Russell Park
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 14 of the next 30 nights read 16:33 UTC
- A night
- $16From, per site
- Sites
- 30All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Russell Park is located on the west side of Georgetown Lake, in the Texas Hill Country approximately 25 miles north of Austin. Visitors enjoy boating, fishing and exploring the San Gabriel River Trail. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating is the most popular way to enjoy the lake, and a boat ramp is provided for guests. Fishing is excellent in the area, and the lake contains black bass, white bass, hybrid stripers, white crappie and channel and flathead catfish, but it's most known for its abundance of smallmouth bass. Fishing docks are located on the shore within the campground. The San Gabriel River Trail is a 26-mile rugged path winding through dense juniper forest, hardwood bottomlands and prairie grasslands. The trail extends completely around Georgetown Lake via the dam and is open to hiking and biking. Hunting is available for small game species such as dove, waterfowl, rabbit and squirrel, as well as white-tailed deer. Hunting is by permit only.
Facilities
Russell Park is open year round and offers 27 primitive campsites with drinking water and flush toilets close by. Ten of these campsites have screened shelters which contain bunk beds with no bedding. Additional amenities include a Swim Beach and Day Use Area. The Swim Beach and Day Use Area is closed annually from November to March.
Natural Features
Georgetown Lake is a reservoir on the North Fork San Gabriel River in central Texas. The dam was completed in 1979 to provide flood control and water supply for the nearby community of Georgetown, and now provides countless recreation opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts.
Nearby Attractions
The nearby town of Georgetown offers gas, groceries and more. The historic downtown square district has shops and restaurants, and concerts and events are held on a regular basis. Additionally, Austin is located just 25 miles from the lake, offering countless tourist attractions.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations: Once a reservation date has begun, customers cannot change a reservation using the online system or through the Call Center. On-site personnel are not able to modify reservations. Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. Group Day Use Area: Customers who cancel a group day-use facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will forfeit the total day-use fee. Refunds: Customers can request refunds online up to 7 days after the scheduled departure date. After 7 days, customers must request refunds through the call center. Cancellation fees are non-refundable.
What the agency tells you
Camping by reservation only. Reservations must be made online through Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777.
Groups Shelters GS4 and GS5 are for day use only. No overnight camping is allowed on these sites.
This park is for tent and shelter camping only. No pop-ups, travel trailers or motorhomes are permitted in the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
A maximum of 2 vehicles are permitted per campsite unless otherwise specified. Additional vehicles will be required to pay $5.00 per day for entry into the park.
Pets are NOT permitted in the Swim Beach Area at Russell Park. Pets are permitted in the campground. Pets must be kept on a 6 ft leash at all times.
Grills and cookers are not permitted in the Swim Beach Area.
Gate house hours of operation are Friday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Hours may vary during Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.
Day Use and Swim Beach areas close at sunset.
Park entrance gates close at 10:00 p.m. An emergency exit is provided.
Maximum 14 day stay limit enforced. No extensions permitted.
Do not feed the wildlife.
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.
The Swim Beach and Day Use Area is closed annually from November to March.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 30 · 17 tent-only, 2 group, 13 cabin
- Hookups
- 3 electric
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…campsites with drinking water and flush toilets close by. Ten of these campsites have screened…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 5 of 32 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Paddling
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 138th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 5
10 of 56 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:33 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedClosed
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“Additional vehicles will be required to pay $5.00 per day for entry into the park.” · the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $16 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.
“On-site personnel are not able to modify reservations. - Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (…” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 7
recreation.gov availability, read 16:33 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 30 mapped sitesAll 32 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 32 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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 32 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| RUSSELL PARK | 01 | tent only nonelectric | 70 ft | 599 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 02 | tent only nonelectric | 70 ft | 577 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 03 | tent only nonelectric | 85 ft | 493 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 04 | shelter nonelectric | 138 ft | 421 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 05 | shelter nonelectric | 88 ft | 405 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 06 | shelter nonelectric | 72 ft | 395 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 07 | shelter nonelectric | 118 ft | 286 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 08 | shelter nonelectric | 81 ft | 254 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 09 | shelter nonelectric | 72 ft | 387 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 10 | shelter nonelectric | 81 ft | 234 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 11 | shelter nonelectric | 73 ft | 242 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 12 | shelter nonelectric | 59 ft | 187 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 13 | shelter nonelectric | 87 ft | 359 ftLake Georgetown | $28 | ||
| RUSSELL PARK | 14 | tent only nonelectric | 96 ft | 167 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 15 | tent only nonelectric | 96 ft | 155 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 16 | tent only nonelectric | 87 ft | 391 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 17 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 187 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 18 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 183 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 19 | tent only nonelectric | 70 ft | 204 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 20 | tent only nonelectric | 81 ft | 327 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 144 ft | 178 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 22 | tent only nonelectric | 65 ft | 273 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 23 | tent only nonelectric | 81 ft | 368 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 24 | tent only nonelectric | 65 ft | 315 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 25 | tent only nonelectric | 77 ft | 386 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 26 | tent only nonelectric | 93 ft | 478 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | 27 | tent only nonelectric | 93 ft | 570 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | GS1 | group shelter electric | 20 ft | 303 ft | 134 ftLake Georgetown | 2,536 ft | |
| RUSSELL PARK | GS2 | group shelter electric | 20 ft | 303 ft | 241 ftLake Georgetown | 2,527 ft | |
| RUSSELL PARK | GS3 | overnight shelter electric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 180 ftLake Georgetown | $65–$80 | |
| RUSSELL PARK | GS4 | day use | 20 ft | 147 ftLake Georgetown | |||
| RUSSELL PARK | GS5 | day use | 20 ft | 280 ftLake Georgetown |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Jim Hogg Park1.0 mi
Cedar Breaks Park1.4 mi
Tejas Park4.2 mi
Willis Creek21 mi
Taylor24 mi
Union Grove24 miFrom I-35, take FM 2338 west 7.5 miles to FM 3405, then go south 2 miles to CR 262. Go east 2 miles to the park entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Georgetown, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 57°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 36°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
Who answers for this land
Russell Park is in Texas’s 31st congressional district. Its representative, John Carter (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →