Big Spring Campground

The drive in from I60 was relatively narrow, but very little traffic so we felt free to use most of the roadway, which we needed on some of the turns :). Access to the Current River from several loops of the campground (100, 200 & 600). The paths lead to islands & bars in the river that I imagine the kids love in the warm weather! Some mosquitoes, but that is the cost of being near the water, I suppose. The big drawback for most would be the lack of a Verizon cell signal & no internet via the Jetpack or IPhone. More deer than I've ever seen in a campground & a beautiful spring and trail around it about 1/2 mile away. 30A service at some sites in 100 & 200 loops. Other loops were all basic sites. No water or sewer sites and all of the sites seemed pretty small for our 30' trailer & truck.

was there in late Sept and many loops closed. Very nice at that time of year.

So I reserved a “riverside” site but it’s not all that accessible from my site. I have a 24ft camper but tow vehicle has to park beside the site. Wish I would have looked at satellite of the camp ground before booking. Some nicer spacious sites, but this site isn’t what I expected. As usual have met some really nice people.

Easy off the 60 for a smaller rig. Going to do the springs walk tomorrow. Nice sounds of nature. Pretty empty here. There is a dump on site and some electric spots. Sites just barely fit my 19 tt and tv

We stayed the week before 4th of July weekend. Only a handful of RV’s here. Nice and quiet. There are short trails down to the Current River (50 yards). There is access for wadding.

In our section there are mature trees with ample shade. There is power at our site but no water. We knew that when we booked. Potable water is at the dump station. Convenient to fill our water tank. The camping areas are relatively small with one bathroom for each area. The bathroom is clean.

There is only one bathhouse for the entire park. It is pretty nasty. With only one bathhouse you would think they could keep it up better.

We will come back here. We are self contained and can work around the unpleasant aspects.

I pulled in on Sunday and the place was empty (3/27/22). I found it odd that a van came in a couple hours later and parked two spots from me in a CG that had no other people in the two open loops.The shower house is quite a ways down the road so I never checked it out. The river sites, as mentioned in another review, are really not close to the river. I had solid Cricket (ATT) reception. The bathroom looked very clean or freshly painted. It has running water for the sink and flush toilets. There was a hydrant right outside that was turned on. Many of the electric sites are not real long which is not a problem for me but could be for large rigs. I have been to Big Spring numerous times in 20 years but had never camped there. It was a pleasant experience.

We were looking for a place to stay for the night and this fit the bill. It was $20 for non electric site and wasn’t too far off the hwy. seems clean.

There are several loops here, and they all have many, many sites to choose from. Those loops which — on a map — appear to be closer to the river were loaded up. Presumably to try and catch the big ol’ gobbler of a turkey roaming around the place.

Uninterested in spending our night thumping to the sound Arianna Grande’s sweet voice permeating through these spots, we pulled back out only to notice that the 400 loop was absolutely empty. The sites seemed significantly larger in this loop, as well. Had anyone, or many ones, been camping in this loop, my experience may have differed as there is no privacy between sites at all. Some back up to the forest, but otherwise it’s all wide open with the occasional tree here and there.

Having it all to ourselves, however, we found it perfect. At some point the hosts, a polite older couple in a golf cart, stopped by, took our payment and gave us enough literature about the area to start a campfire.

Unfortunately, there was one little tiny white flying bug for each person on the planet, and it was unbearable enough to prevent us from lighting said fire. Instead, we walked about .3 miles to the river, a slow crawl of a swimming hole really, at least in early August, and had ourselves a dip. That had been our first good cleaning of the pits and underwearea in a few days, no soap or anything just good old fashioned swimming. The rocks were skippable, but not exactly smoothed over by time. I wouldn’t use the term “abundance” when discussing the amount of trash with polite company, but it existed. We picked up what I could hold in my hands and moved along.

Wildflowers and a clear night sky and barely a modicum of cell service made for a pleasant night, as the bugs retreated, with the family.

My wife tells me the bathrooms were nice. You cannot, and by the tone of voice the otherwise happy go camping hosts used, absolutely cannot, swim in the spring.

The entire area seems worth checking out, though conveniences like grocery stores and necessities like beer stores that sell American made craft beers are a rarity for many miles. The gas station across the highway and just a smudge south had good breakfast sandwiches and significantly more than you’d expect from most.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways is a gem! We stayed for two weeks at Big Spring Campground in the 200 loop, which has electric hookups. There is a dump station at the entrance to the campground, and, this might sound to some people like a strange thing to review, but it was the cleanest and best functioning dump that I have ever encountered. There is also a fresh water fill at that station. Some sites in the 200 loop are close together, most have adequate space between them, some offer considerable privacy. Make use of the google satellite map. The 300-600 loops have no services, but it is a setting where you can choose as much privacy as you wish, if you are of the boondocking type. (If you are camping sans services, I would skip the 100 loop and use the 300-600 loops.) The clear and beautiful spring fed Current River is a hop and half a skip from the campground, ideal for a refreshing dip or soak (depending on your tolerance for cooler water) at the end of the day. There are a number of excellent trails through the forest and along the river. This morning, as I sat outside our rig, my amateur birding ear counted songs from 13 different species, that is, species I am able to identify, though a well-schooled camping neighbor was excited because that morning, walking along the river, he had identified 40 birds. Thank you to everyone at Ozark National Scenic Riverways who works to make this place the special place it is. If our full-time wanderings bring us back this way, we will stay again!