Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: Michael Tygart Trail to Pruitt Fork (Blog Hike #1098)

Trail: Michael Tygart Trail
Hike Location: Greenbo Lake State Resort Park
Geographic Location: southwest of Greenup, KY (38.48497, -82.88413)
Length: 3 miles
Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)
Date Hiked: October 2025
Overview: A lakeside out-and-back to an old primitive campsite along Pruitt Fork.
Park Information: https://parks.ky.gov/explore/greenbo-lake-state-resort-park-7790
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming May 14, 2027)

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of US 23 and SR 1 in Greenup, take SR 1 south 7.6 miles to SR 1711 and turn right on SR 1711.  SR 1711 dead-ends at the park entrance.  Drive SR 1711 a total of 3 miles to reach the park's marina, then angle left on a one-lane road to reach the small trailhead parking area in another 0.1 miles.

The hike: Tucked in the hills and hollows of northeast Kentucky just a few miles from the Ohio River, Greenbo Lake State Resort Park owes its existence to a series of locally-organized meetings at the nearby Greenup Fish and Game Club in 1948.  The meetings built local support for the development of a recreational lake in the area, and the Greenbo Recreation Association was formed to handle the project in conjunction with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.  The name Greenbo comes from combining the names of Greenup and Boyd Counties, where the majority of the meeting attenders lived.  Land purchase was completed in 1954, and the park became a Kentucky state park in 1955.

            Today 300-acre Greenbo Lake remains the center of the park, but the park also features a full-service lodge, a 63-site developed campground, and a scuba area.  Greenbo Lake State Resort Park offers over 25 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riding, but most of the trails do not form manageable loops for dayhiking.  The hike described here is an out-and-back on the northern part of the 8.5 mile Michael Tygart Trail; it offers manageable terrain with nice lake views and a couple of other points of interest.

Marina trailhead

            From the rear of the parking area, pick up the Michael Tygart Trail as it crosses a small wooden footbridge and enters the woods.  A white mailbox at the trailhead contained trail maps when I came here.  The Michael Tygart Trail is marked with yellow paint blazes, and the large number of blazes make the map kind of unnecessary for this hike.  I always feel better carrying an ink-and-paper map, so I took one anyway.

Best Greenbo Lake view

            On the initial segment of trail the main channel of Greenbo Lake stays through the trees to the right, and just shy of 0.2 miles you reach a small open area that gives this hike's best lake view.  Leaves were just starting to change color when I came here in mid-October, but this park's mixture of oak and pine forest does not make for the best leaf-peeping at any time.  Past the lake view, the trail undulates with a large number of short and occasionally steep ups and downs.  These undulations combined with the large number of roots in the trail surface make the going slower than you might expect.

Hiking on rooty trail

            At 0.4 miles, the trail curves left to head around a lake inlet.  The steepest climb of this hike comes as you are exiting the inlet.  0.6 miles into the hike, a wooden sign marks a connector trail that heads uphill to the left.  This connector trail is also on the trail map, but it was sufficiently overgrown to make it unfindable on my visit.  Thus, I followed the yellow blazes to stay on the clear Michael Tygart Trail.

Hiking around a lake inlet

            At 0.75 miles, the trail curves left again to head up the Pruitt Fork inlet.  This inlet is a much larger inlet than the first one you circled, and it is shaped like a crooked finger with the crook going to the left/west.  More undulations bring you past the yellow carsonite post 1 mile marker to the head of the inlet at 1.35 miles.  A large slump block sits beside the trail here; it is the only significant rock feature on this hike.

Large slump block

            1.4 miles into the hike, you reach some old benches and a fire ring that might be an old primitive campsite.  The surroundings are very shrubby and unattractive, but the benches make nice places to sit and rest.  In another 0.1 miles, you pass the other end of the unfindable connector trail; this end is also signed but otherwise unfindable.

Old campsite

            Immediately after passing the connector trail, you reach an unbridged crossing of Pruitt Fork.  I did not bring my water shoes to wade the creek, so I turned around here and retraced my steps to the trailhead to complete the hike.  Within the next mile of the Michael Tygart Trail sits a boy scout camp and an old homestead if you feel like wading the creek and extending your hike.