Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:48 UTC
- A night
- $15–$20Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 5958 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area was built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It surrounds a picturesque 45-acre lake that was once a log pond and a source of water for the Central Coal and Coke Company sawmill which operated from 1902 to 1920. The facility is open year-round and includes a large campground, picnic areas, a reservable amphitheater, a swim area and many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Camping is available year-round. The Davy Crockett National Forest, named for the legendary pioneer, contains more than 160,000 acres of East Texas woodlands, streams, recreation areas and wildlife habitat. Located in Houston and Trinity Counties, the forest is centrally located within the Neches and Trinity River basins. Keep reading
Recreation
Swimming, fishing, hunting, hiking and picnicking are the area's main activities. The designated swimming area and playground provides much fun for the kids (no lifeguard on duty). Fishing piers are available for anglers to try for largemouth bass, bream and channel/blue catfish. Only electric motors are allowed on the lake. Principal game for hunting on the national forest includes squirrel, deer, quail, dove, turkey and waterfowl. Three main hiking trails can be accessed from the facility: the 1.5-mile Tall Pines, 0.75-mile Trail Tamers and the 20-mile Four C, which winds through many types of forests to a scenic overlook. Learn more about recreation in the national forest.
Facilities
Ratcliff Lake has 56 campsites, both first-come, first-served and reservable. Campsites in Dogwood Loop have electrical hookups and can accommodate vehicles up to 50 ft. Flush toilets, hot and cold showers and trash bins are also provided. Two picnic shelters and an amphitheater are also reservable. The day-use area has 17 single family picnicking units, a swimming area, flush toilets, two wooden fishing piers, one earthen pier, one fishing platform and a boat ramp.
Natural Features
The campground is heavily forested with loblolly pine, oak and other hardwoods, and surrounds Ratcliff Lake. A wide variety of wildlife exists in the area, including the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.
Nearby Attractions
The Big Slough Wilderness Area, located along the Neches River about five miles north of Ratcliff, is free of modern development and gives the visitor a place for solitude and primitive experiences.
What the agency tells you
This facility has first-come, first-served sites
The Day-use fee at Ratcliff is $5.00 per vehicle and is required for all day-use activities including the Group Shelters and Amphitheater.
Limit one RV unit (fifth-wheel, motorhome, trailer or pop-up) or two tents per site; each extra vehicle is charged $5 and may need to parked in an additional parking area away from the camping loop.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No gas motors allowed on the lake
ATVs or ORVs are not allowed on the ground in the recreation area or any other location on the Davy Crocket National Forest.
Picnic shelter is for day use only; no overnight camping allowed
Amphitheater site has no tables or grills
Click here for information about National Forests and Grasslands in Texas
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 59 · 30 tent-only, 3 group
- Hookups
- 25 electric, 11 water
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Paved pads
- 46 of 59
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 56 of 59 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 56 of 59 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…can accommodate vehicles up to 50 ft. Flush toilets, hot and cold showers and trash bins are also…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Flush toilets, hot and cold showers and trash bins are also provided.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Kayaking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 35th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 16:48 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 35 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 26 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:48 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 16
What you actually pay
“each extra vehicle is charged $5 and may need to parked in an additional parking area away from the camping loop.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $15–$20 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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:48 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
65 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 56 mapped sitesAll 65 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. 59 of the 65 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Day Use | AMP001 | day use | 15 amp | $35 | |||
| Day Use | CCC Shelter | day use | 15 amp | 608 ft | 37 ft | $35 | |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 014 Host | host pad | 45 ft | 460 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 015 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 131 ft | 571 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 016 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 118 ft | 608 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 017 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 118 ft | 675 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 018 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 136 ft | 782 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 019 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 163 ft | 893 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 020 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 127 ft | 690 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 021 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 137 ft | 531 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 022 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 127 ft | 616 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 023 | type not stated | 45 ft | 30 amp | 470 ft | $15–$30 | |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 024 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 120 ft | 537 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 025 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 458 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 026 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 478 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 027 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 146 ft | 397 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 028 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 146 ft | 537 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 029 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 128 ft | 431 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 030 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 101 ft | 510 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 031 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 566 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 032 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | $20 | ||
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 033 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 98 ft | 787 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 034 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 98 ft | 696 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 035 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 602 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 036 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 117 ft | 586 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 037 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 121 ft | 474 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 038 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 117 ft | 494 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 039 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 130 ft | 361 ft | $20 |
| DOGWOOD LOOP | 040 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 140 ft | 406 ft | $20 |
| FS 520 | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 169 ft | 260 ft | $15 | |
| FS 520 | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 238 ft | 141 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 144 ft | 126 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 124 ft | 126 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 124 ft | 247 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 141 ft | 145 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 141 ft | 275 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 114 ft | 183 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 114 ft | 121 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 124 ft | 84 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 111 ft | 115 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 111 ft | 150 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 167 ft | 128 ft | $15 | |
| LAKESIDE LOOP | A Group | group tent only area nonelectric | 60 ft | 167 ft | 186 ft | $30 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 104 ft | 10 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 042 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 60 ft | 12 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 043 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 60 ft | 15 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 044 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 156 ft | 43 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 045 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 69 ft | 93 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 046 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 69 ft | 49 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 047 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 154 ft | 10 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 048 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 102 ft | 134 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 049 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 102 ft | 165 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 050 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 164 ft | 184 ft | $15 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | 051 Host | host pad | 40 ft | 30 amp | 286 ft | $15–$30 | |
| LOBLOLLY LOOP | B Group | group tent only area nonelectric | 40 ft | 179 ft | 157 ft | $30 | |
| S and P | S and P Group tent | type not stated | $15–$30 | ||||
| S and P | S and P Standard | type not stated | $15–$30 | ||||
| S and P | S and P Tent | type not stated | $15–$30 | ||||
| Sawmill | 052 Host | host pad | 40 ft | 309 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| Sawmill | 053 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 99 ft | 214 ft | $15 | |
| Sawmill | 054 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 99 ft | 158 ft | $15 | |
| Sawmill | 055 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 92 ft | 143 ft | $15 | |
| Sawmill | 056 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 92 ft | 89 ft | $15 | |
| Sawmill | C Group | group tent only area nonelectric | 40 ft | 185 ft | 266 ft | $30 | |
| Sawmill | Sawmill Shelter | day use | 15 amp | 338 ft | 505 ft | $35 |
The agency files 6 more records here that aren’t sites for the night: 3 it files as day use and 3 it names a host pad. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is 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 65 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hanks Creek45 mi
TownsendAngelina National Forest · 50 miCaney CreekAngelina National Forest · 56 miBoykin Springs CampingAngelina National Forest · 57 miFrom Crockett, take State Highway 7 east for 15 miles. The recreation area is on the left between the towns of Ratcliff and Kennard.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Kennard, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 53°F, day 78°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area is in Texas’s 17th congressional district. Its representative, Pete Sessions (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyPete SessionsU.S. Representative · Texas’s 17th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn CornynU.S. Senator · Texas
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTed CruzU.S. Senator · Texas
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas
Dear Pete Sessions, I’m a constituent in Texas’s 17th district. I tried to camp at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 35 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area (Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas
Dear John Cornyn, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 35 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area (Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas
Dear Ted Cruz, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 35 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area (Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas) via campanac.com