Council Bluff Recreation Area
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 8 of the next 10 nights read 15:58 UTC
- A night
- $15–$25Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 5342 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Council Bluff Recreation Area is perfect for anyone looking to enjoy the outdoors. The Wild Boar Campground and sheltered picnic area, available for individual families or large groups, is next to the largest lake in the Mark Twain National Forest. The area provides ample opportunities for camping, picnicking, hiking, fishing, swimming and more. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating is a popular pastime on the lake, but all boats on the lake must operate at a no-wake speed. Visitors can access the water via the two boat ramps located at the lake. Canoeing, swimming and fishing are also available. Anglers can expect a catch of a variety of freshwater fish, including bass bluegills, catfish and crappies. The 12-mile Council Bluff Trail encircles the lake, with spurs to the campground. Hikers can enjoy scenic views of the lake and a look at the Mark Twain wilderness. Waterfowl hunting is permitted on Council Bluff Lake and the nearby Enough Fields provide upland game opportunities. A variety of wildlife makes its home in the heavily wooded area.
Facilities
The Wild Boar Ridge Campground offers multiple single-family, large group and walk-in sites, available for tent and RV camping. Each is equipped with tables, lantern posts and campfire rings or campfire circles, with grills. The large group sites can accommodate up to 50 people and a nearby picnic pavilion can hold up to 75. The pavilion is paved, with a roof overhead and is equipped with multiple tables and grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Electricity is not available, but some sites will accommodate RVs up to 40 feet in length. Some sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The beach provides accessible flush toilets, drinking water and coin-operated showers. A small play area with a slide and climbing structure is adjacent to the beach.
Natural Features
Located in southern Missouri, the Council Bluff Lake was created by a dam across Big River. It is 440 acres in size and 87 feet deep in some places. The Chapel Hill Beach is at the eastern end of the campground and provides 54,000 square-feet of sandy beach. Visitors can either walk or drive to the lake.
Nearby Attractions
The Trace Creek section of the Ozark Trail is located just west of the recreation area.
What the agency tells you
Drinking water is not available in the campground from Nov. 1 to April 1.
Additional fees are collected for use of the boat ramp
Additional fees are charged for parking
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Horses and off-road vehicles are prohibited in developed areas
Click Here for more information on the Mark Twain National Forest
Don't move firewood: To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. Some states have quarantines and may confiscate your firewood. Please help protect our forests from invasive species by obtaining your firewood at or near your camping destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.org for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 53 · 9 walk-in, 4 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 50 of 53
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…multiple tables and grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Electricity is not… / …basis. The beach provides accessible flush toilets, drinking water and coin-operated showers. A small…”
- Showers
- Coin Showers
- “The beach provides accessible flush toilets, drinking water and coin-operated showers.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 55 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 39th darkest of 118 in MO
- Bortle 3
Full this Saturdayread 15:58 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedNot reservable
Every one of the 2 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 37 are free on Thu, Oct 22. read 15:58 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.
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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $15–$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 15:58 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
57 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 42 mapped sitesAll 57 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 54 of the 57 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 49 of the 57 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| CHAP | 1 | day use | 20 ft | 4465 ft | 75 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 122 ft | $50 |
| COUN | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 142 ft | 2,661 ft | 83 ft | $15–$25 |
| COUN | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 188 ft | 1,579 ft | 251 ft | $15–$25 |
| COUN | 017 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 162 ft | 1,054 ft | 203 ft | $15–$25 |
| COUN | 037 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 158 ft | 1,193 ft | 331 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 209 ft | 2,871 ft | 184 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 170 ft | 2,526 ft | 271 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 136 ft | 2,373 ft | 319 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 166 ft | 2,121 ft | 76 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 144 ft | 1,787 ft | 295 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 178 ft | 1,264 ft | 291 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 039 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 178 ft | 1,305 ft | 258 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 041 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 194 ft | 1,748 ft | 44 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 043 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 251 ft | 2,060 ft | 207 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | 045 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 135 ft | 2,567 ft | 174 ft | $15–$25 |
| GRPA | A | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 135 ft | 2,527 ft | 176 ft | |
| GRPA | B | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 136 ft | 2,255 ft | 208 ft | |
| GRPA | C | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 144 ft | 1,811 ft | 245 ft | |
| GRPA | D | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 188 ft | 1,557 ft | 152 ft | |
| L1WK | 001 | walk to | 20 ft | 137 ft | 1,675 ft | 479 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 002 | walk to | 20 ft | 137 ft | 1,726 ft | 547 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 003 | walk to | 20 ft | 137 ft | 1,820 ft | 604 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 004 | walk to | 20 ft | 174 ft | 1,901 ft | 746 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 005 | walk to | 30 ft | 136 ft | 2,470 ft | 337 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 006 | walk to | 20 ft | 136 ft | 2,564 ft | 377 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 007 | walk to | 30 ft | 160 ft | 2,454 ft | 529 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 008 | walk to | 30 ft | 160 ft | 2,516 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 601 ft | $15 |
