Ozark Campground
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- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 31All of them booked ahead
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Nestled near the towering bluffs of the scenic Buffalo River, Ozark Campground is the perfect destination for a relaxing day outdoors. Whether you're planning a laid-back picnic or looking for a spot to enjoy the dark night sky, you'll enjoy fresh air, beautiful views, and easy access to one of Arkansas’s most beloved rivers. At Ozark Campground visitors that bring their own gear can enjoy: Canoeing Kayaking Tubing Swimming Fishing Located in the center of the campground, the Ozark Pavilion provides a convenient gathering space for groups. The day-use pavilion is available for $25/day. Keep reading
Amenities include: Grills available for public use Restrooms Electrical access Nearby water access Multiple picnic tables under shelter Whether you're organizing a family reunion, a group outing, or simply a weekend escape, Ozark Campground offers both relaxation and recreation in a beautiful natural setting.
Recreation
The Buffalo River Trail can be accessed behind Site 31 and next to the camp host site. The scenic trail spans a massive 36.5 miles (59 km) of the Buffalo River from Boxely to Pruitt and is ideal for hiking or backpacking. Peak season for canoeing, kayaking and tubing is spring to early summer. Paddling conditions in the upper (westernmost) district of Buffalo National River are extremely dependent upon rainfall. On an average year, the upper river is only navigable by boat in the spring and early summer when consistent rainfall feeds into the watershed. Some sections on the upper end of the river are technical and should not be attempted by novices. For current paddling conditions, please check with an outfitter (visit our Guided Services web page ), call the Tyler Bend Visitor Center at 870-439-2502, or check the Buffalo National River Float Guide Dashboard Facilities Ozark has 31 drive-up tent sites. There are no electrical amenities or water hookups at the tent sites, but flush restrooms and water spigots are available from approximately March 15 through November 14 each year. Available by reservation, the covered pavilion seats up to 100 people and electricity is available.
Natural Features
The campground and pavilion are located along the Buffalo National River with views of lush forests and high, riverside limestone bluffs. It is one of the few free-flowing rivers remaining in the contiguous U.S., with 135 miles (217 km) of undammed waters. It cuts through the Arkansas Ozarks to reach its final destination at the White River.
Nearby Attractions
The campground and pavilion are located along the Buffalo National River with views of lush forests and high, riverside limestone bluffs. It is one of the few free-flowing rivers remaining in the contiguous U.S., with 135 miles (217 km) of undammed waters. It cuts through the Arkansas Ozarks to reach its final destination at the White River. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (870) 439-2502.
Charges & Cancellations
Please visit the Recreation.gov Rules and Reservation Policies page.
What the agency tells you
Water and electricity will be turned off approximately November 15th to March 15th each year.
The facility is available for camping free of charge outside of the reservation season.
Climbing and/or diving from the bluffs is dangerous and highly discouraged.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Do not swim alone during high water.
All park trails are closed to pets with the exception of the Buffalo River Trail, only on the section of trail between Ponca and Steel Creek, the Villines Homestead Trail at Ponca, the Mill Creek Trail, the Tyler Bend Campground trails (Spring Hollow, Buck Ridge, and Rock Wall in the Middle District), and all three Buffalo Point Campground trails (Forest Trail, Overlook Trail, and Campground Trail in the Lower District). Visit the park's hiking page for more information and maps of these trails.
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states.
Please be aware that some special events held at the pavilions or anywhere in the park (such as weddings, press receptions, concerts, et al) require a Special Use Permit in addition to the pavilion reservation. To obtain a Special Use Permit or additional information, please contact the Commercial Services office at (870) 365-2724.Visit the park's Special Park Uses web page for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 31 · 19 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal · Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Paddling
- Picnicking
- Stargazing
- Swimming
Full this Saturdayread 16:08 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
5 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:10 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 31 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 31 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:08 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.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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.
