Lake Russell Recreation Area
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $24–$48Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4241 on recreation.gov
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
This North Georgia mountain mecca has something for everyone, swimming, camping, picnicking, hiking, biking (on and off road), fishing and boating (electric, wind, or human powered), wildlife, foliage, camping, Recreation The Lake Russell Recreation Area maintains a swim beach for those hot summer days, along with plenty of picnic spaces with tables and grills to help fuel your day in the mountains. No dogs on the beach please, and no shore fishing within the swim area boundary. Keep reading
The Nancytown Recreation area adjoins the Lake Russell Rec Area and includes several popular trailheads as well as the smaller Nancytown Lake. Parking Access at Nancytown is included for day use visitors to the Lake Russell Recreation Area, and registered campers. No gas motors allowed on Lake Russell, nor the adjacent Nancytown Lake. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources stocks trout in Nancytown Lake four times between March and August. While the Broad River coursing through the adjacent WMA also produces trout for the hearty angler. Many other fish species can be found in both Nancytown Lake and Lake Russell. Mountain bikers will find miles of single track; the Lady Slipper Trail is a popular trail of moderate difficulty. There are many trail options for hikers that include the lake loop as well as the rhododendron trail that connects to the manicured area atop Chenoceta Mountain where the Chenoceta Fire Tower can be found. Additional trails abound in the Lake Russell Wildlife Management Area to keep you exploring the naturalized area that covers the lake and several miles of lands in the mountains and valleys that contribute to the Broad River watershed. Road Bikers enjoy the asphalt roads that encompass both Nancytown and Lake Russell Recreation Areas, the highly motivated aim for the access road and climb the hill back toward Mt. Airy, Georgia. The nearest town, Mt. Airy includes convenience stores nearby where you can find bait and tackle, ice, drinks, and various sundries to complement your visit.
Facilities
The campground offers 42 campsites for tents and RVs, however there are no hookups. Campsites have a fire ring, picnic table, and lantern hook. Water is available throughout the campground via water hydrants. Bathrooms have flush toilets with showers. Adjacent to the campground area includes a grass-covered beach and swimming area, picnic shelter/picnic area, biking, boat launch, fishing dock, and near Loop A of the campground is a dump station.
Natural Features
Nestled in the Chattahoochee Oconee Forest, 100-acre Lake Russell is an ideal summer camping location because of the cool mountain air. There are two paved campground loops for easy access to everything there is to do here. No gas motors allowed on the lake, nor the adjacent Nancytown Lake. The Nancytown Recreation area adjoins the Lake Russell Rec Area, and includes several popular trailheads as well as the smaller Nancytown Lake. Parking Access at Nancytown is included for day use visitors to the Lake Russell Recreation Area, and registered campers. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources stocks trout in Nancytown Lake four times between March and August. While the Broad River courses through the adjacent WMA also produces trout for the hearty angler. Many other fish species can be found in both Nancytown Lake and Lake Russell. Mountain bikers will find miles of single track; the Lady Slipper Trail is a popular trail of moderate difficulty. There are many trail options for hikers that include the lake loop as well as the rhododendron trail that connects to the manicured area atop Chenoceta Mountain where the Chenoceta Fire Tower can be found. Additional trails abound in the Lake Russell Wildlife Management Area to keep you exploring the naturalized area that covers the lake and several miles of lands in the mountains and valleys that contribute to the Broad River watershed.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors to the area can enjoy exploring Anna Ruby Falls; Brasstown Bald Recreation Area (Georgia's highest point); Cornelia, GA; and the Chenocetah Fire Tower. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (706) 754-6221.
What the agency tells you
Low Volume Generators may be used up to 4 hours per day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Quiet hours are between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. If a generator is unreasonably disturbing to other campers you may be asked to turn it off.
Campsites are available through reservation only. Check-out time is 12:01 pm and check-in time starts at 2:00 pm
Click here for more information on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Third loop for future use and part of campground facility. No hunting within any developed campground, developed campsite, developed trail, or other developed recreation site on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.
14 day stay limit at all campsites. All parties must vacate the site to allow other visitors to enjoy camping on that site.
The bathroom across from Campsite #25 has been decommissioned and is no longer in use.
No driving, unloading, or loading of any ATVs or UTV, allowed on or near all the campgrounds, dispersed campsites, and Day Use Areas to include Nancytown, and the Lake Russell WMA.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 42 · 9 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 67 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…via water hydrants. Bathrooms have flush toilets with showers. Adjacent to the campground area…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Bathrooms have flush toilets with showers.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…ring, picnic table, and lantern hook. Water is available throughout the campground via water hydrants.…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 80th darkest of 96 in GA
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 16:54 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 41 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 40 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:54 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.
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, $24–$48 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 16:54 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
42 sites
All 42 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 42 of the 42 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 01 | tent only nonelectric | 43 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 02 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 03 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 04 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 05 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 06 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 07 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 08 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 09 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 11 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 12 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 13 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 14 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 15 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 16 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 17 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 18 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 19 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | $24 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 20 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 21 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 22 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 23 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 24 | type not stated | 30 ft | 50 amp | $24 |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 25 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 26 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 27 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 28 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 29 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 30D | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 31 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 32 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 33 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 34 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 35 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 36 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 37 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 38 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 39 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 40 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 41 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | $24–$48 | |
| LAKE RUSSELL RECREATION AREA | 42D | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | $24–$48 |
25 of 42 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lake Rabun Beach Recreation AreaChattahoochee National Forest · 18 mi
Andrew's Cove CampgroundChattahoochee National Forest · 24 miWildcat Creek Campground #1 LowerChattahoochee National Forest · 24 mi
Low Gap CampgroundChattahoochee National Forest · 24 miTake Ga 365/U.S. 23 North from Gainesville past Cornelia to Hwy 197. Turn right for approximately 3 miles until dead-end. Right on Dicks Hill Parkway for approx.3/4 mile. Turn left onto the paved Lake Russell Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cornelia, GA
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 70°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 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
Lake Russell Recreation Area is in Georgia’s 9th congressional district. Its representative, Andrew Clyde (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 moneyAndrew S. ClydeU.S. Representative · Georgia’s 9th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJon OssoffU.S. Senator · Georgia
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRaphael G. WarnockU.S. Senator · Georgia
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 Lake Russell Recreation Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
Dear Andrew S. Clyde, I’m a constituent in Georgia’s 9th district. I tried to camp at Lake Russell Recreation Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 41 of the 42 campsites the agency files at Lake Russell 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 41 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. Lake Russell Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lake Russell 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 Lake Russell Recreation Area (Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia) 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 Lake Russell Recreation Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
Dear Jon Ossoff, I’m a constituent in Georgia. I tried to camp at Lake Russell Recreation Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 41 of the 42 campsites the agency files at Lake Russell 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 41 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. Lake Russell Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lake Russell 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 Lake Russell Recreation Area (Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia) 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 Lake Russell Recreation Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
Dear Raphael G. Warnock, I’m a constituent in Georgia. I tried to camp at Lake Russell Recreation Area, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 41 of the 42 campsites the agency files at Lake Russell 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 41 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. Lake Russell Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lake Russell 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 Lake Russell Recreation Area (Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia) via campanac.com