You'll Never Believe Why We Chose This Campground!
During the pandemic, when many of our hobbies got locked down along with our souls, our only solace was finding ways to pass the time indoors. We missed traveling. So when we discovered a way to "travel" from within our own home, we became slightly addicted.
The game is Geoguessr. In a nutshell, you choose a category or geographic region (world, United States, Europe, etc.), and you get dropped in a random location in Google Street View. Using context clues, you need to try and figure out where you are. There are many variations to this, including timed rounds, and whether or not you're able to actually walk down the street. However, the classic game is to get plopped into the unknown, wander around, and then guess your dropped location as precisely as possible. It's like a scavenger hunt, but you're looking for yourself.
Funnily, we were actually late to the party. Geoguessr launched way back in 2013, but it's grown since then. Over time, many YouTubers and Twitchers started broadcasting their plays, so that we could see how well (or poorly) they knew their random geography. Some influencers' channels are entirely devoted to playing Geoguessr, while others try their hand at the game in a less professional manner. The more we started watching these games, the more we needed to try it for ourselves.
Our board game nights became computer game nights, as we would band together and play detective, looking for any clue to find our whereabouts. Eventually we evolved our own game, and we began playing on two computers, challenging each other to a race to see who would most closely pinpoint our destination the fastest. We even got our family involved, having Nicole's parents and brother over for dinner and a round of "Geo."
We played a lot of games and dropped into a whole variety of locations. Some were like "get me out of here now," some were quite beautiful, and some were our hometowns! One day, we were dropped somewhere around here:
Not a lot to go on at first glance, so we wandered the streets, looking for any signs of...well, signs in general. The first sign was a bit alarming, but it also told us a whole lot about our geographic area:
Were we somewhere in Tornado Alley? The South? The Midwest? Using other context clues such as the foliage and the vast amount of land, it was safe to assume we were somewhere around the Midwest, but not in the plains. Further exploration led us to signs for a marina, a lodge, and a golf course. From this we could deduce that were near some body of water, likely a lake (not ocean because we think we're in the Midwest), and we're in some kind of resort.
A little further up the street, we finally learned the name of the resort: Dale Hollow.
Doesn't help us much, given how many lakes there are, and so we continued on. We needed to find a main road, which meant we needed to get out of the state park. We must have traveled really far without seeing anything, because we eventually came to a sign for route 449.
Now, we don't actually remember how this game ended. We did end up figuring out where we were, but we have no recollection of which clues we used. There are a few street signs that show the name of the state, or at least have this shape...
...so that probably helped. However, even if you know the state, and the route, and the lake, there is still some deep diving into the map that needs to happen. Geoguessr has a map off to the side, which you can use to search different areas and match them to your street view. Once you have a guess of where you are, you use the map to drop a pin at your guessed location.
Trying to find Dale Hollow Lake in Kentucky isn't the toughest needle in the haystack. There are only 45 lakes in the state, so it's better than searching in Minnesota or something! But, it does still take some time. The tricky part is, when the lake turns out to be on the state border. We have a tendency to look in the middle of the state because it's tough to see the border outlines. Dale Hollow Lake? Yep, it's on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Even knowing exactly where it is, it's still hard to spot!
Then, to really succeed at Geoguessr, you need to try to pin yourself in the exact spot of the street that you were originally dropped, 0 feet away. We know we didn't get that close because getting 0 feet is like winning the lottery, but we got close enough to get a decent score.
The score isn't really what mattered, though. We had just inadvertently discovered a campground that we would have never known about otherwise.
When we started playing Geoguessr, our RV plan was already set in motion. So when we were dropped near an RV campground, we had to do some research. Turns out, the state park campground was rated really well! Over a 9.0 on RV Trip Wizard, and a TripAdvisor reviewer saying it's the "best state park" he's ever camped in. Trip-planner Nicole tucked it in the back of her mind. Maybe someday, we'll head to Kentucky.
Fast forward a few months, and we were busy planning out the post-Smokies portion of our 2022 travels. We were already going to be in Tennessee anyway, so why not head north and see Dale Hollow for ourselves? To us, it was a fun way to RV Kentucky - a state we wouldn't otherwise be very excited about (we were wrong about that too, but more on that next post).
It's certainly not a normal process of finding campgrounds, but this Geoguessr-inspired booking turned out to be a great success. Dale Hollow Lake Campground is fantastic. We got a full hookup site which has never happened before in a state park. Even though the campground itself isn't near the water, it's just a short drive to the marina. We camped with all the boaters, and they looked like they were having the best time. Days out on the water, and evenings by the campfire. What a fantastic way to kick off summer!
The State Park has tons of amenities. Beyond the bathhouses and laundry, there are multiple playgrounds, a volleyball net, basketball hoop, a pool, mini golf, and miles of trails. That's just at the campground! In the park there is the boat launch/marina, golf course, the lodge with its own pool, and a restaurant. There is also a picnic pavilion with another basketball hoop. The campground even has specific sections for horse trailers because the trails are horse-friendly! At night, fireflies surrounded our campground loop, and we felt like a little gift of the Smokies had followed us north.
The campground is set up in a unique way. In each loop, each site is like a spoke on a wagon wheel, so there is a grassy area in the middle, and the sites surround the grass. This gives a communal feel, which would be fantastic for groups who want to book their sites all together. It also means that, when you're backing into the site, you're not blocking road traffic. Lastly, instead of being lined up next to your neighbor, you're offset, meaning that you get some views out your window that aren't just the RV next door.
Granted, most state parks have more privacy than this, so you'd likely get a grass or plant view anyway, but these sites are close together, and so having one window free of RV views was welcome.
The site was small, so while we could have squeezed our truck into it, we opted not to. We noticed that it was acceptable to park vehicles in the center grassy area of the loop, so we did that. So many of the RVers also had boats, so everyone just parked where they could.
Dale Hollow is very much a destination for locals to enjoy some leisure time. Between Geoguessr and our trip planning research, we knew what we were in for. There seem to be some negative reviews online complaining about the noise, but what do people expect with such a fun recreational atmosphere? We weren't there for a vacation, nor did we go out on the lake, but we really liked the vibe, being surrounded by families having tons of fun and making memories. We smile when we see kids having outdoor movie nights and playing ball, because we know they'll remember those days forever, and someday, maybe those memories will inspire them to take their kids camping.
We also weren't disappointed by the location, as we already knew from Geoguessr etc. that we wouldn't be too close to civilization. We were about 20 minutes from any town center, and even then the shops were slim pickings. That said, we were able to grab some groceries at the "only market in Burkesville" and got some fruit and eggs from the farmer's market. We also enjoyed some ice cream at Dale Hollow Sweets, which is right up the street from the State Park. When we first dropped into this location in Geoguessr, it looked like the boonies, but in reality, while not super convenient, we had what we needed. Again, for what this place is - a gathering spot for friends and family to enjoy the outdoors - you don't need every convenience right at your fingertips.
We were supposed to be at Dale Hollow for two weeks, but we ended up cutting our stay short due to the massive heat dome that was wreaking havoc on the entire Midwest and Southeast. We stayed for 5 days and decided to move on. However, in that time, we got to explore the state park, and even found a slightly cooler day to take a hike to Eagle Point. The view speaks for itself.
We certainly maximized our short stay at Dale Hollow. And in case you're wondering, of course we went around the park trying to find all our Geoguessr context clues that helped us figure out where in the world we were!
In some weird way, it was like visiting old stomping grounds. Actually, we did seem to get our bearings a lot faster here than we usually do when we move to a new campground. Coincidence??? We think not.
And that's the story of how we found our first campground in Kentucky. Now feel free to laugh, call us nerds, and keep reading our blog to see what other crazy Kentucky adventures are in store!
Campground:
Dale Hollow State Park Campground
Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park, Burkesville Kentucky
Site H4, back-in, FHU, picnic table, firepit