Koomer CampGround

We moved camp here after one night at another not-so-great place, and then decided to stay an additional night because we were having too much fun. Wonderful, spacious sites and nice clean facilities - what more do you really need?The campground is conveniently located near the highway and for short drives to the surrounding area for hiking, sightseeing and whatnot. There is access to at least one cliff trail at several points around the campground, and you're never too far from a pit toilet. But if those aren't your idea of a nice place to do your business, the actual restroom and shower facilities are amazingly clean. My only complaint is that the frogs don't know what "quiet time" means.

Camped here on a Saturday night recently -- I'd rented a cabin in the Gorge and backpacked here several times, but never car-camped. I think I was a little afraid that the campground would be similar to Miguel's -- lots of party-time people and little privacy. However, our small group was pleasantly surprised that many of the sites had their own sense of "place." While few of the sites are completely secluded, they at least have plenty of trees around them to give you a tiny bit of privacy.We got a double-pad site since we had two tents, and this was more than enough room. The pads are very generously sized, so if you have one of those ginormous 8-person tents that are bigger than a Manhattan studio apartment, you should have no issue setting it up.Each site comes with a picnic table (ours had 2 but not sure if that was because it was a double?) and a fire pit. You can purchase wood and ice at the campsite host. There are also some short but fun trails that lead off from Koomer Ridge, and I think at least one connects to the Rough Trail, which is a very long trail going through the Gorge that also lives up to its name.The only downside is you can hear the traffic from the road fairly easy, but giving how close the campground is to the main road, this isn't really surprising. I just figure it's part of the territory with car camping as opposed to backpacking.

We got to the Red River Gorge area late Friday night, so we planned to stay the night at Koomer Campground then get going early for backpacking. The tent only area was full, but we found a site in the tent/RV ring that accommodated our group's four tents and two hammocks. It was nice because our nearest camping neighbor was more than just a few feet away, so we felt like we had some privacy. The price was right ($7 if I remember correctly), plus there were bathrooms (okay pit toilets), but it's better than nothing.

I did a lot of research for my family's first trip to the Gorge, and I'm glad I settled on Koomer Ridge. I learned that you should arrive early, as it's first come first served and gets busy early in the afternoon - on fact it was nearly full around dinner time. We picked site #24, one I highly recommend due to it's proximity to water, pit toilets and an easy 6 minute or so walk to the nicer bathrooms/bathhouse. Our site was secluded, peaceful and quiet for a Friday and Saturday night. There was an ample pad for our 6 person tent, more than enough room for daily activities around the picnic table and/or fire, two poles with 4 hooks each to hang things and the fire pit had a nice cooking grate option. The host was very nice and I saw her and several park personnel of some sort roaming the campground quite often. Koomer Ridge is very close to the Sky Lift which takes paying lazy folk like me to the Natural Bridge and other gorgeous observation areas. And it's very close to all the Gorge's trails, in fact one trail head is located within the campground. I highly recommend this campground.