Carter Caves State Resort Park is one of the most interesting state parks in Kentucky.

Along with 30 miles of hiking trails, there's RV and primitive camping, boating and fishing, rock climbing and rappelling, and many special events throughout the year.

And don't forget about those six caves for multiple types of guided tours.

We had a chance to go into one of them a little while back.

It's known as X-Cave and it was a really cool adventure.

Come along as we go spelunking at Carter Caves State Resort Park.

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ Paul, when was this park established and how did it all come to be?

So, the Kentucky Park System comes into existence in 1926.

Carter Caves by that time was actually a very, Carter Caves by that time was actually a very, very big tourism destination and doesn't become part of the Department of Parks until 1946.

There were several families who owned the property and they had all kind of met together and it was right after World War II and they just kind of, as a good service to the community, they sold the property to the Department of Parks and it became one of the Department of Parks.

And here we are today.

And here we are today.

The natural arches here in the park, tell me about those.

So, we boast five natural bridges here at Carter Caves State Resort Park, including what could be considered the largest natural bridge in the state of Kentucky, Smoky Bridge.

It is a geologic phenomenon.

I mean, it's this massive arch that you can go down and take a look at.

Natural Bridge is also, and we call it the Carter Caves Natural Bridge, but the Carter Caves Natural Bridge is one of the only ones in the eastern United States that supports a paved road over the top of it.

So, not only do you have that uniqueness of the caves in this area, but you also have all these arches.

So, Paul, this is literally the Bat Cave.

Tell me about what this is.

So, Bat Cave here at Carter Caves is one of the largest cave systems in Carter County.

This particular site is one of the most important sites in Kentucky and even in the eastern United States for what's called the Indiana bat.

It's a species that finds protection, finds warmth, finds kind of important to be together, and it's because of that that the habitat is so important for them.

But this type of bat is very prone to disturbance.

They don't like disturbance, and so that's why we're actually doing this outside of the gate, because this time of the year they're swarming, and they're starting to socialize, and they're starting to pack on that weight to get them through that hibernation season.

So, from those terms, it is both an important cave, geologically speaking, but most importantly for that Indiana bat.

So, given the sensitive nature of this, is this closed to the public?

Can people go in and see this?

Yeah, this is also a Kentucky State Nature Preserve, and what we have here is from Memorial Day to Labor Day, we take tours through this because the bats are not hibernating.

They're not roosting inside of there, so we're not impacting their habitat during that time.

But after Labor Day, of course, it starts that swarming season.

Most of the other caves that you come to, you've got lights, you've got a guide with you, there's paths, but this is not developed in any way, shape, or form.

So, for many people during that summertime period, it's kind of your first venture into wild caving, but after that Labor Day season, we don't even go in there.

When folks take those tours during that limited time during the year, will they see bats in there, or are they all out at that point?

Yeah, you'll have bats here year-round, and that's the case with all of our caves, but I will say, as the name might imply, I mean, our Bat Cave Tours, you almost assuredly are going to see bats, and not just the Indiana bats.

Throughout Kentucky, you find about 15 species that live in Kentucky year-round.

Seven of those are found here at Carter Caves, and you, on a tour, could potentially see many of those types of species of bats, big browns, little browns, tricolored bats, you know, you're going to see a lot of them.

Why is it so important to protect places like this?

Why do we need to be so careful?

This is a birthing colony for the species, so many of the species in the eastern United States are coming from here at Carter Caves.

So, from that standpoint, it's so incredibly important for us to make sure that, that habitat is here for them to be able to use every single year.

█ █ █ █ So, Paul, we've got other caves here in the park as well.

Tell me about where we are right now.

So, we're standing in front of X-Cave, and X-Cave is just one of our several commercial tours.

These are the lit, prepared trips that you can come through, really, year-round.

You can come and see these types of tours, but X-Cave is what I like to call our unique cave, and because of how it's formed, it really just creates a very, very unique formation within the cave, and that's what we feature on one of these cave tours.

So, the folks who come in for the tours, what do they get to experience when they're they're back here?

Over the past, you know, 30, 40 years, we've tried to focus in on the science behind it, how these things are formed, why you get such beautiful formations.

So, if you come here, that's what you're going to see a lot of.

You're going to hopefully learn a little bit, but more importantly, you're going to make that connection with the resource and hopefully have a better appreciation of it than when you came.

Well, we'd love to check it.

Can we take a look?

We absolutely can.

Let's do it.

You lead the way, boss.

So, this was my first time to Carter Caves State Park, and I was already impressed by what I'd seen above ground, but when it came time to go subterranean, I was blown away by how gorgeous the actual cave proved to be.

The caves are so unique to this area.

You can go into one a hundred different times, and if you really pay attention to what you're seeing, you're going to see something every single time that's going to be different.

Well, the caves have been amazing today, and thanks for showing us around and letting us take a look.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.