Hickory Ridge
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:24 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Hickory Ridge Recreation Area is a day use area located on the north side of Enid Dam. Amenities include three comfort stations/shower houses, an amphitheater, beach, a life jacket loaner board station, a basketball court, two group picnic shelters, 38 picnic sites, and two playgrounds. This area is popular among visitors who are interested in swimming, playing basketball and enjoying family picnic. The amphitheater is ideal for weddings and special events The amphitheater offers a cover stage area, rows of benches for attendees and security lights. Keep reading
Recreation
Hickory Ridge offers 38 individual picnic sites and two picnic shelters for family gathering/reunions with a scenic views of Enid Lake. There is playground for the children and beach area for swimmers. Nearby recreation areas on Enid Lake offers access to the lake for boating and fishing.
Facilities
The day uses offers 38 individual picnic sites that includes a grill, a serve table and picnic table. An accessible shower house with flush toilets and two comfort stations with flush toilets are located in this area. Other amenities includes a playground, an amphitheater, two picnic shelters, beach outdoor showers, two life jacket loaner boards and a beach. One picnic shelter is located near playground and a comfort station. The other picnic shelter is located near shower house and overlook the lake/beach area. Amphitheater can seat up to 150 individuals and is ideal for weddings and special events and programs.
Natural Features
There is a view of the lake from pavilions, picnic sites, and amphitheater but they are nestled among towering native pine and oak trees. The surrounding woods provide habitat for squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, deer, butterflies, and variety of birds. This day use area is off Interstate I55 and easily assessable to visitors. It a perfect location for a day at the lake to picnic, swim or to spend the day. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (662) 563-4571.
Nearby Attractions
The nearby towns of Water Valley and Batesville, Mississippi offers shopping, hotels, restaurants and emergency care facilities if needed. Memphis, Tennessee, approximately 60 miles, offers tours of Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. His birthplace is located in nearby Tupelo, Mississippi.
What the agency tells you
America Beautiful Senior and Access card are not accepted for picnic shelter and amphitheater reservations. Picnic shelters and amphitheater may be reserved for $50.00/day. No Pets in buildings or on beach. No ATV's allowed. There is a beach fee of $5.00. Area is closed from October 1 to April 1.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on site. Visito Dontmovefirewood.org for futher information.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 3 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 3 of 3 campsite records
- Showers
- Accessible Showers
- “An accessible shower house with flush toilets and two comfort stations with flush toilets are located in this area.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 3 of 3 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 2 of 3 campsite records
- Playground
- Yes
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:24 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 11
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Hickory Ridge closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 1
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Bear Creek Lake Recreation AreaSt. Francis National Forest · 59 mi
recreation.gov availability, read 15:24 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 records · the site map
All 3 records
| Hickory Ridge | Amphitheater 01A | day use | 784 ft | $50 |
| Hickory Ridge | Picnic Shelter 625 | day use | 444 ft | $50 |
| Hickory Ridge | Picnic Shelter 627 | day use | 589 ft | $50 |
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
Where it is
McCurdy Point0.2 mi
Wallace Creek0.3 mi
Outlet Channel (Enid Lake)0.6 mi
Riverview0.9 mi
Persimmon Hill(Enid Lake)1.8 mi
Plum Point Campground2.4 miTake exit 233 off of Interstate 55 toward Enid Lake. Go east on County Road 36 for .8 miles. Take a left on to County Road 38 for .6 miles. Take a right on County Road 38 and you have arrived at the destination.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Pope, MS
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°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
Hickory Ridge is in Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Bennie Thompson (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →