Rock Creek Campground (TN)
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- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 11All of them booked ahead
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Rock Creek Campground is located near the Emory River in the Obed Wild and Scenic River. Keep reading
Recreation
Whitewater paddling is available seasonally in the Obed WSR. Rock climbing is another challenging activity, as is boulder climbing. The Obed WSR sports several unique trails for hikers, most notably the Point Trail and a portion of the Cumberland Trail. Those who like to fish will enjoy the Obed WSR, as a variety of bass, bluegill, catfish and other fish populate the river. Birdwatching is also a fun activity, particularly during the migratory seasons.
Facilities
Rock Creek Campground has 11 campsites. Each site has a picnic table, food storage locker, fire ring with grill, lantern hook and paved parking. A vault toilet is also centrally located in the campground.
Natural Features
The Obed River winds through the Cumberland Plateau offering a variety of recreational activities for everyone.
Nearby Attractions
Just a few miles from the park is Frozen Head State Park which encompasses more than 24,000 acres of forest with mountainous terrain at an elevation from 1,340 feet to over 3,000 feet. Catoosa Wildlife Management Area is an 82,000 acre preserve with a focus on hunting and fishing but offering a wealth of other recreational activities as well. Lone Mountain State Forest is 3,600 acres and has 15 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders.
What the agency tells you
Black bears and other wildlife frequent this campground. Please keep in mind that “food” to a bear includes any item with a scent, regardless of packaging. This may consist of items that you do not consider food, such as canned goods, horse feed, bottles, drinks, soaps, cosmetics, toiletries, trash, ice chests (even when empty), and unwashed items used for preparing or eating meals. All these items must be stored properly. --Secure coolers, grills, cooking utensils, horse feed, any food not in use, and anything with food odors inside the locked compartment of a vehicle or trailer or a bear proof storage locker if available. Food storage lockers each measure approximately 29" deep x 38" wide x 43" tall. --Wipe off picnic tables and grills. Properly discard aluminum foil used for cooking. --Avoid burning garbage in fire rings because it will leave behind grease and food scraps. --Always discard all garbage in wildlife proof trash cans or dumpsters. Keep a clean campsite. --Do not hang garbage from lantern poles. Following these guidelines will keep you from getting your property confiscated from your campsite. We appreciate your cooperation.
This campground is site-specific. Please occupy the site you reserved. If you need to move to another site, please modify your reservation through the Recreation.gov site or call 1-877-444-6777.
No alcohol permitted.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
All equipment must fit on the site pad. Vehicles park in developed areas only.
Please bring your own drinking water.
Any group larger than 25 persons wishing to participate in any activity in the park in which members of the group will depart from an established road and/or parking area must first obtain a permit for such activity. More information can be found online at www.nps.gov/obed/planyourvisit/special-use-permits.htm.
Please be advised that an approved Permit or Authorization by the superintendent is required before providing business services within Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. This includes services such as RV or tent delivery and setup, firewood sales and delivery, shuttle and transportation services, guided hikes, guided floats, and similar activities. To apply for a permit, please visit our website at www.nps.gov/biso and navigate to the "Doing Business With the Park" section. There you will find application forms, instructions, and contact information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 11 · 11 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Boating
- Climbing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Ranger programs
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 38th darkest of 95 in TN
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 16:49 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:02 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 11 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 11 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:49 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:02 UTC
- Bandy CreekBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 29 mi · 20 of 288 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:49 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
11 sites
All 11 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 11 of the 11 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 1 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 11 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 2 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 3 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 4 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 5 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 6 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 7 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 | |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 8 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | $15 |
| Rock Creek Campground (TN) | 9 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bandy CreekBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 29 mi
Station Camp CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 33 mi
Great Meadows CampgroundDaniel Boone National Forest · 39 mi
Bear Creek Campground - KYBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 40 mi
Obey River Park43 mi
Blue Heron CampgroundBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 43 miFrom the East: Take State Route 62 West, then veer to the right onto State Route 27. Make a left onto Kingston Street, and follow the brown Obed road signs to the visitor center on North Maiden Street. To continue on to the campground, stay on North Maiden Street until reaching an intersection. Stay straight on North Maiden Street crossing Main Street/Old Hwy 27 until you reach Spring Street. Turn right onto Spring Street and continue on to the sharp left-handed curve where the road becomes Catoosa Road. Stay on Catoosa Road for approximately 5.5 miles until reaching the entrance of the campground.
From the West: Take State Route 62 East, then make a right onto State Route 27 South. Make a right onto Kingston Street, and follow the brown Obed road signs to the visitor center on North Maiden Street. To continue on to the campground, stay on North Maiden Street until reaching an intersection. Stay straight on North Maiden Street crossing Main Street/Old Hwy 27 until you reach Spring Street. Turn right onto Spring Street and continue on to the sharp left-handed curve where the road becomes Catoosa Road. Stay on Catoosa Road for approximately 5.5 miles until reaching the entrance of the campground.
From the North: Follow State Route 27 South into Wartburg. Make a right onto Kingston Street, and follow the brown Obed road signs to the visitor center on North Maiden Street. To continue on to the campground, stay on North Maiden Street until reaching an intersection. Stay straight on North Maiden Street crossing Main Street/Old Hwy 27 until you reach Spring Street. Turn right onto Spring Street and continue on to the sharp left-handed curve where the road becomes Catoosa Road. Stay on Catoosa Road for approximately 5.5 miles until reaching the entrance of the campground.
From the South: Follow State Route 27 North into Wartburg. Make a left onto Kingston Street, then follow the brown Obed road signs to the visitor center on North Maiden Street. To continue on to the campground, stay on North Maiden Street until reaching an intersection. Stay straight on North Maiden Street crossing Main Street/Old Hwy 27 until you reach Spring Street. Turn right onto Spring Street and continue on to the sharp left-handed curve where the road becomes Catoosa Road. Stay on Catoosa Road for approximately 5.5 miles until reaching the entrance of the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Wartburg, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 26°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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Rock Creek Campground (TN) is in Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Chuck Fleischmann (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 · 4
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 office that runs itObed Wild and Scenic RiverNational Park Service unit
- The member who votes the moneyCharles J. "Chuck" FleischmannU.S. Representative · Tennessee’s 3rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBill HagertyU.S. Senator · Tennessee
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMarsha BlackburnU.S. Senator · Tennessee
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 the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.
Subject Hold back a share of sites at Rock Creek Campground (TN) for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Obed Wild and Scenic River: I tried to camp at Rock Creek Campground (TN) in Tennessee and couldn’t. All 11 sites at Rock Creek Campground (TN) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Creek Campground (TN) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Rock Creek Campground (TN) as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked. Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one. Sent about Rock Creek Campground (TN) (Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee) 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 Rock Creek Campground (TN), Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee
Dear Charles J. "Chuck" Fleischmann, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Rock Creek Campground (TN), Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee, and couldn’t. All 11 sites at Rock Creek Campground (TN) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Creek Campground (TN) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rock Creek Campground (TN). I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Rock Creek Campground (TN) (Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee) 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 Rock Creek Campground (TN), Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Rock Creek Campground (TN), Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee, and couldn’t. All 11 sites at Rock Creek Campground (TN) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Creek Campground (TN) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rock Creek Campground (TN). I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Rock Creek Campground (TN) (Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee) 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 Rock Creek Campground (TN), Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Rock Creek Campground (TN), Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee, and couldn’t. All 11 sites at Rock Creek Campground (TN) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Creek Campground (TN) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rock Creek Campground (TN). I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Rock Creek Campground (TN) (Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tennessee) via campanac.com