Hillmans Ferry

[jarhedhntr]

Anyone going to be in the LBL area over the Memorial Day weekend. My whole family will be down there from Friday to Sunday at least.

[quackrstackr]

Whole family as in including your brother?

I normally try to stay away from the lakes on holiday weekends but may have to make a road trip.

All you tourists drive us locals crazy..... :p :D

[PhilpotHunter]

yup, me too:D

[jarhedhntr]

Yup quack we will all be there. You should stop in and say hi.

[12 pointer]

do you guys have a place reserved? did you all know that they have set aside 20 spots now that can be reserved? my family and I have reserved a-20 for the 9th thru the 14th of june. the beach will be open and all of the kids will be there. thats when the kids like to go the most. there were only 4 spots out of the 20 open then and there were noe open memorial day weekend. we went the weekend of may 5 for three days and had a blast. they really got all cleaned up after the tornado except for the archery range which remains closed due to large trees still down in there. so looking forward to the next time we go. last trips pics.......... here is a link to the reservation website........
http://reserveusa.com/

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/12pointer/5619b2e7.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/12pointer/100_2332.jpg

[WBBP]

Mike: That is the quietest I have ever seen Adam :eek:

K

[12 pointer]

K, the first pic. is of adams buddy. the second is of Adam kicked back in the chair. I am sure he had just got done saying something though.:) :D

[jarhedhntr]

My parents called to reserve but there were none available. I think they are going down thursday and getting 2 or 3 spots. We will be down Friday. We usually are in the C area I think. It has been awhile since I was there.

[Xi Bowhunter]

Whole family as in including your brother?

I normally try to stay away from the lakes on holiday weekends but may have to make a road trip.

All you tourists drive us locals crazy..... :p :D

I was suprised, but we went to barkley last year on the 4th of july, and even with all the boats and people we still caught a limit of nice bass.

[jarhedhntr]

Well we are off. I am leaving work now, loading up the van and off to LBL. Everyone have a great weekend, stop in and see me if you are in the area.

[quackrstackr]

I was suprised, but we went to barkley last year on the 4th of july, and even with all the boats and people we still caught a limit of nice bass.

All the boat traffic bothers the fisherman more than it does the fish. I just don't like being in a situation on the water with people that can't walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone run a boat or jet ski.

WKB and myself went up a year ago this afternoon to do a little evening catfishing and within 30 minutes of launch, had seen a huge woman in the middle of the lake (and it was rough) on a jet ski with about an 8 to 10 month old infant on the seat in front of her.. and were nearly run over and swamped by a boat that was filled double it's rated capacity... I'm talking literal feet while we were stationary fishing.

I am actually quite surprised there aren't a lot more folks killed around here on holiday weekends than there are.

I'll probably wait until the crowds go home or at least go to an area and bowfish or something where the masses are not congregated.

[PhilpotHunter]

Hillmans was full, looks like we will be at Rushin Creek

[quackrstackr]

Snap!

Glad I didn't drive all the way up to Hillman's and call you from the gate then. :eek:

Rushing is quite a piece from there (closer to here though).:D

[jarhedhntr]

Well what a great weekend it turner out to be. We ended up in Rushing Creek and had a blast. We saw 2 Bald Eagles at Ft. Donaldson in TN. We also saw a doe and her fawn cross the road in front of us. When we got next to them the doe ran off but the fawn laid down right next to the road. I have some awesome pics of it. I will post some pics later on. It was great to meet plowboy and his wife. I hope all had a great weekend.

[quackrstackr]

I took the wife and kiddo for a drive up that way on Saturday, but I figured you guys were probably going full blast the first day. I had my Chesapeake with me too and he was pretty uncomfortable in the back of the truck because of the heat, so we didn't run around up there very long and turned back toward the house before we made it to Rushing.

Glad you guys had a good time. Sounds like there were a few fatalities in the area again this weekend.

[jarhedhntr]

That is sad to hear, I thought I was going to die when Philpots rollerskate was careening on gravel roads and through mud puddles:D . It was alot of fun, saw some cool things.

[PhilpotHunter]

That "rollerskate" got you places you wouldn't have ever seen, and next time you might just walk.:D

Really neat seeing all the old graveyards, and just cruising on all the old dirts ruts.

Warning to anyone planning on going to Rushing Creek though, beware the freakin skunks:eek:

[PhilpotHunter]

Hey Quak, I was worried you had come up to see us then couldn't get us on the cell. Reception for cingular up there is non-exsistant. Which is really horrible being as no one from work can get ahold of me. I really hate that you know:confused: :D

[corndogggy]

I don't understand why Hillmans has to be so crazy in regards to security and rules, especially regarding the check-in process. I have been to many campgrounds in both national parks and state parks and even privately owned places, and I have never seen anywhere come close to being as anal as Hillmans.

They have even called the state police for suspected drinking, which I can't complain about in itself, but while checking out the people they were there to see, an attorney that my wife worked with was checking out the interrogations and a trooper arrested him after he admitted that he had previously drank a beer... in Paducah... at 1 PM... and it was dark outside, was at least 9 PM.

I have been harassed by a college intern ranger guy there, he was claiming I was peeling out and taking off way too fast in my Jeep, almost taking out several little kids... which was just totally made up, especially considering that my jeep was a 4 cylinder on 33's and had not been regeared... it was all I could do to get that thing rolling, the clutch would slip even if I took off slow. This guy got all kamikaze on me, physically threatening me, threatening to call the law, sticking his finger in my face, threatening to have a surprise inspection of my campsite, and I really don't know why. I contacted his manager and gave her an ear full, I hope his sorry butt got fired.

I am tired of that place. Lake Barkley State Park is better, and more relaxed. There's no reason to be that uptight and slow. I go to the lake to relax, not to be harassed and to waste 30-40 minutes trying to check in. For the amount of time I can waste checking in, I can be at Barkley. It's not always like that, but if they're busy at all, it's rediculous, I've seen a half mile line there before.

[jarhedhntr]

I have never stayed at Barkley but we did drive through thier campground looking for the swimming hole. I seemed kinda hilly and all concrete to me. I saw one site a the back and bottom that was huge though.

[12 pointer]

I don't understand why Hillmans has to be so crazy in regards to security and rules, especially regarding the check-in process. I have been to many campgrounds in both national parks and state parks and even privately owned places, and I have never seen anywhere come close to being as anal as Hillmans.

They have even called the state police for suspected drinking, which I can't complain about in itself, but while checking out the people they were there to see, an attorney that my wife worked with was checking out the interrogations and a trooper arrested him after he admitted that he had previously drank a beer... in Paducah... at 1 PM... and it was dark outside, was at least 9 PM.

I have been harassed by a college intern ranger guy there, he was claiming I was peeling out and taking off way too fast in my Jeep, almost taking out several little kids... which was just totally made up, especially considering that my jeep was a 4 cylinder on 33's and had not been regeared... it was all I could do to get that thing rolling, the clutch would slip even if I took off slow. This guy got all kamikaze on me, physically threatening me, threatening to call the law, sticking his finger in my face, threatening to have a surprise inspection of my campsite, and I really don't know why. I contacted his manager and gave her an ear full, I hope his sorry butt got fired.

I am tired of that place. Lake Barkley State Park is better, and more relaxed. There's no reason to be that uptight and slow. I go to the lake to relax, not to be harassed and to waste 30-40 minutes trying to check in. For the amount of time I can waste checking in, I can be at Barkley. It's not always like that, but if they're busy at all, it's rediculous, I've seen a half mile line there before.Those are all the reasons tht I like i there myself. Exact reason that it is so popular. safer enviroment. just one's opinion here.:)

[quackrstackr]

Corndog, if you camp enough in the unregulated campgrounds in LBL you'll come to understand why they have that one the way they do.

Nothing like being kept up all night long by a bunch of drunken idiots with 150db music blaring and screaming obscenities that would make a sailor blush... and having your children scared to death by them.

It is what it is and is as nice as it is for a reason (if you're into that kind of campground).

There are plenty of other campgrounds in the area if you don't like the regulations.

I myself prefer the ones with fewer people and less "development". The drunk and disorderlies are nothing a couple of big guys with large clubs of firewood didn't...errrr.. I mean couldn't take care of. ;)

[corndogggy]

I just think that while I appreciate what they are attempting to do, they take it TOO far. I mean, the attorney who was arrested, no way did he even still have beer breath, much less be drunk. As for me and my jeep, I'm sorry, but I'm still confused about that, I didn't do any of that, and actually it would be near impossible for that vehicle to do what he said. As for the check-in procedures, it's mainly a matter of inefficiencies, they really don't have all that much information to collect, but they are really inefficient about it. It sometimes takes awhile even if you're by yourself. About the only other thing they want that's more than other places is your license plate number.

I will say that with the examples like I mentioned, if that guy was in fact publicly drunk and I was in fact raising hell in my jeep, sure, they're doing their job, and that's why people go there, but that's not the case.

I've camped at LBL often all my life and I've only had two weird encounters while camping down there. The first one was when me and some guys who work at a local outdoor store went camping at the bay right down from Hillmans where the drag boats are... is it Pisgah? Some guys from the Murray State Sigma Chi frat was down there, but they were way far away from us, that is until about 2 AM these girls drove in and drove right up to our tents, 10 feet away, then some guys came over to tell them where they were, except they hung out and talked for awhile, with the engines running and lights on bright, pointed right at our tents, and proceeded to cuss pretty wildly. The owner of the shop is pretty religious, and his family was there, so he got out of his tent and asked them to leave. Well, all hell broke loose. There was probably 12 of us, and we all got woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. The guys got all defensive and just kept threatening us, different groups of them kept walking over to us and talking crazy for another hour or two. In the end, all they did was steal the shop's banner the next morning. Strangely enough, the owners came from that frat and donate alot of money to it, which may have stopped after that. :cool:

Second weird experience was when I drove down an old logging road near the north welcome station and camped out on this secluded point. We were seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, had to use 4wd to get back there. Got up the next morning, and somebody had CHAINSAWED trees down in our paths. Luckily they were small enough that I could move them, but I was absolutely shocked that a chainsaw could be cutting down trees that close to us in the middle of the night and I never heard it.

The coolest place to camp at LBL is the islands off of Nickel Branch. Park at the boat ramp and canoe over to the islands, pretty much unlimited driftwood for fire, and hardly anybody else goes over there. There are rocks to fish off of, there is a nice clear area to pitch the tent, it's great.