Alum Ford Campground
4Heads uppark alerts
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 6All of them booked ahead
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Alum Ford Campground is located in the Kentucky portion of Big South Fork seven miles west of Whitley City, Kentucky at the end of Highway 700. The campground consists of six campsites each with picnic table and fire ring. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground is located adjacent to the Alum Ford Boat Launch, providing access for motorized and non-motorized watercraft to this remote section of the Big South Fork River where it becomes Lake Cumberland. The Sheltowee Trace National Recreational Trail also passes through the campground. The Sheltowee Trace is a 260-mile back country trail through Daniel Boone National Forest, Big South Fork NRRA, and Natural Bridge, Cumberland Falls, & Pickett State Parks in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Facilities
Alum Ford Campground has six sites with tent pads, picnic tables, fire rings with grills, bear-proof garbage cans, and food storage lockers. A vault toilet facility is also available.
Natural Features
This small campground sits above the Alum Ford Boat Ramp which provides access to the Big South Fork River.
Nearby Attractions
The Big South Fork Scenic Railway Depot is located about 9 miles away in the town of Stearns, which offers train rides and other educational opportunities for campers. More information can be found online at https://bsfsry.com. Just a few miles from Stearns is Blue Heron Mine, also known as Mine 18, a historic abandoned mining town that has been rebuilt as an outdoor museum. Visitors can hear audio presentations from actual people who lived in the community in the 1950s. Additional attractions include the Daniel Boone National Forest and Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, offering additional recreation opportunities.
What the agency tells you
This campground does not have potable water nor electric service.
Cell service is not good in this area.
Please be advised that an approved Permit or Authorization by the superintendent is required before providing business services within Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. This includes services such as RV or tent delivery and setup, firewood sales and delivery, shuttle and transportation services, guided hikes, guided floats, and similar activities. To apply for a permit, please visit our website at www.nps.gov/biso and navigate to the "Doing Business With the Park" section. There you will find application forms, instructions, and contact information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Kayaking
- Motor Boat
- Paddling
- Picnicking
- Rafting
- Wildlife viewing
5 of 12 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:38 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
These counts cover the 6 reservable sites only. This campground also has first-come sites, and recreation.gov publishes no availability for a site you can’t reserve.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:38 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites
All 6 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 6 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Campsite 1 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Campsite 2 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Campsite 3 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Campsite 4 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Campsite 5 | standard nonelectric | yes | $15 |
| Campsite 6 | standard nonelectric | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Blue Heron CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 6.2 mi
Bear Creek Campground - KYBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 8.7 mi
Great Meadows CampgroundDaniel Boone National Forest · 14 mi
Station Camp CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 16 mi
Waitsboro Campground17 mi
Fall Creek Campground20 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Whitley City, KY
Typical weather
Typical October night 42°F, day 69°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 24°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Alum Ford Campground is in Kentucky’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Hal Rogers (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →