U.S. Forest Service · Mark Twain National Forest · MO

Marble Creek Recreation Area

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$15From, per site
Drawn from the record · 660 ft · 72% tree cover · Marble Creek within reach · Bortle 3 sky
660 ftElevation
313 ftWater · Marble Creek
10.9 miSE of Ironton, MO
72%Tree cover
Bortle 3Night sky · 41st darkest of 118 in MO

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Marble Creek, which travels through the National Forest for about 20 miles, is named for its colorful deposits of dolomite, which was mined and used as "Taum Sauk Marble" many years ago. The mineral dolomite is the main component of the sedimentary rock that is also called dolomite. It is similar to the mineral calcite but contains magnesium as well as calcium. Just based on looks, the rock dolomite is often impossible to distinguish from limestone, which is composed mainly of calcite. Previously, a grist mill operated in the area operated until 1935. Keep reading

Remains of the grist mill dam and building are still visible today. The site is remote, with the nearest town about 20 minutes away and there is no cell service. This is a great campground to visit if you are looking for a quiet visit to the forest. This is also a great place for swimming and fishing. Campsites are shaded by the tall trees around the area. There are several Creekside sites available. Located in the campground is the main trailhead for the Marble Creek Section of the Ozark Trail . The trailhead is across highway D, directly across from the campground entrance.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Cell signal
Little or none
Source: Stated in the agency description

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
None
Source: Stated in the agency description
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. · Sep 8, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $15 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$15Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$30DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 6

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$15
Campgrounds: Single - $15.00/night Day Use: $5.00 per vehicle per day There is a 50% discount for camping for anyone with an Interagency Access or Senior Pass .
Interagency passes cover the full day use fees, excluding busses.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$15
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$30

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($15), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

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Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon62°Sunny
Tonight34°Clear then Areas Of Frost
Sunday71°Areas Of Frost then Sunny
Sunday Night36°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Arcadia, MO

Typical weather

Typical October night 42°F, day 69°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

100°32°10°

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: FREDERICKTOWN, MO (USC00233038), 15 miles away and 100 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

critical
Mark Twain National Foresttransfer, logging, mining

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Jason Smith, official portrait

Marble Creek Recreation Area is in Missouri’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Jason Smith (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

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.
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. · Sep 8, 2026

“…nearest town about 20 minutes away and there is no cell service. This is a great campground to visit if you are looking for a…”

Nearest place of any size: Arcadia, MO, 10 mi SSE. Straight line.