Letcher County, Kentucky

In addition to the boom in vacation rentals, Matthews identifies another local travel/tourism trend that bears mention: thru-hike training on Pine Mountain. “This tends to go unrecognized by locals, but we have a 17.5-mile trail that spans our county, winding around the ridge of Pine Mountain,” she says. “This is a highly sought-out trail. Folks that hike the Appalachian Trail, or that are conditioning themselves for the Appalachian, come to our County to hike that 17.5-mile trail because it’s more challenging. I hiked it, myself, last year and I feel that I could accomplish the Appalachian Trail now.” AML funds, $3.5 million worth, have also been allocated by the East Kentucky Heritage Foundation Inc. for the design and development of Thunder Mountain Resort, a world-class sport shooting and archery range that will further cement Letcher County’s status as a true adventure tourism destination. “In its completion, it will be a $5 million project,” Matthews confirms. “It will host all shooting disciplines. Every course will be eligible to host national competitions. We really aren’t interested in building just an average shooting resort. Thunder Mountain will host an RV park. It will have a country club-style clubhouse, rental cabins, and a bath house. It’ll also feature casting ponds. There’s a lot of fishermen in the area, and this would give them an opportunity to hone their craft at making their own lures. There will be a clay pigeon course and, of course, skeet traps and pistol/rifle ranges. We’ll also have a 3D archery range which will be the first in the state. We’ll be able to host those competitions in addition to standard archery tournaments.” “We’ll have paintball too, which, believe it or not, is also a competitive discipline in shooting,” Matthews jests. Competitions hosted at Thunder Mountain are expected to bring in 200-2000 participants at a time, which would benefit the surrounding counties by attracting new businesses like gun shops and outfitter stores. “The resort will spark commerce in this community because we’ll have travellers,” says LETCHER COUNTY , KENTUCKY