Big Coon Creek
October 2026
About
Overview
Big Coon Creek Campground sits along the lush banks of Gillham Lake in southwest Arkansas.
Nicknamed the "Bright Spot on the Cossatot," Gillham Lake is a recreational oasis for outdoor enthusiasts.
Recreation
Visitors enjoy the lake for its vast boating opportunities, and a boat ramp is provided for easy water access. The river can be canoed from a point below the dam to U.S. Highway 71 South, a distance of about 16 miles. For shorter canoe trips, there are access roads to the river at Mize Crossing and Ladd Bridge. Anglers will find smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass, saugeye, crappie, channel and flathead catfish and various species of sunfish in the river. Hunting is allowed north of Little Coon Creek Park and on the eastern shore of the lake. Check with the Arkansas Game and Fish for Season Dates, Maps, and Regulations.
Facilities
Coon Creek provides 32 sites, each with water and 50-amp electric hookups. Additional amenities include hot showers, a boat ramp, swimming beach, dump station and a playground.
Natural Features
Gillham Lake spans 1,370 surface acres and boasts 36 miles of shoreline. The lake stems from the Cossatot River, designated as a National Wild and Scenic River.
Amenities
Phone: 870-385-7126
Is BIG COON CREEK fully booked?
A campground showing no availability is almost never full for good. People cancel — plans change, weather turns, someone books three weekends and keeps one — and the site goes straight back into the booking system, usually without warning and often at odd hours. The reason sold-out campgrounds feel impossible is not that sites never free up; it is that nobody is watching at the moment they do.
CampHawk watches BIG COON CREEK in Gillham, AR for you. We recheck it every 15 seconds, around the clock, and the moment a site opens we send a text, an email and a push notification — and on Recreation.gov we can put the site straight into your cart, so it is held while you get to your phone.
Searching is free and needs no account — the calendar above is live right now. Watching BIG COON CREEK for cancellations is the paid part.