As with Natural Falls State Park we are staying two nights at Robbers Cave State Park. We spend a couple of days hiking and avoiding crowds. We take the trails less traveled which is just about all the trails except the one directly to Robbers Cave itself. It was here that various outlaws would hide in the 1870’s and 1880’s. This included Jessie James.
The trails are poorly marked and the maps are drawn with the same skill level. Thus figuring out where a trail heads takes some guesswork.
It’s at this state park where we see how differently each state park is managing this crisis. At Natural Falls the bathroom in the campground was open while other campgrounds in the park were closed. Here the campground which is considerably larger than Natural Falls has one bathroom open from 9 am to 8 pm. All other times it is locked. In the restroom building they have 4 showers but only one of the showers is open. The other 3 are closed. As a result the park has about 50 campsites, one bathroom with one toilet for men and one for women. Add to that there is one shower to be shared by men and women.
The trailhead to the cave is a four mile drive from out campsite so we pile into the truck and go the trailhead. It’s as this point we find the trailhead crowded with parked cars. We park and determine there is a considerably longer hike that does not head to the cave and does not have anybody else on it. That’s the hike for us. On the finally loop the trail comes close to the cave and travels through “The Stone Corral” where outlaws kept their horses hidden.
Seeing North America 