4 Days at Carter Caves State Park in Eastern Kentucky - Day 2

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Three Bridges Trail at Carter Caves State Park, Kentucky

Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

This is the second post in a series for this trip. You can view links to the other posts at the bottom of this one.

On our second full day at Carter Caves State Park, we hiked Three Bridges Trail (3.5 miles), Horn Hollow Trail (1.5 miles), Natural Bridge Trail (0.5 miles), explored two self-guided caves on our own: Horn Hollow Cave and Laurel Cave, enjoyed seeing 4 of the park’s beautiful, naturally occurring bridges/arches, and grabbed lunch at the park’s restaurant, Tierney’s Cavern. All in, this we walked about 9 miles according to my Garmin tracker.

If you just want to skip to our adventure, scroll on; if you’re looking for some packing tips, here are our top gear recommendations for this trip. You can view more recommendations on our Ultimate Guide to Hiking Gear.

Comfortable hiking clothes - Our favorite options all come from REI. My favorite pants are prAna Halle and these are my favorite lightweight hiking t-shirts. Dustin has a couple of pairs of pants from prAna and the REI brand.

Light-weight raincoat - if there's a chance of rain, you won't regret bringing a lightweight waterproof jacket with you. My favorite is this GORE-TEX jacket, and it has seen many damp trails!
Hiking boots - Our current favorite brand is Oboz. Dustin has their Sawtooth model, and I have the Sapphire.
Hydration backpack - unless you are going for a very short hike, bringing water is a must. Dustin has a very old Camelbak circa 2000, and I have a new-ish one from Gregory that I have used on multiple hiking trips and love. While the Gregory Sula 16 is not currently available, here are some other options. We each have a 3-liter water bladder.
Headlight style flashlight - A headlight, like this one from REI that we each use, was a must for the self-guided cave tours. I’d also recommend bringing a small, bright hand-held for greater versatility.

Day 2: Hiking Three Bridges Trail, Horn Hollow Trail, Natural Bridge Trail and Self-Guided Cave Exploration of Horn Hollow Cave and Laurel Cave at Carter Caves State Park

three bridges trail at carter caves

After getting to bed really early the night before (8pm, don’t judge!), we decided to get an extra early start and swapped our plans with those for the following morning, opting for a 3.5 mile hike instead of a 2.5 mile one.

Three Bridges Trail begins near the Lodge. The trailhead isn’t hard to find but isn’t exactly straightforward either. If you pass the Lodge, the road turns into what looks like a cul-de-sac and the trailhead is straight ahead from there. There is additional parking up the hill from there.

Trailhead to Raven Bridge and Three Bridges Trail

Three Bridges Trail is named for the fact that you can access and view three of the park’s five natural bridges/arches from this trail. For those not interested in hiking 3.5 miles to see the three bridges, there are alternative and shorter ways to see each. Smoky Bridge can be accessed via an approximately 0.3 mile access point behind the Lodge; Raven Bridge can be accessed via the 0.7 mile Raven Bridge Trail (which we also did later in the week and allows for views of the bridge both above it and below it); and Fern Bridge is a bit more isolated but can be accessed from a connector trail near the cabins and a 0.4 mile-ish hike. All that to say, I’d highly recommend doing the full 3.5 mile hike for those able to do so!

Three Bridges Trail in Carter Caves State Park, KY

Raven Bridge from below on Three Bridges Trail in Carter Caves State Park, KY

Three Bridges Trail, after starting near the Lodge, loops around in a large circle, eventually passing near the Welcome Center before heading back uphill. This hike is one of the longer hikes and well worth the time and energy. Each of the natural bridges is enormous, beautiful, and a fascinating example of what nature can create with just enough time and the right balance of rock layers and wind and water erosion.

