Horseshoe Bend (Dierks Lake)
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 35 mi
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:22 UTC
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 12All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Horseshoe Bend Park, located along the Saline River just south of Dierks Dam, is home to a paddlers dream course. This aquatic whitewater park, built along three quarters of a mile of pristine river funneled over native river stone, offers four or more challenging drops. The course is designed with paddlers in mind and is an excellent training location. The water park was home to the Olympic trials in the late 90’s and is dependent on spillway releases from Dierks Lake dam. Keep reading
When water conditions are right the course simulates Class II to Class IV rapids, all within a safe location that is easily accessible for paddlers to practice new techniques. For those looking to stay and play a while, 12 class A campsites are available along the riverfront Recreation Camping Day use Playground Shelter Paddling Facilities 12 Campsites (Overnight) 1 Pavillion (Day Use) 2 Restrooms 1 Shower Facility Playground Natural Features Dierks Lake is in the Ouachitas region of Arkansas and sits on the Saline River. Horseshoe bend sets at the base of a 300 foot verticle cliff offering scenic views along the steep wooded areas Nearby Attractions A day trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, just 30 miles from the park, is a popular activity. The diamond mine is the only one of its kind in the country, where visitors get to keep any diamonds and semi-precious stones they unearth, regardless of value. Hot Springs National Park known for its naturally headed springs ust an hours drive away offers a multiple bathouses, resturants, and activies. Choctaw nation located just an hour away at Brokenbow offers world class gaming casino as well a variet of natural features and resturants
What the agency tells you
Dierks Lake Project Office: 870-286-2346 Arkansas Game and Fish: 501-223-6459 Howard County Sheriff’s Office: 870-845-2626 Sevier County Sheriff’s Office: 870-642-2125
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 12
- Hookups
- 12 electric, 12 water
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 13 of 13 campsite records
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- SHOWERS on 13 of 13 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, River
- Canoeing
- Paddling
- Picnicking
- Rafting
- Whitewater rafting
- Night sky · 13th darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 3
8 of 26 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:22 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 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.
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:22 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 13 mapped sitesAll 13 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 12 of the 13 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Group Pavilion- Day Use | day use | 20 amp | 158 ft | 342 ftSaline River | ||
| Site 1 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 68 ft | 198 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 10 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 61 ft | 66 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 11 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 68 ft | 264 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 12 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 86 ft | 275 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 2 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 69 ft | 178 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 3 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 40 ft | 202 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 4 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 40 ft | 217 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 5 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 45 ft | 214 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 6 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 74 ft | 94 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 7 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 61 ft | 44 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 8 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 50 ft | 68 ftSaline River | $18 |
| Site 9 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 50 ft | 54 ftSaline River | $18 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Jefferson Ridge2.2 mi
Blue Ridge Park3.2 mi
Cossatot Reefs9.2 mi
Big Coon Creek10 mi
Little Coon Creek Park11 mi
Shady LakeOuachita National Forest · 15 miFrom Dierks, travel toward DeQueen on Hwy 70 for approximately 3 miles. At the brown U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sign, turn right on Dierks Lake road and travel approximately 5 miles. Horseshoe Bend Campground Road is the last road located on the left, before crossing Dierks Lake Dam.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Dierks, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 76°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 30°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 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
Horseshoe Bend (Dierks Lake) 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 →