Hardwoods run down to the waterline all the way around Cave Run Lake, 8,270 acres of water with the Daniel Boone National Forest on every side. A week here stays put: a boat out by morning, a sand beach in the afternoon, a fire after dark. Two Forest Service campgrounds face each other across the water, and the shore you choose sets the tone for the whole week.
Twin Knobs holds the north shore off KY 801, with 200 sites, a swim beach, a boat ramp, a camp store and bathhouses with showers. It suits a family that wants the beach, the store and the showers all inside the campground, so nobody has to unhook to fetch ice or a forgotten towel.
The Zilpo Scenic Byway winds through the forest and ends on a wooded peninsula off the south shore, at Zilpo. Its lakefront sites sit back under the trees with more privacy between neighbors, and the campground has cabins that sleep up to seven if part of the group would rather have walls. Anglers come for the lake's muskie, and with a ramp at each campground, a fishing day starts without moving the rig.
If you can't pick, split the week. A few nights at Twin Knobs keeps the kids on the beach, and the back half at Zilpo trades the busy shore for a quieter lakefront evening, with the byway as the only drive between them.
Twin Knobs or Zilpo, and booking the site first
Book the campsite before you book the RV. Zilpo is reservation-only through Recreation.gov, and Twin Knobs takes reservations on Recreation.gov with the rest of its sites first-come, first-served, which is a long shot to count on with a family already in the rig. Neither Forest Service page posts a length limit as of October 2026, so read each site's details on Recreation.gov before you settle on how long a rig to rent.
Hookups depend on the site. Twin Knobs ranges from electric-only sites up to full hookups, and Zilpo has electric at some sites. Each campground keeps its own dump station, so a week on a power-only pad ends with a stop on the way out instead of a detour.
Sheltowee RV Park on US 60, open all winter
Mornings at Sheltowee RV Park & Cabins start over two stocked fishing ponds, the light coming up across the water in the woods off US 60 West near Morehead. Unlike the two lake campgrounds, it stays open all year, so it becomes the winter base once Twin Knobs and Zilpo close, and in season it makes an easy first night before you move onto the shore.
The park has 24 RV sites with 30- and 50-amp full-service hookups, plus eight cabins, and it says its sites take an RV of any size, as of October 2026. Booking runs through the park's own reservation page.
The Red River Gorge and its sandstone arches make the day trip from either base. Its Forest Service campground, Koomer Ridge on KY 15, takes RVs on 19 of its 54 sites with no hookups, so the hookup night stays at Sheltowee or Twin Knobs. The Kentucky RV page covers the Gorge for a rig, and two people who'd rather wake up in the Gorge itself can size down with the Kentucky campervan page.