Gulpha Gorge Campground

We only stayed one night and loved it. Our appt wasn’t the best but the campground is really nice.
We were on the creek but it was way down a concrete wall at our spot.
There is a swimming place, safe for kids. We arrived at 4:30 on a Thursday and easily found a spot. In the morning it was like being in an aviary with all the beautiful bird sounds.
Highly recommend it.

Although this park is on NP land, you have to drive to Hot Springs area. However, it is beautiful, the sites are spacious and most have at least partial privacy and shade. We stayed on the creek, which is pretty. They have a swimming hole but do warn that snakes are in the area. The camp hosts were very nice. They don’t take reservations, w arrive at 9:30 on a Summer Tuesday and there were plenty of sites to chose from, but they did fill up that night.

Visiting as many National Parks as possible is part of our camping bucket list so we had to give it a try. All sites are first-come, first-first served so you need to be flexible when visiting. On the 2nd leg of our Spring Break 2018 trip, we came in around 10am and grabbed one of two open spots. The park is small and looks like it stays full most of the time. Typical NPS dry camping and restrooms. Cold water and flush toilets only and bring your own soap! Even though this is a tiny park and right by the highway, it was still a nice campground. Our site backed up to the creek and was level. The sites are relatively close together but being right by the creek was nice. It was a little too chilly to splash around when we were there but I can see where setting up a lawn chair in the creek could make a warm summer day very comfortable. I'm not sure we would camp here again for the camping itself, but it is a great place to stay while exploring Hot Springs and it being a National Park is a bonus.

Arrived mid-day on a Sunday and were greeted by the camp host who said there were 2 open spots including one that backed to the creek which we ended up taking. It was a large, level site that was shaded and close enough to the creek to hear the water. It was a 50 amp FHU site. Sites are first come, first served.

Once you chose a site, registration is done on a machine that takes cash or credit cards. There are no refunds if you leave early. Our NPS senior pass gave us the rate of $15/night, but wouldn't hesitate to stay here for the regular rate of $30.

There are a number of trails accessible from the campground, including the trail to the Bathhouse Row visitors center. The trails are short with moderate elevation changes and occasional muddy areas due to the springs in the area.

There was a fairly steady turnover of campers, so when we were there, so, didn't seem too hard to get a site if you were willing to wait. Some sites were quite unlevel and others were close to a fairly noisy road, but the campground as a whole was beautiful.

The camp hosts were very attentive to the campground and it was immaculate (we didn't look at the bathhouses).

We found this campground to be very nice. Our site and many around us had plenty of room although as others have mentioned some of the sites are tighter. This is a first come first serve so arrive early. We had arrived just before 3pm on a Sunday and there were multiple spots still available to choose from, but many of those filled within 15-30 minutes of our arrival.

As others have mentioned there is a road that runs on the side of the campground and sometimes loud trucks drive through. We are in a motorhome and the noise didn't bother us at all at night. There is a very nice 1 1/2 mile walking path from the campground to Bathhouse Row but protect yourself from the chiggers and ticks.

Verizon cell service is amazing here! We were getting 50-100Mbps DL / 15Mbps UL speeds on Verizon.

AT&T had 4 bars but upload speeds were not very good at 12Mbps DL/0.5Mbps UL.

This is a gem of a park and beautiful and forested. But, extremely difficult to find! This campground is in Hot Springs, so great for sightseeing Hot Springs with all it's historic buildings and Spas. You can hike all day, then go get a massage and dinner...can't beat that fun! The campground while clean (due to volunteers) is very crowded. NO RESERVATIONS, so get there around check out time and swoop into a spot. I had great luck just waiting around like vultures. Many sites back up to the creek. This is actually and older campground and while well maintained (and brightly lit) at some point they doubled the capacity and you are CROWDED. Your picnic table will be next to the neighbors sewer line. Choose carefully and keep this in mind. And while it's family friendly, the sites are right on road, and it's hard to see kids playing. If you plan on being out and about a lot, this is a great spot. A little to crowded and noisy for me, but a nice group of campers.

This is not a normally my style park, but was a fun change of pace.

Very nice campground with full hook up spots along scenic Gulpha Creek. We had no services (no water, no electric, bathrooms locked) due to the government shutdown, but we made use of the communal springs in town to fill our water tank and that's all we needed for our stay.

The campground was very well kept despite no services per se. I assumed the two volunteers staying the campground were responsible for the upkeep though I did not see them during our entire stay. I did, however, hear one of their generators running most of the day whenever we were in the campground which was annoying at best. I could see the television on in their camper.

There's some road noise, as previously noted, due to proximity to a road that is heavily used during morning and evening commutes. It's very quiet at night, especially after the volunteer turned off the generator.

We camped here during the December 2018 government “shutdown” so our experience is likely a bit out of the norm. The campsite was officially closed, but the gates were open and a handful of other campers were essentially boondocking in the park. We only planned to stay one night so we decided to go for it. All the electricity was off throughout the park and there were only 6 or so other campers, so it was on the verge of creepy, but also very quiet and exceptionally peaceful. We had to imagine what a full campsite might be like. It’s smaller than we expected and up against a 2 lane highway, so it’s a bit loud when you hear the semis go by. Otherwise we loved it.