U.S. Forest Service · St. Francis National Forest · AR

Bear Creek Lake Recreation Area

1Heads up1 fire 30 mi away
Wildfire
Monroe 296 fire · 30 mi away · 16 acres · updated Oct 12, 2026
The agency doesn’t say how you get a siteIts record carries no access type, so treat it as a place to phone before you drive.
Right now
OpenThe agency lists it open
Season
Year-roundOpen year-round
Drawn from the record · 240 ft · 0% tree cover · Bear Creek Lake within reach · Bortle 4 sky
240 ftElevation
under 10 ftWater · Bear Creek Lake
4.5 miSE of Marianna, AR
n/aTree cover · water-masked cell
Bortle 4Night sky · 115th darkest of 158 in AR
Open year-roundToday

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

The 625-acre Bear Creek Lake Recreation Area has 30 miles of shore line and offers the following recreational opportunities: camping, picnicking, swimming, canoeing, fishing and hiking. Sitting atop Crowley's Ridge, the recreation area offers three campgrounds, two picnic areas, a mile-long nature trail, a swim beach and a handicap-accessible fishing pier which all provide visitors a variety of recreational experiences. Bear Creek Nature Trail provides a one-mile loop winding through a forested area. Keep reading

There are excellent scenic views of the lake shoreline, including Beech Point, and interpretive posts that highlight ecology in action. Trophy Largemouth Bass, Red-eyed Bream and Channel Catfish are just a few of the many species of fish that you'll find in the lakes and streams in the area. Fish Your National Forests: This site can be accessed by Passenger Car; Fish available include: Bass, Panfish; Types of fishing available include: Shore, Motorized boat, Float tube, Fly, Spin, Bait; ADA Accessible fishing access with fishing pier and boat launch The Bear Creek Lake Recreation Area is managed by the Mississippi River State Park . Please call the Mississippi River State Park - Marianna Office for any questions at 870-295-4040.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Boat ramp
Yes
Source: Stated in the agency description

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River, Creek, Beach
Source: Stated in the agency description

Phone before you drive

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
None for Day Use
The booking feerecreation.gov
We hold no recreation.gov booking record for this campground, so we can’t say whether a booking fee applies.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today67°Sunny
Tonight43°Clear
Sunday72°Sunny
Sunday Night46°Clear

NWS forecast for LaGrange, AR

Typical weather

Typical October night 52°F, day 75°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 32°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

100°32°20°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more

A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: MARIANNA 2 S, AR (USC00034638), 5 miles away and at about the same elevation

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Rick Crawford, official portrait

Bear Creek Lake Recreation Area is in Arkansas’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Rick Crawford (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: The agency lists it open right now.
Season: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: LaGrange, AR, 4.2 mi NNE. Straight line.