Moving on through Kentucky

We moved 120-miles northeast to visit Paintsville Lake State Park in Staffordsville, Kentucky.

Featured in this Blog you will find the following areas:
⭐ Paintsville State Park and Campground
⭐ Mountain Home Place
⭐ Paintsville Lake
⭐ Grayson Lake – Clifty Creek Boat Ramp
⭐ Dawkins Line Rail Trail [Multi-Use]
⭐ Prestonburg Passage Rail Trail [Multi-Use]
⭐ Jenny Wiley Falls [Hike]
⭐ Wild/Free Roaming Horses – Possible Elk
⭐ Loretta Lynn’s Homestead [a museum of sorts]

Paintsville Lake State Park

Camping

With steep cliffs and wooded coves along the shoreline, this state park in eastern Kentucky provides 1,140 acres for boating, skiing and fishing,

The Facts: 

• 32 full-service RV sites
• 10-walk in tent sites nestled in the forest
• Picnic Shelters
• Playground
• Swimming shore
• Restrooms
• Laundry Rooms

This small but mighty campground is located next to the busy marina and boat launch.  We immediately recognized how popular this area was to locals for swimming, fishing from shore, launching motor boats, kayaking, picnics and general playground horsing around.  We enjoyed our 7-night stay WITHOUT cell service or wifi.  There are random spots along the shore or up the hill at the Visitor Center where you are able to access some cell service but for the most part you are out of communication.  For us, this was both refreshing and frustrating.

Mountain Home Place

Located adjacent to the State Park and within walking distance is The Mountain HomePlace, an 1850’s working farm that sits on 27 acres. It features the McKenzie double-pen cabin, one-room schoolhouse, the old Fish Trap United Baptist Church, a blacksmith shop, and a barn with farm animals.

One morning we woke up to a thick blanket of fog. Mike was confident that this natural effect would provide for interesting photography so he headed off to the Homestead about 1-mile from camp. He doesn’t normally shoot in black and white, but I’m a fan of these shot. What do you think?

Paddle Trips

Paintsville Lake

We carried our boats from the campsite about a couple hundred feet to the shoreline and launched for a 10-mile paddle around the cypress island and following shorelines with cliffs and entering coves for enjoyment.  Because it was a weekday, the motorboats were limited, which made it especially enjoyable for us.  We briefly saw an otter and a juvenile eagle.  Otherwise, it was blue sky, a few clouds for effect and a slight breeze for a challenging paddle back.

Grayson Lake – Clifty Creek Boat Ramp

This paddle was highly recommended to us from an acquaintance at the park.  About 50-minutes away from camp is Grayson Lake State Park. Just past the entrance on your left is the entrance to Clifty Creek Boat Ramp. He tried to explain the views and what the Grotto was but we had no idea how great of a place this was until we did.  First, Clifty Creek is lined with 100-foot high rocky cliffs.  The cliffs have colors and various stone features that make them awesome. 

From the ramp you go right, and the trip started with a small waterfall that we paddled up to about a half mile in. At about the 2-mile mark we paddled down a wide cove that narrows at the end. We could hear a large waterfall but weren’t able to see it. [NOTE: If you access our Instagram @nspiredadventures you will be able to locate the video].

At the end of the cove, you paddle behind a large rock boulder in front of a rocky high cliff wall.  The passage is short and narrow, just wide enough for our kayaks to slide through.  We use our paddles to keep from hitting the rocks.  It gets a little dark for a short while and then it open back up to a narrow high wall cove with a three tier waterfall at the end.  We are the only people here and so we just sat in our kayaks and soak up the serenity of the moment. What a great find.  One of a kind experience.

There are somethings you must see for yourself to appreciate its true grandeur. Mike did his best to capture the beauty in pictures in a moving boat. 

The Grotto was magnificent but all along the creek there was beauty to behold.

Biking

Dawkins Line Rail Trail

This rural rail trail offers 36-miles of smooth newly paved trail stretching from Hagerhill to Evanston passing through valleys and small towns.

We biked the 21-miles from Jenny Creek Trailhead in Hagerhill to Royalton passing through the Gun Creek Tunnel and stopping just short of the closed Tip Top Tunnel.  In hindsight, at this 21-mile mark we should have continued the additional 4-miles to Tip Top Tunnel but we were becoming somewhat discouraged with the lack of trailside views. A lot of it passed through poverty ridden sections and we had been chased by dogs several times. There were no intermittent stops for refreshments along the way, which makes a trail much more enjoyable especially when the day is warm.  So we hung it up just past Royalton (nothing to see there) and headed back so we could stop at the Griffith Family Farm Store for something to eat and drink. 

We were pleasantly surprised by this family farm store.  The outside is new and fresh with nostalgic features/decorations, live plants for sale make the outside porch and rocking chairs inviting, inside the folks were extremely friendly and accommodating with a host of yummy options for refueling.  Fresh made sandwiches, cold drinks, local chips, candies and the list goes on.  We opted for the Chicken Salad Sandwich, chips and a local cold soda to enjoy on the porch at a shaded picnic table.  Luckily, after that relaxing reprieve we only had a few miles to our car.

