This is an excellent tour and museum! We were on the fence about stopping here as we had a 6 hour trip home ahead of us. We are so happy we did and had to pull ourselves back to the car! We rode a train into an actual coal mine guided by a retired miner- very friendly and with personal stories of his childhood and time mining. The buildings that have been moved to the property from mining towns are also excellent. The children's museum is great for littles and the puzzle room there kept us parents and our older kids entertained. The blacksmith was there today and was another wealth of information. We spent 3 hours here! Highly recommended!
My family and I had an excellent time! We were very fortunate that the wildfire smoke was not bad and we had beautiful views. The tunnels and trestles made it such fun, though, that we would have enjoyed it even had the smoke been bad. Others have noted that the first tunnel is wet. I think it’s also worth mentioning that it is cold! They told us it’s in the 40s year round. You’re in the tunnel for over a mile, so make sure you have a jacket! We began the trail around 9:30 and ended about 1:30 with our 12, 10, and 7 year old boys.
I cannot say enough about how beautiful Hanging Lake is! The hike up is beautiful, but also decently steep. We took it slowly with our boys 11, 9, and 6. If you keep going up a bit from Hanhing Lake you get to Spouting Rock and can walk behind the waterfall. During times of Covid you need a reservation.
My family of 5 (my husband and I and 3 boys 10, 7, and 4) stopped here on our way south. It's beauitful! We went in early March- the weather was perfect and the crowds were low. We kayaked down the river (it took just over 2 hours). We saw turtles galore sunning themselves on logs, gar, a barred owl, and a manatee. The water is crystal clear and the scenery amazing. There are trails, too, but we didn't have time. We did see several people swimming in the spring and it looked great!