Winkler Park
1Heads up1 fire 46 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 30 nights read 16:14 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Winkler Park is a small, primitive campground on the northern shore of Belton Lake in Central Texas. This park does not have electricity, but does have water hookups at each site, paved back-in sites, and a central water bourne restroom with flush toilets, sinks, and showers. There are 14 sites available for RVs and tents and a day use area. Truly sink into nature in the peaceful park full of wildlife and beautiful sunset/sunrise views! This park is seasonal, and will close Nov 1st - February 28th. 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. Belton Lake is a long, narrow and winding lake with many curves and coves, providing some of the best camping, fishing, and boating in Central Texas. Keep reading
Recreation
With 136 miles of shoreline, Belton Lake offers a wide variety of recreation activities. Winkler Park is most popular for it's close proximity to the shoreline for campers and fishermen alike and getting back to rustic style camping. The lake is also a popular fishing spot for hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, white bass, catfish and sunfish. Winkler Park is nestled against the White Flint Wildlife Management Area, which boasts great opportunities for hiking and wildlife viewing and hunting. A short way down the road, campers can visit White Flint Park, which has a day use area that provides a multi-lane boat ramp and courtesy dock. White-tailed deer, hawks, great blue herons, ducks, geese, many species of songbirds, bobwhite quail, Rio Grande turkey, and even an occasional bald eagle visit the lake area, yielding year-round opportunities for wildlife enthusiasts!
Facilities
Facilities: On-Site Park Hosts/Maintenance Volunteers 14 Campsites (Water ONLY) 1 Water Bourme Restrooms Facility (Flush toilets, sinks, and showers) Day use area Faciilities Description: Winkler is a beautiful, rural and quaint campground with 14 primitive, sunny sites. Each site has water and a covered picnic table with a grill and fire ring. The park also provides water bourne restrooms with sinks, showers, and flush toilets.
Natural Features
The campground is fairly isolated on the lake and tucked into the mouth of the Leon River. All sites are lakefront and provide a view of the water/lake. Though the campsites themselves are not shaded, the perimeter of the facility and parts of the shoreline are forested. The lake area is a habitat for deer, wild turkey and water birds such as Great blue herons, ducks, geese, many species of songbirds and even an occasional bald eagle. 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: Please visit the White Flint Park gatehouse to check-in with the park host upon arrival. If the park host is not available at the front of the park, please proceed to your campsite and the volunteers on-site will assist with check-in. White Flint Park is located directly before Winkler Park at 10718 White Flint Park Road, Moody, TX 76557. Gatehouse attendant available Thursday-Sunday beginning March 1st through October 31st. Limited quantities of America the Beautiful Military Annual and Lifetime Passes and USACE Annual Passes will be available. NO CASH/CHECK PAYMENTS ACCEPTED, Credit Card Only.
Day Use: Winkler Park has a Day Use area. Parking is based on first-come, first-serve. Day Use hours are 6 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. Parking at campsite areas is prohibited without a reservation. There are currently no fees for day use at Winkler Park.
Camping Check In/Out: Check-in time is 3 p.m. and check-out time is prior to 2 p.m. Early check-ins will not be permitted. *Camping at any one or more sites at any one water resource (Lake) project for a period of longer than 14 days during any 30-consecutive-day period is prohibited without written permission of the District Commander.*
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Park Specifics: Winkler Park is open seasonally, closing from Nov 1 - March 1 and is a PRIMITIVE park, offering only water hookups at campsites. Winkler Park will be enforcing a 2 car per-site rule. The first camper to check-in for each site will receive all parking passes. Additional day-use parking may be purchased for additional vehicles/visitors and will be required to park in overflow areas located throughout the park. Parking on grass or roadways is prohibited.
Swimming Pools/Inflatables/Bounce Houses/Etc.: Please be advised, waterborne structures such as water slides are not permitted. A lake activity permit is required for the use of inflatable structures such as inflatable slides, bounce houses, or moon bounces. Lake activity permits can be requested through the Belton Lake Office Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm at 254-742-3050. Small swimming pools are permitted in the park. Swimming pools may not exceed a water depth of 5 inches, height of 7 inches, width of 48 inches and length of 48 inches. Swimming pools must be moved to a new location each day to prevent damage to the ground surface.
Golf Carts/Off-Road/Motorized Vehicles (UTVs/ATVs/OHVs/Motorized Bikes): By permit only, please call the Belton Lake Office for more information at 254-742-3050 Mon-Fri (8a-4:30p). Off-road vehicles are not permitted in Corps parks unless they are registered, insured, and highway legal. If applicable, they are restricted to paved road-ways only and follow all vehicle regulations while operated in the parks.
Dumping: RV/Trailer tank discharging is only allowed in designated dump stations (White Flint Park offers a dump station free of charge for visitors with reservations at Winkler Park). Discharge of holding tanks to include "grey water" is probited in all other locations, to include campsite areas. Washing of Vehicles/RVs/Trailers/Boats is considered dumping of "grey water", and is not permitted in the parks. 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.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit the DontMoveFirewood Website for further information. Cutting of trees for firewood is prohibited on USACE property.
For More Information: For more information, call the Belton Lake Office at 254-742-3050 Mon-Fri (8a-430p) or visit the Belton Lake Website . ALWAYS WEAR A LIFE-JACKET!
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 14
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 75 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…sites, and a central water bourne restroom with flush toilets, sinks, and showers. There are 14 sites available…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “This park does not have electricity, but does have water hookups at each site, paved back-in sites, and a central water bourne restroom with flush toilets, sinks, and showers.”
- 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
- Lake, River, Beach
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Paddle Boating
- Stargazing
- Swimming
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 109th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 4
5 of 28 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:14 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.
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 · 18
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.
“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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:14 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 14 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 14 of the 14 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. 14 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| WINKLER PARK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 112 ft | 38 ft | 284 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 002 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 78 ft | 86 ft | 363 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 003 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 76 ft | 123 ft | 410 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 149 ft | 470 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 55 ft | 129 ft | 533 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 006 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 55 ft | 108 ft | 588 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 007 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 75 ft | 89 ft | 691 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 65 ft | 106 ft | 762 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 56 ft | 92 ft | 827 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 56 ft | 87 ft | 883 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 011 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 91 ft | 89 ft | 973 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 012 | standard nonelectric | 75 ft | 92 ft | 226 ft | 888 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 013 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 92 ft | 211 ft | 797 ft | $20 |
| WINKLER PARK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 110 ft | 202 ft | 686 ft | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
White Flint Park1.4 mi
Cedar Ridge (TX)5.9 mi
Temples Lake8.3 mi
Live Oak Ridge9.2 mi
Westcliff9.7 mi
Belton Lakeview Park10 miFrom Interstate 35 in Temple, Texas take State Highway 53/36 west towards Gatesville (approximatey 10 miles). Just after Leon River Bridge, turn right on White Flint Park Road. Turn left on Winkler Park Road and follow it 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 Temple, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 55°F, day 80°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 34°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
Winkler 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 →