Peoples Creek
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:24 UTC
- A night
- $16–$40When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 56In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
People's Creek Recreation Area, located in the southeastern Ozark foothills of Missouri, is a great launchpad for boating, fishing, swimming, hiking or simply exploring the Wappapello Lake area. Completed in 1941, Wappapello Lake provides an estimated $3.9 million in annual flood protection to agricultural lands and developed areas along the St. Francis River. A peaceful cove offers endless recreation opportunities with 57 campsites, a picnic shelter, beach, accessible fishing pier, and Lake View Trail. Click here to take a virtual tour of the facilities at Wappapello Lake. Keep reading
Recreation
People's Creek is ideally suited for swimming and boating activities. The lake is home to some of Missouri's most sought after game fish, including largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, white bass and channel catfish. Hunting, fishing and kayaking are popular activities year-round. Hiking and biking on one of the Lake's 9 trail systems provides opportunities for all ages and abilities. The new accessible Shell Lake Archery Trail is a unique destination for achery enthusiasts.
Facilities
The day-use portion of People's Creek includes a two-lane boat ramp with courtesy dock, an accessible fishing pier, swimming beach and large picnic shelter. The campground portion has an upper and lower campground. The lower area offers 38 sites with 50-amp electric and water hookups. Peoples Creek Lower section is the only campground at Wappapepello Lake with waterfront campsites. A large sandy mooring area is available for campers. The upper area has 19 full-service campsites with 50-amp electric, water and sewer hookups.
Natural Features
Wappapello Lake stretches 8,400 acres on 45,000 acres of public land. Lightly wooded shorelines add shade to the scenic landscape. Contact Info Between 05/06/2026 and 09/28/2026 this location is staffed. Please call (573) 222-8234 to speak with local staff. From 09/02/2025 to 05/05/2026 this location is unstaffed. Please call (573) 778-5404 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Explore the nearby Pine Ridge Nature trail, Shell Lake Archery Trail and Wappapllo Wildflower Trail and Greenhouse areas or St. Francis River. The Mingo Wildlife Refuge is approximately 11.5 miles from Peoples Creek Recreation Area. The Lake Wappapello State Park is approximately 18.2 miles away, and the Sam A. Baker State park is 33.4 miles away from Peoples Creek Recreation Area.
What the agency tells you
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.
Existing day use shelter reservations may be cancelled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers if the facility is closed due to flooding, elevated security threats, maintenance problems, etc. Reservations may also be cancelled when the reservation conflicts with large public special events that would negatively impact a private event at the shelter. For these reasons, customers should consider an alternate date or location in the event a closure is necessary. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Peoples Creek Day Use Area and Peoples Lower Campgrounds are located adjacent to Wappapello Lake, because of this some campsites or amenities may be unavailable during high water events. For more information about lake levels you may contact the Lake Management Office at (573) 222-7500 or the Lake Information Hotline at (573) 222-7540.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
See Park Information Guide for Rules and Regulations.
Additional Campground Rules and Regulations: The following are prohibited from use in recreation areas and campgrounds at Wappapello Lake. 1. Any container filled with water for the intended use of "swimming, wading, lounging, or other playing in is prohibited. No kiddie pools, tubs filled with water, other containers, etc. 2. Sprinklers, and other water delivery devices with standard uses of playing in and/or frolicking in, as well as for providing water for the health of lawns are prohibited. 3. Use of government-provided water to "wash or clean" vehicles, campers, boats, or any other equipment is prohibited.
Attention All Recreation Users: If you would like to hold an event or wedding at any of the project’s day use shelters, boat ramps, or any recreation area please call or visit the USACE Wappapello Lake project office to obtain the special use or event permit REQUIRED. These permits are required if you are hosting: a large gathering greater than 50 people, fishing tournaments, 5k’s, weddings, use of a bounce house/water slide of any kind, ETC. Please note that if events are held that require, but do not possess a special use or special event permit may be subject to a WRITTEN CITATION. Per Title 36 CFR 327.21(a) If you are planning on hosting an event and it does not fall under these specific criteria, please contacting with the USACE Wappapello Lake Project Office at 1(573) 222-7500 or messaging us on our Facebook page.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 56 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- 53 electric, 56 water, 20 sewer
- Longest rig
- 59 ft
- Paved pads
- 53 of 56
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- SHOWERS on 56 of 57 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 57 campsite records, WATER (SEASONAL) on 1 of 57 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Water access
- Night sky · 93rd darkest of 118 in MO
- Bortle 4
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:24 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 · 15
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 Peoples Creek 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 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Pinewoods Lake Recreation AreaMark Twain National Forest · 28 mi
- Big SpringOzark National Scenic Riverways · 39 mi · 134 sites
- Fourche Lake Recreation AreaMark Twain National Forest · 48 mi · walk-up
- Two RiversOzark National Scenic Riverways · 58 mi · 22 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 16:24 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
57 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 54 mapped sitesAll 57 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. 53 of the 57 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| PCRL | 01 | standard electric | 50 amp | 60 ft | 465 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 02 | standard electric | 50 amp | 93 ft | 652 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 03 | standard electric | 50 amp | yes | 70 ft | 729 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 04 | standard electric | 50 amp | 70 ft | 794 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 05 | standard electric | 50 amp | 84 ft | 866 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 06 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 862 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 07 | standard electric | 59 ft | 50 amp | 52 ft | 984 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 08 | standard electric | 50 amp | 52 ft | 1,033 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 09 | standard electric | 50 amp | 87 ft | 1,079 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 10 | standard electric | 50 amp | 54 ft | 1,084 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 11 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 1,151 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 12 | standard electric | 50 amp | 67 ft | 1,142 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 13 | standard electric | 50 amp | 158 ft | 1,302 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 14 | standard electric | 50 amp | 92 ft | 1,152 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 15 | standard electric | 50 amp | 58 ft | 1,036 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 16 | standard electric | 50 amp | 58 ft | 982 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 17 | standard electric | 50 amp | 63 ft | 920 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 18 | standard electric | 50 amp | 73 ft | 952 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 19 | standard electric | 50 amp | 68 ft | 947 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 20 | standard electric | 50 amp | 68 ft | 880 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 21 | standard electric | 50 amp | 95 ft | 793 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 22 | standard electric | 50 amp | 68 ft | 840 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 23 | standard electric | 50 amp | 88 ft | 767 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 24 | standard electric | 50 amp | 68 ft | 788 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 25 | standard electric | 50 amp | yes | 113 ft | 661 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 26 | standard electric | 50 amp | 67 ft | 338 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 27 | standard electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 240 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 28 | standard electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 143 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 29 | standard electric | 50 amp | 124 ft | 150 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 30 | standard electric | 50 amp | yes | 67 ft | 273 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 31 | standard electric | 50 amp | 75 ft | 451 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 32/33 | standard electric | 50 amp | 60 ft | 435 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 34 | standard electric | 5 ft | 50 amp | 60 ft | 520 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRL | 35 | standard electric | 50 amp | 60 ft | 529 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRL | 36 | tent only electric | 50 amp | 93 ft | 300 ft | $16 | ||
| PCRL | 37 | tent only electric | 50 amp | 79 ft | 216 ft | $16 | ||
| PCRL | 38 | tent only electric | 50 amp | 79 ft | 165 ft | $16 | ||
| PCRU | 39 | standard electric | 50 amp | 70 ft | 492 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 40 | standard electric | 50 amp | 57 ft | 411 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 41 | standard electric | 50 amp | yes | 70 ft | 493 ft | $24–$40 | |
| PCRU | 42 | standard electric | 50 amp | 57 ft | 405 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 43 | standard electric | 50 amp | 74 ft | 471 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 44 | standard electric | 50 amp | 62 ft | 400 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 45 | type not stated | 50 amp | 466 ft | ||||
| PCRU | 46 | standard electric | 50 amp | 97 ft | 378 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 47 | type not stated | 50 amp | 360 ft | ||||
| PCRU | 48 | standard electric | 50 amp | 103 ft | 350 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 49 | type not stated | 50 amp | 335 ft | ||||
| PCRU | 50 | standard electric | 50 amp | 82 ft | 364 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 51 | standard electric | 50 amp | 57 ft | 367 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 52 | standard electric | 50 amp | 82 ft | 332 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 53 | standard electric | 50 amp | 89 ft | 275 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 54 | standard electric | 50 amp | 62 ft | 351 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 55 | standard electric | 50 amp | 77 ft | 312 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 56 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 279 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PCRU | 57 | standard electric | 50 amp | 76 ft | 293 ft | $24–$40 | ||
| PEOPLES CREEK | S07 | day use | 15 amp | yes | 93 ft | 179 ft | $50 |
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.
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 57 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Eagle Point Recreation Area0.8 mi
Redman Creek Recreation Area1.4 mi
Spillway Recreation Area1.5 mi
Snow Creek Campground4.9 mi
Greenville Recreation Area15 mi
Markham Springs18 miFrom St. Louis: take I-55 South to Highway 67. Head south to D Highway. Take D Highway South for about 15 miles and look for signs.
From Poplar Bluff: Take Hwy 60 East to Highway T. Then take Highway T North and look for signs.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Puxico, MO
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 72°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 28°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
Peoples Creek is in Missouri’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Jason Smith (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →