Cossatot Reefs
1Heads up1 fire 29 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:02 UTC
- A night
- $23–$25Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 30All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cossatot Reefs Campground sits along the lush banks of Gillham Lake in southwest Arkansas. Nicknamed the "Bright Spot on the Cossatot," Gillham Lake is a recreational oasis for outdoor enthusiasts. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors enjoy the lake for its vast boating opportunities, and a boat ramp is provided for easy water access. The river can be canoed from a point below the dam to U.S. Highway 71 South, a distance of about 16 miles. For shorter canoe trips, there are access roads to the river at Mize Crossing and Ladd Bridge. Anglers will find smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass, crappie, channel and flathead catfish and various species of sunfish in the river. A short nature trail within the campground weaves through a quaint wooded section. In spring, the trail is painted with colorful redbud and dogwood blossoms.
Facilities
Cossatot Reefs offers 31 shady campsites, including a large group shelter. Hot showers, drinking water and flush toilets help create a comfortable camping experience.
Natural Features
Gillham Lake spans 1,370 surface acres and boasts 36 miles of shoreline. The lake stems from the Cossatot River, designated as a National Wild and Scenic River.
What the agency tells you
Check in with Gate House upon arrival and before you set up on site.
A maximum of 2 Tents and 8 Occupants per site.
Quiet hours are from 10 p.m. thru 6 a.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Check out time is by 5 p.m.
No ATV/UTV's Allowed
This Area has the possiblity of flooding throughout the year. You may want to check lake levels before traveling.
Beware of sudden changes in water level below dam; if warning horn sounds twice, water will rise, if it sounds once, water will lower.
Please wear a life jacket when participating in water recreation.
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.
Bring extra water hose and electric cords to allow for longer distances from campsites.
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 30 · 2 walk-in
- Hookups
- 28 electric, 28 water
- Longest rig
- 68 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 28 of 31 campsite records
- Showers
- Seasonal Showers
- SHOWERS (SEASONAL) on 28 of 31 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…a large group shelter. Hot showers, drinking water and flush toilets help create a comfortable camping…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Water sports
- Night sky · 7th darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 3
20 of 62 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:02 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $23–$25 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.
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:02 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
31 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 31 mapped sitesAll 31 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. 30 of the 31 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| COSSATOT REEFS | 01 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 302 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 02 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 116 ft | 410 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 03 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 298 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 04 | standard electric | 62 ft | 50 amp | 50 ft | 418 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 05 | standard electric | 59 ft | 50 amp | 50 ft | 430 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 06 | standard electric | 64 ft | 50 amp | 55 ft | 437 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 07 | standard electric | 63 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 443 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 08 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 96 ft | 332 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 09 | standard electric | 62 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 424 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 10 | standard electric | 57 ft | 50 amp | 69 ft | 205 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 11 | standard electric | 68 ft | 50 amp | 63 ft | 186 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 12 | standard electric | 57 ft | 50 amp | 63 ft | 171 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 13 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 77 ft | 152 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 14 | standard electric | 64 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 134 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 15 | standard electric | 67 ft | 50 amp | 61 ft | 136 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 16 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50 amp | 61 ft | 157 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 17 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 140 ft | 164 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 18 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 91 ft | 188 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 19 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 61 ft | 176 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 20 | standard electric | 57 ft | 50 amp | 55 ft | 168 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 21 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 55 ft | 166 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 22 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50 amp | 62 ft | 155 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 23 | standard electric | 52 ft | 50 amp | 60 ft | 152 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 24 | standard electric | 39 ft | 50 amp | 60 ft | 134 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 25 | standard electric | 59 ft | 50 amp | 57 ft | 63 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 26 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50 amp | 53 ft | 62 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 27 | walk to | 50 amp | 53 ft | 198 ft | $23 | ||
| COSSATOT REEFS | 28 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 53 ft | 73 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | 29 | walk to | 50 amp | 53 ft | 208 ft | $23 | ||
| COSSATOT REEFS | 30 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50 amp | 61 ft | 87 ft | $23–$25 | |
| COSSATOT REEFS | GS1 | day use | 20 ft | 20 amp | yes | 140 ft | 117 ft | $40 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t 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.
25 of 31 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Big Coon Creek1.3 mi
Little Coon Creek Park2.0 mi
Jefferson Ridge7.2 mi
Blue Ridge Park8.0 mi
Horseshoe Bend (Dierks Lake)9.2 mi
Bellah Mine11 miFrom De Queen, Arkansas, head north on US-59/US-71. Continue for nearly 10 miles and turn Right at Gillham EZ-Mart. Turn right on Tower Road; go 1.3 miles turn left onto Gillham Lake road; go 4.3 miles turn right 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 Grannis, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 76°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 30°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 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
Who answers for this land
Cossatot Reefs is in Arkansas’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Bruce Westerman (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →