 |
| Google Map View of the campground |
We took over campsite #001 at Barren River Lake State Park this weekend. The campground is very pretty and wooded, and each campsite was pretty good sized with actual GRASS, which is a first for us so far. We reserved the site through www.reserveamerica.com which indicated that the site had 30/50 amp hookup and water, but no sewer. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that there was, in fact, a sewer hookup at our site. A large rock was placed on top of the cap to the sewer connection at most sites, perhaps because the park doesn't want campers using it, but several trailers and RVs were hooked up to it so we went for it.
|
 |
| Olivia walking Bella to our campsite |
Navigating to our site was a bit tricky. The campground was only at about 25% capacity, so we had lots of space to move; however, if there were more people there we would have had a really hard time getting around the tight turns and into our spot. The site was paved and fairly level side to side, so we only had to level front to back. We noticed that many of the other sites had a moderate grade, in comparison ours was fairly flat. However, we had very little flat ground immediately outside our door so we had to walk up a bit of a hill to get to the picnic table and fire pit. No problem, it was actually pretty nice.
 |
| Our setup |
There was a small basketball court across the road from our site as well as the beginning of a nice walking path through the woods. Olivia enjoyed taking the dogs for walks on the trails.
 |
| Walking in the woods |
 |
| View from the basketball court & trailhead looking at our spot |
We ventured out to the lodge and beach on Saturday afternoon and were disappointed to find out that the beach was closed. Mary totally missed the note on Reserve America indicating that the beach had been closed since 2012 - the local gas station owner said that it was too hard to maintain the beach with the shifting lake levels, debris, and difficulties with keeping sand on the beach. Too bad. We checked it out anyway though, and it had a bit of a creepy, deserted feel to it. Olivia didn't mind, and got in the lake for a little bit of swimming on the slimy boat ramp.
 |
| Olivia enjoying Barren River Lake |
Addison seemed to enjoy camping as well!
Overall, we really enjoyed this campground and next time would be happy to stay in site 001 or check out 079B. A summary of a few of the pros and cons:
Pros
- Sewer!
- Nice woods and grassy area
- Boat ramp (if we ever had a boat)
- Nice bathrooms with showers as well as laundry facilities
Cons
- Beach closed
- Beach not walking distance from campground
