Gulpha Gorge Campground
2Heads up1 park alert · 1 fire 49 mi away
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 15:27 UTC
- A night
- $34From, per site
- Sites
- 4440 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gulpha Gorge campground is a tree lined retreat nestled on Gulpha Creek just a few minutes from downtown Hot Springs National Park and historic Bathhouse Row. Open all year, the campground features 44 campsites all suitable for RVs and tents. This popular spot is the ideal base camp for all of your Hot Springs adventures and tends to fill up quickly, even in the fall and winter. Reservations are recommended. Keep reading
Recreation
Hot Springs National Park boasts 26 miles (42 km) of stunning trails. Gulpha Gorge Campground has a trail access to Hot Springs Mountain and Bathhouse Row. The campground sits adjacent to Gulpha Gorge Creek. The creek is perfect for wading, sitting and playing.
Facilities
Each of the 44 sites has both 30 and 50 amp power, water and sewer hook ups as well as paved parking. The facility boasts three separate restroom facilities as well as a day use area to enjoy a picnic. Sites have a picnic table, fire rings and/or grills. One bathroom has a shower facility. All campground roads are paved and one way to help reduce traffic. Sites 4 and 17 are ADA accessibile. Each site connects to a comfort station via a paved walkway and the picnic tables, fire rings, grills, and hook ups are all within a concrete pad. These sites are only reservable one week in advance. Campground hosts are on site to help ensure you have an enjoyable stay. There are many nearby restaurants and shopping areas. Feel like taking a hike? There is even a trail head in the campground. The beautiful creek is a great way to cool down in the warm summer months.
Natural Features
Sit back and relax to the sounds of adjacent Gulpha Gorge Creek under the canopy of towering trees while being serenaded by the local winged inhabitants and you just may forget you are so close to downtown Hot Springs National Park. Enjoy a stunning hike to Bathhouse Row with mountain-top views along the way. Dip your toes in Gulpha Gorge Creek or stretch out on the cool grass to enjoy the breeze while planning a visit to one of the stunning spas on historic Bathhouse Row. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (501) 620-6715.
Nearby Attractions
Gulpha Gorge campground is just a few minutes from downtown Hot Springs National Park and historic Bathhouse Row.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations more than 72 hours in advance of arrival date only incur a $10 transaction fee. Within 72 hours, $10 and the first night's fee are charged.
What the agency tells you
Check in & check out. Check out time is noon. Check in time is 2 p.m.
Accessibility. There are two accessible campsite that may be booked more than 7 days in avance by calling the park. 7 days out, anyone may book this site but if you do not need the accessible features, you may be asked to switch sites for someone with a disability or limited mobility
Quiet Hours & Genrators. Quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Use of generators is restricted to 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Maximum Occupancy. Maximum occupancy is limited to 8 people and two vehicles. Maximum equipment is one RV and one tent or two tents.
Maximum Stay Rules. The maximum consecutive stay is 14 consecutive nights. The maximum stay per year is 30 nights. You must have a 7 day break between 14 day stays.
Pets. Pets must be on leash and waste cleaned up.
Shower House. There is a shower house located in the campground that is only for registered campers during their dates of their stay and requires a unique code. A code to enter will be provided in your confirmation email. Please keep this code of use of the shower house during your stay.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 44
- Hookups
- 40 electric, 44 water
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Paved pads
- 26 of 44
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - year round
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “One bathroom has a shower facility.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Creek
- Night sky · 153rd darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 5
Full this Saturdayread 15:27 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
5 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:08 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 40 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:27 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $34 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.
“Cancellations more than 72 hours in advance of arrival date only incur a $10 transaction fee. Within 72 hours, $10 and the first night's fee are charged.” · 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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 5
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:08 UTC
- Charlton Recreation AreaOuachita National Forest · 20 mi · 20 of 47 site-nights open
- Arlie MooreDegray Lake · 20 mi · 4 of 46 site-nights open
- Alpine RidgeDegray Lake · 21 mi · 2 of 29 site-nights open
- Point CedarDegray Lake · 23 mi · 13 of 41 site-nights open
- Tompkins BendLake Ouachita · 25 mi · 1 of 75 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:27 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 37 mapped sitesAll 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. 40 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.
