CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · TX

McCown Valley

Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:17 UTC

Why it’s closed, and what’s open near here Tell me when it comes back

Right now: Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:17 UTC
A night: $16–$30When it reopens, per site
Sites: 105In the agency’s record

Photos · USACE

50 ftLongest rig

600 ftElevation

784 ftWater · an unnamed pond

2.6 miW of Whitney, TX

0%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices

In the agency’s own words

McCown Valley is located on Whitney Lake on the main channel of the Brazos River in Central Texas. Over two million people visit Whitney Lake each year to enjoy the plethora of recreational activities and scenic beauty the lake provides. Keep reading

Recreation

McCown Valley offers five miles of trails in its equestrian park. Visitors enjoy riding their horses through open pastures and wooded areas near the lake. Boating, fishing, swimming, canoeing and kayaking are popular activities at Whitney Lake. Anglers can fish for a variety of bass, crappie and catfish with a state fishing license.

Facilities

This year-round campground offers a variety of sites to suit all kinds of campers, including 39 equestrian sites, 48 family sites, five sleeping shelters, and a day-use picnic shelter, all with electric and/or water hookups. 13 primitive tent sites are also available. Amenities include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a dump station. A boat ramp, playground and trails are also on-site.

Natural Features

The park is situated on the lakeshore among gently rolling hills covered with cedar, Live oak and Post oak. Deer and wild turkeys roam the area. Nearby Attractions

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

Before camping at McCown Valley please familiarize yourself with all applicable rules and regulations. Click Here to review Title 36.

Rule

Inbound gates open at 6 a.m. and close at 10 p.m.

Rule

A maximum of three vehicles allowed per campsite, group sites excluded

Everything else this campground posts · 6

Rule

No ATVs/OHVs allowed

Rule

A fishing license is required to fish at all parks on Lake Whitney

Rule

Please call the Whitney Lake Project Office 254-622-3332 for more information and burn ban restrictions

Rule

Please be advised that Field Grassburs exist in our parks. We are doing our best to implement a management plan to reduce the inundated areas. This plan may take several years in order to reduce the amount of Grassburs, but we are making every attempt to provide pleasant, safe, and healthy recreation opportunities.

Rule

Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.

Rule

McCown Valley Park has a security gate for the 0-54 camping loop. Campers should receive a code with their reservation. This code does not grant after-hours access to the park.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 105 · 14 tent-only, 39 equestrian, 5 cabin
Hookups: 92 electric, 87 water
Longest rig: 50 ft
Paved pads: 53 of 105
Accessible sites: 7
Pets: Allowed
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Pit Toilets; “…available. Amenities include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a dump station. A boat…”
Showers: Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind; “Amenities include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a dump station.”
Drinking water: Yes; “…include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a dump station. A boat ramp, playground and…”
Dump station: Yes; recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
Boat ramp: Yes
Playground: Yes
Stay limit: 14 nights; recreation.gov facility rule maxStay

Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Lake, River; Biking; Hiking; Horseback riding; Swimming
Night sky · 85th darkest of 154 in TX: Bortle 4

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:17 UTC

recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend

Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.

Max stay14 nightsthe facility record

A night, when it reopens$16–$30plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Army Corps of EngineersBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Every line of the receipt · 15

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Army Corps of Engineers

A night, when it reopens$16–$30

Tent Only Electric$16

Tent Only Nonelectric$16

Standard Electric 30 amp$28

Equestrian Electric$30

Standard Electric 50 amp$30

Group areas, a night$30–$45

Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jan 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026.

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.

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

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

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

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

Why this page can’t say why

recreation.gov lists every site at McCown Valley closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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.

Closure: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers status record · Oct 16, 2026

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.

recreation.gov availability, read 16:17 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

106 records · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 106 mapped sites

74 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most roomGS1 288 ftLoop EQUE 098 168 ftLoop EQUE 096 156 ftLoop EQUE 090 150 ftLoop EQUE 094 148 ft

Least roomLoop EQUE 071 16 ftLoop EQUE 072 16 ftLoop EQUE 067 17 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 106 records

106 of 106 records located

Tent only14RV / electric47Cabin or shelter5Equestrian39Day use1

000 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 047 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072 073 074 075 076 077 078 079 080 081 082 083 084 085 086 087 088 089 090 091 092 093 094 095 096 097 098 099 100 101 102 103 104 GS1 048 049 050 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 105 of the 106 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


ELEC	000	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		118 ft	1,110 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	001	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		63 ft	1,006 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	002	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		84 ft	1,002 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	003	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		63 ft	943 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	004	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		86 ft	939 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	005	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		40 ft	834 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	006	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		40 ft	794 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	007	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		56 ft	817 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	008	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		56 ft	769 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	009	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		46 ft	680 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	010	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		88 ft	611 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	011	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		46 ft	645 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	012	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		60 ft	574 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	013	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		60 ft	535 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	014	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		57 ft	469 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	015	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		57 ft	440 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	016	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		111 ft	922 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	017	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		111 ft	900 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	018	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		118 ft	1,018 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	019	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		71 ft	884 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	020	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		71 ft	821 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	021	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		100 ft	771 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	022	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		65 ft	682 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	023	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		79 ft	630 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	024	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		65 ft	571 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	025	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		65 ft	520 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	026	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		87 ft	573 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	027	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		90 ft	485 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	028	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		99 ft	540 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	029	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		65 ft	651 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	030	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		75 ft	747 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	031	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		83 ft	801 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	032	standard electric	40 ft	50 amp		111 ft	334 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	033	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		111 ft	240 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	034	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		97 ft	229 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	035	tent only electric		30 amp		65 ft	154 ftLake Whitney	$16
ELEC	036	standard electric	40 ft	50 amp		65 ft	207 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	037	standard electric	40 ft	50 amp		75 ft	282 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	038	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		56 ft	364 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	039	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		56 ft	392 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	040	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		87 ft	379 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	041	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		82 ft	353 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	042	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		82 ft	294 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	043	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		68 ft	308 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	044	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		68 ft	366 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	045	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		82 ft	446 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	046	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp		75 ft	449 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	047	standard electric	45 ft	30 amp		82 ft	500 ftLake Whitney	$28–$30
ELEC	061	overnight shelter electric	20 ft	20 amp		73 ft	724 ftLake Whitney	$30
ELEC	062	overnight shelter electric	45 ft	50 amp		73 ft	672 ftLake Whitney	$30
ELEC	063	overnight shelter electric	45 ft	50 amp		79 ft	729 ftLake Whitney	$30
ELEC	064	overnight shelter electric	20 ft	20 amp		62 ft	675 ftLake Whitney	$30
ELEC	065	overnight shelter electric	20 ft	20 amp		62 ft	632 ftLake Whitney	$30
EQUE	066	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		21 ft	736 ft	$30
EQUE	067	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		17 ft	745 ft	$30
EQUE	068	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		17 ft	756 ft	$30
EQUE	069	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		24 ft	772 ft	$30
EQUE	070	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		26 ft	793 ft	$30
EQUE	071	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		16 ft	770 ft	$30
EQUE	072	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		16 ft	754 ft	$30
EQUE	073	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		17 ft	740 ft	$30
EQUE	074	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		17 ft	722 ft	$30
EQUE	075	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		17 ft	708 ft	$30
EQUE	076	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		63 ft	1,361 ft	$30
EQUE	077	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		63 ft	1,419 ft	$30
EQUE	078	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		70 ft	1,493 ft	$30
EQUE	079	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		70 ft	1,554 ft	$30
EQUE	080	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		80 ft	1,620 ft	$30
EQUE	081	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		102 ft	1,720 ft	$30
EQUE	082	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		78 ft	1,827 ft	$30
EQUE	083	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		78 ft	1,900 ft	$30
EQUE	084	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		65 ft	1,997 ft	$30
EQUE	085	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		65 ft	2,062 ft	$30
EQUE	086	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		79 ft	2,137 ft	$30
EQUE	087	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		80 ft	2,168 ftLake Whitney	$30
EQUE	088	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		89 ft	2,136 ftLake Whitney	$30
EQUE	089	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		102 ft	2,101 ftLake Whitney	$30
EQUE	090	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		149 ft	2,245 ftLake Whitney	$30
EQUE	091	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	128 ft	2,265 ftLake Whitney	$30
EQUE	092	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		140 ft	2,412 ft	$30
EQUE	093	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	75 ft	2,307 ft	$30
EQUE	094	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	148 ft	2,175 ft	$30
EQUE	095	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	75 ft	2,282 ft	$30
EQUE	096	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		155 ft	2,053 ft	$30
EQUE	097	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		65 ft	1,935 ft	$30
EQUE	098	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		168 ft	1,767 ft	$30
EQUE	099	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		65 ft	1,940 ft	$30
EQUE	100	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		134 ft	1,534 ft	$30
EQUE	101	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	134 ft	1,596 ft	$30
EQUE	102	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	119 ft	1,333 ft	$30
EQUE	103	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp	yes	102 ft	1,460 ft	$30
EQUE	104	equestrian electric	50 ft	50 amp		102 ft	1,363 ft	$30
MCCOWN VALLEY	GS1	day use		15 amp		288 ft	534 ftLake Whitney	$45
NONE	048	tent only nonelectric				68 ft	433 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	049	tent only nonelectric				57 ft	371 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	050	tent only nonelectric				57 ft	320 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	051	tent only nonelectric				63 ft	279 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	052	tent only nonelectric				70 ft	254 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	053	tent only nonelectric				70 ft	221 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	054	tent only nonelectric				92 ft	314 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	055	tent only nonelectric				94 ft	598 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	056	tent only nonelectric				85 ft	520 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	057	tent only nonelectric				85 ft	460 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	058	tent only nonelectric				84 ft	381 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	059	tent only nonelectric				84 ft	333 ftLake Whitney	$16
NONE	060	tent only nonelectric				86 ft	261 ftLake Whitney	$16

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.

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

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 106 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate31.95000, -97.38306

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone254-622-3332

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Cedron Creek2.1 mi

Lofers Bend East4.6 mi

Lofers Bend West4.6 mi

Plowman Creek11 mi

Kimball Bend Park14 mi

Airport Park25 mi

Getting there

From I-35 in Hillsboro, take HWY 22 west 12 miles to Whitney, exit 933 north for 2.5 miles to FM 1713. Proceed 6 miles west, following signs into campground.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

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

Today66°Mostly Sunny3% rain

Tonight48°Mostly Clear

Saturday66°Sunny

Saturday Night45°Clear

NWS forecast for Whitney, TX

Source: National Weather Service, FWD forecast office · Oct 16, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 55°F, day 79°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 34°F. Bring the bag rated for it.

100°30°

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.

Measured at: WHITNEY DAM, TX (USC00419715), 6 miles away and 26 ft lower

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

McCown Valley is in Texas’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, Jake Ellzey (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.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov lists every site here closed on Friday and Saturday night (read 16:17 UTC). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published no closure notice we hold, so the reason isn’t on this page. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one, and the reservations the record still carries predate the closure. That reading is ours, off the agency’s own booking record.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026 and November 2026. It names 106 of the 105 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 14, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 106 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.89 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 154 rated federal campgrounds in Texas · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Army Corps’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.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026