitor center and explored one of the arches. Although we would love to have spent more time exploring the park and hiking trails, we did enjoy Carter Cave State Resort Park and the opportunity to go for a short hike and see a natural arch.