Cove Lake Recreation Area — Attraction in Paris

The lake and facilities are very nice, but the early-hours payment system needs improvement and the attendant hospitality training. My family and I arrived at Cove Lake around 9:30 a.m. on June 25 for a family cookout. No sooner had we parked than we were approached by Amy the attendant, who was patrolling the area to make sure everyone paid the $5 day use fee. My wife explained that we had just arrived and needed to get change before paying the fee, but Amy told her we had to pay at the booth where we drove in. She stressed that if the ranger saw that we hadn't paid, he'd "issue a $160 fine." After getting change, I drove back to the booth to pay. Here, the US Forest Service has placed a small sign on the booth, with instructions to fill out an envelope, insert your money, tear off the stub, leave the envelope in the box, and leave the stub in your windshield where it can be seen. Nowhere on the sign does it say just where the envelopes and box are located. I searched for a full 30 seconds while parked in the road before finding the envelopes and box. The box was painted dark brown to match surrounding nature and was located across from the booth, on the shoulder of the road. With no parking spots nearby, I had to leave my car parked in the roadway and get out to pay. I can't imagine how someone with mobility issues would be able to do this. I'm sure the payment system is tried-and-true, but the placement of the box and envelopes away from the driver's side is inconvenient, to say the least. My sister-in-law, who arrived just after us, also saw the sign on the booth but missed the envelopes and box. Amy drove the wrong way down the one-way parking lane to where she parked and accused her of lying about not seeing the box and intentionally not paying when she drove in. Perhaps if the payment envelopes and box were in a more visible, convenient location, or at least a more noticeable color, Amy wouldn't have to work so hard at confronting visitors about paying. Her attitude and conduct cast a pall over what was otherwise a beautiful location and fun...

Great campground! Highly recommend! Very peaceful off season, but I bet it’s a zoo during the summer with the amazing waterfront Day Use area… Swimming, paddle boat rentals, boat launch, food, showers, flush toilets (vault in CG), horseshoe pits, volleyball area and a group pavilion with reservations. And No Alcohol. They have 4 cabins and a projection amphitheater. 36 camp sites, A Loop (1-18) is for reservations and B Loop (19-36) for FCFS area each loop with swings play area and 2 or 3 vault toilets in a loop. The manager has been here 12 years and is the permit holder with the USFS and has a staff of 6-7 during peak. They lock the gates 10:00 pm to 6:00 am both campground and day use areas between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It’s nice not having headlights shining in your tent and driving by through the night. The Cove Lake Loop Trail is not quite 4 miles RT to campsite. The CCC Trail is 1.1 mile up to a parking lot I was here for 10 days enjoying the lake and surrounding area. The turtles jumping into the water from a log. Flock of ducks resting and feeding. Woodpeckers hammering away. Squirrels gathering acorns and hickory nuts. Lots of spiders. The early morning mist covering the lake reminds you that...

We had an amazing stay at this campground. The area was beautiful and so clean. We were right on the water. The people working the concession stand were so genuine and hospitable. Always friendly and eager to help. The showers were relatively clean, but we recommend shower shoes. The one issue we had were the vault toilets. They were terrible. They were covered in flies and as a woman, I did not feel comfortable using them. That meant we had to use the bathrooms in the bath house and they were only open from 6am to 10pm. Overall, we had an amazing stay. We are close to Paris which is a quaint little town where you can get whatever you might need to make your trip even better. We've already Made reservations to come back for...