Mound Valley
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 17 of the next 17 nights read 16:14 UTC
- A night
- $14–$24Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 8584 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Mound Valley is located on the crystal clear Big Hill Lake in southeast Kansas. The lake boasts three campgrounds, three equestrian trails and four day-use areas for the public to enjoy. Camping, picnicking, horseback riding, hiking, swimming, fishing and other outdoor activities abound. Keep reading
Recreation
Campers can venture onto several hiking and equestrian trails including Big Hill Lake Horse Trail, a 17-mile trail with a variety of terrain for all ages to explore. The trail winds along a scenic hardwood ridge that offers gorgeous views all along the way. Big Hill Lake is known as a trophy lake for fishing. Principal species of sport fish include largemouth bass, crappie, channel and flathead catfish, bluegill, walleye and smallmouth bass. The lake is also popular for fishing tournaments. Almost all of the land around the lake is open to public hunting, except for parks and areas around the dam and control structures. Principal species hunted are whitetail deer, turkey and squirrel. Families with kids will enjoy visiting the sand-covered beach nearby for cooling off from the summer heat and enjoying a picnic.
Facilities
This facility has 85 campsites, including three group sites, one of which has a picnic shelter as well. Most campsites are on the waterfront; others are just a short walk away. Other amenities include a boat ramp and boat trailer parking, restrooms, showers and a swim beach.
Natural Features
The park is nestled in the rolling, wooded countryside that is referred to as the Little Ozarks. With thick oak-hickory forests surrounded by prairie and farmland, the lake shore supplies a variety of habitats for birds and mammals. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (620) 336-2741 for general information.
What the agency tells you
Attendants are on duty
Alcoholic beverages and pets are prohibited at the swim beach
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 85 · 2 group
- Hookups
- 74 electric, 46 water, 2 sewer
- Longest rig
- 90 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “Other amenities include a boat ramp and boat trailer parking, restrooms, showers and a swim beach.”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Other amenities include a boat ramp and boat trailer parking, restrooms, showers and a swim beach.”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Night sky · 30th darkest of 57 in KS
- Bortle 4
82 of 168 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:14 UTC
recreation.gov lists 84 of the 85 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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.
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 · 17
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $14–$24 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 16:14 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
85 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 84 mapped sitesAll 85 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. 84 of the 85 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| MLOO | 42 | standard electric | 70 ft | 30 amp | 114 ft | 453 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 43 | standard electric | 64 ft | 30 amp | 114 ft | 372 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 44 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 127 ft | 312 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 45 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 113 ft | 251 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 46 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 231 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 47 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 220 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 48 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 219 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 49 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 219 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 50 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 109 ft | 240 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 51 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 64 ft | 353 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 52 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 108 ft | 241 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 53 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 52 ft | 219 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 54 | standard electric | 62 ft | 30 amp | 52 ft | 167 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 55 | standard electric | 72 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 125 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 56 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 130 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 57 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 64 ft | 297 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 58 | standard electric | 34 ft | 30 amp | 112 ft | 311 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 59 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 255 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 60 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 172 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 61 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 187 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 62 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 105 ft | 187 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 63 | standard electric | 64 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 121 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 64 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 111 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 65 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 221 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 66 | standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | 111 ft | 395 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 67 | standard electric | 77 ft | 50 amp | 111 ft | 373 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 68 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 122 ft | 499 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 69 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 561 ft | $18–$24 |
| MLOO | 70 | standard electric | 78 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 623 ft | $18–$24 |
| MVA | 89 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 145 ft | 565 ft | $18–$24 |
| MVA | 90 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50 amp | 145 ft | 635 ft | $18–$24 |
| MVA | G-2 & SHELTER | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 490 ft | 225 ft | $20–$76 | |
| MVA | G-3 | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 490 ft | 137 ft | $20–$76 | |
| MVA | SHEL | type not stated | 20 ft | 204 ft | |||
| NLOO | 17 | standard electric | 26 ft | 30 amp | 139 ft | 521 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 18 | standard electric | 85 ft | 30 amp | 154 ft | 408 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 19 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 139 ft | 458 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 20 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | 157 ft | 338 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 21 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 157 ft | 366 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 22 | standard electric | 14 ft | 30 amp | 114 ft | 288 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 23 | standard electric | 34 ft | 30 amp | 122 ft | 222 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 24 | standard electric | 90 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 240 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 25 | standard electric | 26 ft | 30 amp | 114 ft | 174 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 26 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 157 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 27 | standard electric | 34 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 230 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 28 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 132 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 29 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 198 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 30 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 95 ft | 119 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 31 | standard electric | 26 ft | 30 amp | 95 ft | 84 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 32 | standard electric | 41 ft | 50 amp | 124 ft | 176 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 33 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 124 ft | 56 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 34 | standard electric | 54 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 142 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 35 | standard electric | 62 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 193 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 36 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 247 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 37 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | 116 ft | 117 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 38 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 78 ft | 227 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 39 | standard electric | 22 ft | 30 amp | 156 ft | 153 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 40 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 160 ft | 312 ft | $18–$24 |
| NLOO | 41 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 78 ft | 254 ft | $18–$24 |
| S1-8 | 01 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 146 ft | 103 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 02 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 121 ft | 106 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 03 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 108 ft | 93 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 04 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 78 ft | 140 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 05 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 78 ft | 111 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 06 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 79 ft | 112 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 07 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 79 ft | 116 ft | $14 | |
| S1-8 | 08 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 110 ft | 195 ft | $14 | |
| SLOO | 71 | standard electric | 54 ft | 30 amp | 119 ft | 518 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 72 | standard electric | 61 ft | 30 amp | 104 ft | 415 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 73 | standard electric | 68 ft | 30 amp | 104 ft | 331 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 74 | standard electric | 66 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 289 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 75 | standard electric | 68 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 337 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 76 | standard electric | 61 ft | 30 amp | 78 ft | 330 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 77 | standard electric | 64 ft | 50 amp | 69 ft | 306 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 78 | standard electric | 75 ft | 50 amp | 69 ft | 283 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 79 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | 100 ft | 187 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 80 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | 93 ft | 225 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 81 | standard electric | 48 ft | 30 amp | 93 ft | 258 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 82 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | 78 ft | 319 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 83 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | 78 ft | 319 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 84 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 311 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 85 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30 amp | 113 ft | 300 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 86 | standard electric | 77 ft | 30 amp | 113 ft | 294 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 87 | standard electric | 59 ft | 30 amp | 147 ft | 326 ft | $18–$24 |
| SLOO | 88 | standard electric | 67 ft | 30 amp | 147 ft | 438 ft | $18–$24 |
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 85 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cherryvale Park0.0 mi
Downstream Point0.0 mi
Timber Hill Park1.9 mi
Outlet Channel18 mi
Card Creek22 mi
Washington Cove36 miFrom Cherryvale, Kansas, take U.S. Highway 169 and turn east onto Main Street. Continue through the town and turn right onto Olive Street. Go 1/2 a block and turn left onto County Route 5000. Proceed 4.5 miles to Big Hill Lake and follow signs to Mound Valley.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Parsons, KS
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 23°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
Mound Valley is in Kansas’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Derek Schmidt (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →