U.S. Forest Service · William B. Bankhead National Forest · AL
Houston Recreation Area
Not on the booking systemrecreation.gov lists none of the 75 campsites the agency files here, in any month asked. Whatever these sites are, a reservation isn’t how you get one.
Reservable everywhere but bookable nowhere.Ask the agency →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 75None on recreation.gov
Photographs of individual campsites · Susan Valente
30 ftLongest rig
580 ftElevation
1,526 ftWater · Lewis Smith Lake
1.9 miSE of Double Springs, AL
86%Tree cover
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
THIS FACILITY IS NOT RESERVABLE. Keep reading
Recreation
Facilities Natural Features Nearby Attractions
Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 75
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026
Around the campground
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Swimming
- Visitor center
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 28th darkest of 41 in AL
- Bortle 4
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Nothing on the booking system
recreation.gov lists none of the 75 campsites the agency files here. Whatever these sites are, a reservation isn’t how you get one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
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.
Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Every line of the receipt · 10
What you actually pay
The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
Boat Ramp or Day use fee is $4.00 per vehicle.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night
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
Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026
The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026
Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026
The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025
Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
75 sites · the site map
All 75 sites
Type not stated37
Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026
Imagery: Esri World Imagery
SleepsTakes a
| HRCA | 1 | type not stated | 24 ft | 1,376 ft |
| HRCA | 10 | type not stated | 20 ft | 919 ft |
| HRCA | 11 | type not stated | 24 ft | 885 ft |
| HRCA | 12 | type not stated | 12 ft | 844 ft |
| HRCA | 13 | type not stated | 24 ft | 872 ft |
| HRCA | 14 | type not stated | 24 ft | 860 ft |
| HRCA | 15 | type not stated | 12 ft | 820 ft |
| HRCA | 16 | type not stated | 20 ft | 801 ft |
| HRCA | 17 | type not stated | 24 ft | 762 ft |
| HRCA | 18 | type not stated | 24 ft | 658 ft |
| HRCA | 19 | type not stated | 24 ft | 697 ft |
| HRCA | 2 | type not stated | 12 ft | 1,223 ft |
| HRCA | 20 | type not stated | 24 ft | 594 ft |
| HRCA | 21 | type not stated | 20 ft | 625 ft |
| HRCA | 22 | type not stated | 24 ft | 586 ft |
| HRCA | 23 | type not stated | 20 ft | 652 ft |
| HRCA | 24 | type not stated | 28 ft | 660 ft |
| HRCA | 25 | type not stated | 24 ft | 632 ft |
| HRCA | 26 | type not stated | 20 ft | 653 ft |
| HRCA | 27 | type not stated | 20 ft | 719 ft |
| HRCA | 28 | type not stated | 24 ft | 689 ft |
| HRCA | 29 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 3 | type not stated | 24 ft | 1,128 ft |
| HRCA | 30 | type not stated | 30 ft | 812 ft |
| HRCA | 31 | type not stated | 20 ft | 782 ft |
| HRCA | 32 | type not stated | 20 ft | 866 ft |
| HRCA | 33 | type not stated | 14 ft | 793 ft |
| HRCA | 34 | type not stated | 12 ft | 858 ft |
| HRCA | 35 | type not stated | 20 ft | 1,055 ft |
| HRCA | 36 | type not stated | 20 ft | 949 ft |
| HRCA | 37 | type not stated | 30 ft | 1,130 ft |
| HRCA | 38 | type not stated | 24 ft | 1,221 ft |
| HRCA | 39 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 4 | type not stated | 24 ft | 1,058 ft |
| HRCA | 40 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 41 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 42 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 43 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 44 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 45 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 46 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 47 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 48 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 49 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 5 | type not stated | 20 ft | 1,022 ft |
| HRCA | 50 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 51 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 52 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 53 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 54 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 55 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 56 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 57 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 58 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 59 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 6 | type not stated | 12 ft | 1,017 ft |
| HRCA | 60 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 61 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 62 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 63 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 64 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 65 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 66 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 67 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 68 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 69 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 7 | type not stated | 12 ft | 971 ft |
| HRCA | 70 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 71 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 72 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 74 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 75 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 76 | type not stated | ||
| HRCA | 8 | type not stated | 24 ft | 956 ft |
| HRCA | 9 | type not stated | 20 ft | 921 ft |
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 75 listed
Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Coordinate34.12139, -87.28556
The mapSee it on the map
The driveDirections ↗
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗
Where it is
Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
Today80°Mostly Cloudy12% rain
Tonight46°Partly Cloudy12% rain
Saturday63°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night39°Clear
NWS forecast for Double Springs, AL
Source: National Weather Service, BMX forecast office · Oct 16, 2026
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
100°32°20°
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.
Measured at: ADDISON, AL (USC00010063), 11 miles away and 238 ft higher
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Houston Recreation Area is in Alabama’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Robert Aderholt (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
Reservable on paper, bookable nowhere
The agency’s own record marks Houston Recreation Area reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its campsites. The draft asks why, and what it would take to fix it.
- The member who votes the moneyRobert B. AderholtU.S. Representative · Alabama’s 4th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationKatie Boyd BrittU.S. Senator · Alabama
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTommy TubervilleU.S. Senator · Alabama
Read the draft, or change the wording
To Robert B. Aderholt
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Houston Recreation Area is reservable and not bookable
Dear Robert B. Aderholt, I’m a constituent in Alabama’s 4th district. Houston Recreation Area, William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 75 campsites, in any month asked. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Houston Recreation Area on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there? 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 Houston Recreation Area (William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama) via campanac.com
To Katie Boyd Britt
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Houston Recreation Area is reservable and not bookable
Dear Katie Boyd Britt, I’m a constituent in Alabama. Houston Recreation Area, William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 75 campsites, in any month asked. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Houston Recreation Area on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there? 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 Houston Recreation Area (William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama) via campanac.com
To Tommy Tuberville
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Houston Recreation Area is reservable and not bookable
Dear Tommy Tuberville, I’m a constituent in Alabama. Houston Recreation Area, William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 75 campsites, in any month asked. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Houston Recreation Area on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there? 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 Houston Recreation Area (William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026
The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”
The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”
The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026 and November 2026. It names 0 of the 75 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026
Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.