U.S. Forest Service · Mark Twain National Forest · MO

Pine Ridge Recreation Area

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$15From, per site
790 ftElevation
361 ftWater · an unnamed pond
5.2 miSE of Ashland, MO
59%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 109th darkest of 118 in MO

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

This campground and day use area is located in a pine forest. The short-leaf pine surrounding the area was planted by the CCC in the 1930's. This is popular spot for visitors using the 36-mile Cedar Creek Trail to stop for the night. A large field in the day use area is perfect for tossing around a frisbee.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $15 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$15Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$30DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 5

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$15
Camping is $15/Night
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$15
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$30

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($15), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today61°Sunny
Tonight37°Clear
Sunday68°Sunny
Sunday Night38°Clear

NWS forecast for New Bloomfield, MO

Typical weather

Typical October night 47°F, day 68°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.

100°32°10°

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.

Measured at: COLUMBIA RGNL AP, MO (USW00003945), 6 miles away and 103 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

critical
Mark Twain National Foresttransfer, logging, mining

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Bob Onder, official portrait

Pine Ridge Recreation Area is in Missouri’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Bob Onder (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: New Bloomfield, MO, 3.3 mi NW. Straight line.