Cumberland Gap - HELP!!! UPDATE - POST 14

[auger]

We are going to be taking a short trip into Kentucky at the end of May to visit Cumberland Falls
and would like to add a couple of days (June 1-3) to the end of the trip and go to Cumberland Gap Nat Hist Park.
We are homeschoolers, and DD is studying about the area right now in her history book.
So we would like to go see the area sights, hike some trails, and maybe do a cave tour.

I have looked for a place to stay without being stuck with a ridiculous drive into the park each day, but there doesn't seem to be much there.
The best review-wise appears to be Sleep Inn & Suites, Middlesboro.
The best dollar-wise seems to be the Days Inn, Middlesboro.
There are mixed reviews on the Days Inn; glowing reviews for Sleep Inn.

Has anyone here stayed at either hotel so you could give me advice?
Or if there is somewhere else better that won't break the bank, I am open to other suggestions.
I had tried to find a small cabin rental for reasonable, but couldn't find anything in the area.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! TIA!!

 

[peyjax]

Can not really help with hotel as we usually stay in and around Somerset near the lake. Part of the draw is driving around the area. Cumberland Falls is fun but can not see spending more than a day or two there.

I do recommend Big South Fork Scenic train ride. It is really neat for a history lesson. You go through old coal mining areas and it teaches you all about how the coal miners lived in the early to mid 1900's. You end in a state park that you walk around and it has demos set up everywhere about a coal miners life. It is very educational. The train ride is fun and the kids were really enthralled with it. I do believe it is about a 30 minute ride or so from cumberland falls.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I know this area well and it is part of my sales district for work.

The Sleep Inn is next to new and is the best option. It fills quickly though.

The Holiday Inn at the bottom of the hill is decent too, though their customer service leaves alot to be desired and you don't get the free paper there. This one also fills quickly.

The Days Inn was just branded as a Days Inn, used to be Cumberland Lodge or something like that, I would sleep in the Walmart parking lot first.

There are a couple of mom and pop motels too. The same with the Harrogate, TN side.

For staying further out, maybe try the lodge at the state park around Pineville, KY. It is about 15-20 minutes to Middlesboro. There is a Best Western in Barbourville, about 30 minutes out. Everything else is either in Corbin, Harlan, or deep into TN, all of which are about an hour away.

Restaurant choices are slim around there too, but a new Cracker Barrel opens May 21 in Middlesboro.

I actually commute 170 miles when I need to work there due to lack of choices, I would rather just sleep in my own bed.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Actually, cottage rental at the Pine Mountain State Park (the park Kydisneyfan alluded to) looks reasonable. For your stay, you can probably get a two bedroom cottage for about $120-$140/night for when you are going. It's beautiful up there, and it's only about a 20-30 minute drive to the Gap. The worst park of the trip is going up and down Pine Mountain.

Here is the link to the rates.

http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/pine-mountain/reservations/pine-mountain-rates.aspx

Oh, and the food there is great. In fact, on Easter, we met our in-laws there for Easter brunch. It's about an hour from my in-laws...but it's 2 1/2 hours from our house. We travelled over 300 miles round trip for Easter brunch.

 

[auger]

peyjax - Thanks for the info about the rail tour. I will look into that. As to our stay, we rented a cabin so we could do a lot of hiking on the trails. DD loves the outdoors. We also plan to ride horses and maybe go canoeing.

kydisneyfans - I appreciate the hotel reviews. I think I will stay away from the Days Inn if you say you would prefer your car to it!! Definitely glad to hear a CB will be opening. We love their food!

LadyBeBop - Thanks for the recommendation. I had looked into the cottage rental @ the State Park, but between the added cost of the lodging and the extra driving, I think I would prefer to just stay right in Middlesboro.

I appreciate the info from all of you. I think we will go ahead and stay at the Sleep Inn unless someone else chimes in with something better.

Looking for anymore recommendations on things to do in the area also.
TIA!!

 

[zebulont]

Hey,

My name is Zeb and I would like to suggest this Bed & Breakfast in Cumberland Gap: EdgeTrekker.com/asset/262

I work for an organization called Alliance for the Cumberlands that is working to help people explore the possibilities of travel in the Cumberland Plateau region, and we just launched Edge Trekker dot com on Friday. It's an awesome trip planner and I hope that it helps you discover more of what our region has to offer. There are a lot of opportunities here for travelers but the region isn't so good at promoting itself, so we are working to fill that information gap.

Let me know what you think and if my comment has been helpful.

Thanks

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Can't help with the lodging because we stopped at Cumberland Gap on the way to Gatlinburg. But I can tell you the cave tour was fabulous and very memorable. Our family likes to do cave tours and the one at Cumberland Gap was very unique because it has no electricity, everything you see is by flashlight. You can only do the tour with a guide and you must make advance reservations (I don't think they do walk ins). We were super lucky and my family was the only on the tour.

Have a great time -- that area of the country is beautiful!

 

[auger]

zebulont - thanks for the post, but we are not B&B type of people. Just no interest in that type of accomodations.

mom-to-2-princesses - Thanks for the review of the cave tour. That sounds like exactly the kind of "different" we're always looking for. And thanks for the heads-up about making a reservation!

We're now thinking about just driving over to the Gap area from our cabin @ CFalls. It's an hour & a half drive, but still cheaper than adding another hotel. We could go again on the day we check out of CFalls, if we didn't see/do everything the first day.
When finished @ CGap, we would head to Ohio and stop in Columbus for a couple of nights with the money saved on the CGap lodging.
That way we could go to the zoo and COSI before heading home.
Been trying to get there for months! (the zoo & COSI, that is - not home!! )

 

[tripletots]

I grew up in southwest VA in Lee County. Everyone always went to Middlesboro to the grocery store and to shop. My parents always took us to Kingsport, TN (other direction). Anyway it wasn't until 2009 that I we made the 8 hour trip back to Lee County and then to Middlesboro (through a cool tunnel in the mountain and welcomed by a KFC bucket and restaurant) to take a small hike up a small mountain to a Pinnacle that allows you to be in VA, TN and KY at various times. You can even put one foot in VA and one foot in KY at the same time. There's this really cool overlook, so you can see the town below.

 

[Mom_Rides]

Ah Middlesboro....my Kentucky home Spent a lot of time there when I was a kid, still have family there and ironically, considering how small town it is, my BFF comes from there as well. I still have family in the area but my beloved great great aunt passed away some 10 years ago and I haven't been back since then.

I have never stayed in any of the hotels but my BFF says the Sleep Inn is the best. Be sure to visit the Pinnacle! It is a nice little hike up the mountain and as indicated in a previous response, you can stand in KY and VA at the same time.

In Harrogate (just through the tunnel into Tennessee, near the Gap) is Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) and there is the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum. They have some neat pieces from Lincoln!

You can also visit Gap Cave (or what we call Cudjo's cave). This is part of the National Park now but when I was little, we used to go to a little shack on the road (before the tunnel was built) and get a pass and risk our lives crossing the road to enter the cave. The road has been closed since the tunnel opened and I believe you now hike up the road and enter into the cave that way. My great great grandfather used to play in the cave as a kid! My grandma even showed us some graffiti that he did in the cave when we went through once!

I hope you enjoy the area. We've been talking about taking a weekend trip there just so the kids can learn where our family came from and see all the cool things that I loved there when I was a kid. Enjoy!

 

[jomommy]

Can't help with the hotels, but wanted to say. . . Enjoy your trip!

I grew up a few miles away from Cumberland Falls and it's beautiful! When we go back to visit family, we always take our kids there!

I hope you're going during a full moon so that you can see the moon bow!!

 

[auger]

Just wanted to touch base and say THANKS!!! to everyone for all the advice.
We had a great trip, in spite of some really awful things that happened at our first accomodations.

We did a LOT of hiking at CFalls; LOVED Eagle Falls!!
Did a little swimming at the pool, and went horseback riding w/ Bill's Stables (loads of fun!!).

After CFalls, we headed to the Big South Fork Scenic RR and did the train ride to the mine camp. That was really neat, in spite of it being cold and rainy teh day we went.

From there, we headed over to CGap and went on the Gap Cave tour. We had the best guides and had a great time on the tour!
We did some hiking and went to the Pinnacle - what an awesome view!!!

Did not get the chance to hike to Tri-State Peak, because we were too pooped from all of the hiking we'd done all week.

We all want to go again to CFalls and CGap, so I am sure we'll do so at some point.

Thanks for the advice on the hotels at CGap.
We stayed at the Sleep Inn/Suites. IT WAS THE BEST!!! Wish it had had a pool, but other than that, we loved that hotel!!! And how convenient a location!! It was one of the better places we have stayed over the years.

Can't thank everyone enough for all the help!!

 

[MrsPete]

Cumberland Gap State Resort Park is on our "wanta do" list. Their cabins aren't such a bargain as the SC state parks, but they still look like a pretty good price. I want to schedule a visit to see the MoonBow.

 

[auger]

We missed the moonbow, unfortunately. They told us it sometimes shows a day or two earlier than they show dates for, but alas, no such luck for us.
Maybe next time we can get there on the proper dates for it.