Jefferson Memorial Forest — Attraction in Louisville

The Welcome Center is the perfect place to start your visit to Jefferson Memorial Forest. There are trail maps, public restrooms, souvenirs, insect repellent, and outdoor picnic tables in the shade. You can get trail recommendations from the very helpful staff. On Thursday, June 9, 2022, the temperature was 70 degrees with low humidity and bright, sunny skies. From the Welcome Center,I took the Yost Ridge Trail to the Mitchell Lake connector trail and the round trip was 3 to 3 1/2 miles or about 1 1/2 hours. This moderate trail was relatively easy to hike with up and down sections and not much traffic. I passed a couple with two dogs, six solo hikers, and a vacation bible study group. The lake is scenic and the day I visited, there were four canoes with kids learning to paddle. Near the lake, there are two picnic tables and a trash barrel. The trail is shaded the entire way. If you get the trail map at the Welcome Center, it's easy to know where you are on the trail. The forest and facility are quite clean. Ample free parking is available at the...

Great place to camp close to the city! Sites are spread apart nicely so you have some privacy. Port-a-potties were clean (considering that they are port-a-potties) and easy to walk to. Water spicket was easy to walk to. Hiking trails easy to get through from campsites. I loved our site (I think it was Family site #4). Our site was grassy and there was a nice bit of grass right across the road for our son to play on. The tent pad was in good shape with small pea gravel. There was a blue bird box on the fence across the road with a family of blue birds who would visit us at our site. In the woods we came across a black snake sunning on a log and a turtle. Birds and bird sounds were plentiful. It was just a beautiful place. One thing to note - planes do fly over from the airport. It not all the time and the height of the plane depends on the weather and such. Didn't bother us at all, but just wanted to throw that tidbit of info out as some people might...

Absolutely GORGEOUS property thats very well maintained. Its an honest oasis of nature and relaxation thats located mere minutes from the heart of Louisville and the trail systems here are to die for!! In addition to checking out the hiking trails available, i HAD to find out more about their campground as soon as i discovered there was 1 and, with a lot of patience, was finally able to get in for a night. The sites themselves were spread out nicely, offering each site ample privacy and, much like the rest of the forest, was maintained nicely. However, there wasnt any mention of ALL the airplane traffic youd be privy to -- usually in the wee hours of the morning, wwaaaay before the sun rises!!, and i found i wasnt able to go back to sleep as its literally nonstop. I finally set my timer for 10mim and counted planes heard in that time span andnit was 8. The time when...