Craighead Forest Park Campground

Very nice city owned campground in a beautiful park on the south end of town. Very quiet. No highway noise or city noises. Campground is situated on a singular Peninsula with a small turnaround at the end. Other activities in the park are on separate individual peninsulas all around a reservoir of water called Craighead Lake. Beautiful walking trails that are paved all the way around the park as well as gravel trails and hiking trails and biking trails. Other activities include disc golf, baseball diamonds, mountain bike paths with jumps and a mountain bike agility equipment. There is even a dock diving dog and a separate fenced in dog swimming area. Many pavilions around for picnickers and one pavilion in the RV spot just for camping. Bath house is heated, with hot showers no pay, and also a laundromat with two washers and two dryers. $1.50 to wash and $1 to dry. Clothes get done the first time. Wonderful friendly camp host. There is free firewood at a kiosk by the host to take all you want. Each site has water and electric, fire ring and picnic table. Sites from the bathroom towards the water during the winter months are up to 2 weeks stay. From the bathroom up to the road you can extend longer stays during the winter months. During summer season all sites are 14 days or less. No reservations, first come first serve. Best site in our opinion is site 41 at the end, with a 180° view of water. We totally enjoyed our stay here and we will come back again!!

We had not planned to stay in Jonesboro but decided to break our trip into two days at the last minute. It was a holiday weekend, and we had called all of the campgrounds that showed up at the top of our searches, and everyone was booked. Two other campgrounds recommended calling Craighead, so we did, and they had a spot!

The camp host and his girlfriend were incredibly friendly and helpful. They had a site they held for us, but they said someone was leaving, so they would give us the better site (19) if they did. This site was right next to the camp host, and it was in a lovely wooded area. It was also right across from the bathhouse.

The bathhouse was spacious and clean. I went in early in the morning and it had already been cleaned and was spotless. It had several restroom stalls and two showers. One was a very large handicapped stall that I didn't see inside, but even the regular stall was large with a shelf in the shower for toiletries and a seat/shelf and hooks in the outer area to keep your other items dry.

Speaking of being accessible, there was a handicap-accessible site right next to the bath house that had paved sidewalks connecting everything on the site and leading to the bathhouse. As someone who's camped with elderly family members, this is such a great idea and a wonderful opportunity to make the great outdoors accessible to everyone.

We were only there for one night, but I would love to go back and explore! There were several walking and hiking trails that we saw - some through the woods and some out in the open. We saw a fishing dock and a boat launch, and we saw signs for the "Castle Playground." We didn't make it over to see it, but I saw online that it was a fantasy-themed, accessible playground.

The site was a large, fairly level asphalt site. There were great firepits and free firewood available. And the price couldn't be beat! $15 for one night on a holiday weekend! (I think the rates might go up during peak season.) The camp host told us they were open year-round and weekly rates off-season were just $90.

I saw online that reservations are not accepted, so this is probably why we got lucky on a holiday weekend! This could be a down-side though if you were trying to plan a trip in advance.

Also, there was a lot of activity - I think because of all of the amenities and trails, there was a little more noise than we were used to with dogs barking and kids playing, but it was all happy noise, so I wouldn't complain!

Our AT&T cell phones didn't work from our site, but our T-Mobile hotspot was sufficient to stream tv and make wi-fi calls. It probably wouldn't have been sufficient for both of us to work from the campground with consistent service.

Overall, we were thrilled to find this hidden gem and will definitely be back (perhaps on our trip back through this time!)