Turkey Fork Recreation Area
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:27 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 21All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Turkey Fork Recreation Area is the most popular recreation area on the DeSoto National Forest and one of the most visited outdoor recreation areas in south Mississippi, offering three bathhouses, a picnic area, two swim areas, a boat ramp, a floating pier, 20 RV campsites, and 8 primitive camping sites, which surround a 240-acre lake The lake is stocked with catfish, bass, and bluegill. Recreational opportunities at Turkey Fork include fishing, water sports, camping, picnicking, and hiking. With all these opportunites, a visit to Turkey Fork Recreation Area will provide its visitors with an enjoyable outdoor experience and memories to take home. Keep reading
Recreation
Turkey Fork is a popular recreation destination offering premier fishing, camping, picnicking and watersports activities, such as swimming and skiing. It has a boat ramp, floating dock, two swim areas, and three bathhouses. The 240 acre lake stocked with bass, crappie, and bluegill. Day use visitors will find secluded picnicking sites located near the beach. A ¾ mile hiking trail connects the day use area to the camping area.
Facilities
The campground has six RV campsites available for reservation. Additional RV campsites are available on a first-come, first served basis. Each campsite has water and electric hookups, picnic table, and fire-ring with grill. Flush toilets, and showers is available at the campground bathhouse. A campground host is on-site.
Natural Features
Turkey Fork Recreation Area is built around the 240-acre Turkey Fork Reservoir.
What the agency tells you
Ski hours are 10:00am to 6:00 pm Jet propelled boats or boats with open exhaust systems are not allowed on the lake Dogs must be on a leash no longer than 6 feet If possible, please keep a copy of your camping reservation on the dashboard of your vehicle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 21 · 1 group, 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 20 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 21 of 21 campsite records
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- SHOWERS on 21 of 21 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Beach
- Swimming
- Water Skiing
4 of 15 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:27 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:27 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
21 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 20 mapped sitesAll 21 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. 21 of the 21 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| RV Loop | 1 | rv electric | 50 amp | 142 ft | 427 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 10 | rv electric | 50 amp | 119 ft | 187 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 11 | rv electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 338 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 12 | rv electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 294 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 13 | rv electric | 50 amp | 92 ft | 255 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 14 | rv electric | 50 amp | 91 ft | 272 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 15 | rv electric | 50 amp | 91 ft | 192 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 16 | rv electric | 50 amp | 64 ft | 216 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 17 | rv electric | 50 amp | 87 ft | 339 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 18 | rv electric | 50 amp | 64 ft | 209 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 19 | rv electric | 50 amp | 87 ft | 340 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 2 | rv electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 293 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 20 | rv electric | 50 amp | 190 ft | 256 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 3 | rv electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 247 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 4 | rv electric | 50 amp | 77 ft | 237 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 5 | rv electric | 50 amp | 104 ft | 316 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 6 | rv electric | 50 amp | 77 ft | 212 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 7 | rv electric | 50 amp | 67 ft | 288 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 8 | rv electric | 50 amp | 126 ft | 161 ft | $20 |
| RV Loop | 9 | rv electric | 50 amp | 67 ft | 281 ft | $20 |
| Turkey Fork Pavilion | Turkey Fork Pavilion | group shelter nonelectric | 50 amp | $40 |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lock 143 mi
Service43 miAirey LakeDe Soto National Forest · 50 mi
Big Biloxi Recreation AreaDe Soto National Forest · 59 mi
Davis Bayou CampgroundGulf Islands National Seashore · 65 miFrom Hattiesburg
Travel East on U.S. Hwy. 42 approximately 21 miles to Richton. From Richton continue east on Hwy. 42 approximately 12 miles to Sandhill.
From Laurel
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Leakesville, MS
Typical weather
Typical October night 53°F, day 82°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
Turkey Fork Recreation Area is in Mississippi’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Mike Ezell (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →