Sandy Cove
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 16 of the next 16 nights read 16:27 UTC
- A night
- $22From, per site
- Sites
- 35All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sandy Cove Campground is located on the north end of Canton Dam in northwest Oklahoma on the North Canadian River, just 5 miles from the town of Canton. Canton Lake hosts a large number of campers, picnickers, boaters, fishermen and hunters every year, as one of few places in western Oklahoma to offer all of these activities. Keep reading
Recreation
Canton Lake is known for its fishing opportunities, especially walleye fishing. The Walleye Rodeo fishing derby is held annually in mid-May and draws thousands of visitors to the area for the 4 day event. Personal watercraft use, tubing and water skiing are popular on the broad expanse of water paralleling the dam where winds are subdued and gently sloping sandy beaches are inviting for swimmers and sunbathers.
Facilities
Though none of the campsites are adjacent to the lake, Sandy Cove is a very popular destination. It offers 35 family sites and one day-use group picnic shelter, all with electrical hookups. Amenities include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a large swim beach.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled in a woodland of blackjack oak and post oak trees, providing abundant shade for the camping environment.
Nearby Attractions
A major attraction for hunters is the 14,862-acre Canton Wildlife Management Area. This area, operated by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, is home to whitetail deer, wild turkey, bobwhite quail, rabbits, squirrel, dove and a variety of waterfowl. There are several resturants located within 3 miles of the lake and also a casino and 9 hole golf course. Roman Nose State Park and Glass Mountains State Park are only about a half hour or so drive from the lake.
What the agency tells you
There are no sewer hookups at this campground. Water hookups are available with the use of Y's but no individual water hookups. Water hoses of 100 ft. may be required to reach a hydrant from your campsite.
2-night minimum required during the annual Walleye Rodeo (starts the Thursday after Mother's day in May).
Maximum of two tents per campsite, or one RV and one tent per campsite
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Pets must be on a leash and are not allowed at the Sandy Cove Beach Day-Use Area
Gate house hours are 11 a.m. - 9 p.m (May 1 to Labor Day) and 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. (April 1-30 & Tuesday after Labor Day to September 30). Arriving campers please check-in as soon as possible after arrival.
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.
There is no trailer dump station in this campground. The closest trailer dump station is in the Canadian campground, approximately 3 miles away on the south side of the lake.
Campground is closed from November through March. Day use/ Swimming Beach area is closed from mid-October through April.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 35
- Hookups
- 35 electric, 35 water
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…hookups. Amenities include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a large swim beach.…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Amenities include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a large swim beach.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…include flush and pit toilets, showers, drinking water and a large swim beach. Natural Features The…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 24th darkest of 106 in OK
- Bortle 4
37 of 70 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:27 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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 rate for this season, $22 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 16:27 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
36 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 36 mapped sitesAll 36 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. 35 of the 36 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| SCOV | 001 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 65 ft | 853 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 002 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 802 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 003 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 67 ft | 751 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 004 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 733 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 005 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 65 ft | 685 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 006 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 54 ft | 626 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 007 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 54 ft | 595 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 008 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 100 ft | 605 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 009 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 85 ft | 463 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 010 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 85 ft | 404 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 011 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 414 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 012 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 495 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 013 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 60 ft | 456 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 014 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30 amp | 60 ft | 487 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 015 | standard electric | 23 ft | 30 amp | 111 ft | 587 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 016 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 682 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 017 | standard electric | 23 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 634 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 018 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 88 ft | 696 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 019 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 101 ft | 809 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 020 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 98 ft | 909 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 021 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 874 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 024 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 43 ft | 1,035 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 025 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30 amp | 43 ft | 1,076 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 026 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 58 ft | 1,059 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 027 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 103 ft | 948 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 028 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 39 ft | 908 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 029 | standard electric | 37 ft | 30 amp | 39 ft | 893 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 030 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 847 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 031 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 52 ft | 796 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 032 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 46 ft | 750 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 033 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 46 ft | 724 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 034 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 62 ft | 717 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 035 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 45 ft | 702 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 036 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 45 ft | 740 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | 037 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 65 ft | 815 ft | $22 |
| SCOV | SHELTE | day use | 42 ft | 15/30 amp | 180 ft | 236 ft | $40 |
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.
25 of 36 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Longdale1.8 mi
Blaine Park2.4 mi
Canadian2.7 mi
Big Bend (OK)2.9 mi
Fairview3.2 mi
Beaver Point63 miFrom Canton, OK: Go .5 miles west on Highway 51, turn right (north) on Highway 58A and travel 2.3 miles. Turn right at the 3-way Stop intersection and continue on Highway 58A to the north end of the dam. The swimming area and campground are on the left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Longdale, OK
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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
Sandy Cove is in Oklahoma’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Frank Lucas (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →