Lake Catherine State Park Campground

This is a pretty, lakeside state park ideally located about twenty minutes from downtown Hot Springs. The sites were generally large and ours backed right up to the lake. There was a good amount of space between the sites and the trees helped to make the spaces seem even more private. Our site was un-level, but we were able to work with it, though we noticed many other sites that would have been much more difficult to deal with. The park itself is very pretty with well maintained hiking trails, and the location was great - just 20 minutes from downtown Hot Springs.

We had the 50amp FHU back in site along the lake and I would highly recommend getting a lake site. The interior sites were decent too but the lake ones were really nice. Good solid 50 amps, flat sites. Plenty of room and didn't feel crowded at all. Interior roads are rough so take it slow.
The bathrooms were clean and showers are in good condition.
There's great hiking trails to a waterfall and downtown Hot Springs is fun. This is a dog friendly park with good space to hike and walk the dogs.
OTA was solid and major channels came in fine. Cell was great. Pulled in over 30 d/l speeds with both Verizon and ATT unboosted. Didn't try T mobile.
The only negative I can think of really is the huge factory on the other side of the lake distracts from the beauty of this place. Not much you can do about that.

This is a lovely campground as people have already stated, but for us the power plant across from the campground was nosiy 24/7, even with a radio on or ear plugs to sleep at night. If you wanted to sit out, your view was the plant all lit up.

Loop A is away from the lake and has updated pads. Loop B and C, whether you are on the lakeside or not, you will have a view of the lake. In Loop B, some of the pads slope down, which may be an issue for some. The sites have electrical and water. The water can be in an odd place, so be sure to have enough hose. We stayed in Loop B on the water. The sites in Loop C have water and electric and some have sewer hook ups. The pads have been refurbished and some areas are very flat and large along the lake.

The bathrooms are fairly modern and clean. The water in the showers are a push button. So, you can't regulate the water temperature and will have to rehit the button to keep the water running.

You are about 15 miles from the nearest gas station or grocery store, so come prepared. It's also 15 plus miles to Hot Springs National Park and about half that distance to Garvan Gardens, which are lovely.

You can take a trail ride on horseback or rents boats at the marina which is located in the state park. There is a nature walk along a boardwalk and a short hike to a waterfall.

Great boating/kayaking lake. This park offers spacious camping spaces and can cater up to large rigs. Plenty of wildlife, hiking and biking on the roads (no mountain biking). Full hookup RV sites right on the water so bring your boat and you get use of a small boat dock. Tent campers choose your site carefully. At the end point of the loop the geese are quite loud, all hours of the night. Stay back off the water instead. Overall a very clean park, no wifi access provided but cell signal was usable on Verizon and we were able to pick up several TV channels via antenna.

Very pretty lake perfect for water activities...we wished we had our SUPs and Kayaks. Out spot was sloped front to back and the site was a bit odd...multi-leveled but definately usable. The lake was directly behind our spot maybe 50 feet. We found perfect trees for our hammocks. Yes the plant is across the lake, but there was very little noise and very few lights at the plant while we were there.
The drive to Hot Springs NP was ~ 20 - 30 minutes.
The camp hosts we extremely nice, knew the area well and provided lots of great information about the campground and the other nearby parks. Restrooms and shower were clean.
We had plenty of OTA TV and our verizon was good.

This was just a stop-over stay on our trek from Texas to Virginia, though we would like to come back some time to check out everything in the area, including Hot Springs National Park. The rate reflects the 25% Senior discount.

Due to unavoidable delays, we arrived just after sunset and after the Visitor Center (and campground reservation) had closed. Fortunately, they had left a list of unreserved camp sites and there were maps so -- with only one mis-step -- we navigated ourselves to site #14 in Loop B. The site was reasonably level and we simply parked with no other fussing about.

Hooked up to the 30-amp electric which showed to be clean with no problems. BUT ... the socket was loose. I hadn't noticed, but the plug slipped partially out and when I returned to the RV, the A/C wouldn't come on. Checking back at the post, I noticed the lights on the surge protector were off, so I reseated the plug and carefully closed the cover hoping that would hold things together. It did and we made it through the night with no problems.

I didn't attach the water hose since the faucet was on the opposite side of the RV. What with it being pitch dark and having to work with a flashlight, I decided it didn't matter. And, since this was just an overnight stop, we didn't pay a lot of attention to the amenities. There was a picnic table at the site, and I think a lantern hook.

Cell reception was pretty good -- sufficient to support a web conference the next morning and hubby was happily streaming audio and video. My Verizon and AT&T phones both showed 2 bars of LTE. Hubby's phone showed 4 bars some of the time even though my phone never went that high.

It rained overnight and both the RV and our toad were covered with Fall leaves. And, since it was still overcast, I didn't take any pictures at all.

Great state park in Arkansas with full hook-ups at most of the sites. Most of the sites have a nice view of the lake. The sites are level and easy to back into. They are also very spacious with fire rings, picnic tables, and a tent pad. Most of the sites are shady. Great AT&T and Verizon data speeds. AT&T was 95 down and 10 up. Verizon was 60 down and 10 up. Streaming and video calls were smooth. Takes about 25 minutes to get to the grocery store and into town. Hiking trails are great in the park. Can be difficult to get spots on the weekends, so plan ahead.

Has sites right on the lake. Lots of space and tons of shade trees. We hiked Falls Branch trail right from the campground. Park is big and very family friendly.

Path from campground to the main trails made hiking a breeze and the waterfalls and nature was beautiful. Busy park tho. Clean bathrooms/showers and friendly staff. During warmer month’s there is a swimming beach and kayak rentals. Biking is fun as well. Close to Anthony Chapel and the children’s garden. All in all, very charming. We will visit again!

DIRECTIONS
1- road coming in is about 20 minutes of winding, tilting, roads. GPS will tell you that you have say 4 miles left to go but you’ll start to see road closed signs in 1 mile. For example. Ignore the signs. The road ends at the entrance to the state park. So stay on it.
2- campsites are numbered on your reservation. But at the campground they have letters- camp area A, B, C - A is for sites 1-13, B is for 14-39, C is for 40-70. Match your numbers to these letters to make it easier to find where to turn.

SITES-
Area A (1-13), FHU, wooded, huge hill up and down to/from the sites. Beautiful and quiet. Level.
Area B (14-39), W/E only, rough road through it, sites have roots bubbling up through the pavement, water post is on wrong side and at the top of the site - recommend at least a 50’ hose.
Area C (40-70) FHU, on the water or water view. Level, flat sites, hookups in the right spot. The only site I would avoid is 54- has a steep ramp to the level site where it’s clear people bottom out their trailer on it as the pavement is all gouged out.

Very quiet campground. Hum from utility plant across the water, not bad. End of C loop (sites 60-70) does have a machine of some sort at the end that hums loudly. Boats sometimes speed by and play loud music. But very quiet at night all around.

Tons of critters out at night- don’t leave anything out and hang on to dog leashes tight.

Cell on ATT and Verizon were strong- forgot to note the speeds but I could do zoom all day with no issues.

Roads in camp are twisty, tilted, up and down steep. Note for those who may struggle walking. Lots of fun well marked trails. Great staff always doing maintenance and about.

Definitely would stay here again