Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Dale Hollow Lake

Cove Creek at Dale Hollow lake in TN is a primitive campsite with lakeside camping. There are water faucets for drinking water and a pit toilet available. Great views of the lake and plenty of sites available

We took a pontoon boat out to Kemper Flats on Dale Hollow lake for a few days relaxing fishing. Primitive site, island with a porta toilet. Camp right on the side of the lake, very quiet and peaceful

Lillydale sits on Dale Hollow Lake, which -- for some delightful reason -- has serious limits on development. This makes for green hillsides, clean water, minimal power boats, and very, very few houses or businesses along the shores. 

The campground itself is clean and quiet. Hosts were very kind and helpful. Many of the sites back up to the lake; we were fortunate enough to find one of the lakeside sites, and just dropped our kayaks and paddleboards right into the water. 

The lake has dozens of little "fingers" and "tendrils," making for great little coves to paddle, explore, or just find some peace and quiet.

We'll definitely be back!

I love the way this campground is set up. Sites are in sections in small loops. Very good for families. Kids can ride their bikes around the circle. Playgrounds are everywhere. Very clean. Full hookups. Nice pool and mini golf too! Only downfall here is their isn’t really a place to access gorgeous dale hollow lake without a boat... we could see it with a small drive but there isn’t a beach on the KY side. I also wish they would have mentioned the length to water hookup. We ended up having to go buy a longer water hose bc the hookup was more than 30 foot away. We now keep a 50 foot hose, but didn’t realize at the time there was actually hookups that far away.

Standing stone is a small campground that sits in a wooded area surrounded by green rolling hills and farmland. Sites on the outer edges of the loop give a good deal of privacy as they back up to the woods. Sites on the inner portion of the loop leave you more exposed to other campers.

There are some small hiking trails accessible right from the campground, but for more extensive hiking, you'll need to bike or drive to the trailheads; these are definitely worthwhile. They meander among the hills, have lots of creek crossings, and were quiet -- pretty much empty! IF you're interested in gravel bike riding, there are LOTS of gravel roads to ride close to the park. In terms of water activities, there's a small pond right inside the park, but for a real paddling or boating experience, Dale Hollow Lake is the place to go and less than ten minutes away by car.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a smaller campground with private, wooded sites, and want some hiking and gravel biking, come here and grab a site that backs up to the woods. If you're looking for direct access to water sports, you'll probably want to head over to Dale Hollow.

Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park is right on the Kentucky/ Tennessee boarder and not a short drive from anywhere. It is out in the farmlands, but worth the drive.

I drove to it from Cumberland Parkway, a very picturesque drive. The GPS took me right to the entrance no issues like there are with some other parks.

Once there the main areas are very well marked. The camp store has a somewhat useful map that will get you there by road.

My disappointment and frustration was the trails marked on the map. I'm not sure if some spurs are new, not used often or being reclaimed but we would start down a trail that had a trailhead sign and then the trail would just disappear into the weeds or a field with no signage.

The trail to Eagle Point was well used and a good walk to an awesome view.

The Campground is set up in what I call wagon train circles (lol) if your going with a large group it's perfect. People parked their toys and cars in the middle and set up in the sites around the hub.

if your not with a group you will probably have an opportunity to met your neighbor. There is not a lot of shade. There is a pool on site and cute little blue cabins to rent. Newer restrooms and a dumpstation. Tge horse ampground was adjacent to the regular campground.

The Marina and Lodge are at the end of the road and there was a golf course on the way in. Pretty much covers all the bases of outdoor entertainment.

its a wonder full place to go have fun with kids and family and pets and good for fishing

We loving camping at Barren River! Plenty of playgrounds and trails for our kid. Clean bathhouses if you need them. It can get pretty crowded in the summer months so book early and try to get a spot near the boat ramp if you plan to bring your boat. Beautiful lake and great bluegill and cat fishing. If you can, go get a hot dog for lunch and breakfast at Paradise Point down the road! It’s definitely an experience. And whether you’re from out of state or not, order a Hot Brown from the state park restaurant if you go! They have a great golf course as well. Definitely recommend this campground if you’re getting away with the family.

This property is clean, quiet, family and pet friendly. Each tent and RV stall has its own picnic table and fire pit, spacing out each stall so it has fair privacy. If you don't care to grill or have a sandwich or ice cream at the general store on site the friendly owner will tell you where to eat in town (Cookeville). The entrance to the state park is across the street from the general store. All of the facilities you need are here, but I do have one critique, that is the smart light in the Women's restroom turns off after 20 seconds, I think it would be better to set it to 5 minutes. Otherwise it was a perfect stay.

We just stayed over night. Our site was very un-level and could not get the camper to auto level. We put our surge protector on and the power at the site kept shorting out. We managed to get slides out then it shorted out. Turned breakers back on to turn on a/c and it blew again. The campground is down a very long road then once you register it’s another long drive back to the sites, which is nothing but trees. Sites are roomy. Gravel roads. It has a beautiful lake with benches to sit on and a nice walk way. It was just too hot to enjoy it. It’s a beautiful campground but the rules are just too much. Not that we would do any of these things without being told not too, but the speed limit is 10. 1 warning and your kicked out. There’s a big paragraph just on what your pets can’t do. Its 2 pages of rules. I realize they need to have rules but to write them all down with threats of a fine is just excessive.

We visited here during the summer. I really enjoyed our stay. A couple of things caught a us by surprise.. 1) The steps down to our campsite. Some of the campsites towards the back of the campground have a good amount of stairs. It was okay, but not good for anyone who cannot handle a lot of stairs. 2) There was a lot of boat traffic on the lake, even late into the night. I’m not sure if it is always like this or because there is a marina near by the campground. We could reach the edge of the lake from our campsite and launched out kayaks from there. The boats made it a little difficult to kayak the lake, but some kayakers towards the front of the campground at the day beach seemed to do okay. There’s a small hiking trail in the park also called the “lost spring trail” not much of a spring to see, but a couple of lookout points. Must not be much traffic through the trail anymore, the lookouts were a little overgrown. Overall the campground was nice, lots of access to the water if you like to fish and some very beautiful views. Pet friendly! Clean!

I'm from New England and relocated to Tennessee in 2016. The first time I went camping at Edgar Evans, I had no idea what was going on! All I saw was platforms, and what I considered 'normal' camping sites were labeled 'primitive' sites. I was in total awe. I didn't know how it was going to work with a tent, but my boyfriend showed me that all you need to do is bring nails to hammer down and secure your tent to the wooden platform. Where as I was at first turned off by the platform, there are a few pluses:

-It rains A LOT in Tennessee. When I used to camp up north, we got flooded out during heavy rains, as we were camping directly on the ground. The platform keeps you elevated, so digging a trench around your tent is a non-issue.

-If you get a waterfront site (HIGHLY recommended), the views are gorgeous. I'd say go for the sites in the lower 40s - they're super close to a bathhouse and a few paths that will bring you down to the edge of some gorgeous cliffs, giving you the best view in the site. If you go in the other direction, you'll be looking at a community of house boats, which kinda blew my mind, as clusters of houseboats aren't really a thing up north, either.

-You can comfortably fit two tents on a platform; three is pushing it, but we've seen people pack around four in (which I don't think you're actually supposed to do).

-Something else I've noticed in TN - virtually all camping takes place at State Parks, and Edgar Evans is one of the few that actually offers wooden platforms and primitive sites. Most of them offer concrete platforms for RVs and smaller trailers, making it difficult to camp with a tent.

The sites in the lower 40s also offer more level ground for the fire pits. Some sites have a really steep drop off, which make it difficult to place chairs and sit and relax without being a little wobbly.

There's also a pretty big trail system to explore, and it seems like you might need to set aside an entire day to do the loop in its entirety - we're still planning on doing that! I find that I get more immersed in relaxation mode when I'm there instead of active hiking mode - taking a chair down to the cliffs and sitting by the water with a book makes for some beautiful downtime!

All of this being said, this is our favorite spot! We've come here at least twice, if not three times a year since I've moved down here. The staff is friendly and helpful, the campers are friendly, and there's usually lots of adorable dogs around to pet lol! Definitely love this place!

We are a week into a month long stay and I can’t say enough great things about this park. It’s close to restaurants and shopping, and many places to hike. The staff is amazing and everyone is so friendly. There is a great dog trail and a fenced dog run. Close to the interstate, but not too noisy.

We ususally try to find the Army Corp of Engineers campgrounds as they're so nice!  This particular one has two areas - the main one and a few separated campsites over a bridge.  We were over the bridge and I would not recommend it - dogs could not cross bridge and sites are very small.

Facilities clean and well lit.

This campground is ideal for car/RV camping. Good hook us for electric and water at each site. Added plus, these bathrooms are super nice and with several locations next to lots of camp plots. Also, dog friendly and within a short drive of the Big South Fork for all you Yakers 😀✌️

Quiet campground for smaller campers and vans. Dog friendly. It is on the top of the hill, so prepare to hike to the lake. There are trails along the lake, and shortcut trails through the woods, mostly narrow and washed out. The pool is very busy in the summer. The campground is clean and sites are spacious and shady, most sites require leveling. Beautiful lake and dam, definitely worth the visit!