The hike was moderate to difficult, depending on someone’s point of view. It was fairly hilly, at times rocky, and had an elevation change of over 600 feet. We very much enjoyed the route. We completed the hike in 2 hours 15 minutes, which included plenty of stops to take in the scenery and take photos. Note: this path shares about 1.5 miles of its trail with the long trail in the park - the Carter Caves Cross Country Trail (or “4 Cs Trail”). When we did the 4Cs trail later in the week, we selected an alternative path so we didn’t double back through this section. You can read about that in our day 4 post.

lunch at tierney’s cavern

We decided to take a break from our packed food and had lunch at Tierney’s Cavern, located at the Lodge. The restaurant space is lodge meets casual dining and has large windows overlooking a planted patio and trees. We were one of 7-8 tables of diners on our Tuesday visit. We split fried green tomatoes for an appetizer and enjoyed the extra crunch of the cornmeal batter. For our entrees, Dustin had the Philly Cheesesteak with fries. The sandwich was good but nothing to write home about, and the fries were a hit. I got the fish tacos, which were very large portioned! The two flour tortillas were fried and each had a large piece of breaded white fish topped with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and a sauce. They were good but the fried tortillas were a bit much for my personal taste. The servers were friendly and attentive and it was a nice break from our in-cabin dining. We ended up returning for two more lunches on following days and discovered we really loved their club sandwich!

self-guided cave tours at carter caves state park

After lunch, it was time to go on the park’s two self-guided cave tours! In our experience, there aren’t all that many places that offer self-guided wild cave tours. (We’d done a self-guided tour in New Mexico at Carlsbad Caverns, but the place was literally a clear-cut path and the space was lit. Read about that here.)

In order to go on the self-guided cave tours, visitors are required to get a (free) permit from the Welcome Center so that they can keep tabs on everyone who goes in and ensure all permits are turned back in at the end of the day and no one gets injured or lost. Permits are available up until two hours before the Welcome Center closes. Cavers are also required to wear closed-toe shoes (I’d recommend hiking boots, ideally ones that cover your ankle), are required to bring their own flashlight (other than one on their cell phone), and must provide an emergency contact number from someone outside of the party. We brought our two headlamp lights (we like this one from REI) and a small hand-held flashlight and enjoyed the mix of both.

What is it like doing a self-guided cave hike, you might ask. Imagine a cave entrance. It is dark inside and you don’t know where it goes or what it’s like within. You take your headlight and step inside and start exploring. The two caves within this park are both tunnel caves in that you begin at one end and can go through until you exit at the other end. I’ll describe each in more depth below. All of this that I’m sharing with you is more info that we had when we decided to explore them.

The two self-guided caves are Horn Hollow and Laurel. Laurel is fully closed from September to April to accommodate the local bat population that hibernates there. We actually saw one small bat in that cave while we were there so I guess he was a late sleeper? Horn Hollow Cave is halfway along Horn Hollow Trail so we decided to hike to that one first.

horn hollow trail and a self-guided tour of horn hollow cave at carter caves

Horn Hollow Trail at Carter Caves State Park, KY

Horn Hollow Trail is 1.5 miles with the cave right in the middle of the distance. The trail was nice, wooded, and cut alongside creeks. There were very obvious signs at Horn Hollow Cave. The cave entrance at first looked small enough that I wasn’t sure I was up for the adventure. It really wasn’t that small but required a little stooping for the first bit. But ahead, I could see a larger space (still short-ish), rivulets of water across a stony cave floor, and what appeared to be a flowing creek beyond. The employee who gave us our permit told us there was water up to knee height in the caves due to rain over the past few months. With water visible right at the entrance, I was game to try going in a little, fully expecting to bail pretty quickly once the water got deeper. Wading through knee-high cold water didn’t sound fun especially considering that my hiking boots would be totally wet for the rest of our trip.

As we got in and started to get the lay of the land, we could see both sandy ground to the right and small flows of water to the left. We had to stoop most of our time in this particular cave but didn’t have to do anything remotely like crawling. We basically started following the sand, walking a few times in a few inches of water but avoiding the deeper sections. Eventually we got to an area that would require us to fully wade in to water that was at least ankle deep and around that time, we heard other visitors coming up from the other side of the cave, screaming about how cold the water was and splashing a bit. We decided to wait for them to come through to see how deep it got. It was fully up to their knees and so we decided to abort the final bit of the cave and turn around and go out the way we came in. I glanced at my watch to time how long we were inside this cave, and we were in there over 30 minutes, some of which was just standing around and taking in the sites and trying to determine the best route forward.

