LAUREL CO., Ky. (LEX 18) — The twists, turns, and bumps in the Wildcat Offroad Park traverse a multitude of obstacles and terrain.
“This is the one you're committed,” said Dale Jackson, who works with park maintenance. Jackson began the climb up one of the steeper inclines in the park.
The Wildcat Offroad Park has provided these type of adventures since it opened for business in 2013.
“The two guys that own it, they had four-wheeled ever since they had been young,” Jackson said. “They came up with the idea one day of building a park and they, I don't think they realized that it would be as big as it is.”
The park trails have grown to total more than 100 miles on 2,000+ acres. Jackson knows these trails well. In fact, he helped build them.
“I brought the first dozer in and we started making trails down there where the store is,” he said. “I've been here since the beginning.”
One of the most popular trails in the park leads to an area known as ‘The Dome’ that sits high above I-75 and Wood Creek Lake.
“It's one of our highlights in the park. Everybody wants to come to the dome, and we call it the overlook,” Jackson said.
Another one of the neat areas here at the park is known as Area 51. This section hosts what's called the rock bouncer event. Every spring and fall, people from across the country come and race through a course all up and down a course built into the side of a steep hill.
“It's pretty amazing to watch them,” said Jackson. “Those guys have a lot of skill but they also have to be a little bit special to be able to do it.”
Tucked away deeper into the wooded trails, Jackson also pointed out one of the more recent attractions. It’s a rock overhang, and the side of the rock has been overtaken by hundreds of gnomes.
“About 2 years ago they started this one family started bringing them up here,” Jackson said. The area has since become affectionately known as ‘The Gnome Dome.’
“[The family] came back here in the spring and couldn't believe how many [gnomes] had been added to it.”
Like the gnomes on the rocks, visitors from around the country – and the world – continue to make the park a growing destination for off-road enjoyment.
