Belton Lakeview Park
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 22 of the next 30 nights read 16:20 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Belton Lakeview Park has two reservable group day-use areas along the lower shore of Belton Lake, providing some of the best fishing and boating in Central Texas. The facility is perched on a bluff overlooking Belton Lake and Dam, a year-round scenic location for group picnics and large gatherings. The site offers many amenities, such as flush toilets, water and electric hookups, a playground and a two-lane boat ramp, ensuring your stay is both comfortable and enjoyable. Belton Lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the construction of Belton Dam in 1954. The 12,300-acre lake is located on the Leon River, just upstream of the confluence of the Leon River and the Little River. Keep reading
Recreation
With 136 miles of shoreline, Belton Lake offers a wide variety of recreation activities. Belton Lakeview Park is most popular for families and anglers alike to quickly go from the city life to a heavily shaded park with a one multi-lane boat ramp, picnic areas with grills, a playground, and pavillion with volley ball court for events. Close proximity to Frank's Marina allows for a smooth ride out for a day of fun! The lake is a popular fishing spot for hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, white bass, catfish and sunfish. Hawks, great blue herons, ducks, geese, many species of songbirds, and even an occasional bald eagle visit the lake area, yielding year-round opportunities for wildlife enthusiasts and kids alike!
Facilities
The Franks area holds 120 people, and Overlook can accommodate 150 people. They each provide a large pavilion, playground, restrooms and hookups. Overlook is next to Belton Dam and Franks is 1/4 mile west of the dam near the marina. There is no direct lake access from the group areas, but the boat ramp is nearby within the park.
Natural Features
The group use areas are along the forested shoreline of Belton Lake; there is plenty of shade provided by trees and picnic shelters. The sites are not directly on the water, but provide a view of the lake. The lake area is a habitat for deer, wild turkey and water birds such as Great Blue herons, ducks, geese, many species of songbirds and even an occasional bald eagle.
Nearby Attractions
Belton Lake is located adjacent to the Fort Hood Army Base, which has several points of interest for the military buff. The mural painted on the spillway wall of Belton Dam depicts the history of the Bell County area. Miller Springs Nature area, located on the North end of Belton Dam across from Live Oak Ridge park, offers great hiking opportunities. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (254) 742-3050.
Charges & Cancellations
Changes and cancellations are subject to a $10.00 administrative fee. Refund requests are processed through recreation.gov website or app.
What the agency tells you
Day Use: Belton Lakeview Park is day use only. No over-night camping is permitted. Parking is based on first-come, first-serve. Parking on grass or roadways is prohibited. Day Use hours are 8 a.m. to Sunset daily. There is a boat ramp day use fee for Belton Lakeview Park. These can be paid for on recreation.gov or by QR codes found at the boat ramp parking areas.
Park Specifics: Belton Lakeview Park Day Use Area is open seasonally, with closure from Oct 1 to March 1.
Swimming Pools/Inflatables/Bounce Houses/Etc.: Please be advised, the use of water slides or inflatable structures such as inflatable slides, bounce houses, or moon bounces and not permitted without a lake activity permit. Lake activity permits can be requested through the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050 (Except Federal Holidays). Swimming pools are not permitted in the park, with the exception of kiddie pools. Kiddie pools may not exceed a water depth of 5 inches, height of 7 inches, width of 48 inches and length of 48 inches. Pools must be moved to a new location each day to prevent damage to the ground surface. Pools may not allow constant flow of water onto ground.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Events/Pavilions: Pavilions (Frank's/Overlook) require a reservation prior to use. Reservations can be made for Belton Lake at Rec.gov or call 877-444-6777. For reservation of Pavilions on weekdays, please call the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050 (except Federal Holidays). Fishing tournaments, vendors and sale of food/products, or large events/parties, especially those with inflatables or special equipment, require an approved Lake Activity Permit from the Belton Lake Office. Lake activity permits can be requested through the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050.
Golf Carts: By permit only; please call the Belton Lake Office for more information Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050 (except Federal Holidays). Off-Road/Motorized Vehicles (UTVs/ATVs/OHVs/Motorized Bikes): Off-road vehicles are not permitted in Corps parks unless they are registered, insured, and highway legal. If applicable, they are restricted to paved road-ways only and follow all vehicle regulations while operated in the parks.
Dumping: Dumping of household trash (to include vehicle/boat/trailer parts) on USACE properties/parks is prohibited, including park dumpsters. Violations of the aforementioned rules may result in a citation.
Rules & Regulations: Title 36 CFR (EP 1165-2-316) governs the public use of water resources development projects administered by the Chief of Engineers. Visitors to any Corps project are bound by these Title 36 regulations, which are enforced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Visit the Title 36 section of this website for a copy of the rules and regulations or visit the local lake office.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information. Cutting of trees for firewood is prohibited on USACE property.
For More Information: For more information, call the Belton Lake Office at 254-742-3050 Mon-Fri (8a-430p) or visit the Belton Lake Website . ALWAYS WEAR A LIFE-JACKET!
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…The site offers many amenities, such as flush toilets, water and electric hookups, a playground and a…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Picnicking
Full this Saturdayread 16:20 UTC
The agency files 2 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in. How full the weekend is nationally.
6 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:26 UTC. See them
OpenBookedClosed
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 20
What you actually pay
“Changes and cancellations are subject to a $10.00 administrative fee.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 6
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 6. read 16:26 UTC
- Live Oak RidgeBelton Lake · 1.1 mi · 5 of 92 site-nights open
- WestcliffBelton Lake · 2.1 mi · 12 of 48 site-nights open
- Cedar Ridge (TX)Belton Lake · 5.1 mi · 1 of 145 site-nights open
- White Flint ParkBelton Lake · 8.8 mi · 8 of 30 site-nights open
- Winkler ParkBelton Lake · 10 mi · 5 of 28 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:20 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 records · the site map
All 2 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 2 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| BELTON LAKEVIEW PARK | FRANKS | day use | 15 amp | 347 ft | $60–$120 | |
| BELTON LAKEVIEW PARK | OVERL | day use | 15 amp | 83 ft | 2,124 ft | $60–$120 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Live Oak Ridge1.1 mi
Temples Lake2.0 mi
Westcliff2.1 mi
Cedar Ridge (TX)5.1 mi
Stillhouse5.5 mi
White Flint Park8.8 miFrom Interstate 35 in Belton, Texas take exit onto Road 317 (North Main Street). Turn left onto Farm-to-Market Road 439 (Lake Road), and travel west about four miles to the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Belton, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 56°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 36°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Belton Lakeview Park is in Texas’s 31st congressional district. Its representative, John Carter (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJohn R. CarterU.S. Representative · Texas’s 31st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn CornynU.S. Senator · Texas
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTed CruzU.S. Senator · Texas
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Belton Lakeview Park, Texas
Dear John R. Carter, I’m a constituent in Texas’s 31st district. I tried to camp at Belton Lakeview Park, Texas, and couldn’t. Every site at Belton Lakeview Park is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Belton Lakeview Park keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Belton Lakeview Park. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Belton Lakeview Park (Texas) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Belton Lakeview Park, Texas
Dear John Cornyn, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Belton Lakeview Park, Texas, and couldn’t. Every site at Belton Lakeview Park is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Belton Lakeview Park keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Belton Lakeview Park. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Belton Lakeview Park (Texas) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Belton Lakeview Park, Texas
Dear Ted Cruz, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Belton Lakeview Park, Texas, and couldn’t. Every site at Belton Lakeview Park is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Belton Lakeview Park keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Belton Lakeview Park. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Belton Lakeview Park (Texas) via campanac.com