Hey there! Today we visit Hickory Knob State Park, a resort park! Not only is there a campground at this park there are cabins, restaurant and a motel. This park offers a lot to do and spans a large area. They have several hiking/biking trails, skeet shooting, archery and even a full 18 hole "championship" golf course. We didn't play any golf this day but we did hike one of the trails. We hiked the turkey ridge trail and even though it claims to be a hike/bike trail we wouldn't recommend biking on it! Two of the trails start near the entrance of the park and you can find parking at the "convention center' - the big red barn
The longest trail (over 7 miles!) in the park starts here also, there's a hiker kiosk at the start of that trail. The turkey ridge trail starts across the main road.
The trail starts off easy enough, there are a few ruts and gullies. It follows along the road for a little bit before turning in to the woods. There's not a lot of variety on this trail and with no views of the lake or really anything you're best to hike part (or all if you're up to it!) of one of the lake trails.
There are a few spots where you can see the golf course, but that's about the only view you'll get here..
Even though there's not a lot to this trail we did run across a few lizards and evidence of other wildlife. We even had an owl fly over us, he was too quick and we weren't able to get a picture though!!
This would be a great bike trail with just some work and maintenance. It has a few hills, but not too bad and it's not all roots you'd be riding over.
As always, don't forget to look up when on your hike!!
With so much to do this park has something for everyone and enough to keep you busy for days! Come check it out for the "resort feel" but still out in nature. Scroll down past this to see a few more
pictures from the park and as always, be sure to read the rest of this
blog to see our other state park adventures and then visit our website
to see the pictures in higher resolution and the ones that didn't make it
into the blog! Fine art prints are available for purchase at my site also. Be sure to connect with us on social media! All this can be found at our
site: http://www.centerlightstudios.com.
Hey there! Today we visit Calhoun Falls State Park! This is a large park with a lot to do, it has a large campground, several playgrounds, tennis, basketball courts, picnic areas/shelters, docks and a beach area. It does have a hiking trail as well, and of course, we hiked it! We'll dive right into the hike, then at the end of this post show you some of the other areas. You can get to the trail from one of the campground areas or from close to the tennis courts. There's no parking at the trail-head so if you can't find parking at the tennis courts you'll have to park further down and hike up to the trail-head. As you can see the trail winds through a good part of the park and skirts the lake in a few spots.
The trail states 1.75 miles but it's closer to 2 miles, there are a few hilly areas so it's an easy-moderate trail. You start and end at the same spot, but a little in to the trail you start the loop, you can go either way but the "official" path is to the left!
The trail itself it pretty well traveled and easy to follow, they have blue trail markers and a few signs in spots to help keep you on the right path. We didn't see any wildlife while on our hike but it did look like there were some deer tracks so be on the lookout and you may see some!
There are several foot bridges and stairs along the path, the bridges are holding up good but the stairs on the hills and some of the bridges are rotting out badly. It's best to avoid the stairs any chance you can, we about fell through one!
There are a few spots along the trail that give you a glimpse of the lake but you'll have to blaze your own trail to get to it, most of this trail is just going through the woods.
You can get to the trail from the campground, we didn't go to the campground so we're not sure how far it is, but it looks like just a small distance before you hit the loop. Just follow the signs!
Overall this is a nice trail, it doesn't spend much time by the lake but it has plenty of variety and vegetation. There are a few spots that could use some better markers, going up one area that looks like a road the trail actually splits off to the left, easy to miss if you're not paying attention! The trail eventually loops back and crosses the road further up so you could cut some of it out, just look for the trail picking back up to the right (There's a concrete pipe over the drain path along the "road" where you would go right) of the road. This is a great hike if you're visiting the park or camping here, just be sure to watch your step around the stairs and keep an eye out for a couple of large gullies along the trail if you have small children or pets.
After finishing the trail we checked out some of the other areas of the park! The facilities look nice and are mostly well kept up, this would be a great place for a picnic or just a day at the lake. They allow golf carts at this park as well, there's even a golf cart path to some parts of the park.
This is a great park and we see why it's so popular, out of the 4 parks that are in this area this one we liked the best. There is plenty to do and see, and even though the trail is mostly in the woods it still provided plenty of variety for some great pictures, too much for this post!! We were a little surprised at how large and popular this park is for some of it and the trail to not be maintained better than it was. It's not in dis-repair, but it's not in "tip top" shape. But overall just a few small things for a great park! Scroll down past this to see a few more pictures from the park and as always, be sure to read the rest of this blog to see our
other state park adventures and then visit our website to see the pictures in higher resolution and the ones that didn't make it into the blog! Fine
art prints are available for purchase at my site also. Be sure to connect
with us on social media! All this can be found at our site:
http://www.centerlightstudios.com.
