Hi all!
We just got back from Labor Day weekend at Cave Run with our kiddos. We pulled our pup and set up at this private campground just downstream from the dam at Cave Run Lake. On our previous outings we've stayed in the Forest Service campground at Twin Knobs (http://www.popupportal.com/threads/...iel-boone-national-forest-morehead-ky.106216/) but it was booked up WAY in advance due to the holiday weekend.
Easy access; I-64 to exit 133 toward Farmers, Right on 60, Left on 826/Cave Run Lake Road. I didn't watch the clock but I suspect it was about ten/fifteen minutes from the exit to the campground gate. There is ample signage to get you there.
Outpost (http://caverun.org/go/outpostcampground.htm) is a nice, relatively family-oriented campground with good amenities for the kiddos. There's a pool on-site, volleyball court, quite a bit of playground equipment and a covered patio area with ping pong. The sites are pretty spacious but not exceedingly well-marked; it took me some pondering to find the 'pad' at our site (gravel, but it had been overtaken by grass) and it took even longer for me to level our pup. I never did get it completely true but it worked.
I say 'relatively family-oriented' because we had extremely loud neighbors who were very generous in sharing their profanity-filled music with us in the evenings. That was a nuisance to be sure, but the kids were off playing and my wife and I both brought headphones so we cranked the volume on our podcasts and audio books and took a 'live and let live' approach. And I'm not going to ding the entire campground just because of those folks. They settled down after dark so that's about all you can ask really. I think part of the problem was that they were in a massive trailer with slideouts and stuff and just probably weren't aware that cloth walls don't do much to dampen sound. I talked with them briefly (not to complain, just to say 'hi' once when I was on that side of the camper) and they were actually nice guys, just a little on the loud side. If I'd asked I bet they probably would have even turned it down a little, but I figure they're camping too. I was mildly irritated on set-up to find that they tied into our water hookup but we don't use our sink half the time anyhow.
Traffic moved a little faster than I would have preferred considering our kids (and everyone else's) were darting back and forth across the road. My only other complaint is that our site backed up to a creek that looked pretty stagnant and definitely housed a lot of mosquitoes. But it was shady, so that's +1.
So if you go:
Pros: Friendly staff, clean and well-functioning bath houses (centrally located), spacious slots if your neighbors don't have a 20' monster trailer and a diesel dually parked beside it, pool, activities for the kiddos, not a long drive (five minutes, maybe?) to the dam and lake.
Cons: Pads could use a little TLC, can be a challenge to level a pup. I got the impression they cater more to giant self-leveling rigs. The electric hookup post was a stretch but that might have something to do with where I decided my pad was. Surprisingly heavy traffic for the number of campers. Expect mosquitoes if you've got a creek-front spot, or limited shade if you get an interior spot. Since we don't have solar covers on our bunks and we cool with a rigged-up window AC, I'd take the shady/skeeter combo over the other. We kept them at bay with a couple of citronella candles and judicious swatting.
We'll most likely go back; honestly I prefer Twin Knobs because it's more isolated and quiet, but the kids really had a blast playing with the other kids. Keep in mind that to access most of the Nat'l Forest area you'll have to pay at the gate (whereas access is included in the price if you camp inside the park area) so plan your activities accordingly. We knew the setup so we planned a full day inside the Recreation Area (packed a picnic, etc.).
We just got back from Labor Day weekend at Cave Run with our kiddos. We pulled our pup and set up at this private campground just downstream from the dam at Cave Run Lake. On our previous outings we've stayed in the Forest Service campground at Twin Knobs (http://www.popupportal.com/threads/...iel-boone-national-forest-morehead-ky.106216/) but it was booked up WAY in advance due to the holiday weekend.
Easy access; I-64 to exit 133 toward Farmers, Right on 60, Left on 826/Cave Run Lake Road. I didn't watch the clock but I suspect it was about ten/fifteen minutes from the exit to the campground gate. There is ample signage to get you there.
Outpost (http://caverun.org/go/outpostcampground.htm) is a nice, relatively family-oriented campground with good amenities for the kiddos. There's a pool on-site, volleyball court, quite a bit of playground equipment and a covered patio area with ping pong. The sites are pretty spacious but not exceedingly well-marked; it took me some pondering to find the 'pad' at our site (gravel, but it had been overtaken by grass) and it took even longer for me to level our pup. I never did get it completely true but it worked.
I say 'relatively family-oriented' because we had extremely loud neighbors who were very generous in sharing their profanity-filled music with us in the evenings. That was a nuisance to be sure, but the kids were off playing and my wife and I both brought headphones so we cranked the volume on our podcasts and audio books and took a 'live and let live' approach. And I'm not going to ding the entire campground just because of those folks. They settled down after dark so that's about all you can ask really. I think part of the problem was that they were in a massive trailer with slideouts and stuff and just probably weren't aware that cloth walls don't do much to dampen sound. I talked with them briefly (not to complain, just to say 'hi' once when I was on that side of the camper) and they were actually nice guys, just a little on the loud side. If I'd asked I bet they probably would have even turned it down a little, but I figure they're camping too. I was mildly irritated on set-up to find that they tied into our water hookup but we don't use our sink half the time anyhow.
Traffic moved a little faster than I would have preferred considering our kids (and everyone else's) were darting back and forth across the road. My only other complaint is that our site backed up to a creek that looked pretty stagnant and definitely housed a lot of mosquitoes. But it was shady, so that's +1.So if you go:
Pros: Friendly staff, clean and well-functioning bath houses (centrally located), spacious slots if your neighbors don't have a 20' monster trailer and a diesel dually parked beside it, pool, activities for the kiddos, not a long drive (five minutes, maybe?) to the dam and lake.
Cons: Pads could use a little TLC, can be a challenge to level a pup. I got the impression they cater more to giant self-leveling rigs. The electric hookup post was a stretch but that might have something to do with where I decided my pad was.
Surprisingly heavy traffic for the number of campers. Expect mosquitoes if you've got a creek-front spot, or limited shade if you get an interior spot. Since we don't have solar covers on our bunks and we cool with a rigged-up window AC, I'd take the shady/skeeter combo over the other. We kept them at bay with a couple of citronella candles and judicious swatting.We'll most likely go back; honestly I prefer Twin Knobs because it's more isolated and quiet, but the kids really had a blast playing with the other kids. Keep in mind that to access most of the Nat'l Forest area you'll have to pay at the gate (whereas access is included in the price if you camp inside the park area) so plan your activities accordingly. We knew the setup so we planned a full day inside the Recreation Area (packed a picnic, etc.).
