Big Fir Primitive Camping

This was a gem. The views alone made it worth the drive in. It's about 30 minutes outside of Mt. Ida. It is paved for part of it and gravel for the other but the road in was not bad. The views, wow! No matter where you camp you have a view of this beautifully, large 40,000 acre lake.

We were there with friends in a van and our other friend was in a 38 foot Class A. There are three nice spots down on the water and everything else is up top. Most of it not super level but we were able to park our 31 foot Class-C sideways up top and get it fairly level. Our Class-A friend was able to park in a fairly level spot nearby up top also.

During our stay it was only ever completely full over the weekend (turned out to be Easter weekend) plus a big group of Arkansas militia were there. Otherwise it was very peaceful and quiet.

The only amenities (other than the beautiful views), a boat launch and vault toilets. There is another section to camp the road before the boat ramp, this is mostly for vans and tents. Not enough space for anything much bigger. There is also a spot down by the boat ramp that is somewhat level and could handle something larger.

We had cell service here with AT&T.

No water or trash here so come prepared. Closer grocery is in Mt. Ida.

And be advised this is a dry county (no liquor stores). You have to drive to Hot Springs. Again come prepared.

We thought since there were no reviews and the pictures and YouTube we’d seen were nice, that we’d check it out as a good boondocking site.
The Good- beautiful scenery of the lake, it’s islands, kayakers and a shore to find quartz crystals.
The Bad- trash (plastic utensils, cup lids, cans, beer bottle caps, clothing), scattered here and there (I picked up as much as I could); this broke my heart :)
The Ugly- hearing people drive back and forth, doing what sounded like trying to fix a car; women that shouldn’t be wearing bikinis; seeing their leftovers the next morning after they left in the middle of the night.
The constant boat noise (most likely from Little Fir campgrounds, perhaps) made it hard to have quiet sounds of the water.
ALSO the coordinates posted here did not work for us. If your GPS tells you to go down Freedom Road, DON’ T DO IT!!!! You need to be driving a four wheeler (the road became impassible). Luckily my husband is a pro at driving the Scamp and got us turned around. The 188 road is what can be taken into the area. It’s an extremely long gravel road, then finally got onto a paved road into the campground.