Oak Park (Wright Patman Lake)
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:19 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Oak Park is a day use area located just below the dam on Wright Patman Lake in northeastern Texas. Its picnic shelter and ball fields make it a great location for larger groups and special events. Keep reading
Recreation
This facility is a relaxing and spacious location for group gatherings and picnics. Wright Patman Lake hosts a wide range of recreational activities to allow visitors to get outdoors and enjoy the area, including boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, picnicking and wildlife viewing. Several boating, fishing and swimming facilities can be accessed in nearby parks around the lake. Anglers enjoy fishing for bass, catfish, crappie and sunfish. A model airplane flying field is located next to the park.
Facilities
Oak Park offers one group day-use picnic shelter with water and electric hookups. Several family picnic sites are available on a first come, first served basis. A swing set, sand volleyball court and baseball diamond are located next to the shelter. No swim beach is available in the park.
Natural Features
Oak Park is named for its large oak trees that create a peaceful, nostalgic setting and shade for picnickers. Though it is not directly on the waterfront, the shelter is a short walk or drive from the scenic shoreline. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages approximately 55,000 acres of public forestland around the lake, providing habitat for wild turkey, bobwhite quail, squirrel, white-tailed deer, migrating bald eagles, pelicans and ducks and other waterfowl. Some poisonous snakes inhabit the area.
Nearby Attractions
The Texarkana region is full of activities such as shopping, movies, restaurants and local historical sites. Shreveport, Louisiana offers river boat gambling, horse races and numerous festivals, including the Four State Fair and Rodeo and the Jump, Jive and Jam Festival.
What the agency tells you
Visitors are expected to be aware of general park rules
Park is closed seasonally from November through March.
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Park hours are 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM.
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Picnicking
- Softball Fields
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:19 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.
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 · 10
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 · 3
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Oak Park (Wright Patman Lake) 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.
Open within 150 miles · 2
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Cedar Lake Recreation AreaWinding Stair Mountain National Recreation Area · 105 mi
- Cove Lake Recreation AreaOzark National Forest · 135 mi · 36 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 15:19 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| PAVI | GRP001 | day use | 15 amp | yes | 1,154 ft | 384 ft |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Piney Point1.7 mi
Rocky Point(Wright Patman Dam)2.4 mi
Sportsman's Cove2.5 mi
North Shore2.7 mi
Clear Springs (TX)3.1 mi
Malden Lake Campground11 miFrom Texarkana, take U.S. Highway 59 south for approximately 12 miles. Turn right at the sign for Wright Patman Lake. Follow the park road to the dam; turn left and proceed to the next intersection. Turn left again, and follow the road to the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Domino, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 54°F, day 76°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
Oak Park (Wright Patman Lake) is in Texas’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Nathaniel Moran (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →