Great site at Koomer Ridge Campground

We got packed up and left our friends' house in Lexington at about 10:00am. We decided to backtrack a little bit because we wanted to see some more of Kentucky, and the Red River Gorge area in Daniel Boone National Forest was only an hour or so away.

I had read about a good National Forest campground called Koomer Ridge... so that's where we headed. And we wanted to get there fairly early in order to hopefully get a good site.

Most of the drive was on what they called a "mountain parkway"... seemed more like an Interstate highway, but without the traffic. I expect in the summer, this is a very busy road.

Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway.

Nice smooth road though, and Sherman was pretty happy driving it with the cruise control on.

When our exit came up, there was also a rest stop, and signs for the Natural Bridge State Resort Park. We looked it up on the internet, to find out that the campground there is actually closed for the season. Which is fine, because we weren't planning on staying there anyhow. And the chairlift that takes people up to the natural bridge is closed as well. Again, not a problem because there is a hiking trail that is only 3/4 of a mile long. We found an empty parking area near the trailhead.

Surprised that there was hardly anybody around. It's great exploring at this time of year! We can only imagine what a zoo it would be in the middle of summer. No thanks.

Crossing the suspension bridge.

There are several trails. We took the "Original" trail to the natural bridge.

History of the park.

A few informational signs along the way.

Lots of interesting rock. 

It's pretty easy to see that all of this was under water at some point.

A small cave.

Arrived at the natural bridge. Only two or three other people around.

Wow. It's pretty impressive.

They've built a kind of a narrow stairway in a crevice so you can get to the top. 

I'm impressed. No railings or barricades. Surprising!

The view from the chairlift, which is closed for the season.

Further on, we had a view of the bridge. Too bad the sun was facing the wrong way. Not very good lighting for a photo.

We took the Balanced Rock Trail to return to Sherman.

Looking back at where we had been.

As expected, there was a reason they called it Balanced Rock Trail!

By the time we made it back to Sherman, it was almost 2:00pm and we had only had a snack that we had brought with us on the hike. But I wanted to get to the campground fairly early to make sure we got a spot, so we waited until we got there to have lunch.

Drove about 7 miles (11 kms) further on to Koomer Ridge Campground. Stopped at the entrance pay station where it said that winter rates were in effect at $10 USD ($13.20 CAD) per night with no services. There was a camp host trailer there, but it didn't look like there was anybody around. We took a pay envelope with us, and went to check out the sites. 

There are 43 sites labeled "RV and Tent", and another 9 sites labeled "Tent Only". 

We're driving around, and there was nobody here! Got to near the end of the loop and there was one class B. We were only the second ones here! Very few sites that would be good for a rig any bigger than Sherman. In fact, there were only about five or six sites that were suitable for Sherman's size.

Sherman, parked up at site #34.

We paid for two nights. They've got a lot of hiking trails here, so we might even stay longer despite the cost. It's nice to be able to put your grill out and stay put for a little while. We can even ride the bikes around the campground.

And, there's hardly anybody here! It's great!

Playing some backgammon.

Yesterday's drive, 61 miles.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How about buzzing around the campground on something like this?!

Segway miniLite

And in Canada...

30% off Toys and Games