Barren River Lake State Resort Park Campground

Great lake for boating, fishing, and swimming in the lake. Usually not very busy, either!

This park is pretty but uneven and most sites are small. Reserve America takes reservations for this park and lists sites much larger than they are and as flat when they are anything but that. Most of the back in sites will fit a unit about half the size of the claimed size and you will need a lot of material to reach your stabilizers. The campground host wanted to move us to a different location but another group of campers switched their reserved pull through site as we would not fit the reserved location or the alternate recommendation, as advertised. I would stay again but recommend calling and speaking to someone at the park to see if you will fit the site you are inquiring on. Dump station available and water at some sites with 30amp hookups available. It is Hilly and pretty, although close to the highway and you will hear traffic. Some sites are much more accessible than others. The road navigation for over 30 ft campers may be hard to maneuver. Make sure you have a long enough hose as the water may be a bit further away at some sites than a 25 ft hose will reach. We were present for the Halloween activities and the place has quite a presentation for the kids. Pumpkin roll, crafts, site and costume contests and a haunted trail later on in the evening. Campers participated in trick or treating for the kids too. It was a great atmosphere. If I come again I will call ahead to verify our 37footer will fit before reserving.

Even though the it says the park is seasonal, I stayed here in mid March and I'm sure they had been open for a bit. I called and talked directly to the campground as that is an option on the electronic menu. I didn't make a reservation as this time of the year there were plenty of campsites available even though I was there over Easter weekend. There are tent sites and pull through RV sites, all with water and electric. The top loop has full hookups at a higher rate, but there is a dump site for free use if you camp here. Most of the campsites are paved and pull through and most would fit larger RV's with trailers or toads, but getting them level could be a challenge on some of the sites. Some of the access is pretty hilly, but I got in and out with my 24 foot coach and 8 foot trailer just fine. The campground was free of litter and there is a laundry available in the bath house, but I didn't use either or even check them out. Campground personnel were very helpful and friendly and drove through the campground on golf carts to check on things frequently. Golf carts are allowed I believe, but you need permissions. Unfortunately, it did rain most of the days I was here and was chilly as it was March, but the electric hook-up kept things toasty and warm inside the coach. The cell service got weaker at night, down to one bar occasionally, but still did not experience too many problems with hot spotting my computer and electronics.

The setting of this park is pretty. Rolling hills made it pretty, but it means most sites are sloped in some way. It was a nice place to base ourselves to see Mammoth Cave National Park for an easy day trip. However, just a few issues with this park. Our site was super long, but had some high bumps created by tree roots buckling the pad and was sloping toward the back. We have a short RV, so no issues leveling or with the bumps. The water at this site was in a place that made it impossible to use because we didn’t have a long enough hose. The roads are narrow and sites angled in a way that made it difficult to get out if you are following the road direction arrows. We drove through the empty pull through site across from us to get out a little easier. AT&T service was spotty, and Verizon much better.

sights are way off level though paved.
Dump stations are a nightmare to maneuver a big rig into.
Roads are really bad. Many pot holes. Roads are narrow and hard to maneuver into and out of the sites.
Low hanging branches.

Do yourself a favor. Go to one of the Corp of engineers campgrounds. They are better.

We started in #1 but the water and sewer were on opposite sides and we did’t have enough hose. NOT level. They were great and moved us. If you come bring long hose and sewer extensions. Wifi is best we’ve had in 14 months of full timing. Beautiful surroundings. Only one section has full hookups. A little tight getting in but we are 41’ 5th wheel and made it (hubby is pro). We extended a few days and would come back. Only wish sites were more level.

Our site was not level in the least I had to put 8" blocks under my back jacks with then all the way down I had to use a friends water hose with mine over 50 foot long. I had the back of my trailer almost in the road for sewer hook up.

The details said this was a level site. not even close. The area meant for parking had a huge drop off and backing into the site was tricky due to the drop offs and site marker posts. Someone looked to have hit the electrical at the site at one point as it was bent back.. but it worked and tested that it was wired correctly. I was able to finally get into it with my 24ft travel trailer and being careful to not bottom out my truck in the parking area but the site isnt anywhere near as large as described on the reservation site. Id avoid this site if you could and pretty much any other back in site unless you had a small camper or popup. other pull through sites in the campground you are gonna want some serious blocking for your stabilizers as almost every pull through is on a hump. Also many sites have water and electric far way or on the wrong side. Some turns in the campground are tight. Campground had wifi that was OK enough for Netflix and youtube. The campground wasnt busy so not sure how that changes when there is more congestion. There was some road noise but not enough for me to ding it too bad on that.

Pull-through site was easy to get in and out of. Not quite level site but pretty close. Water connection was a bit far. We had to make a run to Wally World for a longer hose. Unsecured campground wifi network had great speed and was easy to log into. We had no problem with the dump station…easily got our 30 foot rig in. Campground employees were readily available and very nice and helpful. There was a little bit of road noise at night but I think once the trees have leafed back out that won’t be as noticeable. There is an electric pole and guy wires near the parking pad but we were able to work around that pretty easily with our setup. We loved the more remote location of this site but those with kids might want something closer to a playground.