Best Cabin Camping near Ashland, KY

We have been camping at Pappys for 2 yrs now!  We always have a great time, the folks out there are so nice and friendly it literally feels like a family reunion everytime!! We ride with the WV Outlaws and they take you on awesome trail and creek rides!! Kids love the creeks on hot days they have so much fun!! 

I definitely would recommend Pappy’s to everyone looking for an awesome camping / cabin experience and WV Outlaws for Awesome trail riding.

In the short videos I posted you will notice that I did not add a transcript.  Please turn on your Google Accessibility for Live Captions to access the spoken information within the video clips. 

Shawnee State Park (Little Smokies of Ohio)

Has a great ranger/naturalist (Jenny) she made the days go by in a memorable way as we were able to do a creek crawl with her one day, kayaked for free with her on the lake, and had several other activities that we enjoyed.  ODNR has a gem in Jenny as she was able to tailor the events to a wide range of abilities, interests, and ages. 

Cell Phone service is weak at the park.  We didn't always have a signal at the camp grounds but if you go over to the lodge you will have a signal.  You can also access Wi-Fi while at the lodge if needed.  The lodge has a restaurant that you can eat at if you wish.  They also have an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, and an indoor hot tub. If you camp at the state park campsites you can pay for a day pass.  This is a great thing to do when you need a change of pace or if it is rainy and you want to swim indoors. They even have a game room (old school arcade). 

Near the Shawnee State Park is a dairy bar that my family has gone to for many years. It is a part of the tradition to get Turtle Sundaes. https://www.facebook.com/Buckeye-Dairy-Bar-Miniature-Golf-166451746787194/

In the Shawnee lodge if you look closely at the main mural you will notice Raven Rock. We totally overlooked this while we were growing up.  Thanks to the internet we now know this is a nature preserve. https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/raven-rock-state-nature-preserve

Our first campsite was number 12.  We arrived at 5:55 PM and the camp office closes at 6:00 PM. The gal waited for us to check out the site and we promptly came back as she did indicate it was a rough site.  This site and 13, 14 is what I would expect for a backpacking campsite.  Not for a traditional car camping non-electric campsite.  If we had any older or younger family members with us it would have been inaccessible.  We didn't like the walk up to the site and the big draw back was the table in the poison ivy. We promptly for the 1st time in my camping career paid a fee to switch to a new site. Luckily the park was not super busy as it was a weekday.  

Bathroom access such as the stairs, bathroom stalls ADA, and other access points will need to continue to be improved for those with mobility issues. This would have greatly impacted my friends and family had they been with me on this trip.  

The showers in the bathhouse are motion sensor based. That means if you get too far from the sensor the shower will turn off.  Also, make sure you take your shampoo items etc. out with you before you get dressed as if you reach back in to grab your items you will promptly get sprayed. 

Another favorite spot is the fire tower https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/copperhead-fire-tower  Please make sure to respect the fire tower as it is one of the few fire towers that you can still go up in and look at the beautiful view.  You will not have a signal here so make sure you also ask about how to get back as we didn't have a GPS signal for the way back and just explored our way back to civilization. 

The park was not super busy while we were there in June.  It is a well kept secret as I found this to be one of the most charming parks that I have been to in a long time.  I suspect the cell phone signal and location has impacted folks coming to this park compared to others. It isn't super close to a major city but for me that is part of the charm. 

For those of you who like to mountain bike do check out the new mountain bike trails. I cannot report on those as I am not talented enough to go out on those trails;)

Fantastic cabins!

I stayed at Shawnee SP campground in August 2020 (Friday night). This campground is geared towards families with kids, especially with RVs. It has all of the amenities: electric at most sites, water, flush toilets, showeres, laundry. There’s a small lake at the campground with a swimming beach and canoe rentals. They also have a gift shop and miniature golf. North of the campground there is a lodge with cabins and larger fishing lake. The campsites are very close together and the campground was full when I was there. It was surprisingly quiet at night. I prefer a little more privacy and separation from other campers. Looking around the campground I’d say that Site 8 is the best site for car camping or RV camping. There are 2 tent camping sites (111 and 112) that provide separation from other campers but you have to park and carry your gear back to the sites

something for everyone ,rv to tent camping...also cabins and a lodge is available for reservations. great dinning at lodge. wonderful hiking trails...And cave tours.

This campground seems more geared towards small campers and cabin stays. Though tent sites are on site. It's located right off rt. 35. They have a campground office as well as a good shower house.

Primitive camping and rv space. You can rent a cabin and such. There is a resort.  Everything always looks really nice. So many recreational activities, caves, hiking, horses and a lot more. I would really recommend visiting.

I found this jewel during the pandemic. I wanted to stay closer to home than usual for vacation. It was the cutest, most affordable, safe for solo female campers, clean, wonderful owners, tons of things to do, or just relaxing. I fell in love and have returned many, many times. I have stayed in all of the cabins and campers except SS Sandy Springs and Flair. I am familiar with this area and Shawnee State Forest, aka, The Little Smokies!

We came to this campground because it was close to the Kenova Pumpkin House. We rented a cabin on a cute little pond. It was a nice setting and it was a little out of the way from the main part of the campground which was nice. It had a deck that overlooked the pond and the campground. The only thing I didn't like was that it was close to the interstate and you could hear the traffic all night. If you want convenience, though, this is good since it is close to the interstate.

I would give it a zero if possible. The cabin we stayed in was absolutely filthy-dirt and dead bugs on the floor, coffee pot was nasty, extremely small counter was dirty, no access to running water(no even a sink in the bathhouse) and I could go on but I think you get the point. The bathhouse looked like a shed and was also dirty. Were told there were groups going out every weekend, all day long and also night riding. Trails are not marked so you really can't go out on your own. We paid for 3 nights, but only stayed for 2. And of course, we were never offered a refund or partial refund. Like Share

We enjoyed our stay at Huntington/Fox Fire KOA! This is a holiday KOA that offers more amenities for vacationers. It has very close proximity to I-64 in West Virginia, and you can hear the traffic pretty clearly.

The staff is wonderful, they obviously care very much about their jobs and we enjoyed talking to them. They keep the property very clean which is saying a lot because it’s a very busy park. Each day we watched the park nearly empty and by sundown it was mostly full again. On the weekends it was full to capacity, and it’s occupants were out enjoying their time!

There is: great cellular for TMobile and AT&T, laundry, dog walk area, storage, cabins, a store, a swimming pond, small beach area, and some sites have fire pits. The picnic tables were pretty dated.

The hookups are a little strange. You share pedestals in many of the sites. And the arrangement is a little strange but it works.

We have stayed here full time for work and the people who run the place and work here are so kind and friendly. The area is safe and right near the nicest little towns (barboursville and hurricane) which have all the restaurants and shopping you’d need. A few city parks have some decent hiking trails and the state park and ‘big city’ of charleston or Huntington are a short drive. Great park all year with lots of green space, ponds for catch and release, and fun swimming blow up things in the water during summer, cabins for visitors. Very family friendly and well maintained. Another RV park that is right down the road is literally a parking lot, definitely the nicest campground we’ve found in this area for sure! We stayed in 114 and 115 which are RIGHT under the expressway, so can be VERY noisy. The closer you get to the front desk the better for the noise, but the expressway can be very very loud with all the truck and engine brakes.

Good place to get away for the weekend.

Fantastic campground, quiet, safe, surrounded by woods, clean and nice laundry facilities and bathhouse. Affordable, with electric, water and sewage hookups. Very nice retail shop in the check in office. Offers kayak and stand up paddle board rentals and tours. 5 minute from lake access.

Was nice and quiet. Wanted to get away for a couple days and our favorite place to go was booked so this was the next closest spot. We stayed on the upper end by the veterans cemetery, even though it's close to the pool and playground, it was pretty quiet. Sites were a bit unlevel, but easy to back into.

We love this place! Close to home, easy to get away for the weekend. Very friendly campground, everyone you meet is nice, and very helpful if you need it. Very kid friendly, beautiful views, and Halloween there is GREAT!

As of 9/10/2021 the Wi-Fi has been fixed. It's not the best but way better than before As of our past stay, 6/10-6/12, the Wi-Fi is great. They installed new antennas throughout the campground

Definitely get a tour of the caves while you’re here. Camping is among the trees without much geology to see nearby. Pros: nice tent-only loop, very forested, fairly private tent sites, wildlife, many activities (hiking, cave tours, fishing, kayak rentals, swim, put-put, ranger talks), especially friendly & informed guides/caretakers, horse camp is far enough away to not smell like a farm. Cons: pool was a little too chaotic for us (but that’s typical), campground is bustling during the day but quieted down well at sunset.

We stayed one night in Spruce Creek Campground at Cabwaylingo SF in April of 2023.  The campground is small, tucked into a side hollow just off the main road through the State Forest with tiny Spruce Creek flowing right through it.  Be advised: heavy rains can cause the creek to partially flood the campground and the moderate rains we experienced turned some of the sites into a soggy mess.  Site #1 is a paved, level pull-through that easily accommodated our 21' campervan, and that site has electric and water hookups.  It's a short walk from any of the sites to the nice playground and the older but completely serviceable showerhouse.  Firewood was available from the camp store/office, which has limited hours as of this writing.  The wood was okay, cut & split but a touch damp to truly burn well.

There are multi-use trails and hiking-only trails that run right through the Spruce Creek campground, and we saw light ORV/ATV traffic driving through in the late afternoon of our stay.  This is a real bonus if you're wishing to drive those trails during your stay, I'm sure!  Our goal was fishing, which was a bust.  We only discovered after our arrival that Twelvepole Creek - while described as a stocked trout stream - has nearly all of the trout caught & removed by overzealous anglers within a few days of each stocking, according to the rangers.  Additionally, the streams and creeks in the State Forest were all pretty heavily littered with refuse, a real shame considering the potential natural beauty to be had.

All of the staff with whom we interacted were courteous, polite and extremely helpful - really wonderful people work at Cabwaylingo!  The cabins looked nice from the outside and the other facilities seemed pleasant but rather dated.  There are no good gas stations or markets in the immediate vicinity so definitely plan accordingly!

I called KOA Ashland on July 3rd and spoke with an employee about cancelling my reservation I had on Aug 7th. She informed me that I would forfeit $10 as a cancellation fee. I informed her that I’m a VIP member and per KOA cancellation policy the cancellation fee is waived. She stated that per the campground owner they are an independently owned and that KOA policy does not apply to them. I told her that as a franchise of KOA they cannot pick and choose which policies to follow. I then said I understand that you are just the messenger. She even shared with me that the system was even showing her to issue a full refund. I asked her to inform the manager that I would be contacting KOA corporate on Tuesday in refence to this matter. On July 3rd I posted a review simply stating I’m not recommending this campground with the comment “ They don’t follow KOA cancellation policy for VIP members!”.

On July 7th the owner called very angry because I called KOA and posted the reviews. I tried to explain to the owner but there was not talking to him. This owner has no customer service skills at all! If he would have called and said that we must have a misunderstanding, how can we make this right? But he immediately went into everything was my fault without trying to understand what his employee stated. He went on to say that my reservation was not even cancelled. I can only speculate that when I spoke with his employee that she was hesitant to cancel until after she had an opportunity to speak with the owner. Regardless, I had asked for the reservation to be cancelled. Arguing on the call was not getting us anywhere. I asked the owner would he cancel my reservation and process a full refund. The owner’s response was “I might not” and hung up.

A short time later in the day I received an email cancellation with no refund at all. The cancelation fee was listed at $46.08. Therefore, from my prospective the owner stole my money as a penalty for the review. This is clearly not the documented cancelation policy. I will continue to work with KOA to resolve this very unwelcoming and dishonest situation. Campers beware!!

Nice caves & trails, but the campground is not best. Kentucky's sharing power poles make finding a level site with reachable power even tougher. Weekends are crazy crowded. Staff is friendly. Would never attempt to stay here without a reservaton.

What a great little family owned and run campground. The only thing you'll hear are barges running up and down the Ohio River and an occasional train over on the Kentucky side. Spots are big, grounds are neat and clean and the service is friendly and accommodating.