Linton
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 14 of the next 16 nights read 15:58 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Linton Recreation area is a day-use haven that sits on Lake Barkley near wooded rolling hills and abundant wildlife. Whether it's a gathering of family or friends, visitors can enjoy the the excellent atmosphere beautiful scenery. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating and fishing are a big hit, as is swimming in the designated sandy swimming area and playing sports like soccer or Frisbee in the grassy open fields.
Facilities
The accessible picnic shelter fits 100 guests and 50 vehicles. Other perks include a flush toilet, playground, grills and swimming beach. No electric hookups are available.
Natural Features
The recreation area is on the shores of Lake Barkley, nestled in the wooded, rolling hills of southwestern Kentucky, very close to the border with Tennessee. Lake Barkley covers 57,900 acres with 1,004 miles of shoreline and offers warm water temperatures for comfortable recreation during summer months.
Nearby Attractions
Visit Fort Donelson National Battlefield, where the Union Army won its first battle in the Civil War. Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is just across the lake and features more than 170,000 acres of public land with numerous historical and outdoor attractions.
What the agency tells you
Shelter is for day-use only between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…and 50 vehicles. Other perks include a flush toilet, playground, grills and swimming beach. No electric…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Swimming
- Visitor center
Something open on 14 of the next 14 bookable nightsread 15:58 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBookedNot reservable
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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
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 15:58 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
| LINT | 1 | day use | yes | 170 ft | $35 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
From Nashville take I-24 west to Cadiz, exit 65. Make a left onto Highway 68 for 8 miles to Highway 139. Make a left on Highway 139 and go 6 miles to Highway 164. Make a right on Highway 164 and the day use area is 8 miles from there.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Big Rock, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Linton is in Kentucky’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, James Comer (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyJames ComerU.S. Representative · Kentucky’s 1st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMitch McConnellU.S. Senator · Kentucky
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRand PaulU.S. Senator · Kentucky
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Linton has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear James Comer, I’m a constituent in Kentucky’s 1st district. Linton, Kentucky carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Linton (Kentucky) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Linton has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Mitch McConnell, I’m a constituent in Kentucky. Linton, Kentucky carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Linton (Kentucky) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Linton has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Rand Paul, I’m a constituent in Kentucky. Linton, Kentucky carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Linton (Kentucky) via campanac.com