Springtime in Kentucky – Part 1: Camp Nelson National Monument (and other fun things)

April 15-17, 2024

Another year of work travels has begun! A conference would be taking me to Lexington, Kentucky for a few days, and with my ever-obsessive travel researching, I realized five National Park Service units along with Kentucky’s tallest waterfall were in easy reach of Lexington. Constructed travel request was approved, and rental car, camping, and cave tours were booked!

I suppose I’ll start with a pre-gaming for the road trip. I took the opportunity to fly in and out of the Cheyenne airport, forgoing the ninety minute hectic jaunt down I-25 to Denver International Airport. My 6am flight out was a smooth eighteen minutes (the return journey is a whole other long story I’ll tell in a later post…), and the three hour layover worked to my advantage as I had backpacking permits for a later summer trip to nab. I sprung for a one-time United Club pass so I could relax in style. I am new to the airport lounge life, but I enjoyed the all-I-could-eat breakfast buffet, unlimited coffee, internet, and clean restrooms.

The conference flew by, and before I knew it I was headed back to Blue Grass Airport (Lexington’s little airport) off the clock and on vacation leave to pick up my rental car, a 2023 Toyota Camry I dubbed “My Georgia Peach” due to the Georgia license plate (fun fact, every time I’ve rented a car in the U.S. on a personal trip – ok, all two times – I’ve had Georgia plates). Before heading away from the city, I had one mission to accomplish: partying with Cocaine Bear.

Whoa, Heidi… what?

Yes, Cocaine Bear… you know, Pablo Escobear! Some may have seen the cheesy and unrealistic movie “bearing” (see what I did there?) the same name, but Cocaine Bear was an actual living, breathing bear in 1985 before she died of cardiac arrest from consuming many pounds of cocaine in the Georgia woods. Kentucky for Kentucky, a unique souvenir shop, purports having the taxidermied Cocaine Bear. In all honesty, the real Cocaine Bear was in varying states of decay when found, so there is no real Cocaine Bear stuffed anywhere supposedly according to other sources; however, that wasn’t about to stop me from going to see the bear, real or not!

Okay, now it was time to officially hit the road, get serious and down to business, and make my way along wide, open highways with torturously low speed limits to my 75th National Park Service unit, Camp Nelson National Monument!

The National Park Service is truly a wonder in the sense they manage a current 429 units that cover an insanely broad range of areas, states, topics, histories, and nature wonders. I am not one for war history outside of the WW2 era, and find battlefields to be not my cup of tea. But what is great is for every one of me that loves the fossil bed units, there’s someone who hates them and loves the battlefields. If anything, my quest to visit as many NPS units as I can has pushed me to visit and see things I normally never would have because it is not my fortay… which is where Camp Nelson comes into play.

Established as a national monument in October 2018 and located just twenty miles south of Lexington, Camp Nelson was created in 1863 as a Union supply depot during the Civil War. Camp Nelson then evolved into a large recruitment center for African-American soldiers and their families, and houses refugees as well. Only one original building remains on site, the Oliver Perry House. Five miles of hiking/walking trails take you through old fortifications, entrenchments, and forts with interpretive signage.

First things first, naturally, are obtaining my passport stamp cancellations and buying some souvenirs (since I started with the #OnePostcard project and Postcrossing, postcards are added to my growing list of stuff I buy). After that I watched the brief park film, which introduced me to what Camp Nelson was all about before briefly wandering through the museum exhibits (which are nicely put together!).

After stashing my passport books and goodies in the car, I checked out the Oliver Perry House (“The White House”) and made sure to stand on the high point of the national monument to check that off on Peakbagger. Then I set out on the walking trails. I was thankful for the high winds, which kept the humid air moving. NPS has a good description of all the forts and entrenchments along the trail found here.

I branched off to into the trees above Hickman Creek on the Fort Jones Trail, and became stifled by the humid air and started melting. The overlooks were nothing dramatic (being from the Rocky Mountains and being able to for a hundred miles does that to someone), but I still enjoyed being among the trees, even as the sweat dripped off me.

Back up in the wind, I cranked out the rest of the hike, wandering past Fort Putnam before heading back to the car.

Overall, I hiked 3.45 miles and spent about two hours exploring Camp Nelson National Monument. Though I did not come away with a newfound passion for Civil War history, I still found a lot of value in my visit, and liked I could combine my love of being outdoors with a tour of the grounds.

With adventuring for the day done (well, NPS adventuring), I headed west for an hour to Lebanon, where I would be staying for the night. I was quite hungry by this point so I swung through McDonald’s for some chicken nuggies (consuming them in Tractor Supply parking lot), before heading to Walmart to purchase camping gas (I opted to bring backpacking meals and my JetBoil during the camping portion for dinners), bread, and pickles. You know, the essentials! This would be my final hotel night of the trip (or so I thought…), as I traded in some Hilton Honors points for a free room at the Hampton Inn in Lebanon. Time for some relaxation as tomorrow would bring two new NPS units!