| L1WK | 009 | walk to | 20 ft | 202 ft | 2,356 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 741 ft | $15 |
| L2SG | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 158 ft | 1,186 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 470 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 230 ft | 1,191 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 199 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 230 ft | 1,071 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 40 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 025 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 120 ft | 851 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 308 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 120 ft | 757 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 349 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 027 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 108 ft | 694 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 258 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 108 ft | 692 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 177 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 029 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 104 ft | 725 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 79 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 030 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 104 ft | 743 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 120 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 031 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 200 ft | 625 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 315 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 032D | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 279 ft | 472 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 590 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 110 ft | 863 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 147 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 034 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 100 ft | 902 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 255 ft | $15–$25 |
| L2SG | 035 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 100 ft | 943 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 352 ft | $15–$25 |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 002 | type not stated | 30 ft | 2,760 ft | 174 ft | $34 | |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 006 | type not stated | 2,453 ft | 338 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 014 | type not stated | 1,384 ft | 353 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 016 | type not stated | 1,190 ft | 201 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 018 | type not stated | 1,107 ft | 325 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 020 | type not stated | 1,231 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 361 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 022 | type not stated | 1,142 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 90 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 024 | type not stated | 962 ftCouncil Bluff Lake | 190 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 036 | type not stated | 4 ft | 1,258 ft | 434 ft | $34 | |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 038 | type not stated | 2 ft | 1,222 ft | 171 ft | $34 | |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 040 | type not stated | 1,420 ft | 324 ft | $34 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 042 | type not stated | 30 ft | 1,867 ft | 173 ft | $34 | |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX | unnamed record | 30 ft | $34 | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX26 | unnamed record | $34 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX27 | unnamed record | $34 |
The agency files 4 more records here that aren’t sites for the night: 1 it files as day use and 3 it types MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 57 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Council Bluff Recreation AreaMark Twain National Forest · 1.0 miHazel Creek CampgroundMark Twain National Forest · 9.8 mi
Red Bluff CampgroundMark Twain National Forest · 14 miRed Bluff Recreation AreaMark Twain National Forest · 14 mi
Sutton Bluff Recreation AreaMark Twain National Forest · 16 mi
Berryman CampgroundMark Twain National Forest · 17 miFrom Potosi, take Highway P south for 10 miles to C Highway junction. Continue on C Highway for less than a mile to DD Highway junction. Turn left on DD Highway and continue for approximately 7 miles to the recreation area entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Viburnum, MO
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 68°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°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
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Council Bluff Recreation Area is in Missouri’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Jason Smith (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 moneyJason SmithU.S. Representative · Missouri’s 8th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationEric SchmittU.S. Senator · Missouri
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJosh HawleyU.S. Senator · Missouri
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 Council Bluff Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
Dear Jason Smith, I’m a constituent in Missouri’s 8th district. I tried to camp at Council Bluff Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 42 of the 53 campsites the agency files at Council Bluff Recreation Area, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 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. Council Bluff Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Council Bluff Recreation Area. 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 Council Bluff Recreation Area (Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri) 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 Council Bluff Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
Dear Eric Schmitt, I’m a constituent in Missouri. I tried to camp at Council Bluff Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 42 of the 53 campsites the agency files at Council Bluff Recreation Area, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 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. Council Bluff Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Council Bluff Recreation Area. 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 Council Bluff Recreation Area (Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri) 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 Council Bluff Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
Dear Josh Hawley, I’m a constituent in Missouri. I tried to camp at Council Bluff Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 42 of the 53 campsites the agency files at Council Bluff Recreation Area, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 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. Council Bluff Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Council Bluff Recreation Area. 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 Council Bluff Recreation Area (Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri) via campanac.com