Choctaw Lake
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 16 mi
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 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:52 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 22All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Scenic Choctaw Lake Campground wraps around Choctaw Lake in the Tombigbee National Forest of Mississippi. It's location provides visitors with ample opportunities for recreation, including fishing, boating, hiking and biking. A day-use area is popular for picnicking and has a swimming beach. Keep reading
Recreation
Choctaw Lake Recreation Area offers a range of outdoor opportunities, including camping, picnicking, hiking and biking. The lake offers boating, swimming and fishing. Anglers can look forward to a catch of largemouth bass, bream, catfish and crappie. An accessible walking trail around the lake is available for a leisurely stroll, as well as a moderate skill level, 3-mile trail, that takes off from the campground. A variety of birds and wildlife may be seen along these paths.
Facilities
The campground offers nearly two dozen campsites, some of which are accessible. Additional sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each site is equipped with both water and electric hookups, a picnic table and a campfire ring with grill. Sites do not have sewage hook ups; however, there is a dump station located adjacent to the entrance. Individual and group picnic shelter sites are also available within the day-use area and swimming beach. Accessible flush toilets, showers drinking water are provided. A campground host is on-site.
Natural Features
The campground is situated between smaller Cabin Lake and larger, 100-acre Choctaw Lake. It is near the Natchez Trace Parkway, Noxubee Wildlife Refuge and French Camp, all popular destinations in the area. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (662) 285-3264.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is located 5 miles south of the town of Ackerman, 11 miles northwest of Louisville and 20 miles southwest of Starkville. The Noxubee Hills hiking and biking trailhead is located at the Choctaw Lake Recreation area as well. The 26-mile trail has vault toilets at each end and is rated moderate-to-experienced, for biking and hiking. The Choctaw Lake recreation area is also within 20 miles of Mississippi State University. Athletic, cultural and scholastic events abound there.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations may occur during severe weather events.
What the agency tells you
This recreation area is labeled as an expanded amenity site. Day Use: $5 (fishing, hiking, swimming, boating, picnicking, etc.) Day-use closed during campground "Quiet Hours: 10pm to 6am." With a pass, the $5 is discounted to $2.50. Camping: $20/night ($14 camping fee + $6 hook-up fee) (check-in / check-out is 2pm) When paying online and/or scan and pay, Recreation.gov will charge a service fee at check-out. When adding a pass with online payment, the 50% discount applies to the $14 camping fee. Therefore, the total will become $13 per night, with a pass. ($7 camping fee + $6 hook-up fee).
Click here for more information on the Tombigbee District of the National Forests of Mississippi
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Pets are not allowed on the beach. Pets must be leashed at all times within the recreation area.
No drugs or alcohol allowed per Closure Orders
This is a NO WAKE lake.
All sites have water and electric hook-ups only; however, there is a dump station located adjacent to the front entrance of the recreation area.
ATVS, UTVS, & GOLF CARTS are not permitted.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 22
- Hookups
- 21 electric, 21 water
- Longest rig
- 55 ft
- Paved pads
- 2 of 22
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed at 21 of 22 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…area and swimming beach. Accessible flush toilets, showers drinking water are provided. A campground… / …area as well. The 26-mile trail has vault toilets at each end and is rated moderate-to-experienced,…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…beach. Accessible flush toilets, showers drinking water are provided. A campground host is on-site. Natural…”
- Dump station
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 9th darkest of 61 in MS
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 15:52 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 8 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 11 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 15:52 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
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 · 18
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Cancellations may occur during severe weather events.” · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 15:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
25 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 21 mapped sitesAll 25 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 22 of the 25 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CHOC | 001 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 49 ft | 271 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 002 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 41 ft | 228 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 003 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 41 ft | 212 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 004 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 56 ft | 218 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 005 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 115 ft | 181 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 006 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 63 ft | 120 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 007 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 63 ft | 112 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 008 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 48 ft | 74 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 009 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 48 ft | 76 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 010 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 72 ft | 269 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 011 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 69 ft | 276 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 012 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 49 ft | 320 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 013 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 72 ft | 432 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 014 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | yes | 72 ft | 412 ft | $20 |
| CHOC | 015 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 64 ft | 489 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 016 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 60 ft | 491 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 017 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 56 ft | 551 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 018 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 56 ft | 553 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 019 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 67 ft | 518 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 020 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 65 ft | 443 ft | $20 | |
| CHOC | 021 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 65 ft | 385 ft | $20 | |
| S&P | Standard Electric | type not stated | $20 | |||||
| Shelter | GS1 - Campground | day use | 20 amp | yes | 340 ft | $40 | ||
| Shelter | GS2 - Swimming Area | day use | yes | 174 ft | $40 | |||
| Shelter | GS3 - Picnic Point | day use | 75 ft | $40 |
The agency files 3 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.
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Jeff Busby Campground, Milepost 193.1Natchez Trace Parkway · 12 mi
Town Creek Campground - West Point - Ms44 mi
Dewayne Hayes45 mi
North Graysport48 mi
Pickensville CG (Pickensville AL)50 mi
Bryant Campground51 miFrom Jackson, Mississippi, travel Highway 25 north toward Starkville. Turn onto Highway 15 north toward Ackerman, Mississippi, and travel 11 miles to Forest Road 967 to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ackerman, MS
Typical weather
Typical October night 53°F, day 77°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 34°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 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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Choctaw Lake is in Mississippi’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Trent Kelly (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 moneyTrent KellyU.S. Representative · Mississippi’s 1st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationCindy Hyde-SmithU.S. Senator · Mississippi
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRoger F. WickerU.S. Senator · Mississippi
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 Choctaw Lake, Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi
Dear Trent Kelly, I’m a constituent in Mississippi’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Choctaw Lake, Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi, and couldn’t. All 22 sites at Choctaw Lake are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 8 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Choctaw Lake keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Choctaw Lake. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service 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 Choctaw Lake (Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi) 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 Choctaw Lake, Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi
Dear Cindy Hyde-Smith, I’m a constituent in Mississippi. I tried to camp at Choctaw Lake, Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi, and couldn’t. All 22 sites at Choctaw Lake are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 8 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Choctaw Lake keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Choctaw Lake. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service 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 Choctaw Lake (Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi) 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 Choctaw Lake, Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi
Dear Roger F. Wicker, I’m a constituent in Mississippi. I tried to camp at Choctaw Lake, Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi, and couldn’t. All 22 sites at Choctaw Lake are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 8 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Choctaw Lake keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Choctaw Lake. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service 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 Choctaw Lake (Tombigbee National Forest, Mississippi) via campanac.com