Agency-listedKDFWR · dispersedFree
Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
Drive-up · Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · KY · 37.53435, -85.55943
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest town: New Haven. Designated camping area on a Kentucky Wildlife Management Area. In Kentucky you do not need a hunting or fishing licence merely to camp or hike a WMA, and KDFWR publishes no camping fee for WMAs. Camping is legal ONLY in the designated area.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 595 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping AreaNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area · Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · KY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel3 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- +Urgent care19 mi
- ShShower25 mi
- AAir-up31 mi
- DDump34 mi
- WWater35 mi
- OOutfitter40 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 35-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · dispersed
Elevation
595 ft
Ground slope
7.3% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~8.7 mi · industrial lead
State
KY
Coordinates
37.53435, -85.55943
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area · Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · KY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRolling Fork · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelHowardstown Mini Mart · ~3.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~7.4 mi
- PharmacyLincoln Parkway Pharmacy · ~9.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~19.2 mi
- HardwareGuy's Building Supplies · ~8.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.7 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area · Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · KY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger17.0 mi straight-line SE — Don Franklin Campbellsville Chevrolet Buick GMC · EV Connect · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 32 within 50 · 101 within 100 · 295 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)18.3 mi — Elizabethtown, KY - Tesla Supercharger, Elizabethtown
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO41.9 mi — GLASGOW EPB STATION 1, Glasgow
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.9 mi — KU OLD_SCHOOL_MKT, Magnolia, KY · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 259280 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area · Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · KY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomKnob Creek Tavern · ~6.9 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomKnob Creek Exterior Restrooms · ~6.9 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomBirthplace Picnic Area Restrooms · ~9.4 mi W · NPS
- RestroomVisitor Center Bldg. · ~9.7 mi W · NPS
Coming out here — Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area · Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources · KY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Rolling Fork as a perennial stream, ~0.3 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 7.3% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~8.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Green River Lake WMA~22.0 mi
Who holds the land at Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Rolling Fork Wildlife Management Area, manager on record: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
Stay limit
14 nights (14-day limit)
Area rules
Camping is permitted only in designated areas.
Source
public land records
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
SEASONAL - READ THIS FIRST. KDFWR: "Primitive Camping is allowed in designated area only and only during Turkey and Deer Seasons with a 14-day limit." Camping here is NOT legal year-round. CONFLICT IN THE SOURCE: the web page then adds "No ATV's, camping, horseback riding, or rock climbing is allowed on the WMA", contradicting the sentence above it. KDFWR's own printed map PDF carries the same paragraph WITHOUT the word "camping" in that prohibition list ("No ATV's, horseback riding, or rock climbing is allowed on the WMA"), so the web page appears to carry a copy-paste error and the PDF is the coherent version. Corroborated a third time inside the GIS record itself, whose Source field reads "Scott Buser -Primitive Camping 14 day limits during Turkey and Deer Seasons only". A reviewer should ring the area office before this is published. Access: from New Haven, KY 52 east 1.2 mi, right on KY 247 south 7.6 mi toward Howardstown, left on KY 84 east 4.2 mi. Sources: https://app.fw.ky.gov/public_lands_search/detail.aspx?Kdfwr_id=9219 | https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/RollingForkWMA_all.pdf (both read 2026-08-16). Coordinates are KDFWR's own, from the agency WMA_Map_Points layer, https://services5.arcgis.com/RMHPuOW5MJ6iyTV6/arcgis/rest/services/WMA_Map_Points/FeatureServer/0 (Type='Campground', read 2026-08-16). FEE BASIS: KDFWR's statewide fee schedule (https://fw.ky.gov/Licenses/pages/fees.aspx, read 2026-08-16) lists no camping fee and no campsite permit for WMAs - the only camping lines are the federal Land Between the Lakes backcountry permit and Otter Creek ORA. KDFWR's FAQ (https://fw.ky.gov/More/Pages/FAQ.aspx) says only "Camping is permitted only in designated areas and only on certain WMAs" and quotes no rate. This is an absence-of-fee finding, not a published "free" statement. Statewide WMA rule, KDFWR Public Lands Hunting guide (https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Documents/HuntingGuidePublicLands.pdf, read 2026-08-16): "Camping is permitted only in designated areas. Check WMA maps online at fw.ky.gov or call the WMA office for camping availability." The guide publishes no statewide night limit; area-specific limits are noted per row where KDFWR states one. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Rolling Fork WMA - Primitive Camping Area
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it