Wilbur D. Mills
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 34 mi
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 16:02 UTC
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 21All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wilbur D. Mills Campground is a small, quiet campground offering 21 campsites. The park is located just downstream of the Wilbur D. Mills Dam on the right descending bank of the Arkansas River. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, fishing, hunting, birding, and boating are all popular pastimes in this area. The waters below Wilbur D. Mills Dam can be an excellent place to catch Blue, Channel and Flathead catfish as well as other species such as crappie, white bass, striped bass, and their hybrids. Many outdoor enthusiasts find the whitetail deer hunting to be excellent in the fertile soils of the bottomland hardwoods of the public lands adjacent to the area. Birders find many species to check off their lists as well. Hiking is permitted year round in the area, except during permit drawn hunts outside the park. Hikers are reminded to wear bright colors, such as fluorescent orange or yellow during hunting seasons as well.
Facilities
Electric and water hookups are available at each of the 21 campsites, 17 of which can be reserved. There is one designated Disabled Access site. Hot showers and a boat launch are also available.
Natural Features
The Wilbur D. Mills Campground is on the lower portion of the Arkansas River, just below the Wilbur D. Mills Dam. This non-commercially navigable portion of the Arkansas River meanders below Wilbur D. Mills Dam as it makes it's 26 mile journey to the confluence with the Mississippi River. Many species of shorebirds find the shallow water and sand bars great feeding and nesting habitat. Federally Endangered Least Terns (Sterna antillarum) can be seen feeding and nesting in this portion of the Arkansas River. Please exercise caution and avoid active nesting sandbars.
Nearby Attractions
The Arkansas Post National Memorial marks where the first European village west of the Mississippi River was built in 1686. Arkansas Post was also the capital of Arkansas up until the Civil War. Arkansas Post State Park is also close to WIlbur D. Mills Campground and is worth a visit. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Trusten Holder Wildlife Management Area is a state managed public land area offering many outdoor activities. The Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge also offers many recreational activities on its 160,000 acres of public land.
What the agency tells you
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.
The Arkansas River may rise or fall suddenly due to its close proximity to Wilbur D. Mills Dam. Boaters should exercise caution during flow changes.
A No Swimming, Wading or Diving Policy is in effect for this portion of the Arkansas River.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Only wood and paper products may be placed in the fire rings. All trash must be placed in dumpsters and trash cans.
No more than 2 tents per campsite, or 1 camper and 1 tent.
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
- 21
- Hookups
- 21 electric, 21 water
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Hot showers and a boat launch are also available.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Night sky · 40th darkest of 158 in AR
- Bortle 4
28 of 42 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:02 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.
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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:02 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
21 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 21 mapped sitesAll 21 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. 21 of the 21 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.
| WD.M | 01 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 377 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 02 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 504 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 03 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 407 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 04 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 541 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 05 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 101 ft | 421 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 06 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 124 ft | 536 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 07 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 399 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 08 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 115 ft | 486 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 09 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 93 ft | 171 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 10 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 94 ft | 315 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 11 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 93 ft | 181 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 12 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 322 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 13 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 179 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 14 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 97 ft | 327 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 15 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 92 ft | 179 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 16 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 85 ft | 171 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 17 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 113 ft | 314 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 18 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 85 ft | 194 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 19 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 89 ft | 307 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 20 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 198 ft | $24 | |
| WD.M | 21 | standard electric | 60 ft | 30 amp | yes | 99 ft | 198 ft | $24 |
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
Notrebes Bend Park0.6 mi
Pendleton Bend3.0 mi
Merrisach Lake4.3 mi
Rising Star28 miSte Marie Park41 mi
Tar Camp56 miFrom Dumas, Arkansas, travel north on US-165 for 9 miles to State Route 212. Turn right and continue 4 miles east, through Pendleton Bend Park, to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Watson, AR
Typical weather
Typical October night 55°F, day 75°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 35°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
Wilbur D. Mills is in Arkansas’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Rick Crawford (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →