Old Post Road
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:06 UTC
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 41All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Download an Old Post park map HERE Old Post Road is a camping hotspot at Dardanelle Lake, with numerous opportunities for boating, biking, hiking and birding. The river valley is a favorite winter destination for bald eagles. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating and fishing are the top activities, and a boat ramp is provided for convenient lake access. Soccer and baseball fields and tennis courts offer additional recreation opportunities, and a biking trail also starts at the campground.
Facilities
The 37 reservable campsites offer have water and electric hookups. A playground and multiple picnic areas make the park perfect for families and parties.
Natural Features
Perched between the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests, Dardanelle Lake creates an excellent setting for nature lovers. The lake, sourced by the Arkansas River, spans 40,000 acres and boasts 315 miles of shoreline. A variety of hardwoods surround the lake shore.
Nearby Attractions
The nearby Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge offers excellent wildlife viewing and photography.
What the agency tells you
NOTICE: Group Shelters are open for reservations. Please follow all applicable CDC, State, and local guidelines regarding public health and safety. SPECIAL EVENT APPLICATION REQUIREMENT The Special Event Application can be found under the Facility Information tab, Additional Information sub-tab. A Special Event Application is required for any event that includes one or more of the following: - An entry, spectator, or participant fee is charged. - Anticipated attendance of 100 or more persons. - An extraordinary impact on project resources is expected. - Additional Corps personnel support is required, including patrols, surveillance, refuse collection, and/or crowd control. - The event involves concession tents and/or vendors. - The event involves bounce houses or inflatable amusement devices. - Fishing tournaments. - Music festivals. Once completed, the Special Event Application must be submitted via email to rv.ceswl-rv@usace.army.mil for review and approval. In addition to the Special Event Application, applicants may be required to provide the following before approval can be granted: - Proof of liability insurance - Event details and description - Schedule of events - Parking plans PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES Livestock, exotic animals, explosives, loaded projectile firing devices, piñatas, water balloons, and commercial activities are prohibited on project lands unless written permission has been received from the District Commander. If commercial tents are approved as part of a special event, driving tent stakes into concrete or asphalt surfaces on project lands is prohibited. For additional information regarding Special Event Applications and Permit Fees, please contact the Russellville Project Office at (501) 340-1762.
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.
For Aquatic Facilities (Lake, Reservoir, or River Recreation): CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec. •For Terrestrial Facilities (Trailheads or Campsites): STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec . For Combined Aquatic and Terrestrial Facilities (Trailheads or Campsites with Lake, Reservoir, or River Recreation): STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 41
- Hookups
- 41 electric, 40 water
- Longest rig
- 83 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Birding
- Boating
- Disc Golf
- Fishing
- Mountain biking
- Soccer Fields
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 149th darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 4
7 of 88 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:06 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, $26 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 16:06 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
47 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 47 mapped sites2 sites share one published coordinate and are left out of the rankings.
All 47 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 47 of the 47 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 41 of the 47 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.
| B | B01 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50 amp | 482 ft | 154 ft | $26 | ||
| B | B02 | standard electric | 44 ft | 50 amp | 62 ft | 479 ft | 198 ft | $26 | |
| B | B03 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50 amp | 56 ft | 418 ft | 328 ft | $26 | |
| B | B04 | standard electric | 46 ft | 50 amp | 62 ft | 494 ft | 231 ft | $26 | |
| B | B05 | standard electric | 46 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 565 ft | 214 ft | $26 | |
| B | B06 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 633 ft | 182 ft | $26 | |
| B | B07 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50 amp | 482 ft | 154 ft | $26 | ||
| B | B08 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 97 ft | 539 ft | 432 ft | $26 | |
| B | B09 | standard electric | 56 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 443 ft | 462 ft | $26 | |
| B | B10 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 65 ft | 485 ft | 543 ft | $26 | |
| B | B11 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50 amp | 57 ft | 409 ft | 538 ft | $26 | |
| B | B12 | standard electric | 62 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 509 ft | 595 ft | $26 | |
| B | B13 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 510 ft | 652 ft | $26 | |
| B | B14 | standard electric | 77 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 478 ft | 726 ft | $26 | |
| B | B15 | standard electric | 68 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 441 ft | 794 ft | $26 | |
| B | B16 | standard electric | 83 ft | 50 amp | 72 ft | 422 ft | 867 ft | $26 | |
| B | B17 | standard electric | 54 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 380 ft | 832 ft | $26 | |
| B | B18 | standard electric | 56 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 365 ft | 757 ft | $26 | |
| B | B19 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50 amp | 82 ft | 355 ft | 676 ft | $26 | |
| B | B20 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 111 ft | 239 ft | 692 ft | $26 | |
| B | B21 | standard electric | 42 ft | 50 amp | 82 ft | 253 ft | 799 ft | $26 | |
| B | B22 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 82 ft | 236 ft | 879 ft | $26 | |
| B | B23 | standard electric | 33 ft | 50 amp | 96 ft | 239 ft | 869 ft | $26 | |
| B | B24 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 263 ft | 775 ft | $26 | |
| B | B25 | standard electric | 44 ft | 50 amp | 81 ft | 343 ft | 712 ft | $26 | |
| B | B26 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 77 ft | 269 ft | 699 ft | $26 | |
| B | B27 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 70 ft | 361 ft | 633 ft | $26 | |
| B | B28 | standard electric | 39 ft | 50 amp | 77 ft | 261 ft | 639 ft | $26 | |
| B | B29 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50 amp | 57 ft | 354 ft | 574 ft | $26 | |
| B | B30 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 78 ft | 254 ft | 582 ft | $26 | |
| B | B31 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 81 ft | 350 ft | 499 ft | $26 | |
| B | B32 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50 amp | 79 ft | 258 ft | 512 ft | $26 | |
| B | B33 | standard electric | 52 ft | 50 amp | 79 ft | 348 ft | 436 ft | $26 | |
| B | B34 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50 amp | 75 ft | 269 ft | 453 ft | $26 | |
| B | B35 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 56 ft | 362 ft | 370 ft | $26 | |
| B | B36 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50 amp | 75 ft | 268 ft | 413 ft | $26 | |
| B | B37 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 361 ft | 318 ft | $26 | |
| B | B38 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 86 ft | 273 ft | 375 ft | $26 | |
| B | B39 | standard electric | 44 ft | 50 amp | 81 ft | 296 ft | 335 ft | $26 | |
| B | B40 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 81 ft | 360 ft | 273 ft | $26 | |
| B | B41 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 96 ft | 661 ft | 276 ft | $26 | |
| GS3 | day use | 24 ft | 50 amp | yes | 160 ft | 809 ft | 298 ft | $75 | |
| GS4 | day use | 24 ft | yes | 160 ft | 940 ft | 412 ft | $35 | ||
| GS5 | day use | 24 ft | 50 amp | yes | 82 ft | 262 ft | 262 ft | $75 | |
| GS6 | day use | 24 ft | 50 amp | yes | 82 ft | 255 ft | 344 ft | $75 | |
| GS7 | day use | 24 ft | 50 amp | yes | 284 ft | 744 ft | 491 ft | $75 | |
| GS8 | day use | 24 ft | 50 amp | yes | 380 ft | 639 ft | 397 ft | $75 |
The agency files 6 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 47 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Piney Bay14 mi
Shoal Bay16 mi
Spring Lake Recreation AreaOzark National Forest · 16 mi
Sorghum HollowOzark National Forest · 18 mi
Carden Point19 mi
Quarry Cove20 miFrom SR-7, take Lock and Dam Road for one mile and follow signs into campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Russellville, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 76°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°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
Who answers for this land

Old Post Road 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 →