Best Campgrounds near Blue River, KY

Grayson Lake State Park- East Kentucky. So, we had reservations for Carter Caves, but they canceled on me due to redoing the campground. I was fortunate to find a site at Grayson Lake for Wednesday & Thursday night. 

This is a very nice campground at a small state park roughly 10 miles from Carter Caves. Most of it is campground & golf course, with 2 trails.

 Grayson Lake has 71 sites with water& electric. There's a dump station. There's 2 playgrounds. 2 bathhouses. They are on the high side of state park clean. I didn't see any spider webs or bugs.

 The area was meticulously mowed & clean- no trash at the site or fire pit. The staff at check were friendly & helpful. 

We were at site 19 close to the bathhouse. A nice site, but that row had full sun. There were many nice sites, but many had a serious incline. Stay away from site 39 - that has a good view of the wastewater treatment plant!

Grayson Lake is part of a larger area managed by the US Army Corp of Engineers. There's a lot of boating & fishing. We had a good time & if in the area would stay again!

We camped here over the weekend with our dogs. We had campsite 38, one out of 3 that are away from the rest of the sites. The campground is not very big, but very well maintained. The sites are very close together. A big plus was definitely the little creek, perfect for the dogs to play in. The bathhouse was very clean. One of the 2 showers had no bench, which makes it difficult to keep all your stuff dry while you shower. There are 2 trails that you can hike from the campground. Both were dog friendly, the rest of the park is not. Nearby is Miguel's Pizza, which is a pretty place to stop and ear breakfast, lunch, or dinner with outdoor seating
The whole area is absolutely gorgeous. We hiked to Gray's Arch, which is about 15 min from the campground. The skylift to the Natural Bridge is very close by.

We were with a group that had reservations here but when we arrived mid-afternoon, the gate was locked, no one was there, and there was no cell service. A member of the group drove to where there was cell reception and called but no one answered the phone. Eventually, we spoke with the father of the outgoing owner who gave us the gate code and we set up camp. The manager showed up a few hours later but the owner did not arrive until early evening; it was then we learned new owners were taking over the next day! 

This is a primitive campground which is not a problem for us, but it had a neglected feeling to it (due likely to pending ownership change). Fortunately, the vault toilets had recently been serviced and were not too bad. Toilet paper but no hand sanitizer. Outdoor non-private solar showers that do not guarantee hot water (and it was chilly when we were there, so no one tried to use them). 

There was no place to put garbage that I saw and there was loose garbage where it should have been collected. 

Most sites had a fire ring marked by rocks.

Some sites had gravel pads while others had grass. They were clearly marked but you had to watch out for the drainage ditch when backing into the site. There is no separation between sites, but we were the only ones there so not a problem for us.

The main draw for this campground is the kayak rentals and transportation to the put-in site. Kayaking was fun, despite obstacles in the river due to recent rains (and parts of the campground were also flooded). The price was reasonable -$10 per person. I am hopeful the new owners made some improvements, although this may raise the price!