BIG M
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:57 UTC
- A night
- $16–$28When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 62In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Big M is a spacious and grassy campground that sits along the White River Arm of Table Rock Lake in the Missouri countryside. Big M provides plenty of sites with a panoramic view of the beautiful Table Rock Lake, surrounded by the scenic foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Keep reading
Recreation
Whether on water or land, Big M Campground offers visitors countless recreational activities. Picnicking, swimming, scuba diving, boating, fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing are all popular pastimes at the park. With a large marina located just a short walking distance from the campsites, boating and fishing enthusiasts will find they have everything they need to enjoy the deep, clear waters of Table Rock Lake. While the lake boasts an abundance of crappie, catfish, and bluegill, Table Rock is most famous for bass, and is acclaimed as one of the best bass fishing lakes in this hemisphere. Multiple fishing tournaments are hosted yearly and anglers will there is no shortage of Largemouth, Smallmouth, White or Spotted bass. For visitors interested in staying near shore, a designated swimming beach near the campground's volleyball court, offers a convenient way to cool off during warm summer months. Table Rock Lakeshore Trail, about 2 miles long, runs from the Dewey Short Visitor Center to the Table Rock State Park Marina. During the spring hikers will see dogwood, serviceberry and redbud trees in bloom as well as many wildflower species. During the autumn months, visitors are treated to nature's colorful fall foliage. The trail also offers beautiful views of Table Rock Lake. Other hiking and mountain biking opportunities are available at the Mark Twain National Forest, parts of which are easily accessible from the campground. Click here for more information.
Facilities
Big M Campground offers 61 reservable sites. Amenities like hot showers, drinking water, a dump station and electric hookups create a comfortable camping experience. A swim area, marina, boat ramp, playground and volleyball court make the campground perfect for family trips.
Natural Features
Table Rock Lake is a beautiful body of water surrounded by a forest of oak and hickory trees. Its waters wind down through the valleys and hollows of the Ozark Mountains, from Branson, Missouri to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. More than five million visitors per year take advantage of this recreational oasis. Originally built for flood control, the Table Rock Dam has created a lake that boasts 779 miles of shoreline for the public to enjoy.
Nearby Attractions
The Dewey Short Visitors Center is located at the south end of Table Rock Dam. It offers three educational films focused on the history of the dam, the story of Lewis and Clark and the history of eagles and their endangerment in the state of Missouri. The visitor center also contains exhibits on the natural history of the area.
What the agency tells you
Staffed booth hours are between the hours of 8:00 a.m-10:00 a.m. and from 2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m., seven days a week. Camphost and or Rangers will issue campground hangtags after valid check-in. Please check-out on departure. If Camphost is not present, please drop pink tag off at the drop box.
All checkout times are at 3:00 p.m. All RV's, vehicles, and supplies still on site after 3:00 p.m. may be subjected to impoundment our towed at the owners expense.
All discounted passes (Golden Age, Senior Lifetime, Senior Annual, Access) must be physically present upon arrival. Fraudulent use of a Golden Age or Golden Access Passport (Printouts, photos etc.) is prohibited and will not be discounted.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Failure to pay day use fees, and or properly display applicable receipt, permit or pass is prohibited. All daily guests must pay a day-use fee and have day-use receipt properly displayed. Day passes and USACE annual passes may be purchased at the kiosk next to the booth.
All personal equipment (boats, trailers, personal supplies etc. ) must be stored at reserved campsites. No equipment shall be stored in boat ramp/day-use parking for overnight storage
Camping at one or more campsites at any one water resource project for a period longer than 14 days during any 30 consecutive day period is prohibited without the written permission of the District Commander.
One tent and one RV, or two tents are allowed per campsite.
No dumping of household trash, gray water, rubbish, black water or any other waste material or waste liquid. All waste generated must be disposed of at the dump station or removed from the project lands.
Shower tents, changing tents, and latrines are prohibited.
Pets must be penned, caged, or on a leash under six feet in length at all times.
Please be advised that providing business services within a USACE campground is prohibited per Title 327.18(a) The engaging in or solicitation of business on project lands or waters without the express written permission of the District Commander is prohibited. This includes services such as RV or tent delivery & set-up, firewood sales and delivery.
Please review the Title 36 brochure for complete rules and regulations. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-III/part-327
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 62
- Hookups
- 22 electric, 23 water, 12 sewer
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Paved pads
- 57 of 62
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Amenities like hot showers, drinking water, a dump station and electric hookups create a comfortable camping experience.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…sites. Amenities like hot showers, drinking water, a dump station and electric hookups create a…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Picnicking
- Ranger Station
- Scuba Diving
- Swimming
- Visitor center
- Water access
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 101st darkest of 118 in MO
- Bortle 4
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:57 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at BIG M closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Cobb RidgeMark Twain National Forest · 40 mi · 49 sites
- Steel Creek CampgroundBuffalo National River · 41 mi · 40 sites
- Bar-K Wrangler CampMark Twain National Forest · 43 mi · walk-up
- Ozark CampgroundBuffalo National River · 45 mi · 31 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 15:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
62 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 61 mapped sitesAll 62 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 61 of the 62 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BIG M | 01 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 30 ft | 209 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 02 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 30 ft | 188 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 03 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 56 ft | 147 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 04 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 171 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 05 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 60 ft | 122 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 06 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 56 ft | 157 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 07 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 56 ft | 107 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 08 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 44 ft | 109 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 09 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 44 ft | 149 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 10 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 46 ft | 114 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 11 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 46 ft | 157 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 12 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 68 ft | 169 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 13 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 28 ft | 161 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 14 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 28 ft | 164 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 15 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 18 ft | 171 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 16 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 18 ft | 174 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 17 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 146 ft | 157 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 18 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 152 ft | 131 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 19 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 109 ft | 70 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 20 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 42 ft | 84 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 21 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 42 ft | 68 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 22 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 94 ft | 69 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 23 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50 amp | 57 ft | 66 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 24 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 42 ft | 30 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 25 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50 amp | 42 ft | 51 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 26 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 37 ft | 162 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 27 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50 amp | 32 ft | 196 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 28 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50 amp | 32 ft | 185 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 29 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50 amp | 57 ft | 161 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 30 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 54 ft | 159 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 31 | standard electric | 59 ft | 50 amp | 54 ft | 166 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 32 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 35 ft | 258 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 33 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 35 ft | 239 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 34 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 54 ft | 238 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 35 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 54 ft | 200 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 36 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 70 ft | 183 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 37 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 33 ft | 94 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 38 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 33 ft | 90 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 39 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 32 ft | 123 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 40 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 32 ft | 152 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 41 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 93 ft | 100 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 42 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 55 ft | 141 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 43 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 53 ft | 195 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 44 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 40 ft | 215 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 45 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 40 ft | 240 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 46 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 112 ft | 325 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 47 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 137 ft | 601 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 48 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 100 ft | 738 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 49 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 818 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 50 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 864 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 51 | type not stated | 38 ft | 30 amp | 835 ft | ||
| BIG M | 52 | standard electric | 65 ft | 30 amp | 83 ft | 810 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 53 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 728 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 54 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 62 ft | 714 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 55 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 79 ft | 651 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 56 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 62 ft | 658 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 57 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 542 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 58 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 604 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 59 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 512 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 60 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | 553 ft | $25–$28 |
| BIG M | 61 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 44 ft | 316 ft | $16 | |
| BIG M | 62 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 294 ft | $16 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 62 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Eagle Rock3.6 mi
Viola4.6 mi
Campbell Point7.5 mi
Baxter9.8 mi
Dam Site River (Beaver Lake)13 mi
Mill Creek (Missouri)13 miFrom Cassville, Missouri, travel east on State Route 76 for 9 miles. Turn onto the Highway M access road and follow signs into the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Golden, MO
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
BIG M is in Missouri’s 7th congressional district. Its representative, Eric Burlison (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →