Ozark Campground

Very primitive campground. No showers, no electricity, absolutely zero cell signal (there’s a pay phone for emergencies). About five water spigots throughout. Sites are very spaces so definitely private. Several overlook the river. Great hiking trails. Primitive so lots of bugs and tics. No issues with ants. If you drive up from campground, before you hit main road, you get about two cell bars so you can make calls and texts. The road towards campground is compacted gravel/dirt. It is EXTREMELY wide except at the very entrance. Grade is steep at times (about 15%) so if your vehicle is towing at max, you may have a bit of a challenge.

We loved this spot when we went last year, planning on going again soon. It is only free during off season but we thankfully made it the last weekend (in March). Our spot was super close to the river like we wanted, so we could see it just by walking out of the tent. Vault toilets open during off season and seemed to be checked everyday and didn’t have a terrible smell either thankfully. Signal was there if I remember correctly, nothing great but okay I’m pretty sure.

Camped 10/16/17.

Ozark Campground is not far off Highway 7 (we heard some traffic), along the Buffalo National River. Coming from the north, look out for the small brown campground sign, because Co Rd 129 was not marked!

It was a scenic spot, but down a steep gravel road. Being that we were there on a Monday night (in Oct), there were only a few other campers. As noted in the previous review, the assigned sites are basically walk-in - you park along the road. We van camp, and so picked a site with the picnic table & fire ring close to our parking spot. Some sites are on the bluff riverside, some are in wooded/shaded areas. The big grassy area in the middle is not marked with site numbers, but there are no signs that say no camping on the grass. There was a camp host on-site.

Bathroom with flush toilets was clean and had hand soap. Everything was automated, even the light came on when you entered. The vault toilet was right near the bathroom house, both on the one end of the campground by the camp host. There were water pumps by some sites, but we figured the one at the bathroom house was the potable water.

I had no cell service, but Paul had 1 bar at our site & 3 at the bathroom.

We camped here because it put us super close to the Pruitt Landing put in on the Buffalo River. We met up with the ranger and other volunteers for an Earth Day clean up & paddle which was fabulous. However, we'd never stay here again.

To get to the campground there is a 3 mile dirt road that has some pretty steep sections, and is also quite narrow in places. We went in late one evening and luckily didn't run into anyone coming the other way. To top it off there was construction on the main road, so the turnoff was pretty bad as well. Had to kick the truck into 4 wheel drive.

On the way out, I rode my bike up the hill (superwoman) to run interference for Sam. There were a few spots he could pull off to the side to let other cars pass as we didn't want to have to stop on the steep hills.

Otherwise, this is a beautiful camping area! Large open field in the middle (couldn't quite figure out why) and camp sites around the edges. Very popular for boaters as there is a nice put in right at the campground. Also, not super friendly trailer spots. We were at the max on our Anderson Levelers on one side of the loop and the other side the cars park along the road and then the campsites themselves are across a divider fence thing.

Filled up pretty well for the weekend, all sites are first come first serve. There was also a commercial group utilizing a good portion of the campground and they ran their generators way outside of hours. Kind of annoying.

We did manage to pull some bars of 4G Verizon with our booster. Enough that Sam could work in the morning before our paddle and we could stream Netflix at night No T-mobile or AT&T though.

If you do come through the area, for sure go get burgers and milkshakes at The Ozark Cafe in Jasper. You'll thank me.