Willis Creek
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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:04 UTC
- A night
- $10–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4434 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Willis Creek is the ideal place for campers looking for a variety of accommodations. A group campground and five equestrian sites are available, in addition to a row of standard camping sites. Granger Lake is a popular recreational destination, especially for boating and fishing. In fact, it's one of the best lakes in the region for crappie and white bass fishing. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating and fishing are the most popular activities for campers. Horseback riders have six trails to explore in the Willis Creek Equestrian Area, ranging from 1 to 5.5 miles in length.
Facilities
Equestrian sites do not have electric or water hookups. Standard sites are equipped with 20/30 electrical. Four of the standard sites are equipped with sewer drops at the campsites. The group campsite fits 50 people and is equipped with water and 20 amp electric. No RV hookups are available at the group shelter.
Natural Features
Granger Lake, formed by a dam completed in 1980, is fed by the San Gabriel River and Willis Creek. The campground sits on the Willis Creek arm of the lake. The maximum surface area of the lake is 11,000 acres and the shoreline is surrounded by the gently rolling hills of the Texas Blackland Prairie.
Nearby Attractions
The Pecan Grove Wildlife Area, San Gabriel Wildlife Area, Sore Finger Wildlife Area, and Willis Creek Wildlife Area border the lake. Bring binoculars for birding opportunities.
What the agency tells you
Limit 2 vehicles per campsite
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 44 · 1 group, 16 equestrian
- Hookups
- 28 electric, 27 water, 4 sewer
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 28 of 44
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Fishing
- Horseback riding
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 112th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 16:04 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
6 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:33 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 26 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 18 are free on Thu, Oct 22. read 16:04 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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $10–$30 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 · 6
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 6. read 16:33 UTC
- Wilson H FoxGranger Lake · 3.7 mi · 2 of 96 site-nights open
- Russell ParkGeorgetown Lake · 21 mi · 10 of 56 site-nights open
- Union GroveStillhouse Hollow Lake · 25 mi · 13 of 68 site-nights open
- Belton Lakeview ParkBelton Lake · 29 mi · 1 of 2 site-nights open
- Live Oak RidgeBelton Lake · 29 mi · 5 of 92 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:04 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
44 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 40 mapped sites4 sites share one published coordinate and are left out of the rankings.
All 44 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. 44 of the 44 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| WCRE | 01 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 64 ft | 332 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 02 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 64 ft | 373 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 03 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 71 ft | 448 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 04 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 69 ft | 433 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 05 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 71 ft | 504 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 06 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 581 ft | $26–$30 | ||
| WCRE | 07 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 575 ft | $26–$30 | ||
| WCRE | 08 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 70 ft | 654 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 09 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | 647 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 1 | equestrian nonelectric | 49 ft | 1,190 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 10 | equestrian nonelectric | 49 ft | 1,003 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 10 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 70 ft | 718 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 10.-old | equestrian nonelectric | $10 | |||||
| WCRE | 11 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | 687 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 12 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 82 ft | 735 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 13 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 87 ft | 588 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 14 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 83 ft | 616 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 15 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 533 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 16 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 583 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 17 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | yes | 66 ft | 502 ft | $26–$30 |
| WCRE | 18 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 565 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 19 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 80 ft | 480 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 2 | equestrian nonelectric | 49 ft | 1,148 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 20 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 84 ft | 567 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 21 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 80 ft | 485 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 22 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 80 ft | 583 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 23 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 501 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 24 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 516 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 25 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 80 ft | 605 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 26 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 68 ft | 534 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 27 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 105 ft | 655 ft | $26–$30 | |
| WCRE | 28 | group standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 1949 ft | 233 ft | $60 | |
| WCRE | 3 | equestrian nonelectric | 47 ft | 1,110 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 4 | equestrian nonelectric | 47 ft | 1,067 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 5 | equestrian nonelectric | 47 ft | 1,027 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 6 | equestrian nonelectric | 58 ft | 1,191 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 6-old | equestrian nonelectric | 581 ft | $10 | ||||
| WCRE | 7 | equestrian nonelectric | 56 ft | 1,138 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 7-old | equestrian nonelectric | 575 ft | $10 | ||||
| WCRE | 8 | equestrian nonelectric | 46 ft | 1,088 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 8-old | equestrian nonelectric | $10 | |||||
| WCRE | 9 | equestrian nonelectric | 46 ft | 1,047 ft | $10 | |||
| WCRE | 9-old | equestrian nonelectric | $10 | |||||
| WCRE | FH1-50 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | $10 |
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 44 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Taylor3.1 mi
Wilson H Fox3.7 mi
Friendship Park4.4 mi
Cedar Breaks Park20 mi
Jim Hogg Park21 mi
Russell Park21 miFrom Interstate 35, take Highway 95. Go north on Highway 95 to County Road 346. Turn right on County Route 346 and go 4 miles to the park entrance. Follow signs.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Granger, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 56°F, day 82°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 37°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
Willis Creek 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 Willis Creek, Texas
Dear John R. Carter, I’m a constituent in Texas’s 31st district. I tried to camp at Willis Creek, Texas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 34 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Willis Creek, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 26 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. Willis Creek keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Willis Creek. 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 Willis Creek (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 Willis Creek, Texas
Dear John Cornyn, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Willis Creek, Texas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 34 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Willis Creek, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 26 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. Willis Creek keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Willis Creek. 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 Willis Creek (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 Willis Creek, Texas
Dear Ted Cruz, I’m a constituent in Texas. I tried to camp at Willis Creek, Texas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 34 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Willis Creek, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 26 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. Willis Creek keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Willis Creek. 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 Willis Creek (Texas) via campanac.com