Blue Heron Campground
4Heads uppark alerts, one naming this campground
- Right now
- Big South Fork Announces Temporary Closure of Blue Heron Tipple BridgeInformation naming this campground · taking bookings
- A night
- $30–$35Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 45All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Blue Heron Campground is a rustic and spacious campground, situated on the Kentucky side of The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area--a vast and scenic expanse of land that offers visitors countless recreational activities. Keep reading
Recreation
Numerous trails snake through the Recreation Area, offering mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding for visitors. The main river of the Big South Fork is also a short drive away, offering fishing opportunities.
Facilities
Blue Heron Campground combines the experience of traditional woods camping with the modern convenience of flush toilets, hot showers and electric hookups. Sites can accommodate both RV and tent camping. The campsites are spacious and provide picnic areas and plenty of shade.
Natural Features
The Big South Fork is located in north central Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky in some of the most rugged terrain of the Cumberland Plateau. The park encompasses approximately 125,000 acres of both rocky gorges and forested plateaus. Numerous pristine streams unite with the free-flowing Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. Over thousands of years, this ceaselessly moving water has carved the sandstone of the plateau into impressive cliffs, arches and chimneys that are found throughout the park.
Nearby Attractions
Just a few miles from the campground 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. 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. Additional attractions include the Daniel Boone National Forest and Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, offering additional recreation opportunities.
What the agency tells you
Black bears and other wildlife frequent this campground. Please keep in mind that “food” to a bear includes any item with a scent, regardless of packaging. This may consist of items that you do not consider food, such as canned goods, horse feed, bottles, drinks, soaps, cosmetics, toiletries, trash, ice chests (even when empty), and unwashed items used for preparing or eating meals. All these items must be stored properly. --Secure coolers, grills, cooking utensils, horse feed, any food not in use, and anything with food odors inside the locked compartment of a vehicle or trailer or a bear proof storage locker if available. Food storage lockers each measure approximately 29" deep x 38" wide x 43" tall. --Wipe off picnic tables and grills. Properly discard aluminum foil used for cooking. --Avoid burning garbage in fire rings because it will leave behind grease and food scraps. --Always discard all garbage in wildlife proof trash cans or dumpsters. Keep a clean campsite. --Do not hang garbage from lantern poles. Following these guidelines will keep you from getting your property confiscated from your campsite. We appreciate your cooperation.
This is a hazardous tree area and branches may fall at any time; use caution when selecting a place to camp
A Tennessee or Kentucky fishing license is required to fish in the main river of the Big South Fork
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Ay group larger than 25 persons wishing to participate in any activity in the park in which members of the group will depart from an established road and/or parking area must first obtain a permit for such activity. More information can be found online at www.nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/special-use-permits.htm.
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
- 45
- Hookups
- 45 electric, 45 water
- Longest rig
- 61 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Facilities Blue Heron Campground combines the experience of traditional woods camping with the modern convenience of flush toilets, hot showers and electric hookups.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 18th darkest of 60 in KY
- Bortle 4
7 of 82 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:57 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
These counts cover the 45 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$35 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 15:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
45 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 43 mapped sitesAll 45 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 43 of the 45 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 44 of the 45 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| 001 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 70 ft | 534 ft | 846 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 002 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 70 ft | 474 ft | 782 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 003 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 68 ft | 399 ft | 701 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 004 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 62 ft | 341 ft | 637 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 005 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 62 ft | 282 ft | 576 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 006 | standard electric | 44 ft | 30 amp | 38 ft | 139 ft | 400 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 007 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 38 ft | 109 ft | 362 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 008 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 51 ft | 85 ft | 313 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 009 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 64 ft | 73 ft | 231 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 010 | standard electric | 29 ft | 30 amp | 64 ft | 71 ft | 168 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 011 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30 amp | 48 ft | 64 ft | 250 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 012 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 48 ft | 57 ft | 289 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 013 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 63 ft | 80 ft | 349 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 014 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 47 ft | 144 ft | 411 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 015 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 47 ft | 184 ft | 429 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 016 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 226 ft | 430 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 017 | standard electric | 42 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 193 ft | 380 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 018 | standard electric | 47 ft | 30 amp | 57 ft | 273 ft | 450 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 019 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | 342 ft | 498 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 020 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | 34 ft | 498 ft | 625 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 021 | standard electric | 47 ft | 30 amp | 34 ft | 502 ft | 615 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 022 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 43 ft | 472 ft | 575 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 023 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 55 ft | 295 ft | 426 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 024 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 244 ft | 372 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 025 | standard electric | 42 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 199 ft | 324 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 026 | standard electric | 37 ft | 30 amp | 52 ft | 147 ft | 271 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 027 | standard electric | 42 ft | 30 amp | 44 ft | 112 ft | 219 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 028 | standard electric | 47 ft | 30 amp | 44 ft | 94 ft | 176 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 029 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | yes | 66 ft | 97 ft | 110 ft | $30–$35 |
| 030 | standard electric | 29 ft | 50 amp | 43 ft | 327 ft | 186 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 031 | standard electric | 44 ft | 50 amp | 43 ft | 367 ft | 229 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 032 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 54 ft | 388 ft | 261 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 033 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 55 ft | 389 ft | 279 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 034 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50 amp | 32 ft | 359 ft | 268 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 035 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50 amp | 32 ft | 356 ft | 279 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 036 | standard electric | 44 ft | 30 amp | 47 ft | 312 ft | 216 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 037 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 45 ft | 266 ft | 175 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 038 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 45 ft | 220 ft | 141 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 039 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50 amp | 45 ft | 218 ft | 193 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 040 | rv electric | 44 ft | 30 amp | |||||
| 041 | standard electric | 56 ft | 50 amp | 45 ft | 217 ft | 224 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 042 - SHORT PAD | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | $30–$35 | ||||
| 043 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 52 ft | 219 ft | 261 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 044 | standard electric | 48 ft | 30 amp | 59 ft | 189 ft | 288 ft | $30–$35 | |
| 045 | standard electric | 44 ft | 30 amp | 59 ft | 151 ft | 297 ft | $30–$35 |
25 of 45 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bear Creek Campground - KYBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 2.6 mi
Alum Ford CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 6.2 mi
Station Camp CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 11 mi
Great Meadows CampgroundDaniel Boone National Forest · 12 mi
Bandy CreekBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 16 mi
Waitsboro Campground23 miFor detailed directions, please visit: http://www.nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/directions.htm
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Stearns, 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
Blue Heron 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 →