| 1 | type not stated | 50 amp | 172 ft | ||||
| 10 | standard electric | 33 ft | 30/50 amp | 29 ft | 343 ft | $34 | |
| 11 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30/50 amp | 80 ft | 271 ft | $34 | |
| 12 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30/50 amp | 55 ft | 337 ft | $34 | |
| 13 | standard electric | 47 ft | 30/50 amp | 55 ft | 292 ft | $34 | |
| 14 | type not stated | 50 amp | 319 ft | ||||
| 15 | type not stated | 50 amp | 303 ft | ||||
| 16 | standard electric | 37 ft | 30/50 amp | 117 ft | 380 ft | $34 | |
| 17 | standard electric | 50/20/30/50 amp | yes | $34 | |||
| 18 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | $34 | ||||
| 19 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30/50 amp | $34 | |||
| 2 | type not stated | 50 amp | 217 ft | ||||
| 20 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30/50 amp | 32 ft | 120 ft | $34 | |
| 21 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30/50 amp | 32 ft | 109 ft | $34 | |
| 22 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30/50 amp | 54 ft | 183 ft | $34 | |
| 23 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 45 ft | 98 ft | $34 | ||
| 24 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30/50 amp | 54 ft | 170 ft | $34 | |
| 25 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 39 ft | 104 ft | $34 | ||
| 26 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30/50 amp | 30 ft | 118 ft | $34 | |
| 27 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30/50 amp | 50 ft | 54 ft | $34 | |
| 28 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30/50 amp | 51 ft | 68 ft | $34 | |
| 29 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30/50 amp | 30 ft | 134 ft | $34 | |
| 3 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50/30/50 amp | 60 ft | 449 ft | $34 | |
| 30 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30/50 amp | 50 ft | 90 ft | $34 | |
| 31 | standard electric | 34 ft | 30/50 amp | 36 ft | 82 ft | $34 | |
| 32 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30/50 amp | 33 ft | 127 ft | $34 | |
| 33 | standard electric | 33 ft | 30/50 amp | 28 ft | 59 ft | $34 | |
| 34 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30/50 amp | 33 ft | 128 ft | $34 | |
| 35 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30/50 amp | 26 ft | 64 ft | $34 | |
| 36 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30/50 amp | 26 ft | 54 ft | $34 | |
| 37 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30/50 amp | 40 ft | 52 ft | $34 | |
| 38 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30/50 amp | 64 ft | 116 ft | $34 | |
| 39 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 40 ft | 58 ft | $34 | ||
| 4 | standard electric | 50 amp | yes | 58 ft | 428 ft | $34 | |
| 40 | standard electric | 37 ft | 30/50 amp | 42 ft | 55 ft | $34 | |
| 41 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 54 ft | 87 ft | $34 | ||
| 42 | standard electric | 52 ft | 30/50 amp | 35 ft | 95 ft | $34 | |
| 43 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 35 ft | 105 ft | $34 | ||
| 44 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 40 ft | 77 ft | $34 | ||
| 5 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30/50 amp | 58 ft | 399 ft | $34 | |
| 6 | standard electric | 33 ft | 30/50 amp | 29 ft | 364 ft | $34 | |
| 7 | standard electric | 39 ft | 30/50 amp | 45 ft | 322 ft | $34 | |
| 8 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 35 ft | 299 ft | $34 | ||
| 9 | standard electric | 42 ft | 30/50 amp | 35 ft | 271 ft | $34 |
25 of 44 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Stephens Park9.4 mi
Avery9.4 mi
Spillway (Lake Ouachita)11 mi
Brady Mountain14 mi
Crystal Springs (AR)18 mi
Oak Bower Group Use Area19 miGulpha Gorge Campground is off US Hwy 70B on the east side of Hot Springs. For GPS directions, the physical address is 305 Gorge Road, Hot Springs AR 71901. (There is no mail delivery at this address.)
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hot Springs, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 52°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 32°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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 Julys are colder than the July 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
Gulpha Gorge Campground is in Arkansas’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Bruce Westerman (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 · 4
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 office that runs itHot Springs National ParkNational Park Service unit
- The member who votes the moneyBruce WestermanU.S. Representative · Arkansas’s 4th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn BoozmanU.S. Senator · Arkansas
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTom CottonU.S. Senator · Arkansas
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 the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.
Subject Hold back a share of sites at Gulpha Gorge Campground for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Hot Springs National Park: I tried to camp at Gulpha Gorge Campground in Arkansas and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 40 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Gulpha Gorge Campground, 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 40 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. Gulpha Gorge Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Gulpha Gorge Campground as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked. Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one. Sent about Gulpha Gorge Campground (Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas) 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 Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Dear Bruce Westerman, I’m a constituent in Arkansas’s 4th district. I tried to camp at Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 40 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Gulpha Gorge Campground, 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 40 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. Gulpha Gorge Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Gulpha Gorge Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service 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 Gulpha Gorge Campground (Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas) 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 Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Dear John Boozman, I’m a constituent in Arkansas. I tried to camp at Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 40 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Gulpha Gorge Campground, 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 40 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. Gulpha Gorge Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Gulpha Gorge Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service 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 Gulpha Gorge Campground (Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas) 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 Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Dear Tom Cotton, I’m a constituent in Arkansas. I tried to camp at Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 40 of the 44 campsites the agency files at Gulpha Gorge Campground, 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 40 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. Gulpha Gorge Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Gulpha Gorge Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service 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 Gulpha Gorge Campground (Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas) via campanac.com