How to Spend a Weekend at Kingdom Come State Park!
Spending a weekend at Kingdom Come State Park is full of fun, relaxation, breathtaking views, heart stopping uphill and downhill drives, family fun, hiking, and/or an escape from the real world.
Being on top of the world and look down on the valley. I loved watching the fog between the valley each day. As it burns off, it revels the valley below. (Top photo is the fog below.)
The Lake
As you drive into the park, you go up a hill which has this wonderful area overlooking the valley below to the right. It had a wedding going on the day that I went. Perfect for social distancing.
But to the left is parking for the little lake that has paddle boat for rent, a mini golf course in the hills, and ducks that want to be feed.
There is a little trail that goes around the lake and it is nice and easy except going across the dam as it was a bit wet when I went.
The dam is an earth dam. It also has a hiking trail that goes back into the forest if you want a bit longer of a hike.
The lake is crystal clear and a lot of people where fishing during the time that I spent at the park.
As the sun goes down, the lake is rippling with activity. If you look close, you can see the frogs eating the bugs and hear them talking to each other.
Log Rock
The Log Rock is very cool but you have to walk up a bunch of stairs to see it up close.
Depending on how tall you are, you can walk right under it.
It is possible to walk across but the drop would be very very bad fall.
But just past the log rock is this fantastic view of the valley below.
Picnic Areas and Views
Bullock Overlook is up the way from the camping area with an elevation of 2680 feet.
The view is amazing. The Park has several other outlooks and picnic areas and you rise to the top of the mountain.
Get Reservations in Advance
Kingdom Come State Park only has a limited number of camping spots. It is important to get a camping spot in advance. The website says that the park only has 4 sites with the ability to have 2 tents and 2 vehicles but I saw a few more. The current number is (606) 589-4138 for a privative site with bathrooms close to them for $14 currently. Note: the bathrooms do not have showers.
Ask for the site next to the lake. It is a small site, has a lot of people walking by, and the rest rooms are a bit far away but it is so nice to watch the ducks and the paddle boats on the water while at your site.
Brief History
John Fox Jr was a well know author born in Stony Point, Kentucky. He graduated from Harvard with a English degree and became a reporter in New York about 1883. He then turned to working as a war correspondent for Harper’s Weekly in Cuba.
During his time in Cuba, he joined Rough Riders and would fight along side of Theodore Roosevelt in Spanish-American War of 1898. Several years later, he was a war correspondent in the Russo-Japanese War.
But after 1904, he turned to working on fiction such as The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come which the park is named after and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine which put him in the top ten bestselling novels of 1903, 1904, 1908, and 1909. He wrote a few more but he died in 1919 of pneumonia. He is buried in Paris, Kentucky.
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