Waitsboro Campground
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 2 of the next 2 nights read 14:51 UTC
- A night
- $16–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2322 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Waitsboro Campground is at 500 Waitsboro Road and is situated on beautiful Lake Cumberland in southern Kentucky. Click here for the Lake Cumberland virtual tour. Keep reading
Recreation
Lake Cumberland is the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi River. Its large surface acreage and over 1,200 miles of shoreline provide a myriad of recreational activities. The lake has an abundance of largemouth, smallmouth, white and Kentucky bass, bluegill, crappie, rockfish and walleye, making it a favorite among anglers. The Black Walnut Nature Trail, located near the lake office, is a self-guided educational trail. The trail is open Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4pm EST.
Facilities
The campground offers 17 RV sites, all with electric hookups, and five tent-only sites. Eight of Waitsboro's sites are on the waterfront, making them prime locations for weekend recreation. Amenities include flush toilets, showers, drinking water, laundry facilities and a dump station. A day-use area with a group picnic shelter and a parking area is also available.
Natural Features
The campground overlooks the main body of the lake, offering sweeping scenic views. Dense stands of mature hardwoods forest the site, offering scenic views, pleasant shade and wildlife habitat. Because of the temperate climate and relatively long recreation season, the lake provides varied outdoor recreational opportunities for millions of visitors each year.
Nearby Attractions
General Burnside Island State Park is nearby. It was named after Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who led patrols along the Cumberland River, circling this 400-acre island to keep watch for Confederate soldiers. Visitors come today to enjoy boating, fishing, golfing and picnicking on Kentucky's only island state park. Burnside Marina is 10 minutes away, with boat rentals, a restaurant and general store.
What the agency tells you
Check in time is 3:00 PM Eastern. Check out time is 12:00 PM Eastern.
Off-road vehicles not permitted.
Golf carts, scooters and moped vehicles are not authorized on project roadways unless handicap credentials can be established.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
America the Beautiful discount cards do not apply to group sites or shelters. Discount cards good for standard sites.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 23 · 4 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- 18 electric, 21 water
- Longest rig
- 70 ft
- Paved pads
- 5 of 23
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 20 of 24 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 20 of 24 campsite records
- Showers
- Accessible Showers
- ACCESSIBLE SHOWERS on 20 of 24 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…include flush toilets, showers, drinking water, laundry facilities and a dump station. A day-use…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Store
- Nearby
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Night sky · 60th darkest of 60 in KY
- Bortle 4
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Army Corps says
- Yes
Full this Saturdayread 14:51 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
4 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:43 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 17
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $16–$30 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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 4
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:43 UTC
- Fishing Creek CampgroundLake Cumberland · 5.9 mi · 24 of 92 site-nights open
- Alum Ford CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 17 mi · 5 of 12 site-nights open
- Blue Heron CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 23 mi · 7 of 82 site-nights open
- Bear Creek Campground - KYBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 26 mi · 23 of 44 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 14:51 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
24 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 22 mapped sitesAll 24 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 21 of the 24 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| WAIT | 01 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | yes | 48 ft | 25 ft | $22–$30 |
| WAIT | 02 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 44 ft | 48 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 03 | standard electric | 25 ft | 50 amp | 44 ft | 39 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 04 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50 amp | 51 ft | 41 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 05 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 22 ft | $16 | |||
| WAIT | 06 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 23 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 07 | standard electric | 27 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 32 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 08 | standard electric | 50 amp | 41 ft | 26 ft | $22–$30 | ||
| WAIT | 09 | type not stated | 45 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | |||
| WAIT | 10 | type not stated | 60 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | |||
| WAIT | 11 | standard electric | 50 amp | 46 ft | 81 ft | $22–$30 | ||
| WAIT | 12 | standard electric | 50 amp | 41 ft | 57 ft | $22–$30 | ||
| WAIT | 13 | standard electric | 29 ft | 50 amp | 60 ft | 75 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 14 | tent only electric | 50 amp | 62 ft | 96 ft | $22 | ||
| WAIT | 15 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 96 ft | 79 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 16 | standard electric | 25 ft | 50 amp | 65 ft | 86 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 17 | standard electric | 25 ft | 50 amp | 41 ft | 115 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 18 | standard electric | 70 ft | 50 amp | 41 ft | 140 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 19 | standard electric | 25 ft | 50 amp | 66 ft | 124 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 20 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 66 ft | 190 ft | $16 | ||
| WAIT | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 99 ft | 110 ft | $16 | ||
| WAIT | 22 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 99 ft | 152 ft | $22–$30 | |
| WAIT | 9G | group standard electric | 50 amp | 46 ft | 36 ft | $42 | ||
| WAIT | A100 | day use | 1795 ft | 42 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
Fishing Creek Campground5.9 mi
Cumberland Point Campground12 mi
Fall Creek Campground13 miBee Rock CampgroundDaniel Boone National Forest · 17 mi
Alum Ford CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 17 mi
Holly BayDaniel Boone National Forest · 20 miFrom Somerset Kentucky, take Highway 27 south for 5 miles. Turn right on Waitsboro Road and follow signs to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Burnside, KY
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Waitsboro 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyHarold RogersU.S. Representative · Kentucky’s 5th 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
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Waitsboro Campground, Kentucky
Dear Harold Rogers, I’m a constituent in Kentucky’s 5th district. I tried to camp at Waitsboro Campground, Kentucky, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 22 of the 23 campsites the agency files at Waitsboro Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 16 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Waitsboro Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Waitsboro Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Waitsboro Campground (Kentucky) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Waitsboro Campground, Kentucky
Dear Mitch McConnell, I’m a constituent in Kentucky. I tried to camp at Waitsboro Campground, Kentucky, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 22 of the 23 campsites the agency files at Waitsboro Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 16 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Waitsboro Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Waitsboro Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Waitsboro Campground (Kentucky) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Waitsboro Campground, Kentucky
Dear Rand Paul, I’m a constituent in Kentucky. I tried to camp at Waitsboro Campground, Kentucky, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 22 of the 23 campsites the agency files at Waitsboro Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 16 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Waitsboro Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Waitsboro Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Waitsboro Campground (Kentucky) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“the agency's own site records list "CELL PHONE SERVICE" on 22 of 24 campsites here”