Merrisach Lake
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 30 mi
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:58 UTC
- A night
- $16–$26Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 67All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Merrisach Lake Campground and Day Use Park is situated on the banks of Merrisach Lake and the Arkansas Post Canal in the lush bottomland forest of eastern Arkansas. The campground is described as off the beaten path, providing visitors with the peace and quiet to enjoy fishing, hunting, picnicking and boating. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground and day use park offers visitors the perfect amount of seclusion to enjoy the outdoors. Visitors enjoy fishing for bass, crappie and catfish in Merrisach Lake and other tributaries of Pool 2. The tailwaters of Wilbur D. Mills Dam provide excellent opportunities to catch many species of gamefish, especially catfish. Visitors to this area also find great hunting, birding and boating opportunities. Merrisach sits on the famed Mississippi Flyway, where millions of songbirds, ducks, geese and butterflies pass during migration.
Facilities
Campsites are spacious, with a few backing right up to the lake. Most sites offer electric and water hookups. Additional amenities include hot showers, a playground, boat ramp and dump station. Two large group picnic shelters are available, and can accommodate up to 75 guests each.
Natural Features
The Arkansas Post Canal creates a waterway from the Arkansas River to the White River, and Merrisach Lake stems from the pool between the Wilbur D. Mills Dam and Lock Number 2. Wilbur D. Mills Pool boasts 96 miles of shoreline and 10,600 acres of water.
Nearby Attractions
The Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge is a haven for wildlife and migratory birds, and is one of the largest remaining bottomland hardwood forests in the Mississippi River Valley. The National Park Services's Arkansas Post National Memorial is also a great place to visit while camping in the area.
What the agency tells you
Campground is open year-round
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.
Please clean, drain and dry your boats and boat trailers to prevent the spread of Aquatic Nuisance Species. More info can be found at: www.ProtectYourWaters.net
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No Swimming, Wading, or Diving allowed in Merrisach Lake
Only wood and paper products may be placed in the fire rings. All trash must be placed in dumpsters and trash cans.
Alligators are native residents in Merrisach Lake. Please do not feed the alligators.
No more than 2 tents per campsite, or 1 camper and 1 tent.
CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 67
- Hookups
- 66 electric, 65 water
- Longest rig
- 103 ft
- Paved pads
- 53 of 67
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 62 of 67 sites
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Additional amenities include hot showers, a playground, boat ramp and dump station.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 19th darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 3
47 of 134 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:58 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 18
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $16–$26 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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
recreation.gov availability, read 15:58 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
69 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 69 mapped sitesAll 69 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 67 of the 69 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | A-01 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 145 ft | 221 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-02 | standard electric | 48 ft | 30 amp | 128 ft | 107 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-03 | standard electric | 59 ft | 30 amp | 128 ft | 71 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-04 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 130 ft | 119 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-05 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 71 ft | 118 ft | $16 | |
| A | A-06 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 71 ft | 74 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-07 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 35 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-08 | standard electric | 80 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 72 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-09 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 79 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-10 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 100 ft | 43 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-11 | standard electric | 73 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 60 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-12 | standard electric | 90 ft | 30 amp | 112 ft | 68 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-13 | standard electric | 80 ft | 30 amp | 112 ft | 117 ft | $22–$26 |
| A | A-14 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30 amp | 174 ft | 71 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-01 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30 amp | 112 ft | 725 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-02 | standard electric | 53 ft | 30 amp | 111 ft | 612 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-03 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 111 ft | 503 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-04 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 408 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-05 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 342 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-06 | standard electric | 89 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 300 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-07 | standard electric | 96 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 259 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-08 | standard electric | 75 ft | 30 amp | 112 ft | 133 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-09 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 102 ft | 146 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-10 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 93 ft | 216 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-11 | standard electric | 75 ft | 30 amp | 93 ft | 235 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-12 | standard electric | 54 ft | 30 amp | 106 ft | 302 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-13 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 102 ft | 340 ft | $22–$26 |
| B | B-14 | standard electric | 100 ft | 30 amp | 102 ft | 340 ft | $22–$26 |
| C | C-01 | standard electric | 75 ft | 30 amp | 95 ft | 185 ft | $22–$26 |
| C | C-02 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 95 ft | 281 ft | $22–$26 |
| C | C-03 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30 amp | 155 ft | 187 ft | $22–$26 |
| C | C-04 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 116 ft | 168 ft | $22–$26 |
| C | C-05 | standard electric | 63 ft | 50 amp | 155 ft | 170 ft | $22–$26 |
| D | D-01 | standard electric | 50 amp | 110 ft | 111 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-02 | standard electric | 50 amp | 63 ft | 153 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-03 | standard electric | 50 amp | 63 ft | 188 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-04 | standard electric | 50 amp | 73 ft | 163 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-05 | standard electric | 50 amp | 69 ft | 92 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-06 | standard electric | 50 amp | 69 ft | 88 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-07 | standard electric | 50 amp | 133 ft | 78 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-08 | standard electric | 50 amp | 161 ft | 101 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-09 | standard electric | 50 amp | 193 ft | 105 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-10 | standard electric | 50 amp | 86 ft | 125 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-11 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 113 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-12 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 97 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-13 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 82 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-14 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 86 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-15 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 104 ft | $22–$26 | |
| D | D-16 | standard electric | 50 amp | 89 ft | 153 ft | $22–$26 | |
| E | E-01 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 111 ft | 320 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-02 | standard electric | 73 ft | 50 amp | 92 ft | 241 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-03 | standard electric | 100 ft | 50 amp | 86 ft | 156 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-04 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 86 ft | 158 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-05 | standard electric | 97 ft | 50 amp | 108 ft | 190 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-06 | standard electric | 75 ft | 50 amp | 111 ft | 288 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-07 | standard electric | 80 ft | 50 amp | 118 ft | 292 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-08 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 39 ft | 142 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-09 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50 amp | 39 ft | 132 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-10 | standard electric | 97 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 129 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-11 | standard electric | 46 ft | 50 amp | 128 ft | 110 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-12 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 114 ft | 174 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-13 | standard electric | 68 ft | 50 amp | 110 ft | 260 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-14 | standard electric | 103 ft | 50 amp | 65 ft | 255 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-15 | standard electric | 98 ft | 50 amp | 65 ft | 234 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-16 | standard electric | 75 ft | 50 amp | 105 ft | 224 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-17 | standard electric | 75 ft | 50 amp | 105 ft | 286 ft | $22–$26 |
| E | E-18 | standard electric | 75 ft | 50 amp | 110 ft | 346 ft | $22–$26 |
| MERRISACH | SHELT1 | day use | 15 amp | 122 ft | 406 ft | $75 | |
| MERRISACH | SHELT4 | day use | 207 ft | 182 ft | $75 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
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 69 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Notrebes Bend Park3.8 mi
Wilbur D. Mills4.3 mi
Pendleton Bend6.2 mi
Rising Star29 miSte Marie Park42 mi
Tar Camp56 miFrom DeWitt, Arkansas, take US-165 south for 8.1 miles to State Route 44. Turn east for 5.3 miles and continue south onto Tichnor Blacktop Rd. After 10 miles, turn right onto Merrisach Lake Lane and continue into the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Gillett, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 55°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 35°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
Merrisach Lake is in Arkansas’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Rick Crawford (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →