Best Tent Camping near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area

About four miles of winding hills off the paved road. Cleared and not too rough. The site has 18 designed spots, all tiered into the wooded hillside. There is a natural boat launch into Bards Lake. A single Vault toilet and Dumpster as well. The gravel camping pads are reasonably level, each with a concrete picnic table and large fire ring with grate.The hillside spots were designed for tent camping and are tight. No campers larger than 20' will fit on the hillside, however the bottom four spaces will accommodate a class A rig. A fork at the top of the hill provides a space for small campers to turn around if needed. Space number 16 has poor drainage. The area is very shady, a nice deep woods feeling. Firewood must be deadfall or bring your own "bug free" wood. The welcome center at the entrance has fresh and "potable" water, and a blackwater dump. The center also has maps, sodas, candy, etc. Great area to hike, the weird history of the area can be seen everywhere. Hundreds of very old cemeteries and homestead ruins... Att signal was two bars at all times. Overall, a big thumbs up!!!

Located at Land Between the Lakes at the south end. This campground has about 18 sites. You can can camp near the water or back in the woods. The sites have concrete picnic tables, fire rings and gravel for parking and to set up your site. As m motioned, no electricity or running water. Nearest water point is about five miles away at the South welcome center. Vault toilet (one seat). Sites are close but not crowded. There is a small no wake lake next to the site and lake Barkley is 50 yards away. There is also a boat ramp into Lake Barkley a quarter mile away. This is a great site for relaxing and fishing.

Hillman Ferry is the northernmost full service campground in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area and is an excellent base camp for exploring the LBL and other recreation opportunities in the area. And are there ever choices! To start, Hillman Ferry sits on Kentucky Lake and has many sites right on the water and it’s own boat ramp for those with boats. Lake Barkley is about 5 miles to the east and offers just as much water recreation - both lakes are massive impoundments and f the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The campground has sites ranging from primitive to full hookup and offers a camp store, lots of space for kids to play and enjoy the water and is relatively close to town for fuel, Highway access and other activities in the LBL like the bison and elk prairie, nature center, planetarium 1850’s farm and hiking and OHV trails. The LBL is HUGE and we loved our stay and can’t wait to come again to explore more of the region. Hillman Ferry is highly recommended!

Campsite Review

I wound up staying at five different campsites within the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, and this was my favorite. That largely is due to them having showers and canoe and kayak rentals, but hey – when you’re here in the summer, that’s what you want! Actually, Energy Lakes has the most amenities of all the campgrounds – including ice and firewood to buy and some additional common areas like a designated swim area (no lifeguard, but I imagine this makes it easier to keep an eye on kids) and basketball and volleyball courts. The only downside to this place is the lack of boat ramps, which is also surprising considering more primitive sites in the area offer those. I guess that’s the trade off – showers for no boat ramp. Luckily there are ample spots around the rec area in the park if you need to launch your boat. I would highly recommend a reservation here given it’s the most popular campsite in the park and only a few spots will get you truly “lakeside”. It is $10/hr for the boat rentals.

Product Review

As a Ranger for TheDyrt, I am given products to test from time to time. Today I was testing out the Showers Pass Waterproof Socks. You can watch the video review here. I didn't think there was any way someone could make a sock waterproof. I thought it would be more like a dry sack shrunk to mini proportions with some fitting elastic and it would be called a 'sock'. But here's Showers Pass, this Pacific Northwest-based company (I heard it rains there a lot) making this coolmax inner lined comfortable foot shield. Like, how?

I did a few bike rides in these, and the coolmax liner is definitely necessary since the socks are thicker to give you that water protection and in summer heat (it was about 90 degrees most of the days I was in this campground park) I was sweating everywhere. Energy Lakes has canoe rentals so I left my shoes in my car and dragged out a boat into the water and went for a paddle around the lake. It's a super cool feeling to walk into water just wearing socks and not get wet. It's like a wet-suit for your feet.

I did try to soak my feet, see if there was a "breaking point" for these guys. No surprise really, but if you walk into water that goes above the sock line on your leg, water is going to seep in since you've now completely submerged your sock and the elastic holding them against your leg really shouldn't be designed to be airtight, since then you'd have all kinds of other issues going on with the comfort and breathability of this sock. I imagine the majority of people using these aren't canoeing, they're bike riding and so unless you're trying to pedal through a waist deep puddle, I think you're going to be ok.

I do canoe a lot and these are my new favorite accessory. What I think is really promising about their performance too is since these socks were designed for activity, portages would still be enough for these socks to handle. Seriously Showers Pass how did you make these so freaking comfy and waterproof!?

Redd Hollow is a Self-service campground in Land Between the Lakes (LBL) with improved camp sites, fire rings, picnic tables, vault toilet and trash dumpsters. Some sites are directly on the water, some are higher up, with great views of the lake.  The campsites are pea gravel based, and while some are smaller and closer together (ideal for tents or car camping) there are a few that are large enough for dry docking a small RV.  I didn't pay attention to whether there was potable water, (I haul mine in) but the Dump Station just south of Golden Pond Visitor Center has potable water.  

The road going back to Redd Hollow is an improved gravel road that is in good condition. Easily traveled in a car, 4WD is not needed.  All sites are first come- first served, so you will want to come early.  At Self Service areas, I drive through, find my site, then walk back to the entrance and complete the registration card, place payment in the envelope and drop it in the "Iron Ranger".   A Dispersed Camping permit does not allow you to camp in a self-service campground.

Further details for LBL's camp grounds:  https://landbetweenthelakes.us/seendo/camping/rules/