Horn Hollow Cave - an example of a pretty spider web, glistening with water and light from our flashlights

Looking up inside Horn Hollow Cave to a spot where surface water drips below ground

But first we got to a spot where we turned off our flashlights and enjoyed the pitch darkness. Afterwards, we completed the rest of the Horn Hollow Trail and then drove the short distance to Laurel Cave, right down the street. Other hikers who plan differently, hike from Laurel Cave through to the end and then up through Horn Hollow, then returning back through the same caves. The group we passed was doing this; however, because the deepest water in Horn Hollow is at the end closest to Laurel Cave, you have to be prepared to deal with that if you go through both.

self-guided exploration of laurel cave at carter caves

Laurel Cave has essentially no dedicated parking. There are a couple of pull-outs on the side of the main road in and out of the park, and we took the last one. The area is right along a creek and has a few picnic tables so attracts other visitors. If there is no parking right near Laurel Cave, visitors could park at the Welcome Center and walk back down the road (probably a bit under a mile) to the entrance to Laurel Cave. Laurel Cave is well labeled and is accessed by taking a bridge across the creek, climbing over and down a rocky section, and then the large entrance is right there.

Access point to Laurel Cave at Carter Caves State Park, KY

The entrance to Laurel Cave couldn’t be different than Horn Hollow Cave. Whereas the other was wet and low-ceilinged, Laurel Cave was tall and much drier. The entrance to Laurel Cave is strewn with large and small boulders and rocks and requires hiking across them carefully. After getting around the first corner, those rocks quickly disappear. From there, the fairly lengthy cave is generally tall and tunnel-like with narrow walls. But narrow as in a passageway, not anything that requires anything close to squeezing. This cave was absolutely, stunningly beautiful. The ceilings were far above and multi-tiered, having been eroded by water over the eons. There were lots of ‘cave diamonds’ growths and other glittering water droplets that made the cave all shimmery in the light of our flashlights. We spotted one bat nestled in to a solo slumber in this cave.

The floor eventually got quite narrow with a spot just about the width of a shoe to tred on fairly flat ground that became increasingly wet until it had several inches pooled along the ground. The walls arched out from there, so it didn’t feel like a narrow space for our bodies, just our footing. In spots where water was dripping with more force, there were deeper pools along the way. Eventually, we got to a few areas where the water was quite a bit deeper – at least mid-calf if not knee height.

Again, we had no interest in getting our shoes totally inundated with days left of hiking on our trip. Mine were waterproof, to a point, but were only a few inches over my ankle and getting them inundated with water on the inside sounded like a bad idea. So, we made do with some creative maneuvers, which included walking with one foot on either side of the water on the small, semi-slick ledges as well as putting our hands on one side to hold ourselves up as we balanced delicately along the other side. Success! We got to the end without falling in! At the cave exit, we had the choice to turn around and go back the way we came or find another way back to the car. Dustin’s vote was to go back through the cave, mine was to look for a path. Straddling slipper rocks to avoid water once was fine but I thought trying a second time was asking for trouble. Dustin spotted an unlabeled but clear path across the dry riverbank just outside of the cave exit that we followed. Eventually we were able to climb down to a parallel creek’s shore. We balanced on the river rocks to cross it, and got back to where we started right near our car. The route back from the cave was fairly short but required a little bit of guesswork on the right path to take since I don’t think it was truly an official path.

Upstream of the creek was this cool formation that the water streamed through

natural bridge trail at carter caves

Finally, to wrap up the day, we walked the half mile Natural Bridge Trail from right next to the Welcome Center. This path heads downhill to one of the multiple natural bridges (arches) in the park, goes through the arch itself, and then climbs atop the geologic wonder. From atop, you can gaze down through a large hole in the top that was visible from below, which was cool, and then the trail heads back up to the Welcome Center again. Having so many naturally forming arches in one park is really quite spectacular! This short walk was a great way to end a very active day!