McFadden Cove
1Heads up1 fire 38 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:22 UTC
- A night
- $22When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 15In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
McFadden Cove is a small campground situated along the banks of Kaw Lake in north central Oklahoma. It is located near Kaw Lake dam and Hideaway Marina and convenient to several recreational day use areas. Keep reading
Recreation
The lake and river are known for producing some of Oklahoma's largest catfish, as well as crappie, white bass and walleye, making it a popular destination for anglers. Hunters' skills are tested with excellent populations of whitetail deer, turkey, quail, rabbit and squirrel. During the fall waterfowl seasons Kaw Lake often attracts large numbers of migrating ducks and geese. During the winter visitors are likely to spot migrating bald eagles, as Kaw Lake has one of the biggest populations in the state.
Facilities
McFadden Cove Campground offers 15 campsites with amenities including electric and individual water hookups as well as a vault toilet. The boat ramp is right around the bend.
Natural Features
The lake covers 17,000 surface acres and has 168 miles of shoreline. Completed in 1976, the dam and lake help provide a recreational oasis for outdoor enthusiasts of all types.
Nearby Attractions
The area holds a number of historical sites, including several Native American settlements, archeological sites and the Pioneer Woman Museum.
What the agency tells you
Reserve your campsite through Recreation.gov
Water hookup is available at every site.
Campsites are $18 per night.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
One tent and one RV or two tents per campsite.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15
- Hookups
- 15 electric, 15 water
- Paved pads
- 11 of 15
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets · Pit Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 15 of 15 campsite records / ACCESSIBLE PIT TOILETS on 15 of 15 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 15 of 15 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 15 of 15 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:22 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 · 11
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 McFadden Cove 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.
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 15:22 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 15 mapped sitesAll 15 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. 15 of the 15 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 1 | standard electric | 30 amp | 49 ft | 395 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 10 | standard electric | 30 amp | 38 ft | 125 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 11 | standard electric | 30 amp | 38 ft | 87 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 12 | standard electric | 30 amp | 41 ft | 125 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 13 | standard electric | 30 amp | 41 ft | 115 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 14 | standard electric | 30 amp | 34 ft | 339 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 15 | standard electric | 30 amp | 34 ft | 359 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 2 | standard electric | 30 amp | 49 ft | 395 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 3 | standard electric | 30 amp | 85 ft | 355 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 4 | standard electric | 30 amp | 34 ft | 307 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 5 | standard electric | 30 amp | 34 ft | 328 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 6 | standard electric | 30 amp | 41 ft | 280 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 7 | standard electric | 30 amp | 41 ft | 243 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 8 | standard electric | 30 amp | 54 ft | 231 ft | $22 |
| McFadden Cove | McFadden Cove 9 | standard electric | 30 amp | 54 ft | 142 ft | $22 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sandy Park0.9 mi
Osage Cove2.2 mi
Coon Creek (OK)5.8 mi
Washunga Bay8.0 mi
Sarge Creek8.3 mi
Bear Creek Cove9.7 miFrom Ponca City, Oklahoma, travel 7 miles east on Lake Road. Turn north on to McFadden Cove Road and the camground is on the immediate right. If you cross the dam, you've gone too far.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ponca City, OK
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
McFadden Cove is in Oklahoma’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Frank Lucas (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →