Taylor Ridge Campground (Sites 164-422)

Spent two nights here in the dead of July heat. The trees were amazing and helped keep us cool in this heatwave. Most sites are secluded Hutu the ones near the bathrooms are a little more condensed. Clean facilities and friendly staff with beautiful views throughout. We live an hour away close to Louisville and this will definitely be a park we keep coming back to.

Brown County SP has been on my list for a couple of years, at least. I'm not really familiar with the area but the descriptions and variety of MTB trails certainly piqued my interest. And I'm glad it did. There are three entrances to the park - from the north with the covered bridge (only suitable for smaller vehicles under 9') and the southern Horsemen's Campground entrance (the road goes through to the rest of the park but "no through traffic" is posted). The western main entrance off of Hwy 46 is for RVs. You pay the daily entry fee there (its a one-time fee to gain entry to the park) and a trail fee if you plan to bike the trails and then proceed nearly 5 miles to the campground registration building. There are lots of roads, all interconnecting and well signed. Once registered you can fill with water and one of the many water spigots. There are two double dump stations, one near registration (Buffalo Campground) and another at the Racoon Ridge Campground.

The other reviews do a great job of describing the beauty and variety this park has to offer. The best advice I can offer is to pick your site carefully! Since many of the sites are situated along a ridge (Walnut Road), particularly in the Taylor Ridge section, the slope of MANY sites is significant. While some (not many) are deep and reasonable level. quite a few are nothing more than small patches of packed gravel barely big enough for a tent. And sites range from dry to electric, many just 20/30A).

The sites at Taylor Ridge are gravel from site 164 to about 277 or so and paved after that. Even still, many of those paved sites are on a significant slope. The electrical boxes of the paved sites appeared to be newer than the gravel sites. My site (204) was chosen since it was a pull-through but turned out not to be very level and also a bit of a mud pit due to all the rain.

There are so many sites situated in relative proximity to each other along Walnut Road that I can't imagine what it would be like when the campground is full during. Being here during the week on damp and cool days of early April, it was magnificent. With no more than a dozen or so campers out on Taylor Ridge and bare trees, the AT&T hotspot hit 85 down and 10 up at one point. But the camping areas are high - once I got into the valleys or into the town of Nashville my T-Mobile signal died. Oh, and lots of woodpeckers. With the trails being muddy, there was limited opportunity to MTB. But the Limekiln section was great fun, with lots of fast ups and downs with a good climb on both east and west sides. The Pine Loop Trail was closed but the North Gate Trail & North Tower Loops were fun too.

This was the park of my childhood, so I was excited to camp. The site was very private, but had a huge drop off. Nothing, and I mean Nothing was level. We even had to put boards under the front of our chairs so we wouldn't tip over. The trails were great and the lake was beautiful. Just invest in lots of levelers and a good set of chocks. This park had tons of kids riding bikes, so be careful as you drive through.

Got into the park and was instantly taken away by the views. I completely understand why they refer to Brown County State Park as the "Little Smokies". Some of the views will have you believing you're in Tennessee. Surprisingly there are a lot of views and lookouts that require no hiking. You can walk right up to them or even pull your vehicle up if you prefer. We did decide to hike a few short trails and enjoyed them a lot. I highly recommend vising the lake/waterfall trail, it's amazing. The campground is very nice as well. It's large and has 2 different sections. Taylor Ridge and Buffalo Ridge. We stayed in Taylor Ridge due it being more wooded and secluded. We were not disappointed. We passed through Buffalo Ridge on the way to our site and although it was nice it was very open and offered not much tree/shade cover. Taylor Ridge is much more wooded and you get more of a forest feel. Our site had a paved pad so leveling wasn't hard at all. The only complaint I have is the site was a little muddy after a decent amount of rain one of the days. Our site included a fire pit and picnic table, both were in good shape. The loop that we were on was very quiet. There was only one other site that was occupied near us. Granted we went during the week, but if you're looking for a quiet and relaxing trip, I highly recommend going with Taylor Ridge. We had a vault restroom nearby and the shower houses were within 200 yards. The shower houses were in good shape as well as the restrooms. They seemed to have been cleaned daily so that was nice. Taylor ridge is a little tight if you have a super large camper or trailer it might be a little tight. We spent one of the afternoons in town exploring Little Nashville. The town is less than 10 minutes from the park and well worth the drive and time. We walked around the shops and got dinner at Hard Truth Distillery. I wasn't crazy about their bourbon but their food was excellent. We also tried Bear Wallow Distillery. It's also in Nashville in the opposite direction of Hard Truth. If you're a bourbon drinker I highly recommend you give it a shot. They offer a very good rye whiskey. I did a tasting and enjoyed and Old Fashion. I liked it so much I took a bottle home. Very fairly priced. All and all Brown County State Park is amazing. It offers something that appeals to all types of campers. It's location to Little Nashville makes it even better. Check it out, you wont be disappointed.

This is a beautiful park, with well-spaced, wooded sites with electric only in the higher numbers. The showers were not great, but to be expected for a state park.

The main reason for the low score was the problems we had getting a site. We came in on Tuesday without reservations, wanting to stay 2 nights. (Mid-week in October. No problem, right?) However, the park was quite full, probably due to fall school breaks. They told us they had a site for us for one night, but were completely full the second night. We checked ReserveAmerica, and found some sites for the second night, and reserved one. A couple hours later, the park called to say there was a glitch in the reservation system, and they cancelled our second night. They called shortly after to say they worked it out for us to stay, so all was good. But when the second night came, the park actually had dozens of open sites. Their reservation system is obviously unreliable.

Please note that the north entrance has a weight/size limit due to a covered bridge. Rigs need to enter through the west entrance.

Fairly large campground area with differing spot types (wooded areas, open areas). I would highly recommend paying attention to the description of whichever site you choose to reserve, as some have steep drop offs. I’m not sure how any type of RV could park at these sites. Some spots will require experienced drivers to back into (there is a post at the entrance of each space, and some have trees opposite the post side that make the entry to the spot narrow).

Plenty of trails for hiking and mountain biking. Scenic views with nothing but woods as far as you can see. There is a pool, but we did not check it out. The park also has playground areas and hay rides on the weekends if you have kids. The nature center also had taxidermy and live animals that are common to the area (including a type of rattlesnake).

The shower houses are quite nice. Since the campground only offers electric hookups at the sites, we were running low on water on our last night and I elected to just use the nearby shower house. There were about seven shower stalls. Each stall had a standard stall door, a changing area, and the shower with curtain in the back of the stall. Everything was clean, and the water was warm.

Just a short drive from the park is Nashville, with a lot of neat shops.

While I wish they offered full hookups, I wouldn’t think twice about staying here again.