Traveling the "Natural State" Arkansas

[Suzbp]

As new AS owners, we are looking to go see family in Arkansas this fall. Would appreciate any must see campgrounds this state has to offer. We love water and hope to stay somewhere with ability to canoe/kayak also easy bike trails and lite hiking! (Not in the greatest shape but eager to try!)

Can I tap into your experiences in this state? Where did you stay? We enjoy woodsy sites over concrete but we need water and electric. Appreciate your suggestions!

Bruce and Suzanne

[joel]

Bull Shoals St park. On the white river. It is about a mile below the dam on bull Shoals lake. This is one of the best trout fisheries in the world. They provide kayak pick up for a small fee.beautifully scenery. Also close to the Buffalo river. You need to Google the buffalo and see it to believe the views. There are many parks and all great. Call as soon as you can for reservations. Also in the same area are the lake view Corp of eng park and bull Shoals dam site park. Have fun and enjoy our state.

[badkat]

We love Cossatott Reefs..coe campground. Also it is a short drive to Bentonville to the art museum Crystal Bridges built by the founder of Walmart's daughter
.

[PaulnGina]

Having just visited Buffalo Point on the Buffalo River ( the very first National River ), I would highly recommend it. It is a naturally-flowing river. At Buffalo Point, you can put in and go a longgggggggg ways downstream, or, you can put in upriver a mile or two and take out at or near the campground. Just downriver from The campground is a real ghost town called Rush.

Buffalo Point is just south of Yellville, AR and is close to Bull Shoals. Would make for a nice couple of stops.

Check out Beaver Lake near Rogers and Springdale. From Beaver Dam on south, you have lots of opportunity for kayaking.

So much to see in Arkansas!!!! I could spend the rest of my life going to really nice places, never go back to the same place, and never run out of places to go.

There's a reason it is called The Natural State. I'm glad to call it home!


PaulnGina
1987 Avion 34W
1995 Ford F250 7.3L PowerStroke

Blessed and highly favored

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Suzbp

Can I tap into your experiences in this state? Where did you stay? We enjoy woodsy sites over concrete but we need water and electric. Appreciate your suggestions!

Any Arkansas State Park that has camping will satisfy you. My favorite (so far) is Degray Lake Resort State Park near Bismarck and Arkadelphia.

Also, there are several Corps of Engineers campgrounds in Arkansas that are well worth a visit. Many are on the same lakes as the state parks, just at a different spot on the lakeshore. My favorite so far is Old Post Road Campground on Lake Dardanelle, partly because they have some nesting peregrine falcons there.

[Taroni]

Lake Greeson is near Kirby and Glenwood and very near Lake DeGray. Kirby Landing is my favorite campground. Down by the damn is also very nice.

[Zcashio]

As a fellow Arkansan, I must say that Petit Jean State Park to see the waterfall is a must. But like the others have said, any Arkansas state park is a must. I'm originally from LA and am blown away at the sites Arkansas has to offer. We live in Heber Springs and each and every day we are blessed with seeing the beautiful Greers Ferry Lake, Sugarloaf Mountain, Little Red River(great for trout fishing), and Bridal Veil Falls. Others would be Devils Den state park, Wooly Hollow state park, Pinnacle Mountain State park.If you guys are into waterfalls like my wife and I are, you might try to google Waterfalls in Arkansas, there is a book that lists them all.


Good luck and have a safe trip

[Rich W]

We spent a very rainy night in the Lake Columbia Campground this spring. It's a very nice place but we didn't get to take advantage of it because of all the rain. We were on our way to Texas and just spent the one night.

It is owned by the city or county, they take reservations but cash or check only, no credit cards. Hookups (water and electric) are newer as are the tables at the sites. Each site has its own trash can. We stayed directly across from the restrooms, which have a key code entrance.

They have a boat ramp, nice dump station and fish cleaning station. The onsite caretaker is very nice, park is well cared for. Google Maps is correct but Waze wasn't. (I submitted an update to them.) I think the Garmin was right. There wasn't a sign for the campground, but there was one for the dump station just past the park entrance on the right, that's where you want to go. When you enter, the caretaker's place in on the left at the first intersection, turn left.

The address says Waldo but I had to put in Magnolia, AR into the GPS

Lake Columbia Campground
1260 Columbia Rd 53, Waldo, AR 71770
(870) 234-0857

[Ivy Lincoln]

Maumelle Park is a Corps of Engineers campground on the Arkansas River near Little Rock. Good kayaking up the Maumelle River or down the Little Maumelle River, woods hiking close by at Pinnacle Mountain or meadows and river-view hiking and bicycling on miles of paved trails that go all the way downtown with paths on both sides of the river and river crossings in two places. Little Rock has the River Market District and North Little Rock has the Argenta District full of restaurants, markets, and pubs. Downtown on the North Little Rock river bank is a convenient riverside rv park with walks through beautiful parks, a maritime museum with a tug and a sub, and river views in the heart of Little Rock/North Little Rock, across a pedestrian bridge from the Clinton presidential center and Heifer International--from the rv park you can kayak across the channel to landscaped wetlands below the Clinton center.

