Pinewoods Lake Rec Area
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 12 of the next 16 nights read 15:57 UTC
- A night
- $15–$25Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 15All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Pinewoods Lake Recreation Area sits next to Pinewoods Lake in southeastern Missouri. It is an ideal location to enjoy lake fishing and scenic trails. Keep reading
Recreation
A 1.3-mile walking trail surrounds the lake. Most of the trail has a concrete surface and is accessible. The entire trail is relatively flat, with no difficult sections. Circling the 32-acre lake, the trail provides views of the lake, songbirds and wildlife, and an abundance of wildflowers. The lake offers a floating fishing pier and a concrete boat ramp. Anglers can enjoy fishing for bass, sunfish and catfish.
Facilities
The day-use picnic shelter can accommodate up to 75 people. It is equipped with tables and large grills. Accessible vault toilets are provided. Trash collection service is not available; visitors must carry out all garbage.
Natural Features
The lake is located on the southeastern quadrant of the Mark Twain National Forest. The area is densely wooded.
Nearby Attractions
Ellsinore is the closest city to the campground, just 3 miles away, with a few dining options, a grocery store and fuel station.
What the agency tells you
Drinking water is not available
Parking is free of charge
Click here for more information on the Mark Twain National Forest.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Don't move firewood: To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. Some states have quarantines and may confiscate your firewood. Please help protect our forests from invasive species by obtaining your firewood at or near your camping destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.org for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with tables and large grills. Accessible vault toilets are provided. Trash collection service is not…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
Something open on 12 of the next 12 bookable nightsread 15:57 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedNot reservable
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $15–$25 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 15:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
16 records · the site map
All 16 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. 15 of the 16 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| PINE | Pinewoods Pavilion | day use | yes | 381 ftPinewoods Lake | $50 |
| Pinewoods | 01 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 02 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 03 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 04 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 05 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 06 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 07 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 08 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 09 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 10 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 11 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 12 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 13 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 14 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 | ||
| Pinewoods | 15 | standard nonelectric | $15–$25 |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Clubhouse CampgroundOzark National Scenic Riverways · 6.4 mi
Big Tree CampgroundOzark National Scenic Riverways · 6.6 mi
Cedar Spring CampgroundOzark National Scenic Riverways · 9.4 miGrubb Hollow CampgroundOzark National Scenic Riverways · 10 mi
Markham Springs11 miFrom Poplar Bluff, Missouri, go 7 miles north on U.S. Highway 67, then travel 16 miles east on U.S. Highway 60.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ellsinore, MO
Typical weather
Typical October night 45°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
Pinewoods Lake Rec Area 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 →