Maple Springs Trailhead — Attraction in Kentucky

How the national park service has kept these trails open to horses and their riders is beyond me. Almost zero riders follow the rules. They leave so much horse manure on ALL the trails I do not recommend visiting MCNP for hiking until the Rangers start to care about the trails north of the river. Not one ranger in the 2 whole weeks I was there set foot north of the river (80 miles of trail that is never tended to), and they rarely ever do. They say it has been an issue forever, and others I've spoken to say it is not only here, that almost zero riders follow the rules and move their horses manure off the trail... let alone 200' into the woods at any national park or shared hiking trail. It is sheer disrespect, on the part of the riders, towards the hard work that goes into creating maintaining a trail system. They don't care and never will. They actually pretend not to know the rules and they expect the hikers to follow the rules by giving the horses the right of way. Well, this hiker is done being polite to the most disrespectful, entitled and rude group of individuals I have ever met in my life. They are super nice to speak to, but they do not care about anything other than riding their horse. No care for what they leave behind. Thanks for the infection in my foot from all the manure packed into the mud. Plus when it rains hard all that manure washes into the creeks the backpackers have to get water from, and also washes into the longest cave system in the world, ruining the ecosystem and helping to kill off the bats that live down there too. I was appalled and very upset that I wasted my 2 weeks vacation on unmanaged trails with 20' wide manure/mud pits and about 130 piles of poop per mile. It is a health hazard. If it was human feces, the heath dept would have closed the place down long ago. The real kicker is, that even the places with signs that say "don't use trail when muddy" or "no horses beyond this point" are completely ignored. If the NPS placed Rangers strategically they could make a fortune in fines for the NPS to fix the trails and install much needed trail cameras and bridges. And more signs they can ignore that explain why to not ride thru people's campsites or down the back country campsite only trails, on the muddiest mornings after a night long down pour. But I truly believe they don't care. I spoke to many Rangers about the disrespect to the trail system that I paid to stay at and use and hike. Riders pay the park service not one penny and cost them thousands of hours...

Nice parking area, picnic tables, men's and women's restrooms and a few small trees. About 7 vehicle parking spots and about 5 horse-trailer parking spots. This is the only parking for Big Hollow North and South Loops. I imagine it can get crowded on a nice weekend. Maple Springs 1 mile trail is about 4ft wide relativily level...

The trailhead was clean and quiet. However, it was a long 45+ minute drive from the visitors center around the outside of the park due to ferry being out of service. Some of the trails were recently groomed while others need maintenance. Both of my campsites were on the smaller side but suitable for a 2...