Little Oak Campground
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 14:34 UTC
- A night
- $12When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 66In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Little Oak Campground hugs the shores and inlets of beautiful South Holston Lake in Sullivan County, Tennessee. With a view of the Holston Mountain ridgeline and lake islands, Little Oak campsites are a relaxing setting for your vacation. There are 69 universally accessible campsites improved in 2012 including warm showers and a paved access road. Campground hosts are available on site to answer your questions. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing is a popular activity for campers at Little Oak, with a concrete boat launch within the campground. Numerous campsites have easy access to the lake shore for tying off your boat. There are nearby trails for hiking and horseback riding. Children and adults enjoy riding their bikes on the roads between camping loops. There is also a lakeside grassy area popular for swimming and picnicking. There is an array of wildflowers to enjoy throughout the season, resident deer and turkey and other natural wonders for the naturalist in your group.
Facilities
There are 69 universally accessible campsites for tents or RVs within four loops at Little Oak Campground. Each loop has a pair of vault toilets. In addition, there is an accessible shower house with 8 showers for the campground. There is a boat launch within the campground with an additional single vault toilet. The boat launch is for use by registered campers and their guests only.
Natural Features
South Holston Lake is a 7,580-acre hydroelectric reservoir managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority and surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest. Holston Mountain and nearby Iron Mountain provide habitat for an array of wildlife including a healthy population of black bear.
Nearby Attractions
Little Oak Campground is within 30 minutes of Bristol, Tennessee, and nearby Bristol Motor Speedway. Backbone Rock Recreation Area is approximately 30 minutes away up beautiful Shadey Valley, and just five minutes past Backbone Rock is Damascus, Virginia. Jacobs Creek Campground and Swim Area is 25 minutes away for another view of South Holston Lake.
What the agency tells you
All loops are open. This campground does not have any Long-Term Camping programs.
The showerhouse, flush bathrooms, hydrants and dump station are operational for the season.
The gates to the campground are closed from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Guests of campers are asked to leave before the gates are closed.
Everything else this campground posts · 11
Many of the campsites are on the Reservation system. Campers may camp on unreserved sites for no more than two nights at a time or contact Recreation.gov to reserve the site longer.
All recreation areas on the Cherokee National Forest are alcohol free to promote family-friendly recreation.
You are in Bear Country. Please adhere to the Cherokee National Forest Food and Refuse Storage Requirements. All food (unless actively being prepared and/or eaten), trash, and other scented items (hygiene products, pet food, etc) must be stored in a bear-resistant container (closed hard top vehicle or travel trailer) or suspended at least 12 ft. off the ground and 6 ft. from limbs. Please read the entire Food Storage Order located under the Facility Information tab and Additional Information section or by reading the Food Storage Order posted at the campground. Any campsites not in compliance will receive a ticket.
Check-out time is no later than 11 am EST on your departure day. You may check-in to the campground between 2 pm EST and 10 pm EST of your arrival date. If you have not checked-in before 2 pm EST the day after your arrival date, your site will be checked-out and will forfeit all fees.
Established quiet hours are between 10 pm EST and 7 am EST.
The boat ramp at Little Oak Campground is for use for registered campers and their guests ONLY. There is a public boat ramp a few miles down the road on Highway 421 for anyone else not camping at Little Oak Campground.
All pets must be on a 6' leash at all times. Owners must pick up after their pets, and all pet waste disposed of properly.
There are four bear-proof dumpsters located in the Boat Ramp parking area for use by Little Oak campers only. Please take your trash to these dumpsters and dispose of all trash responsibly, and make sure the sliding doors are closed.
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. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Use designated fire rings for all fires. Do not build additional fire rings. No burning plastic or other non-wood materials except local wood in fire pits and charcoal in grills.
It is your responsibility to read, know, understand, and follow all campground specific rules and regulations which are posted at the campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 66
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- 41 of 66
- Accessible sites
- 66
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Oak Campground. Each loop has a pair of vault toilets. In addition, there is an accessible shower house…”
- Showers
- Accessible Showers
- “In addition, there is an accessible shower house with 8 showers for the campground.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Jet Skiing
- Kayaking
- Mountain biking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Scenic drives
- Stargazing
- Swimming
- Tubing
Nothing to book until it reopensread 14:34 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
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 · 10
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 Little Oak Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service 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 · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Mortimer CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 40 mi · 17 sites
- Carolina Hemlocks Rec AreaPisgah National Forest · 50 mi · 35 sites
- Briar Bottom Group CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 54 mi · 6 sites
- Black Mountain CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 54 mi · 41 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 14:34 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
66 sites
All 66 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. 66 of the 66 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Big Oak Loop | 034 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 036 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 037 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 038 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 039 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 040 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 041 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 042 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 043 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 044 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 045 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 046 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 047 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Big Oak Loop | 048 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 001 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 002 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 003 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 004 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 005 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 006 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 007 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 008 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 009 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 010 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 011 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 012 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Hemlock Loop | 014 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 015 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 016 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 017 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 018 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 019 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 020 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 021 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 022 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 024 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 025 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 026 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 027 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 028 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 029 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Lone Pine Loop | 030 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 049 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 050 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 051 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 052 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 053 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 054 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 055 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 056 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 057 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 058 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 059 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 060 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 061 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 062 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 063 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 064 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 065 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 066 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 067 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 068 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 069 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 070 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 071 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Poplar Loop | 072 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
25 of 66 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Jacobs Creek Campground (TN)4.4 miJacobs Creek Recreation Area4.4 mi
Watauga Point Recreation AreaCherokee National Forest · 14 mi
Backbone Rock CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 15 mi
Cardens Bluff CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 15 miFrom Bristol, take US 421 south for 12 miles, and turn right onto paved Camp Tom Howard Road. After 0.5 miles, this road becomes Forest Road #87. Continue on Road #87 for six miles. Turn right on Road #87G for 1.5 miles to Little Oak.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Bristol, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 69°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 24°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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Little Oak Campground is in Tennessee’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Diana Harshbarger (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →