Ben Hawes State Park

Golf is the name of the game at Ben Hawes in Owensboro, Kentucky's third-largest city, but visitors find a host of other recreation options at this 300-acre park.

Directions: Map to Ben Hawes State Park
Trail Map: Map of Ben Hawes Hiking Trails
Surface: Dirt, Rail Ties, Roots

Ben Hawes Web Site

Area Info

Update:
An ambitious plan to add a 50-site campground and a coal mine museum, plus make other improvements at Ben Hawes State Park, is still alive as part of a state six-year parks plan. More..

Trail info: This is a nice trail, it's a basic loop trail with winding trails and a few inclines. Tree roots are everywhere so be careful when walking. Also leaves will hide the trail and the roots. As you enter from the parking lot you will walk up what look like stairs made of railroad ties, this is slightly vigorous if your not in shape, you will know it soon. I recommend you stay straight on the trail, there is a small loop to the right but it was blocked by tree fall. Continue straight and you will come to a fork, either trail will loop pack to this point.

Birds you will see here: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Scarlet Tanager Eastern Wood-Pewee Red-winged Blackbird Indigo Bunting Brown-headed Cowbird Gray Catbird American Robin Northern Mockingbird Palm Warbler Mourning Dove Killdeer Eastern Kingbird Horned Lark Barn Swallow Blue Jay Song Sparrow Yellow-breasted Chat American Goldfinch Field Sparrow Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-eyed Vireo Red-tailed Hawk Veery Carolina Chickadee Common Yellowthroat Great Crested Flycatcher European Starling Carolina Wren Yellow-rumped Warbler Tennessee Warbler Acadian Flycatcher Northern Flicker Yellow-billed Cuckoo Northern Parula White-breasted Nuthatch Wood Thrush Chestnut-sided Warbler Nashville Warbler Rose-breasted Grosbeak Kentucky Warbler Summer Tanager American Redstart Bay-breasted Warbler Eastern Towhee Blue Grosbeak Blackpoll Warbler Barred Owl Cedar Waxwing Cape May Warbler Brown Thrasher Eastern Meadowlark Chipping Sparrow

Other Interesting Tidbits:
Haunted Woods :
A girl who was accused of witchcraft in the 18th century was burned at the stake in the woods. If your up there at night you can see her ghost walking and the light of the torches of the people who came to burn her.