U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Trace Branch Campground

Lovely setting beside upper Buckhorn Lake and good facilities make this a great camping spot. It had vacant sites even late afternoon on a Saturday. Each site has water and electricity as well as a picnic table. Restroom has hot showers. Drive in is 2.6 miles and well signed, but watch for bits of loose gravel. Sites cost $24, half price with federal senior or access card.

It is a beautiful place! Very quiet and peaceful! The campground is surrounded by mountains and a river runs on one side of the park! Very clean and neat! The staff is super awesome and very friendly and helpful! The cons: if you are not an expert driving on narrow roads through the mountains, be ready for a very stressful drive! Also, you will not be able to use your phone or internet as there is no signal there. None. And is a flood area so you might be awaken in the middle of the night to have someone tell you that you have to go because the river if flooding (happened to us today, 08/18/2021)!

My husband and I just spent three days/nights at Trace Branch Campground. We thoroughly enjoyed our tent camping trip.The staff were friendly and helpful. The grounds were well maintained and the bathrooms/showers were clean. The only reason I gave Trace Branch Campground 4 stars instead of 5 stars was because the restroom/showers had 42 steps (round trip) or a very steep road/drive up to it. It seems there should be a winding concrete path to make them more accessible.

Update: There are new people running it! 💙 My family and I have camped here every Summer for over 7 years and have always had a great time except for the past couple. Last time we were here, we were playing corn hole with our kids at 6 pm and were told by a sheriff’s deputy that we were being “too loud.” So everyone tried to be more quiet, even though the site 2 spots away was playing loud music the entire time, and that was the end of it.. even though half the sheriffs department got together for a corn hole game themselves that night at about 10 pm! We decided to come back this past weekend and my husband was stopped at the front by a different deputy and park ranger who told him they heard we were being loud and “wild” the last time we were there and that if it happened again, we would either “go to bed, go home or go to jail.” The park attendant, I’m assuming, told him this even though they never said one word about it to him. That was the ONLY interaction we had with the police the entire night. So I would suggest that if you have kids with you, don’t go here or the police will be unnecessarily harassing you. It seems like there is so little excitement there that people have to create it. Unfortunately, I will not be back until there are new attendants which really saddens me because my kids love to camp and it’s so close by.

Our stay here was incredible. Such a beautiful place in the Kentucky mountains! The camp managers Terry and Jessica were beyond welcoming. They were very friendly and accommodating. We are from Illinois and i feel like we were shown true southern hospitality. Their knowledge of the area helped us find some of the most breathtaking local hidden treasures. Also, the showers and restrooms were very clean and well kept, the communal garbage reciprocal was always emptied so it was never smelly and the campgrounds overall were spotless so you could really enjoy the natural beauty of the foothills. The nearby playground (visible from the campsites) was great for the kids!