Elm Brook Park Rec Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Elm Brook Park is a day-use area located on Elm Brook Pool just off State Route 127 near Concord, New Hampshire. Elm Brook Pool is part of Hopkinton-Everett Lakes, where visitors enjoy a wide variety of recreational opportunities, including boating, swimming, hiking and fishing. Please note that pets are not allowed in Elm Brook Park during operational hours of 10am-6pm from Saturday, May 23, 2026 through Sunday, August 30, 2026. Keep reading
Recreation
Elm Brook Park offers plenty of activities for visitors of all ages. Many enjoy canoeing and kayaking on the lake and Contoocook River, and a boat ramp and accessible fishing dock are available at the park. Walleye, brook trout, sunfish and pickerel can be found in abundance in the lake, making it a popular place for anglers. A 1.5-mile interpretive trail winds through the park. Hikers are treated to views of wetlands and uplands, both with a wide diversity of natural habitats. A multi-use trail system is located nearby at Hopkinton-Everett Reservoir.
Facilities
The park offers four large group picnic shelters with tables and grills which may be reserved for a fee. Over 100 family picnic sites are also available on a first come, first served basis. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Amenities at this family-friendly park include a swimming area with a great beach, a playground area, horseshoe pits, a basketball court, ball field, and an elevated wildlife-viewing platform. The park is staffed by uniformed park rangers who offer special programs on a variety of nature topics throughout the season. Each summer, rangers also present a very popular Junior Ranger program.
Natural Features
The park is situated among rolling hills on the shores of Elm Brook Pool. Acres of open lawns cover the park, and stands of mature hardwood trees offer pleasant shade and wildlife habitat. The park also contains a natural wetland.
What the agency tells you
Day-use only
Elm Brook Park Hours: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Thursday through Monday. Elm Brook Park will be closed every Tuesday and Wednesday.
Elm Brook Park is part of a federal flood control project. There is the possibility that the park will flood during the summer recreation season. In the event that the park floods, affected reservations may be cancelled and the reservation holder will be notified via phone and/or email. Cancellations due to flooding will be refunded fully.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Individuals and groups renting a picnic shelter are reminded to check with local, state, and federal guidelines for outdoor gatherings.
A day use fee of $5.00 will be charged per private non-commercial vehicle. A day use fee of $2.00 per adult for walk-in or bike-in. A day use fee of $20.00 will be charged per bus or commercial vehicle. Children under the age of 16 are not charged a day use fee. Day use fees are charged in addition to any picnic shelter reservation fees paid.
Only cash or check are accepted for the day use fee at the park. If you would like to pay the day use fee with a credit or debit card, you can purchase the day use pass ahead of time by visiting: https://www.recreation.gov/activitypass/elm-brook-park-day-use
No pets and/or livestock
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility
No ground fires; charcoal fires or self-contained gas grills only
No beer trucks or kegs are permitted
Anything that might change the atmosphere of the park requires approval from park staff before a reservation is made; examples include but are not limited to: music, weddings/receptions, cooking arrangements, etc.
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.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…on a first come, first served basis. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Amenities at this…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…first served basis. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Amenities at this family-friendly…”
- 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
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Beach
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Educational Programs
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Mountain biking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Soccer Fields
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 4 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.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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 · 12
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
4 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 4 mapped sitesAll 4 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 4 of the 4 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| ELM BROOK | 001 | day use | yes | 476 ft | 251 ft | 634 ft | $60–$110 |
| ELM BROOK | 002 | day use | yes | 354 ft | 103 ft | 523 ft | $60–$110 |
| ELM BROOK | 003 | day use | yes | 354 ft | 456 ft | 206 ft | $60–$110 |
| ELM BROOK | 004 | day use | yes | 496 ft | 729 ft | 418 ft | $60–$110 |
The agency files 4 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
Otter Brook Lake Recreation Area30 miSurry Mountain Lake Campground32 mi
Surry Mountain Lake Beach33 mi
Stoughton Pond Rec Area41 mi
North Hartland Lake Beach (VT)43 mi
Tully Lake Recreation Area (MA)45 miTake I-89 to exit 6 and follow the signs to Elm Brook Park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Contoocook, NH
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 13°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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Elm Brook Park Rec Area is in New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Maggie Goodlander (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyMaggie GoodlanderU.S. Representative · New Hampshire’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJeanne ShaheenU.S. Senator · New Hampshire
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMargaret Wood HassanU.S. Senator · New Hampshire
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Elm Brook Park Rec Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Maggie Goodlander, I’m a constituent in New Hampshire’s 2nd district. Elm Brook Park Rec Area, New Hampshire carries 4 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Elm Brook Park Rec Area (New Hampshire) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Elm Brook Park Rec Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jeanne Shaheen, I’m a constituent in New Hampshire. Elm Brook Park Rec Area, New Hampshire carries 4 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Elm Brook Park Rec Area (New Hampshire) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Elm Brook Park Rec Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Margaret Wood Hassan, I’m a constituent in New Hampshire. Elm Brook Park Rec Area, New Hampshire carries 4 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Elm Brook Park Rec Area (New Hampshire) via campanac.com