Hanks Creek
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:59 UTC
- A night
- $26–$28Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 56All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 17 notices
In the agency’s own words
Hanks Creek Park has something for everyone, with plenty of water sports on Sam Rayburn Reservoir and volleyball, mountain biking, wild life viewing and birding for those who want to stay on shore. The Red-cockaded woodpecker, an endangered species, is found throughout the forest surrounding the reservoir. The bird makes its home by pecking cavities in large, living pine trees. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing is excellent for largemouth bass, crappie, catfish and sunfish, with frequent fishing tournaments. The lake is also popular for jet skiing, water skiing and swimming.
Facilities
The park features 47 campsites with electric hookups. Additional amenities include group camping, a playground, boat ramp and hot showers.
Natural Features
Sam Rayburn Reservoir, also called Lake Sam Rayburn, boasts over 114,000 surface acres, making it the largest man-made lake completely in Texas. It's surrounded by the Angelina National Forest, and is within short proximity to the Sabine and Davy Crockett National Forests.
Nearby Attractions
The 20,700-acre Bannister Wildlife Management Area is on the northern peninsula of the lake. Hikers and bikers can come here to explore the designated Eastern Wild Turkey restoration site.
What the agency tells you
Camping is permitted at designated campsites only.
Camping fees are charged on a per site basis.
All park users (including campers) must register with the attendant prior to occupying a site.
Everything else this campground posts · 14
No golf carts or ATVs/UTVs allowed.
Use of developed sites for any reason (including picnicking) will require a camping fee.
The number of persons allowed per site is limited to ten (10).
Occupancy at each campsite is limited to two tents, or one tent and one trailer (including pop-up trailers, self-contained RVs and truck-mounted campers).
The number of vehicles per site shall be limited to two (2) per site. This does not include the camping unit. An extra vehicle tag may be purchased. America the Beautiful and Golden Age Passes do not allow entry into the park to visit a camp site.
Fires must be confined to fire rings.
All waste water, including gray water, must be properly disposed of at the park dump stations.
Quiet hours shall be observed between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Check-in time is 3:00 p.m. and check-out time is 2:00 p.m.
All pets must be on a leash under six feet in length.
Generators shall not be operated between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Fireworks are prohibited.
Day use swim beach closed October-March.
Day use boaters must use day use area boat ramp (open all year).
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 56 · 1 group, 8 cabin
- Hookups
- 56 electric, 56 water
- Longest rig
- 147 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Additional amenities include group camping, a playground, boat ramp and hot showers.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Night sky · 50th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 4
4 of 74 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:59 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, $26–$28 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 15:59 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
57 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 57 mapped sitesAll 57 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. 56 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.
| HANKS CREEK | DU1 | day use | 15 amp | 1015 ft | 542 ft | $50 | |
| HANKS CREEK | G1 | group standard area electric | 50 amp | 87 ft | 477 ft | $150 | |
| HANKS CREEK | S1 | overnight shelter electric | 66 ft | 50 amp | 68 ft | 362 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S2 | overnight shelter electric | 66 ft | 50 amp | 68 ft | 306 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S3 | overnight shelter electric | 63 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 278 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S4 | overnight shelter electric | 56 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 381 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S5 | overnight shelter electric | 67 ft | 50 amp | 106 ft | 293 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S6 | overnight shelter electric | 64 ft | 50 amp | 106 ft | 233 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S7 | overnight shelter electric | 147 ft | 50 amp | 91 ft | 193 ft | $38 |
| HANKS CREEK | S8 | overnight shelter electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | 109 ft | 245 ft | $38 |
| LOOA | 01 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 118 ft | 569 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 02 | standard electric | 51 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 371 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 03 | standard electric | 42 ft | 30 amp | 68 ft | 218 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 04 | standard electric | 52 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | 161 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 05 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 70 ft | 164 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 06 | standard electric | 52 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 247 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 07 | standard electric | 69 ft | 30 amp | 69 ft | 155 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 08 | standard electric | 37 ft | 30 amp | 69 ft | 136 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 09 | standard electric | 111 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 81 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 10 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 105 ft | 184 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 11 | standard electric | 65 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 148 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 12 | standard electric | 63 ft | 30 amp | 80 ft | 46 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 13 | standard electric | 52 ft | 30 amp | 80 ft | 119 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 14 | standard electric | 54 ft | 30 amp | 97 ft | 112 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 15 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 97 ft | 91 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 1a | standard electric | 63 ft | 50 amp | 87 ft | 449 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 1b | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 81 ft | 362 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOA | 1c | standard electric | 58 ft | 50 amp | 68 ft | 285 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOB | 16 | standard electric | 63 ft | 30 amp | 136 ft | 89 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOB | 17 | standard electric | 62 ft | 30 amp | 84 ft | 47 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOB | 18 | standard electric | 57 ft | 30 amp | 84 ft | 44 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOB | 19 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 113 ft | 71 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOB | 20 | standard electric | 90 ft | 50 amp | 128 ft | 101 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 21 | standard electric | 54 ft | 30 amp | 143 ft | 73 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 22 | standard electric | 96 ft | 30 amp | 128 ft | 130 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 23 | standard electric | 48 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 139 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 24 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30 amp | 90 ft | 69 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 25 | standard electric | 44 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 101 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 26 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 128 ft | under 10 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 27 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 44 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 28 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 103 ft | 50 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 29 | standard electric | 63 ft | 30 amp | 86 ft | 94 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 30 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 170 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOC | 31 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 137 ft | 206 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 32 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 162 ft | 207 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 33 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 201 ft | under 10 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 34 | standard electric | 106 ft | 50 amp | 149 ft | 173 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 35 | standard electric | 120 ft | 30 amp | 215 ft | 56 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 36 | standard electric | 72 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 113 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 37 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 34 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 38 | standard electric | 70 ft | 50 amp | 101 ft | 43 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 39 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 47 ft | 142 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 40 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 47 ft | 144 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 41 | standard electric | 48 ft | 30 amp | 149 ft | 101 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 42 | standard electric | 48 ft | 30 amp | 145 ft | 182 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 43 | standard electric | 58 ft | 30 amp | 152 ft | 180 ft | $26–$28 |
| LOOD | 44 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 321 ft | $26–$28 |
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 57 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
TownsendAngelina National Forest · 7.6 miCaney CreekAngelina National Forest · 13 miBoykin Springs CampingAngelina National Forest · 16 mi
San Augustine20 mi
Rayburn21 mi
Ebenezer Park22 miFrom Zavalla, TX, take State Hwy 147 northeast for 1/4 mile, then turn north on FM 2109, go 8 miles to FM 2801. Turn right (east) on FM 2801 and go 2 miles to the park entrance. 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 Zavalla, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 55°F, day 80°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 38°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 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
Hanks Creek is in Texas’s 17th congressional district. Its representative, Pete Sessions (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →