Gulpha Gorge Campground

Lovely trees, adjacent to the creek. Wish it was warm enough that I could sleep with the windows open! Full hook ups, cement picnic table, rusted BBQ grill. This site has no fire ring, but many others do. Level pad right to left, but had to stack several levelers to put down the back stabilizers.

Tip: No reservations. Upside: As long as you are in the spot, you can keep renewing at noon on the day of departure. So I was able to pay for a couple of nights and then three more after I decided to hang out a little longer.

We have stayed at this campground multiple times over the years, and it's remains a favorite. However on this visit, it was way more full than ever before. The camp host told us they were expecting it to be this way until Thanksgiving due to the fall leaves.

We planned our arrival for around 11a - and were surprised to only find one site available, and not a great one. We pulled in to hold it (you can't officially check in until noon - but once you have stuff on a site, it's yours).

While waiting, we noticed two sites packing up along the creek - so we moved on over in short order to a fabulous site. Score. At the strike of noon we went to the registration building and used the digital ranger (a fabulous feature that we've not seen elsewhere yet) and paid for our two nights. Once you're paid, you can't switch sites - so make sure you have the one you want.

Some sites are quite un-level, and we watched a number of huge motorhomes try to squeeze into sites way too small for them trying to make it work.

Once in, we walked the rather challenging 1.5 mile trail to Bathhouse row for a delightful soak at Quapaw, thermal brew and then dinner. All within the national park. We took a Lyfx back.

Keep in mind that the bathhouses are basic with no showers, but all sites are now full hook-up.

Fabulous Verizon and AT&T signal here.

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.