Lake Barkley State Park

Stayed at Lake Barkley State Park the weekend of July 27 - 29 for a family reunion. We had relatives stay in the lodge and cabins while a couple of us camped. The weather was great for a July weekend, temps in the low 80's. We had made a reservation so check-in was easy, just proceed to our campsite and the hang tag was already there. The campground was not busy, i would estimate 50% occupancy.

Friday night we had a large raccoon in our campsite eating all the crumbs left behind from the kids (lots) eating s'mores. Once the raccoon cleaned up it left, returned Saturday night to chew a hole through at plastic tote at my brother's campsite and eat the hamburger & hotdog buns.

The campsites were pretty good size, we didn't feel like we were on top of one another. Sites were very shady. The bath house was old but clean and well stocked. One of the few bath houses I have been in that had air condition. Not cold air but enough to keep the air moving and dry things out. Very nice playground for the kids.

Only a couple of negatives. The water hook up was shared with our neighbor site. When they unhooked early Sunday morning his side of the hook up dripped and made a huge muddy mess between our sites. The dump station is not conveniently located and requires you to find somewhere to turn around as it located on the passenger side of the campground loop.

The State Park Lodge could use some maintenance. It is old! Simple things like weed eating, using a leaf blower and some paint would go a long way to spruce it up. We ate a family meal (32 of us) in the lodge dining room and they accommodated us well. The buffet was really good food and well priced.

A couple of relatives brought their boats so we were able to get out on the lake which was great. Apparently the lake has a lot of asian carp so you have to watch out for them flying through the air.

Overall it is a pretty nice campground with large shady sites. I would consider going back here but if I was in the area I would go to Energy Lake Campground at Land Between the Lakes.

Lack of maintenance plus old age equals not so nice expierence. Would have left except grandkids were close by.