“Please visit the Recreation.gov Rules and Reservation Policies page.” · 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 16:10 UTC
- Erbie CampgroundBuffalo National River · 3.2 mi · 6 of 62 site-nights open
- Rush CampgroundBuffalo National River · 7.6 mi · 6 of 24 site-nights open
- Steel Creek CampgroundBuffalo National River · 10 mi · 18 of 78 site-nights open
- Carver CampgroundBuffalo National River · 14 mi · 2 of 16 site-nights open
- Tyler Bend CampgroundBuffalo National River · 23 mi · 6 of 86 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:08 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 32 mapped sitesAll 32 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 32 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Ozark Campground | 1 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 318 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 16 ft | 131 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 11 | tent only nonelectric | 19 ft | 135 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 12 | tent only nonelectric | 31 ft | 109 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 13 | tent only nonelectric | 27 ft | 125 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 14 | tent only nonelectric | 27 ft | 126 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 86 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 16 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 77 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 17 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 66 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 18 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 39 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 19 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 36 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 2 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 348 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 20 | standard nonelectric | 71 ft | 60 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 21 | standard nonelectric | 71 ft | 74 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 22 | tent only nonelectric | 44 ft | 102 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 23 | tent only nonelectric | 44 ft | 105 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 24 | tent only nonelectric | 38 ft | 116 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 25 | tent only nonelectric | 38 ft | 136 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 26 | tent only nonelectric | 68 ft | 78 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 27 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 146 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 28 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 144 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 29 | tent only nonelectric | 72 ft | 85 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 3 | standard nonelectric | 103 ft | 440 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 30 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 87 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 31 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 4 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 467 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 5 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 420 ft | $20 |
| Ozark Campground | 6 | tent only nonelectric | 52 ft | 368 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 7 | tent only nonelectric | 36 ft | 195 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 8 | tent only nonelectric | 36 ft | 180 ft | |
| Ozark Campground | 9 | tent only nonelectric | 16 ft | 131 ft | |
| OZARK PAVILION | Pavilion | day use | 113 ft | 211 ft | $25 |
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.
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Erbie CampgroundBuffalo National River · 3.2 mi
Kyles Landing CampgroundBuffalo National River · 6.8 mi
Rush Campground7.6 mi
Steel Creek CampgroundBuffalo National River · 10 mi
Carver Campground14 mi
WoolumBuffalo National River · 17 miFrom Harrison, head south on Highway 7 for approximately 13 miles (21 km). After driving across a bridge over the Buffalo River, look for a brown sign for the Ozark Campground. Turn right onto the gravel road and follow it for about one mile (1.6 km) to the campground and pavilion.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Jasper, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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
Ozark 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 itBuffalo National RiverNational 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 Ozark Campground for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Buffalo National River: I tried to camp at Ozark Campground in Arkansas and couldn’t. All 31 sites at Ozark Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 31 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. Ozark 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 Ozark 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 Ozark Campground (Buffalo National River, 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 Ozark Campground, Buffalo National River, Arkansas
Dear Bruce Westerman, I’m a constituent in Arkansas’s 4th district. I tried to camp at Ozark Campground, Buffalo National River, Arkansas, and couldn’t. All 31 sites at Ozark Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 31 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. Ozark Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ozark 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 Ozark Campground (Buffalo National River, 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 Ozark Campground, Buffalo National River, Arkansas
Dear John Boozman, I’m a constituent in Arkansas. I tried to camp at Ozark Campground, Buffalo National River, Arkansas, and couldn’t. All 31 sites at Ozark Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 31 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. Ozark Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ozark 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 Ozark Campground (Buffalo National River, 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 Ozark Campground, Buffalo National River, Arkansas
Dear Tom Cotton, I’m a constituent in Arkansas. I tried to camp at Ozark Campground, Buffalo National River, Arkansas, and couldn’t. All 31 sites at Ozark Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 31 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. Ozark Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ozark 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 Ozark Campground (Buffalo National River, Arkansas) via campanac.com