Joplin
1Heads up1 fire 50 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $16–$24Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 6458 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Joplin Campground on Lake Ouachita is an excellent destination for pristine lakefront camping. Joplin is perched on a slender peninsula with plenty of attractive scenic views of the water and surrounding mountain terrain. World-class striper fishing goes on in the lake, and wildlife watchers can find everything from bobcats to rare freshwater jellyfish. Click here for the Lake Ouachita Virtual Tour. Keep reading
Recreation
Prized as one of the clearest lakes in the nation, Ouachita Lake is ideal for scuba diving. Visitors also enjoy hiking, biking, scenic driving, water skiing, fishing and hunting, as well.
Facilities
All 59 campsites have electric hookups, but keep in mind the spaces are small and unpaved. Campsite pad lengths vary greatly from site to site due to the terrain. No campsite lengths are posted on the website due to the varianciances of camper slidout configurations and the visitor trailer towing skills. For questions contact the fee booth at 870-867-4472. Water hookups are not available, but a water faucet is located in each loop. Other amenities include a dump station, fish cleaning station, hot showers, boat ramp and a swim beach.
Natural Features
Nestled in the Ouachita Mountains of Central Arkansas, Lake Ouachita spans a surface area of over 40,000 acres, making it the biggest lake completely within the state of Arkansas. The region has a climate with four seasons. Spring and fall are mild, summer is hot and humid, and winter is variable with temperatures ranging from below freezing on up to the 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (501) 767-2101.
Nearby Attractions
Head to Hot Springs National Park and discover how it earned the nickname, "The American Spa." Or take a scenic drive through the 1.8 million-acres of Ouachita National Forest. Boat rentals, horseback riding rentals and the Hickorynut Mountain Vista are not far from the campground.
What the agency tells you
No off-road vehicles allowed in park
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Campsites 35 through 63 do not have a level developed pad and is still natural uneven terrain. Use caution when reserving these sites because large camping untis may not fit on site.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Check-Out time is 4pm and Check-In time is 6pm
Camper Self-Check In Cards are located at the entrance of the campground. Please grab a card apon entry, fill it out and attach it to your campsite post. A ranger will verify the information written on the card later and check you in.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 64 · 13 tent-only
- Hookups
- 58 electric, 22 water, 2 sewer
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Other amenities include a dump station, fish cleaning station, hot showers, boat ramp and a swim beach.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Water hookups are not available, but a water faucet is located in each loop. Other amenities include a…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Night sky · 72nd darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 4
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 58 of the 64 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 18
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $16–$24 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
64 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 58 mapped sitesAll 64 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. 58 of the 64 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| A | 01 | type not stated | 20 ft | 50 amp | 151 ft | ||
| A | 02 | type not stated | 20 ft | 50 amp | 127 ft | ||
| A | 03 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 50 ft | 60 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 04 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 50 ft | 105 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 05 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 137 ft | 79 ft | $24 |
| A | 06 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 26 ft | 82 ft | $24 |
| A | 07 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 26 ft | 60 ft | $24 |
| A | 08 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 114 ft | 64 ft | $24 |
| A | 09 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 124 ft | 95 ft | $24 |
| A | 10 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 124 ft | 120 ft | $24 |
| A | 11 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 205 ft | 88 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 12 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 160 ft | 122 ft | $24 |
| A | 13 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 160 ft | 48 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 14 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 98 ft | 67 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 15 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 80 ft | 44 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 16 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 80 ft | 68 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 17 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 98 ft | 86 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 18 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 98 ft | 115 ft | $16–$22 |
| A | 19 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 106 ft | 113 ft | $16–$22 |
| B | 20 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 98 ft | 105 ft | $24 |
| B | 21 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 98 ft | 139 ft | $24 |
| B | 22 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 86 ft | 94 ft | $16–$22 |
| B | 23 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 86 ft | 83 ft | $16–$22 |
| B | 24 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 129 ft | 54 ft | $24 |
| B | 25 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 132 ft | 139 ft | $24 |
| B | 26 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 154 ft | 129 ft | $24 |
| B | 27 | tent only electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 170 ft | 29 ft | $16–$22 |
| B | 28 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 98 ft | 113 ft | $24 |
| B | 29 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 98 ft | 71 ft | $24 |
| B | 30 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 105 ft | 89 ft | $24 |
| B | 31 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 129 ft | 59 ft | $24 |
| B | 32 | rv electric | 20 ft | 50/30/20 amp | 219 ft | 67 ft | $24 |
| B | 33 | type not stated | 20 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | ||
| B | 34 | type not stated | 20 ft | 30 amp | 74 ft | ||
| B | 64 | type not stated | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 136 ft | ||
| C | 35 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 128 ft | 133 ft | $20 |
| C | 36 | type not stated | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 112 ft | ||
| C | 37 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 128 ft | 76 ft | $20 |
| C | 38 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 91 ft | 51 ft | $20 |
| C | 39 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 79 ft | 60 ft | $20 |
| C | 40 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 79 ft | 113 ft | $20 |
| C | 41 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 195 ft | 96 ft | $20 |
| C | 42 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 112 ft | 97 ft | $20 |
| C | 43 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 110 ft | 65 ft | $20 |
| C | 44 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 72 ft | 79 ft | $20 |
| C | 45 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 72 ft | 146 ft | $20 |
| D | 46 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 89 ft | 113 ft | $20 |
| D | 47 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 44 ft | 113 ft | $20 |
| D | 48 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 44 ft | 157 ft | $20 |
| D | 49 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 73 ft | 191 ft | $20 |
| D | 50 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 73 ft | 170 ft | $20 |
| D | 51 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 81 ft | 138 ft | $20 |
| D | 52 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 48 ft | 90 ft | $20 |
| D | 53 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 48 ft | 81 ft | $20 |
| D | 54 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 41 ft | 91 ft | $20 |
| D | 55 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 41 ft | 100 ft | $20 |
| D | 56 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 64 ft | 78 ft | $20 |
| D | 57 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 64 ft | 89 ft | $20 |
| D | 58 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 71 ft | 128 ft | $20 |
| D | 59 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 83 ft | 45 ft | $20 |
| D | 60 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 70 ft | 126 ft | $20 |
| D | 61 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 53 ft | 125 ft | $20 |
| D | 62 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 53 ft | 79 ft | $20 |
| D | 63 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30/20 amp | 61 ft | 77 ft | $20 |
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.
25 of 64 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Tompkins Bend1.6 mi
Denby Point3.4 mi
Little Fir4.2 mi
Charlton Recreation AreaOuachita National Forest · 5.3 miCamp ClearforkOuachita National Forest · 5.4 mi
Crystal Springs (AR)5.5 miFrom Hot Springs, Arkansas: Take US 270 west for 23.5 miles to Mountain Harbor Road. Turn right and follow access road three miles north to the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Crystal Springs, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 31°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
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Joplin 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 →