Temples Lake
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 9 of the next 30 nights read 15:59 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Temples Lake Park is a day-use facility with over 60 picnic sites and one reservable group area on the southern shore of Belton Lake. The lake provides some of the best fishing and boating in Central Texas and the park offers amenities for large groups of up to 80 people, such as flush toilets, showers, a playground, a swim beach and two two-lane boat ramps. Belton Lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the construction of Belton Dam in 1954. The 12,300-acre lake is located on the Leon River, just upstream of the confluence of the Leon River and the Little River. Keep reading
Recreation
With 136 miles of shoreline, Belton Lake offers a wide variety of recreation activities, including camping, water recreation, picnicking, and nature trails. Temple's Lake Park is a destination for families, boaters, and anglers alike. Temple's Lake Park offers two multi-lane boat ramps (1 seasonal). Popular fish species include hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, white bass, catfish and sunfish. Visitors can also make use of the many picnic table sites and cook up lunch on the available grills while their friends and family enjoy the park's swimming beach, volleyball and basketball courts, and playground. Reserve the Pavillon for a private event! White-tailed deer, hawks, great blue herons, ducks, geese, many species of songbirds and even an occasional bald eagle visit the lake area, yielding year-round opportunities for wildlife enthusiasts and kids alike!
Facilities
Facilities List: 1 Gatehouse (Months, days, hours, and pass availability subject to change) On-Site Park Hosts/Maintenance Volunteers 62 Covered Picnic Sites (w/ grill) 3 Restroom Facilities (w/ sinks and flush toilets) 1 Outdoor shower 1 Vault Restroom Facility 2 Boat Ramps (Multi-lane) (*1 Seasonal) 1 Courtesy Dock 1 Playground 1 Basketball Court 2 Volleyball Courts 1 Pavillion (Reservable on rec.gov) 1 Swimbeach (Seasonal)
Facilities
Description: Temple's Lake Park boasts excellent water access and convenient amenities, including flush toilets, drinking water, and outside shower. Launch your boat on either of the two multi-lane boat ramps, one with a courtest dock for easy loading. Let the kids enjoy the swim beach area and playground or volleyball and basketballl courts while you relax! This park is seasonal, and all but the main road and main boat ramp will close Oct 1 - March 1.
Natural Features
The facility is directly on the shores of Belton lake with mostly open sunny spaces, occasionally dotted with trees. Deer, turkey and other small game are commonly seen, and a man-made wetland on the opposite side of the lake was constructed to provide an additional 25 acres of wildlife habitat in the lake area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (254) 742-3050.
Nearby Attractions
Belton Lake is located adjacent to the Fort Hood Army Base, which has several points of interest for the military buff. The mural painted on the spillway wall of Belton Dam depicts the history of the Bell County area.
Charges & Cancellations
Changes and cancellations are subject to a $10.00 administrative fee. Refund requests are processed through recreation.gov website or app.
What the agency tells you
Gatehouse: Gatehouse attendant available Friday-Sunday beginning March 1st through October 31st. Limited quantities of America The Beautiful Military Annual and Liftetime Passes will be available at Temple's Lake Park. NO CASH/CHECK PAYMENTS ACCEPTED, Credit Card Only.
Day Use: Temple's Lake Park has Day Use areas ONLY and Day Use fees apply ($5/vehicle). Parking is based on first-come, first-serve. Temple's Lake Park main gates open at 5 a.m. for access to the North (Main) boat ramp, while Day Use areas (lower parking lots) open at 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the park to claim a parking space and pay the fee. Once on-site, follow the posted instructions to pay via QR code or from pay machine at the swim beach. For additional information, you can download and sign into the free Recreation.gov Mobile App on Android or iOS prior to your arrival to make sure you can access the site when you scan the QR code to pay your fee. DAY USE FEES ARE STRICTLY ENFORCED; please display USACE or America the Beautiful Passes or kiosk payment slips in your windshield or ensure QR payments have the correct license plate. Failure to properly display passes or pay via QR may result in a citation.
Camping: No camping or overnight stay is permitted.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Park Specifics: Temple's Lake Park is open year-round with partial closures from October 1 to March 1 (South boat ramp and beach parking areas are closed, but the entrance road and north ramp remain open for boat launch. Pavillion will also be available for reservations). Parking on grass or roadways is prohibited. Glass containers are not allowed in Temple's Lake Park. Due to the area's popularity, the park may temporarily close early each day due to overcrowding. Visitors to the pavilion are encouraged to arrive early to avoid park closures that would prevent their entry until the closure is lifted.
