Putney Pond and Little Hunting Creek Park in Prospect

A playground and park with hiking trails in Prospect, Kentucky

Putney Pond and Little Hunting Creek Park in Prospect is right off of US-42 with trails, creeks, picnic spots, and a playground

Putney Pond and Little Hunting Creek Park in Prospect does not look expansive from the road but actually, it offers quite a bit of outdoor fun for families. You can spend just an hour there or you could explore for a full outing. Park at Prospect City Hall (click for Google Maps). 

Playground

At Little Hunting Creek Park, (click for Google Maps) there is a relatively new playground. Though it is not super large, it seems just large enough to entertain children of a variety of ages. My kids are now teens but we saw families there with kids running all over and utilizing the entire space near the playground to run off some energy. 

There are picnic tables available if you want to bring food. There are fast food restaurants nearby and we saw families come by after visiting King Donuts across the street. There’s a portable potty available at the park. 

Near the playground, there is a sculpture of foxes made out of a tree stump. It is really unique and something different to see at Little Hunting Creek Park. Enjoy the sculpture with your eyes only so it lasts long!

Creek 

At Putney Pond and Little Hunting Creek Park in Prospect, adjacent to the playground there is a line of trees that hides what a lot of local families know is a perfect small creek for playing and looking for tiny critters. I took my kids there so often when they were younger with little buckets and nets. My daughter is 15 now and still loved adventuring around this spot today. She picked up a net someone left behind and immediately caught a tiny minnow with so much excitement.

Just as we did, the families nearby enjoyed the shade of the tree cover and navigating the creek from rock to rock. The road noise nearby was drowned out some but the sound of small waterfalls and children laughing. It really is surprising how tucked away you feel but you are steps from a major road. 

This area of the creek nearest to the playground is the best place to explore. If you go hiking at Putney Pond and Little Hunting Creek Park in Prospect, there are other areas where water moves but unless it recently rained, those are more of a trickle than a creek. There is a pond further along the hiking trails. 

Hiking

On the other side of the creek from the playground, you can access the trails. These trails are manageable for families because you can go in and turn around whenever you like. Also, the trails are made of loops so it is very difficult to get lost. Wear pants to avoid poison ivy!

If you want to see the pond, you have to hike along the creek and when you hit the spot where the swinging bench is, you go into the wooded area and follow the trails to the right and up around the home that is private property. You will seem to be exiting the trails at a trail head spot. Walk down the gravel path and go right and you will be by the pond. At the trail head, pick up the pamphlets that have the maps and also information about native birds you might see. 

The pond area offers a lovely view of wildlife at Putney Pond and Little Hunting Creek Park in Prospect. We saw a crane and other birds, fish, ducks, and turtles. You can picnic at the spot and we see evidence that people have gone fishing there. Per their website, you are allowed to fish in the pond from dawn to dusk. Note, there really isn’t any parking for access to where you would fish. 

The paved path goes up to US-42 so there’s really no good loop back to the trails. We walked up to get different views of wildlife and then walked back to the gravel path and into the wooded trails. There’s a great picnic spot by the pond – see the photo below. 

 

On the way back to the creek and park area, we went a different way to cross various bridges and see a “classroom” area that my daughter found nostalgic from hiking there when she was little. The topography is slightly hilly but not too challenging for hikers. Like I said, I have been taking my kids there since they were about three years old! 

Some of the paths are similar to a boardwalk but most of the trails are dirt trails. It may seem like you can take a stroller because the path starts with the boardwalk, but it doesn’t last. We love the boardwalk entry through because of the perspective you get from being slightly elevated. 

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