Rising Star
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 18 mi
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:06 UTC
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 24All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Rising Star Campground is located on the Arkansas River by Pool 3 Lock and Dam. Whether camping, fishing, boating or just relaxing in the sun, this area provides something for everyone. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground is popular among fishermen. There is excellent catfish fishing in the tail-waters of Joe Hardin Lock and Dam as well as Emmitt Sanders Lock and Dam at the upstream end of Pool 3. Anglers often catch bass, crappie and bream. Hunting is available in nearby forests, and there is duck hunting on the waterways. On shore, families enjoy picnicking and using the playground.
Facilities
Rising Star Campground offers 25 sites with electric and water hookups. Additional amenities include hot showers, a dump station and a playground. There is one accessible group shelter that can accommodate up to 60 people; it is for day-use only and must be reserved.
Natural Features
The park is in a forested area along the riverfront, close to the rolling fields of cotton farms. It is 193 feet above sea level; winters are generally mild and summer temperatures reach the upper 90s with high humidity. Red fox are frequently seen in the park, and numerous species of waterfowl live in the water and along the shores.
Nearby Attractions
Rising Star Park is located 12 miles from Pine Bluff, the home for the Arkansas Railroad Museum, Pine Bluff Regional Park, the Martha Mitchell Home and other points of interest, as well as shopping and groceries.
What the agency tells you
Host is on duty from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Campsites may be available on a first-come, first-served basis
Check-in time is 4 p.m. and check-out time is 2 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
For group shelter, check-in time is 8 a.m. and check-out time is 10 p.m.
Poisonous snakes are found in the area, use caution when walking through brush
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.
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.
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
- 24
- Hookups
- 24 electric, 24 water
- Longest rig
- 97 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 24
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Additional amenities include hot showers, a dump station and a playground.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 96th darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 4
32 of 50 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
25 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 25 mapped sitesAll 25 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. 24 of the 25 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.
| RSTA | B-01 | standard electric | 79 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 143 ft | 108 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-02 | standard electric | 70 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 143 ft | under 10 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-03 | standard electric | 74 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 160 ft | 126 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-04 | standard electric | 68 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 65 ft | 42 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-05 | standard electric | 60 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 65 ft | 68 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-06 | standard electric | 74 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 55 ft | 166 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-07 | standard electric | 52 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 55 ft | 156 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-08 | standard electric | 48 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 66 ft | 77 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | B-09 | standard electric | 74 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 75 ft | 172 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-01 | standard electric | 97 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 59 ft | 150 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-02 | standard electric | 74 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 49 ft | 136 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-03 | standard electric | 75 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 49 ft | 125 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-04 | standard electric | 78 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 93 ft | 94 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-05 | standard electric | 61 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 93 ft | 98 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-06 | standard electric | 75 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 63 ft | 101 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-07 | standard electric | 75 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 63 ft | 107 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-08 | standard electric | 66 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 69 ft | 105 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-09 | standard electric | 49 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 66 ft | 71 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-10 | standard electric | 75 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 66 ft | 111 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-11 | standard electric | 90 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 93 ft | 120 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-12 | standard electric | 52 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 85 ft | 131 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-13 | standard electric | 50 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 56 ft | 136 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-14 | standard electric | 50 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 56 ft | 134 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | C-15 | standard electric | 77 ft | 20/30/50 amp | yes | 67 ft | 128 ft | $26 |
| RSTA | S-01 | day use | 15 amp | yes | 148 ft | 83 ft | $75 |
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
Pendleton Bend25 mi
Notrebes Bend Park28 mi
Wilbur D. Mills28 mi
Merrisach Lake29 mi
Tar Camp29 miFrom Pine Bluff, Arkansas, take U.S. Highway 65 south for 7.8 miles to Linwood. Turn left on Blankinship Road, drive 3.5 miles and follow the signs for Rising Star Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Grady, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 52°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 34°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
Rising Star 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 →