Lower Lake Recreation Area
1Heads up1 fire 27 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 15:29 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lower Lake is an area developed for visitors of the regulating dam. Fishing in the continuous outflow of the dam is a popular pastime. Other visitors fish the 400-acre pool above the dam or float and fish the river below the dam. Individual covered picnic tables plus one group shelter with a large cooking grill are available for use. The openness of the area lends itself to volleyball, softball, 18-hole disc golf course, and a fitness course. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, disc golf, and picnicing are popular activities in the area.
Facilities
Lower Lake Recreation Area has a group use shelter available for renting. It is located beside the Caddo River and has a maximum seating capacity of 50 people. A playground, a sand volleyball court and an open playing field are adjacent to the shelter. A restroom is within walking distance of the shelter. There is a boat ramp in the park to access the river. The scenic Lower Lake Disc Golf Course is located in Lower Lake Recreation Area. Opening in late 2011, the course has become one of the most popular in the area. The Voss Fitness Trail is a 1 mile gravel trail with four fitness stops featuring a total of 19 workout stations. DeGray Lake Sunset Trail is a 1.7 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located at the Lower Lake that features lakeside views and is great for all skill levels. The trail offers a number of activity options and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash. The ADA-accessible trail meanders along a level paved surface, ideal for an easy afternoon walk. To see USACE DeGray Lake Virtual Tour, click here Natural Features Degray Lake is one of the region's five Diamond Lakes, known for their crystal clear waters. The lake flows from the Caddo River in western Arkansas and spans 13,500 surface acres. The first settlers around the lake were the Caddo Indians, whose remains have been traced back to 700 A.D. The early inhabitants were skilled in agriculture, and grew crops like beans, squash, maize and sunflowers.
Nearby Attractions
The DeGray Lake Resort State Park offers golf courses, tennis courts, horseback riding trails and more along the 207 miles of lake shoreline. The Ouachita National Forest and Hot Springs National Park are both located nearby.
What the agency tells you
The public use of Corps Facilities is subject to Title 36, Chapter III, Part 327, of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Any property of the United States damaged or destroyed by incident to the use of this facility shall be promptly repaired or replaced by the organization or group to the satisfaction of the Park Manager. In lieu of repair or replacement, organization or group representative agrees, if requested by the Park Manager, to pay the United States money in an amount sufficient to compensate for the damages to or destruction of government property.
The facilities will be left in the condition at least equal to the pre-event condition and all garbage and trash will be removed from the area and disposed of properly.
Attendees must park in designated parking areas.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
All fires, including grills, must be completely extinguished before departure.
Any posted activity signs, that are posted by the group, must be removed before leaving.
Lights must be turned off upon departure.
There is a maximum seating capacity of 50 people.
The organization or group representative must show reservation confirmation if asked by ranger staff.
Pets must be kept on leash at all times.
The organization or group representative agrees that failure to comply with these conditions will constitute a violation of the Corps of Engineers’ public use regulations and will be subject to a written citation and appropriate monetary fine under Title 36 Rules and Regulations.
Please refer to the link for rules and regulations. Rules and Regulations
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Disc Golf
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Picnicking
- Playground Park Specialized Sport Site
- Water access
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Army Corps says
- Yes
Full this Saturdayread 15:29 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in. How full the weekend is nationally.
5 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:20 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:29 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.
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 · 12
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 · 5
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 5
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:20 UTC
- Iron MountainDegray Lake · 3.8 mi · 6 of 60 site-nights open
- Arlie MooreDegray Lake · 8.9 mi · 14 of 92 site-nights open
- Alpine RidgeDegray Lake · 9.3 mi · 4 of 58 site-nights open
- Point CedarDegray Lake · 14 mi · 26 of 82 site-nights open
- Charlton Recreation AreaOuachita National Forest · 28 mi · 46 of 94 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:29 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| 1 | Lower Lake Pavilion | day use | 15 amp | yes | 211 ft | 460 ft | $50 |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Iron Mountain3.8 mi
Highway 7 Recreation Area4.1 mi
Edgewood7.3 mi
Caddo Drive7.7 mi
Arlie Moore8.9 mi
Alpine Ridge9.3 miFrom Interstate 30 take exit 78. Merge onto State Highway 7 north and turn onto AR- 390 for 2 miles.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Caddo Valley, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 51°F, day 78°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 31°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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Lower Lake Recreation Area is in Arkansas’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Bruce Westerman (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 moneyBruce WestermanU.S. Representative · Arkansas’s 4th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn BoozmanU.S. Senator · Arkansas
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTom CottonU.S. Senator · Arkansas
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 Lower Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas
Dear Bruce Westerman, I’m a constituent in Arkansas’s 4th district. I tried to camp at Lower Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas, and couldn’t. Every site at Lower Lake Recreation Area is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Lower Lake Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lower Lake Recreation Area. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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 Lower Lake Recreation Area (Arkansas) 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 Lower Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas
Dear John Boozman, I’m a constituent in Arkansas. I tried to camp at Lower Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas, and couldn’t. Every site at Lower Lake Recreation Area is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Lower Lake Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lower Lake Recreation Area. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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 Lower Lake Recreation Area (Arkansas) 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 Lower Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas
Dear Tom Cotton, I’m a constituent in Arkansas. I tried to camp at Lower Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas, and couldn’t. Every site at Lower Lake Recreation Area is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Lower Lake Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lower Lake Recreation Area. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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 Lower Lake Recreation Area (Arkansas) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“the agency's own site records list "CELL PHONE SERVICE" on 1 of 1 campsites here”