Swimming Pools/Inflatables/Bounce Houses/Etc.: Please be advised, the use of water slides or inflatable structures such as inflatable slides, bounce houses, or moon bounces and not permitted without a lake activity permit. Lake activity permits can be requested through the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050 (Except Federal Holidays). Swimming pools are not permitted in the park.
Golf Carts: By permit only; please call the Belton Lake Office for more information Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050 (except Federal Holidays). Off-Road/Motorized Vehicles (UTVs/ATVs/OHVs/Motorized Bikes): Off-road vehicles are not permitted in Corps parks unless they are registered, insured, and highway legal. If applicable, they are restricted to paved roadways only and follow all vehicle regulations while operated in the parks.
Events/Pavilions: Pavilions require a reservation prior to use. Reservations can be made for Belton Lake at Rec.gov or call l 877-444-6777. For reservation of Pavilions on weekdays, please call the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050 (except Federal Holidays). Fishing tournaments, vendors and sale of food/products, or large events/parties, especially those with inflatables or special equipment, require an approved Lake Activity Permit from the Belton Lake Office. Lake activity permits can be requested through the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050. Please do not occupy pavilion prior to 8 a.m. to allow for cleaning services.
Dumping: Dumping of household trash (to include vehicle/boat/trailer parts) on USACE properties/parks is prohibited, including park dumpsters. Violations of the aforementioned rules may result in a citation.
Rules & Regulations: Title 36 CFR (EP 1165-2-316) governs the public use of water resources development projects administered by the Chief of Engineers. Visitors to any Corps project are bound by these Title 36 regulations, which are enforced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Visit the Title 36 section of this website for a copy of the rules and regulations or visit the local lake office.
For More Information: For more information, call the Belton Lake Office at 254-742-3050 Mon-Fri (8 a.m-4:30 p.m.) or visit the Belton Lake Website . ALWAYS WEAR A LIFE-JACKET!
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…large groups of up to 80 people, such as flush toilets, showers, a playground, a swim beach and two… / …and flush toilets) 1 Outdoor shower 1 Vault Restroom Facility 2 Boat Ramps (Multi-lane) (*1 Seasonal) 1…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “The lake provides some of the best fishing and boating in Central Texas and the park offers amenities for large groups of up to 80 people, such as flush toilets, showers, a playground, a swim beach and two two-lane boat ramps.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…amenities, including flush toilets, drinking water, and outside shower. Launch your boat on either of…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Swimming
Full this Saturdayread 15:59 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in. How full the weekend is nationally.
7 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:26 UTC. See them
OpenBookedClosed
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 · 20
What you actually pay
“Changes and cancellations are subject to a $10.00 administrative 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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 7
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 7. read 16:26 UTC
- Live Oak RidgeBelton Lake · 1.7 mi · 5 of 92 site-nights open
- WestcliffBelton Lake · 1.8 mi · 12 of 48 site-nights open
- Belton Lakeview ParkBelton Lake · 2.0 mi · 1 of 2 site-nights open
- Cedar Ridge (TX)Belton Lake · 4.0 mi · 1 of 145 site-nights open
- White Flint ParkBelton Lake · 6.9 mi · 8 of 30 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:59 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| TEMPLES LAKE | TEMPLE | day use | 15 amp | yes | 138 ft | 1,642 ft | $70 |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Live Oak Ridge1.7 mi
Westcliff1.8 mi
Belton Lakeview Park2.0 mi
Cedar Ridge (TX)4.0 mi
White Flint Park6.9 mi
Stillhouse7.0 miFrom Interstate 35 in Temple, Texas take the Farm-to-Market Road 2305/Adams exit. Travel west on 2305 to the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Temple, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 56°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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Temples Lake 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 →
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 moneyJohn R. CarterU.S. Representative · Texas’s 31st 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 Temples Lake, Texas
Dear John R. Carter, I’m a constituent in Texas’s 31st district. I tried to camp at Temples Lake, Texas, and couldn’t. Every site at Temples Lake is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Temples Lake keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Temples Lake. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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 Temples Lake (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 Temples Lake, Texas
Dear John Cornyn, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Temples Lake, Texas, and couldn’t. Every site at Temples Lake is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Temples Lake keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Temples Lake. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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 Temples Lake (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 Temples Lake, Texas
Dear Ted Cruz, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Temples Lake, Texas, and couldn’t. Every site at Temples Lake is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Temples Lake keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Temples Lake. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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 Temples Lake (Texas) via campanac.com