In early August, when we were planning our route and stops for the drive from Elkhart to Florida, we were hoping to spend about a week in both the Louisville and Lexington Kentucky areas. They were two places that we haven’t really taken the chance to explore. In Lexington, we knew the place to stay was the Kentucky Horse Park Campground. We’ve had so many other campers mention it over the years and the reviews were great. We didn’t have any strong recommendations for the Louisville area but we spotted Charlestown State Park about 20 miles from Louisville across the Ohio River in southern Indiana. We tend to enjoy camping in state parks and this one had good reviews. Even with planning 2 months in advance of these stops, we were not able to get a full week in Lexington - weekends being the issue. However Charlestown State Park had some availability over the weekends so we booked 10 nights there to cover 2 weekends and five nights at the Kentucky Horse Park. Not ideal, but we can work with it.
The drive from Columbus Indiana to Charlestown was only about 85 miles so we took our time getting on the road in order to not arrive too early. The campsites in this state park have 50 amp electric but no water or sewer on site. Since we were staying for 10 nights, we needed to dump our holding tanks and fill up our fresh water tank on the way in. That was unfortunate because just as I was finishing up those tasks, a storm rolled in and the skies opened up. Chris got her rain coat on and directed me into our site. Based on the weather app radar, we decided to let it pass by and do all the setup with dry conditions. We only had to wait half an hour and could level the rig, connect power and get the slides out. Our spot was only about 200 feet from one of the shower and restrooms so going for 10 days with our holding tanks shouldn’t be an issue.
The next day we decide to head into downtown Louisville to do the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory tour. Neither of us are big baseball fans, so this stop seemed a bit out of character for us. Had there only been a museum dedicated to baseball bats, we likely would have skipped this. But the fact there was a factory tour that to some limited degree involves woodworking, I was sold. We purchased tickets online for a fixed time slot. Since we are “old” ours only cost $15 per person but that’s only a $1 savings. I’d prefer to pay the extra buck and be 40 again! They offer tours every half hour or so and can take at least a couple dozen people on each one.
We discovered that the I-65 and I-265 bridges over the Ohio River are toll bridges. There are not toll booths. You’re either billed based on a photo of your license plate or from a valid transponder. Fortunately we have an E-Z Pass in the Jeep so it’s only $2.21 versus twice that for photo billing. There is a parking garage next door to the museum so finding parking wasn’t a problem. We didn’t run into much traffic for a Friday afternoon so we arrived a bit early. Out front is an exact-scale replica of a bat requested by Babe Ruth back in the early 1920’s. It’s 120 feet tall, 9 feet in diameter and weighs in at a whopping 68,000 pounds! It’s realistically painted to look like wood but is actually made of steel. Inside the lobby is a huge baseball glove and ball. I assumed it was some sort of bronze statue but is carved from limestone.
Chris Poses with Big Bat
Full Size View
Large Limestone Glove and Ball
We had our tickets ready on our phones to enter the museum but at no point did somebody really even look at them. Makes me wonder if I could have gotten an even bigger discount by not paying for tickets? We had some time to explore the museum before our scheduled tour. As I mentioned, we’re not baseball fans, so we were less in awe with many of the displays as other visitors. There is one section with a line of mostly kids waiting to hold the bat used by some famous player - think Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, etc… - and have their picture taken. There is also a replica display of the shop back in the late 1800’s. The on-site wood lathe was not being used so we couldn’t see a bat being made by hand. There is also an indoor batting cage that was firing balls like a major league pitcher. It wasn't clear whether visitors can actually try their luck at hitting a fastball but I wouldn't have been willing to attempt it. There are also lots of bats under glass used by famous players.
Selection of Bats from Famous Players
A Scene from the Early Shop
Johnny Bench Bats
They announced our tour was about to begin and we step into the tour entrance area. Our guide gives us a brief talk before we head into the factory. The key takeaway is “stay within the yellow lines”. We start out with a short video talking about the history of the business and where the lumber comes from to make these bats - 6500 acres in Pennsylvania and New York. Most of today’s bats are made from either white ash or maple, hickory used to be popular as well. Inside the production area are large bundles of round blanks. Each bundle contains over 320 wooden cylinders ready for turning into bats. There is a large case holding blanks and turned bats used by today’s pro players. There wasn’t a player’s name I recognized.
Large Bundles of Blanks
Some of Today's Pro Players Bat Choices
The next stop is the massive machine that turns all the bats for the pros. It was neat to see it in operation. The front panel is signed by a couple dozen players that have come to the factory.
Machine for Pro Bats Signed by Players
A Look Inside Turning Machine
Looking More Like Bats
Close-up of Machine at Work
Further along are a series of lathes that turn bats for the general public. They weren’t in operation as we went by even though they make about 3000 bats per day throughout the year with a spike to 5000 per day during the spring training season. This works out to about 1,800,000 bats per year, all made in this factory! It is possible to have a custom bat produced if you’re so inclined. There are carts full of nearly 400 bats each that have been turned and waiting for the next steps in production.
Examples of Custom Bats
Cart Full of Bats Waiting for Next Step
Another machine sands and drills out the end of the bats before moving to the finishing station. There are all sorts of ways the bats can be finished. A worker was taking bats off a cart, dipping them in some large tub of paint and hanging them on a slow moving rack where they go thru a drying station before being placed in plastic sleeves - ready for some baseball player. As we head out from the tour, we are all given a small mini-bat as a souvenir.
Bats on Conveyer Belt into Next Machine
Sample Bat Finishes
Sanding and End Cutter
Finishing Station
With the tour over, we walk around town to get a few of the more popular geocaches in the area. Most are virtual caches which means there is not a hidden container with a log book to sign but rather something to find that has a number or word that then gets emailed to the cache owner to prove we were there. One such cache was interesting because it took us on a rather extensive tour of town. At the starting point, we were directed to look in some direction at the reflection on one of the skyscrapers in town. We then needed to figure out which building we were seeing in the reflection, go to that building, stand at a particular point near the building and look for another reflection. It was rather challenging but fun.
Puzzle Horse?
Chris Sprouts Wings
Another cache type seldom found anymore is a webcam cache. The goal is to go to some location and get yourself in front of a webcam and grab a screenshot of you on the webcam. Nowadays, webcams are rather commonplace, but when these were created, that wasn’t the case. Plus back then, smart phones weren’t available. So in order to complete one, you would enlist the help of a friend. Your friend would pull up the webcam on their home computer and grab a screenshot when you got into position. There are fewer than 100 active webcams in the United States. The one we did should have been easy enough. Go to a specific address, on certain days of the week, between specific times to get your picture.
The problem was, we got to the address and found the building was being renovated. We could get in and wander around some of the floors but we were not finding the office we needed. We eventually figured out the the DMV office was what we wanted and it had moved a couple blocks away to another building. Even with that information, it took us awhile to find the office. This webcam only updates every 5 minutes or so and the place was rather busy. From previous webcam photos on the geocaching site, we were able to determine where the camera was so we could get in the frame. Then it was just a matter of waiting and refreshing the webcam page every now and then to get the required shot. With this out of the way, we were able to head back to camp.
Standing in Louisville DMV for Fun
The following day was a geocaching event in Clarksville Indiana - right across the Ohio River from Louisville. We have done nearly 100 events in the past 12 years of caching, but this one was going to be quite different for us. Called the “Falls of the Ohio Hike”, this event occurs annually and we heard about it years ago on a podcast we listen to. The hike is about 5 miles our so out and back with nearly no elevation gain. So it doesn’t really sound all that challenging. But the thing is, this hike is on the river bed of the Ohio River! It’s always sounded intriguing to me, but living in Rochester NY (600 miles away), we’ve never had the opportunity to attend. Our being in the area for this event was more luck than careful planning but regardless, I wanted to go. From the description of the event on the cache page, Chris wasn’t so sure she was willing to try it. Here are some excerpts of the description of the hike:
"This is an extreme hike, a six-mile round trip on reflective limestone, loose rock and soft sand. Six hours! A horizontal rock climb! Swift water crossings! Quick sand! Moonscape craters. Knee-deep wading! Potholes! Slippery! Mud flats! Sand dunes! Rock walls! Mesas! Caves! Wet boots! Blisters? You'll LOVE it!
You'll be walking BELOW the normal level of the upper river pool on an ancient seabed that can be 55-feet UNDER WATER at flood stage! A billion gallons of water are right...THERE! Just inches away!"
So I searched YouTube for some videos from past events and after we watched a few of them, we realized this was totally within the realm of our capabilities. Even Chris agreed. It would take some different planning to deal with the strong possibility of falling in the water, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We have water footwear and it looked like we should plan on using both of our hiking sticks - normally we each use one. Plus all our sensitive gear should be packed in plastic bags just in case. In order for this hike to be possible, several river conditions need to be met. First, the upper spillway gates must be closed. Next, one of the water level gauges needs to be at 12 feet or less. The couple weeks before the event, we would check every few days to see how likely the hike would be able to go on as planned. It wasn’t looking good since the one measurement was over 13 feet but the guy that runs the event posted that conditions were perfect.
We arrived at the event and about two dozen people showed up. Most of them were locals and many of them have done this hike in past years. A lot of them were only there for the actual event and not staying to do the hike again. It turned out even the guy running the event wasn’t going to come along. That concerned us a little bit but we had 10 of us newbies that were looking forward to giving it a try. With a few instructions we were off. There is a small path from the road level down to the river bed level. We roughly knew we needed to head over towards the spillway gates but it’s not like there are any trail markers to help find the way. Even though the weir dam holds back the bulk of the river, there was a large amount of water coming over the Indiana side of the dam. The raging water formed a rapid stream that we needed to get to the opposite side of. The 12 of us that started out together all seemed to pick different options. The spot we picked was 24 inches deep and flowing quite quickly but seemed the best spot to us.
Gathering for Event
Railroad Bridge Over Ohio River
Cannot Cross Here
Our Most Intense Water Crossing
It took some time before we all got across, and most of us were trying to stick together - safety in numbers. One group of 4 were younger and more sure footed, so they moved ahead without the rest of us so we were down to eight. It was a bit easier to make it across the small streams on our way to the spillway platform. There seems to be lots of slimy moss and algae on the rocky river bed floor which makes for very slick footing. The spillway platform is about 3 feet tall but there are rungs and handrails firmly attached to the concrete walls to getting up there wasn’t bad.
Heading Towards Spillway Gates
Climbing Ladder to Spillway Platform
I was surprised by how much water was coming thru the bottom of the spillway gates. It’s not clear whether they were open a bit or if they simply aren’t designed to completely block water flow. Either way, the water level on the concrete platform was only a couple inches deep and just having a flat surface to walk on regardless of how slippery it was made for easy going. On the far side of the platform we needed to find a way down. Fortunately there was one spot where the drop was only 18” and we all safely got down to the river bed.
Spillway Gate with Some Water Flow
Even though the footing was pretty good for this stretch of the hike, one still needs to be cautious of the deeper potholes that have formed. Much of the presently exposed river bed is also full of fossils. That’s not really our thing and with my main camera for this hike being the GoPro, getting good pictures wasn’t likely. By this point we had another two people turn back so then there were six. We had two more water crossing. The first was easy being 6 inches deep and not very much current. The other one was wider, deeper and pretty fast flow. It required more evaluation to determine where to cross. This is where the hiking sticks come in handy. Not simply for balance but by adjusting their length towards the high side of their range, we can use them as depth gauges. Better the stick drops down from the 1 foot deep water where I’m standing to a 3 foot deep hole where I had intended to place my next step.
Pock-marked Ohio River
Another Small Water Crossing
Another Swift Water Crossing
We were working well as a group to search for the handful of geocaches hidden along the way. Given the terrain and the fact that much of this area is covered with flowing water for extended lengths of time, it’s hard to imagine a container surviving, but many were. There was an old exposed dike that was starting to fall apart but still in reasonable shape. The cache supposedly hidden here was not spotted even after a lengthy search. The southern end of what’s called Goose Island is actually quite wooded. There is a 35 acre woods with some rather large trees. Several caches in this section seemed to be more like “normal” with the exception that they must be tethered to a tree so they don’t get swept away during floods.
Searching River Bed for Geocache
Old Dike Along the Way
As the group was walking thru these woods to the next cache, we came upon a section with lots of low weeds. Chris was concerned about getting poison ivy. She called out to the rest of us about not going thru the woods any further. I thought she said she was going to go back to the edge of the island and walk around to the following cache. It took the 5 of us a long time to find the cache Chris skipped, so I was anticipating her waiting for us as we came out of the woods to head to the next cache near the northern spillway. She was nowhere to be found. We looked and called out to her but got no response. At one point we all heard a siren and we all wondered if that meant the southern spillway gates were going to be opened. We were as far from them as is possible so that wouldn’t be a good thing. But the siren stopped and water levels didn’t seem to be changing so we assumed we were okay.
Even though cell coverage was good, there was no reason to call or text her since she had left her phone back at the rig for fear of damaging it from a fall in the water. Little did I realize she hadn’t said she was going back to the shore to come around and meet us. But she was going back to the first challenging crossing on the way back. She had even managed to flag down some kayakers and have them text me coordinates as to where I would find her. Of course my phone was all bundled up in my CamelBack and I never noticed the text.
I helped find the next cache and checked out the impressive flow from the northern spillway gates. The sound was almost deafening from the water crashing into the river and continuing downstream. There were several more caches in the woods that the others were going for but I said my goodbyes and started around the shore of Goose Island and eventually found Chris patiently waiting. We had a snack and then continued the slow walk back towards the car. What had been the first stream crossing was now the last one too. But now we were exhausted. I doubt the water level was any higher or the flow any stronger but it sure seemed like it. We made it safely back to the car and I texted the others that I had found Chris and we made it back safely so they wouldn’t worry about our outcome. It was a fun and challenging hike. I enjoyed it more than Chris but if I come back to do it again, I don’t think she will join me! I put together a video of some of the highlights. It includes a cool Google Earth view of our hike and shows what the area looks like in dry conditions like today was but also in various levels of flooding.
Spillway at Northern End of Island
Up Close to Spillway Discharge
Heading Back
Google Earth View of the Falls of Ohio Hike
Video of Highlights of Hike on Ohio River
The next day we needed to take it a bit easier but we didn’t need to be lazy. There are several trails within Charlestown State Park. Trails #3 and #7 can be combined into just over a 3 mile hike out to a place called Rose Island. Right along the banks of the Ohio River, this was a popular amusement park. Built in 1923, it was a popular place for people to come up until 1937. There was a golf course, swimming pool, restaurant, carousel, dance hall and hotel. Access was by steamboat out of Louisville. A massive flood in January of 1937 covered much of this region in water. Rose Island wasn’t spared and the damage was so extensive that it was never reopened after the flood waters receded. From the parking area, a paved road (for service vehicles only) goes down a steep grade to the island. We instead took Trail #3 through the woods. It’s a bit longer but less steep and a prettier walk. It comes back out to the paved road at Fourteen Mile Creek where an old bridge from 1912 has be relocated to allow visitors a route onto Rose Island.
Old Bridge Over 14 Mile Creek
Entrance to Rose Island
There is a 1 mile loop that wanders thru the old amusement park. Mother Nature has definitely claimed back much of history with just a few stone structures remaining. There are lots of interpretive signs explains the old foundations and which building was where. The swimming pool is still there but filled in with dirt. It was neat to explore and read about how popular the park was. After finishing the loop and getting back to the bridge, we opted to take the shorter but steeper road back to the car.
Remnant Stonework
Large Swimming Pool
View of Ohio River from Rose Island
Stone Columns Near Former Dock
The oldest active geocache in the state of Kentucky is located in a park in Louisville. We have found the oldest cache in 21 other states and tend to look for older caches in areas we stop at during our travels. Some of the oldest caches aren’t always in a scenic area, at least this one was placed in a large park - E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park - on the east side of Louisville. We head there and hike the 1.6 mile Goose Creek Nature Trail to find this 20 year old geocache.
Old Fence at Sawyer Park
There weren’t many more hiking trails in this park so we head a bit west to another one. Part of the draw of the second park is that it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who was most famous for the design of Central Park in NYC. Cherokee Park has quite a few trails including ones for mountain biking. We hadn’t come prepared for that but we could hike the 2.4 mile Scenic Loop Trail. This trail has a corresponding scenic loop drive so there is no set trailhead location. We parked on the west side near a pavilion on top of a hill. A family was flying a kite on the rather breezy day. The trail crosses the road multiple times but for much of the hike, we are in wooded areas that is quite nice. Just off the trail is a large statue of Daniel Boone.
Let's Go Fly a Kite
Garden in Bloom
Daniel Boone
There were several geocaches along the way that took us off the main trail into other areas. Plus there were statues and an interesting pavilion as we continued around the loop. The pavilion had a very tall sloped roof that formed the chimney for the 8 large charcoal grills. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and this peaceful park just outside downtown Louisville.
Large Pavilion
8 BBQ Grills
1904 Fountain
Close-up Showing Turtle
Viking Ship
We’re only about halfway through our stay in this area but still have lots more planned including a stop at the famous Churchill Downs but that will wait for the next post.
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