Camping At Cowley State Fishing Lake In Kansas
- Date Visited: April 1-8, 2024
- Address: US-166 Arkansas City, KS 67005
- GPS: 37.10268, -96.79688
- Phone: 37.1013, -96.8002
- Website
- Hours: 24/7
- Price: Free
- Reservations: No
- Stay Limit: 5 Days
- Pets: Yes
- Restrooms: Yes
- Water: No
- Trash: No
- Hookups: No
- Cell Service: Verizon & AT&T
Cowley State Fishing Lake is run by the Department of Wildlife and Parks and is conveniently located right off of US-166 near Arkansas City, Kansas.
The 84-acre lake was built in was built in 1953 and is surrounded by 113 acres of Flint Hills prairie.
This is a free camping spot with a five-day stay limit.
There are six sites located on the ridge around the lake. Homemade fire rings can be found at each spot and four sites have a covered picnic table (even though some have seen better days).
Please be sure all sparks are out before leaving camp or going to bed when having a campfire.
Each site is rather large and can fit any size vehicle. Most sites had paths that could take you down to the lake.
There were vault toilets, but no water, dump, or hook-ups. There are also no trashcans so pack out what you pack in.
Pets are allowed as long as they are kept on a leash and please pick up after them.
We had cell service with Verizon and AT&T.
All the spots have sun if you’re powering up with solar.
Anglers can fish for channel catfish, bluegill, redear sunfish, walleye, and crappie. Fish from the shore or bring your boat. The day-use area has a boat ramp.
We saw canoers and kayakers on the lake as well.
The day-use area has plenty of parking, restrooms, and picnic tables. The large area has multiple fingers stretching out into the lake to fish from.
While there aren’t technically any camping spots down here we did see a couple of RVs spend the night in this area during our stay.
Located just off the small parking lot at the end of the road is the Cowley Lake Waterfall.
You can see the falls from the top, but you can also climb down to the bottom of the waterfall. You may have to use your hands a few times during the trek and there’s a lot of broken glass along the path so be careful.
The waterfall was flowing during our visit and it was beautiful. Depending on rain and the time of year it can be dry though.
We had a fantastic stay at Cowley State Fishing Lake and would visit again in the future.
It was quiet the whole time we visited with only a few other campers during our stay and we always felt safe.
Us-166 is right beside the lake, but it isn’t that busy and besides the occasional big truck passing by we didn’t notice much noise.
There are a couple of gas or oil pumps across the road that made these loud clicking sounds sometimes that was annoying.
There was more trash here than we normally see while camping and picked up a trash bag full during our stay.
It can get windy here at times too.
Always follow the Leave No Trace Seven Principles and try to leave your camp nicer than you found it. Please research campgrounds before visiting. Rules and regulations may have changed since we stayed there.