Big Bone Lick

Help us scare away the evil spirits at Big Bone Lick State Park!  Bring all your little ghouls, ghosts, witches and skeletons to the park for our annual Halloween Spook-Fest, which runs October 20-24 and again October 27-31, 2010.

Campers at the park will be treated to Halloween games, crafts and special events.  Bring your scariest decorations for the campsite Halloween decoration contest.  Winners receive spook-fabulous prizes.  Bring a pumpkin and enter a traditional, no-pattern-allowed, pumpkin carving contest.

Special note: Be advised that the Spook-Fest has a scary/spooky setting and theme.  Parental discretion is advised.  Spook-Fest is open only to park visitors camping in the Big Bone campground.  Call 859-384-3522 for more information.

Big Bone Lick State Park in Boone County is hosting a fossil identification program and hike at 12 noon this Saturday and Sunday, September 25 & 26, 2010. 

The event includes a hike guided by the park naturalist along the Big Bone Trail.  You can bring fossils and other artifacts for scientists to identify.  The trail is smooth and handicap-accessible.

The Friends of Big Bone is holding an important meeting Thursday (8/26/2010) about the future of Big Bone Lick State Park.  The committee will sign up volunteers and plan upcoming events, including the annual "Bad to the Bone" Duathlon, Great Outdoor Weekend, Salt Festival, and renovation projects planned for the park. 

The group will also discuss plans to refurbish the Big Bone Nature Center and turn it into an interpretive center.  In 2006, the Kentucky General Assembly awarded $2.5 million to Big Bone Park for expansion of the park museum.  Most of the money has not yet been spent, so the state agreed to release the money for park upgrades instead.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Boone County Library main branch at 1786 Burlington Pike and is open to the public.

Friends of Big Bone is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote, preserve, research, and memorialize the history and prehistory of the Big Bone Lick Valley.

Story at NKY.com

Hiking is a healthy, low-impact activity that can help you lose weight.  For example, a 175-pound adult can burn 500 calories per hour with regular cross-country hiking, 580 calories/hour backpacking, and 625 calories/hour climbing hills! 

Fortunately, the Kentucky State Park system provides nearly 300 miles of hiking trails.  Along these Kentucky trails you may see waterfalls, lakes, caves, cliffs, natural bridges, age-old fossils, birds, deer, wild turkeys, and many other plants and animals.

Trail Shape is a free program from the Kentucky State Parks that will inspire you to discover these amazing Kentucky sights while getting or staying in shape!  To complete the Trail Shape program, you must hike 16 designated trails in a 1-year period.  The trails total nearly 40 miles and vary in length and terrain. 

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Big Bone Lick is a great place to visit.  The 512-acre Kentucky state park is recognized as the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology.  The U.S. Secretary of the Interior has also recognized Big Bone Lick as a National Natural Landmark.

Big Bone Lick is significant for its combination of salt springs and late Pleistocene bone beds.  Ancient creatures like the mammoth, mastodon, ground sloth and bison once roamed here through mineral springs and swamps, now grassy plains covered with trees and shrubs.  Your can learn the history of Big Bone Lick in a new museum with displays of fossilized bones and artifacts from the last 18,000 years.

The park features several nature trails, including the Outdoor Museum with Discovery Trail that includes a boardwalk around a marsh bog diorama with recreations of a woolly mammoth and other scavengers feeding on carcasses and skeletal remains.  The Discovery Trail winds through several habitats, including grassland, wetland and savanna, and is accessible to the physically-challenged.  A small bison herd is also maintained on-site.

There are 62 campsites with utility hookups, grills, swimming pool, playground, showers, rest rooms and laundry.  There is a 7.5-acre lake filled with largemouth bass, bluegill, and catfish for bank fishing.  An 18-hole miniature golf course includes a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.  Nearly 40 acres of picnic grounds with tables, grills and a playground are ideal for family outings.  Tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, softball fields, and horseshoe pits are available for the enjoyment of park visitors.

Things to Do at Big Bone Lick
Big Bone Events

Big Bone Lick State Park is hosting a weekend of pre-historic survival training with its “Lick the Wild: Survival Skills Weekend” on September 10-12, 2010.

Taught from a “no modern tools” perspective, these classes are designed to teach guests how to cope with various challenges when in survival situations.  Some of the skills and demonstrations include making a fire with a bow drill, weapons, flint-knapping and building a shelter.

Registration is required and limited to first-come, first-serve basis until all spots are filled.  E-mail todd.young@ky.gov or call (859) 384-3522 for information.  The cost is $75 per person, with group rates available.

Stomp in Big Bone Creek with park naturalist Todd Young to stay cool while learning about nature.  This Creek Stomping event is on Saturday July 3, 2010 from 12:00 pm -  2:30 pm. 

Caution: You will get wet, extremely wet.  Parents must accompany children, and registration is required.  Not recommended for young children.  Weather permitting.  To register and get more information about what to bring, please contact Todd Young at todd.young@ky.gov.

The Boone County Public Library is hosting a traveling exhibition about the famous explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.  The pair is best known for their cross-country expedition to the Pacific Ocean.  However, the explorers also visited Big Bone Lick in separate trips.

The exhibition titled “Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country” runs from July 1 through August 13, 2010.  It’s held at the Main Library at 1786 Burlington Pike, Burlington, KY.  The exhibit tells the story of Lewis & Clark’s 1804-1806 journey from the point of view of the Native Americans who lived along the route.

The exhibit has many special programs scheduled throughout July including a talk about Lewis and Clark visiting Big Bone Lick.  Stanley Hedeen, author of "Big Bone Lick: Cradle of American Paleontology," hosts the program at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 28, at the Main Library.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis to stop at Big Bone Lick to collect bones and send them back to Jefferson before meeting up with Clark in Louisville.  Unfortunately the bones were lost when the boats carrying them sank at Natchez, Mississippi.

Undeterred, Jefferson sent Clark to Big Bone Lick in 1807 to retrieve another set of bones.  In 1808, Jefferson finally received his long-awaited shipment and arranged 300 big bones on the floor in a room at the White House.  (source)

More Information

Ahoy, ye land lubbers!  Pirate Week is coming to Big Bone Lick State Park.  There will be pirate games and pirate crafts.  Find the captain’s lost treasure and return it for a special surprise!  Don’t forget to visit the pirate’s cove, pirate’s hideout, and the shipyard pub.

So set yer sails ya swabbies and have a swimmin’ good time.  Just be careful or the cap’n might make ye walk the plank!

Pirate Week festivities run from Wednesday, June 9 through Saturday, June 12, 2010, and are available only to campers in the Big Bone Lick Campground.

The Free Fishing Weekend on June 5-6, 2010 is a great time to gather some friends and head to Big Bone Lick State Park.  Enjoy the 7.5-acre lake, a stream stocked with trout, or visit the mighty Ohio River. 

Bait and year-round hunting and fishing permits are available at the park campground store.  A permit is not required to fish Kentucky waters during the Free Fishing Weekend.  Call 859-384-3522 for more information.