Louisville Outdoor Activities

A solitary moan drifts across a 15,000-square-foot warehouse. Lights flicker, and performers with horns, tattered clothes, and fake wounds surge through The Devil’s Attic. Guests scatter in terror across cinema-quality sets populated by professional actors in makeup that lends to an environment reminiscent of a childhood nightmare or the time you got lost in the clown-art section of a museum. The scarred, bloody ghouls and sinister monsters offer scares suitable for humans aged 12 and older.

The organizers of Muddy Fanatic test racers' athleticism by plotting a 5K course through the Sellersburg woods. Participants charge through obstacles that range from slippery ascents out of creek beds to fire-lined paths. After competing to reach the finish line, participants must lend each other a hand to surmount Mud Mountain, a steep wall of earth rising above a pool of knee-deep water.

To celebrate the day's displays of fortitude, organizers pour every drinking-age participant a free beer, as well as provide additional drinks and food for purchase. Muddy Fanatic's team also encourages racers to self-nominate themselves for awards that include muddiest, best body, and best and worst costume. Audience members determine the winners by applauding and throwing roses at their favorites.

Built in Amsterdam, The Thirsty Pedaler’s 16-passenger bicycle moseys around the city during two-hour historical tours and pub crawls. For the Main/Market tour, riders choose up to three bars—some of which include drink and appetizer specials—to stop at during a ride through Whiskey Row and the Museum District, as well as the scenic Kennedy bridge and the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. The Old Louisville tour focuses on sightseeing, as pedalers power past the University of Louisville, St. James Court, Central Park, and Victorian homes inhabited by creepy 1960s television families.

Each tour includes a pilot, who mans the bike as passengers run in to watering holes or hop off their seats to snap photos of landmarks. Twelve bicycle seats line the sides of the vehicle (10 of which actually pedal), and a bench across the back seats three additional riders. One final person can stand in the middle, dishing out nonalcoholic drinks and BYOB snacks that groups can tote in small coolers. Though the top speed is only about 7 miles per hour, riders should still anticipate the possibility of minor injuries such as falling and scraping knees or bruising their egos when smug turtles overtake them in the passing lane.