Carter Caves State Park in Kentucky

Hiking Trails at Carter Caves State Park in Eastern Kentucky

We spent four full days (and five nights) at Carter Caves State Resort Park. We enjoyed all seven of the park’s hiking trails (about 14.5 miles in total), which varied in length from small connector trails up to 8.5 miles. We also hiked 2 of the 5 multi-use trails, exploring 4.5 miles out of 16.5 miles of those. We visited all 6 of the park’s natural bridges/arches, a significant amount to be housed so close together in one park! In addition to the hikes, the park has amazing caving options - from three guided cave tours to two self-guided options - and I’d recommend you check out our post on that if you’re interested. We really enjoyed the hikes at this park and would recommend others visit!

Exploring Guided and Self-Guided Caves at Carter Caves State Park in Eastern Kentucky

We spent four full days (and five nights) at Carter Caves State Resort Part and enjoyed five of the park’s caves during our visit. We took three guided tours, explored two caves entirely on our own as self-guided adventures, and didn’t do some of the more intense caving options. If you have time to do hiking and check out other aspects of the park like the multiple natural bridges/arches, I’d recommend you check out our other posts. If you want to learn just about the cave options, this post is for you! And it won’t disappoint: there are really awesome, unique cave options at Carter Caves State Park!

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

On our fourth day at Carter Caves State Park, we hiked the longest hiking trail at the park - Carter Caves Cross Country Trail (“4 Cs Trail"), though we amended our route a bit to avoid doubling back on a shared section of the trail with Three Bridges Trail. We created an equally long hike, clocking in at 8.5 miles. We also had an unexpected situation with one of our pups that ended well but was not exactly how we wanted to end our trip.

Adventures in Travel, Series: Carter Caves, KentuckyLindseyJune 29, 2024Carter Caves State Park in KentuckyComment

4 Days at Carter Caves State Park in Eastern Kentucky - Day 3

On our third day at Carter Caves State Park, we hiked Cave Branch Trail (3.1 miles); toured the historic Saltpeter Cave, which played a role in gunpowder production during the War of 1812, by lantern light; hiked Raven Bridge Trail to check out one of the park’s natural bridges/arches and looped back on part of Three Bridges Trail and Rockhouse Trail (1.5 miles).

Adventures in Travel, Series: Carter Caves, KentuckyLindseyJune 24, 2024Carter Caves State Park in KentuckyComment

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

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.

Adventures in Travel, Series: Carter Caves, KentuckyLindseyJune 16, 2024Carter Caves State Park in KentuckyComment

4 Days at Carter Caves State Park in Eastern Kentucky - Day 1

In addition to traveling to the park, getting settled in, and enjoying our first day of activities, we had several expected animal adventures. Keep reading for the tale! In the realm of adventuring, we toured two guided caves - Cascade Cave and X Cave, and hiked two trails, Box Canyon Trail and Mulligan’s Trail, the former of which is home to one of the five natural arches/bridges within the park.