Over west of Hot Springs, Lake Ouachita is some of the cleanest lake water in the country, surrounded by umpteen-hundred miles of shoreline and forested mountains without houses. You can paddle out to islands, haul up on shale, sand or quartz beaches with driftwood. You can swim, build a fire on the shore, spend the night out if you want. There are campgrounds all around the shore. I like Brady Mountain because it's the biggest and prettiest part of the lake.

Come see us!

[murreywalker]

Devil's Den, Petit Jean and Lake Catherine State Parks are all full service campgrounds and are personal favorites.

Devil's Den and Petit Jean both have a pretty extensive system of hiking trails.

And obviously previous posters have their favorites.

Each campground has some decent visual and informative presence on their parent web site - Arkansas State Parks.

[doctorlewis]

Being an Arkansan, I would recommend the area around Bull Shoals Lake and Norfork Lake. These are two beautiful and large lakes plus the White River starts below the dam with what is said to be some of the best trout fishing in the nation. The Corp of Engineers have many campgrounds around these lakes with excellent sites with level concrete pads. If you are a senior, the cost is only $5.00 a night -- that is hard to beat. Also, except on holiday weekends the campgrounds are rarely crowded. Enjoy your time in Arkansas!!

[kpayne]

Agree that Bull Shoals State Park is a must camp in Arkansas. Further south, Lake DeGray State Park is very lovely. There are lots more in the Natural State. Definitely a target rich environment for camping and just poking around.

[thehandyman]

Following we are headed to Arkansas end of june.

[Boogieshoes]

Originally Posted by Ivy Lincoln

Maumelle Park is a Corps of Engineers campground on the Arkansas River near Little Rock. Good kayaking up the Maumelle River or down the Little Maumelle River, woods hiking close by at Pinnacle Mountain or meadows and river-view hiking and bicycling on miles of paved trails that go all the way downtown with paths on both sides of the river and river crossings in two places. Little Rock has the River Market District and North Little Rock has the Argenta District full of restaurants, markets, and pubs. Downtown on the North Little Rock river bank is a convenient riverside rv park with walks through beautiful parks, a maritime museum with a tug and a sub, and river views in the heart of Little Rock/North Little Rock, across a pedestrian bridge from the Clinton presidential center and Heifer International--from the rv park you can kayak across the channel to landscaped wetlands below the Clinton center.

Over west of Hot Springs, Lake Ouachita is some of the cleanest lake water in the country, surrounded by umpteen-hundred miles of shoreline and forested mountains without houses. You can paddle out to islands, haul up on shale, sand or quartz beaches with driftwood. You can swim, build a fire on the shore, spend the night out if you want. There are campgrounds all around the shore. I like Brady Mountain because it's the biggest and prettiest part of the lake.

Come see us!

As you have seen, there are many really nice places to camp in Arkansas. If you are spending any time in the Little Rock area, Maumelle Park, a COE campground, is wonderful as IvyLincoln noted. There are four bicycle/pedestrian bridges crossing the Arkansas River and another crossing the Little Maumelle River and linking the miles of trails around Maumelle Park (which is not in Maumelle, but in Little Rock) to the miles and miles of trails on the north and south sides of the Arkansas River.
There is another campground in the downtown area on the North Little Rock side, but it is a gravel and pavement thing. No beauty, but GREAT location. You can walk across one of the bike/ped bridges to a number of brew pubs and restaurants, the Clinton Presidential Library, etc. Bike trails from Maumelle Park link here as well. Safe travels.

[Suzbp]

Thank you all for your insight to Arkansas campgrounds and waterways! Sounds like endless places to visit and enjoy! Appreciate your suggestions.

[HiHoAgRV]

We enjoyed many of the places that have been mentioned but particularly like;

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moun...ine_State_Park

The southern entrance is pretty twisty, the northern is much easier with a trailer. The campground is very small and fills quick.

[Relaytest]

Last month we stayed at Lake Ouachita state park and loved it.

[thehandyman]

Looking for some information on the best route from Beavers bend park over to Petit Jean park . Headed that way in a couple of days . Any information is appreciated.

[silverlabs]

All of the aforementioned CG are really nice. Arkansas has no shortage of beautiful camping areas. Lake Ouachita is also very nice and we have spent many summers there. Last summer we had a really nice spot, on the water, at Lake Catherine campground. It is on an inlet from a larger river or lake, I'm not sure which, and would be beautiful for kayaks or canoes. We were sad we had left the kayaks behind. As you have discovered, you can't go wrong in Arkansas!