To sum it up, we had a great workout with the mileage and the tunnel was a novelty but the trail itself leaves a little to be desired.  The Griffith Family Farm Store definitely enhanced our experience.  As far as trail users, the only other humans we saw on the trail were a couple of bicyclists that were starting  at the store as we were finishing up. 

In closing, if you like to ride Rail Trails like we do, give it a try.  If nothing else, you will be able to get in a great workout. 

Stats:

🚲 Started at :  Jenny Creek Trailhead, Hagerhill
KY Route 825 between Jenny’s Creek Road and Johnson’s Branch,
Hagerhill; 37.7850, -82.8362

🚲 Turned back at Royalton
(suggest going the additional 4-ish miles to the (closed) Tip Top Tunnel)

🚲 Stops along the way:  Griffith Family Farms Store, 8055 KY RT 825,
Paintsville KY 41240

Prestonburg Passage Rail Trail

This is a short but mighty Rail Trail that runs 8.6-miles from Prestonburg’s Archer Park to the coal camp community of David, Kentucky.

In comparison to the Dawkins Line Rail Trail this is, by far, (in our opinion) much more enjoyable.  Although it’s only 8.6 miles one way the scenery is spectacular with quaint farm homes and wide open spaces along the way.  Being spring, the flowers were at the height of fragrance mode and the smells were delightful.  Like Dawkins, this one is paved but with an added artistic flair with the hand painted trail markers at every mile. This added touch enhanced the beauty of the trail. 

Just as you cross the only road into David there is a Dairy Bar with gazebo seating trailside for you to enjoy a freshly made sandwich or a cold ice cream in quaint surroundings.  The tail finished just 1-mile past the Dairy Bar so we passed, went to the end to see the DAVID sign and turned around to enjoy an ice- cream sundae in the shaded gazebo on this particularly warm afternoon.

To round out the day, we finished at the actual start of the trail just past Archer Park and then did the entire trail again to finish round out the day with a 35-mile day.  In all that time we only saw 4 humans on the trail all on foot.  It was a magnificent adventure and we would highly recommend it. 

We were looking for a brewery to finish our day but all those were about 1-hour away so we settled on the Brickhouse for a late afternoon “linner” and local brew.  Although we weren’t thrilled with our choice of seating (we would have preferred the bar area but were already seated in the dark dining room), the service was excellent, the food was tasty and our pick of Broken Throne’s Creamsicle brew was ‘different’ but refreshing.

Stats:

🚲 Started at Archer Park
66 Archer Park Rd, Prestonsburg, KY 41653

🚲 Trail Ends at David, Kentucky
Total of 17.2 miles round trip (we did 2x for 34.5 miles)

🚲 Stops along the way: Eastern Kentucky Trails Dairy Bar 
Located at the intersection of Ky. 850 and Ky. 404 at David

Waterfalls, Horses and a Country Music Legend

Jenny Wiley Falls

We learned of this through a local at the campground and then we found it on All Trails as Jenny Wiley Falls.  It’s a short hike from a narrow road a few miles outside the park. 

The Falls and the trail were very nice, and we enjoyed the adventure.  The good news is that there was a survey crew in the area saying there were going to be some improvements to the deteriorating trail system.  In all, the entire trail was about 1-mile in total.  If you have the time, this is a nice way to get in some steps.

Wild [Free Roaming] Horses and Elk

Apparently, free roaming horses that then become wild is a thing in Kentucky. We learned that a small herd lived near the Paintsville-Prestonsburg-Combs Field Airport where there is an abandoned industrial park.  Another bonus was that “sometimes” you can spot elk (we weren’t lucky enough to see elk).

We picked an afternoon and drove over to the abandoned industrial park thinking that because of the time of day we likely wouldn’t see either horse nor elk.  WHAT LUCK🍀 The Horses were gathered in the shade of a overhang of one of the buildings.  WOW!  A couple immediately started walking towards us, likely trained that they would get treats from the humans.  We had a few cut up apples and for them.  Two of them were extremely friendly and got close for treats.  Others kept their distance.  But all in all it was a nice friendly encounter and as we were leaving another car was coming so they obviously get a lot of visitors and look well fed and well kept.

Loretta Lynn’s Homestead

Tucked into the hills of Eastern Kentucky is Country Music’s hallowed ground, Butcher Holler, the home place of Loretta Lynn.

We braved the small narrow curvy roads to Butcher Holler to see the Coal Miner’s Daughter humble beginnings.  

The $5 fee allows you to walk around the small cabin and view the various family photographs and memorabilia. Our “tour guide” is one of the cousins and he fondly recounted family memories and tales passed down by generations.

Don’t miss the Webb’s Grocery (Country Store) which is run by family to grab a souvenir or cold drink.

In Closing…..

We enjoyed our 7-night stay in Paintsville, Kentucky with two great biking adventures, two marvelous paddle adventures and a few others thrown in for flavor.

Stay tuned for lots of posts and more importantly….. photographs by James Frazier (aka Mike).

Dream Big….Travel Far….Live Well

Photography

Because of limited internet access, none of these photos have made it to our photography website yet, please check in at a later date or visit Nspired Eye Photography to see other areas around the United States.

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