Devil's Den State Park Campground

My husband and I have yet to have a camping trip together. Both of us have always talked about and loved doing it as a kid but never found the time to do it until now. We had a blast.

We tent camped and stayed in Site 80 on the RV camping area as it was the only area that had electric and water. We weren’t quite ready to go without electricity just yet as we kind of scrambled to make this trip happen before the weather turned cold and gets jammed with holidays.

We stayed a Sunday & Monday night. Upon checking on Sunday the park was PACKED as expected. Rangers were advising people to avoid Yellowrock and find other trails to do. We weren’t even going to bother until the Monday afternoon. So we went down to check out our site and get set up. Site was clean and close to the bathrooms. Neighbors were a little noisy at night but calmed down around 9:45.

Slept great and had a great day exploring the park and walking along the creek and went to Yellowrock which was gorgeous. Just download your maps before you go. No service so be mindful of that. I loved that aspect though.

Monday night was great and previous neighbors had check out that day so a peaceful nights sleep was had.

Can’t wait to come back and visit again!

We absolutely loved our stay in Site #11 in Campground A.  The site was absolutely massive, and turned out to be even better than the one that we had initially picked out, but was already reserved.  We were a little concerned about lack of shade in this site, as it only had one tree in it, but it shaded at least some of the site all day every day, and even provided a nice umbrella to hang out under during the brief bouts of rain.  Hiking was fantastic, with each trail being dramatically different than the one before, and we did at least 7 of them in the 4 full days we were there.

Things I loved:

- no cell signal.  They did offer ViaSat WIFI for a fee, but I love to unplug when I get the chance.

- the quiet natural beauty and dark sky

- very clean bathrooms, which were cleaned daily, even though there might have been a total of 4 sites occupied at any given time during our stay.

- frequent patrols by park rangers

- beautiful trails

Things I was not fond of:

- the park rangers that patrolled did nothing to enforce the rule that dogs must be on-leash, even when we know they saw this multiple times.  Thanks to this, we had two dogs in the  site next door that would randomly wander over to and through our site, much to the consternation of our two on-lead dogs.  Thankfully, this couple left the day after we got there.

- the firewood was soaking wet when we purchased it, even though it was stored in a shed near the visitor's center.  Decent price for the amount, but it was very difficult to start.

- a few more people than I would have expected during the week at this time of year.  I would hate to see it on the weekends.

We stayed at Devil’s Den state park over indigenous peoples holiday weekend (Sunday-Tuesday) and had a really relaxing time. The site are large and clean, most of them are shaded and the bathroom is a full bathroom with flush toilets, sinks, and showers. The trails are gorgeous and plentiful. We saw deer, armadillos, and skunks and while we are not bird watchers there were a ton of birds. We were at site 5 which is a very spread out site. You park in the middle between your fire pit and the tent pad, which was big enough for our 8 person tent. We also had a small meadow to ourselves and then woods between us and site 3 which was great for privacy. Site 7 is close to the tent pad but not too close. Site 6 was vacant the first night but the second night had 2 large families (about 15 people) that were closer than we would have liked but still fine. All the even sites are in the center and all odd site are on the outer ring, which I think giver more privacy. Sites 4 and 1 are the least shaded with almost no trees. 1 has the advantage of direct access to the creek and a gorgeous view. My husbands favorite site was 16 which has about 10 trees and would be perfect for hammocking. It’s on the end of the loop. There was talk that a bear was spotted in the park, so be prepared and be sure not to leave scraps out or the skunks can get close to your site. Overall, it was a great campground and we would 100% go back!

Follow route alerts by taking AR170 at West Fork from Interstate 49! 

Do not go to Visitor Center to check in while towing. Go to campsite, unhitch, and then go to Visitor Center. 

Fayetteville for Walmart, Target and other box stores + Braun's Ice Cream

Jakes in West Fork Harps grocery store & fuel 

PROS 

Senior discount 

No fee to make my own on-line reservation

Dark sky friendly 

Quiet during weekday stay

Campground E has lots of trees 

Campsite asphalt parking pad level 

Metal picnic table (on concrete pad), pedestal BBQ grill, metal fire ring with cooking grate that consumed half of the ring and metal lantern hook 

Good space between most campsites 

Campground E trash bin at every other campsite 

Clean toilet/shower facility 

Ample TP, hand soap and an electric hand dryer in toilet facility Campground E

Climate controlled toilet/shower facility. Felt great on a 38 degree morning! 

Park ranger drive thru campground during daylight hours 

Good signage throughout park concerning burn ban 

Good assistant park superintendent presentation at the park amphitheater regarding the CCC constructing DDSP 

Nice hiking trails 

Squirrels will eat from your hand
 in Campground E

CONS 

No cell service. Pay phone at campground toilet/shower facility 

Only free WiFi is at camp store by the pool. We purchased WiFi from park vendor Viasat $20 unlimited for 3 days for one device 

Cannot see or hear creek from site 89 

Sewer connection at rear of site pad 

No privacy from any other campsite in Campground E 

Cannot move site picnic table 

No camp host

So the camp store, swimming pool and café are closed Memorial Day but the visitors center is open year round. I stayed on Loop A which has very nice and clean restrooms and spacious showers with hot water. There is Lee Creek on one side and access to three trailheads from Loop A. The new Devil’s Racetrack Monument multiuse trail was completed in the last two years and is all sorts of fun whether you are hiking it or biking it. The addition of this trail does not show on some maps so please get careful instructions on how to hike it. I recommend going up Yellowrock to see the overlook (tip: go straight at the four way intersection with unmarked Devil’s Racetrack). On the way down turn left and hug the cliffs. There is one place where there is a Y intersection. Go straight (not right which goes back down to the Outlaw Trailhead in Campground Loop A) or you will miss the good stuff. Devil’s Racetrack eventually crosses the very wide and straight Outlaw Trail and if you go sharp left you will also end up back at Loop A. This hike is one of my top two favorites in the park, Devil’s Den being the other.

There is a backcountry loop called the Butterfield Trail which is a strenuous 15 miles and extends outside the park. Both hiking and backcountry camping on this trail require a free permit that must be obtained and turned in at the visitor’s center. There is no backcountry camping in the park but there are three sites along the trail outside of the park. Be mindful of hunting season and wear bright orange on any trail exiting the park system!!!!

There is an RV campground with hook up, a horse campground with manure bin, picnic areas galore and 20 miles of trails to explore!! Such a beautiful park!!!!!

I have been to devil's den MANY times. I've always loved it and have never had any issues. I send many, many friends to the park to go camping. We drive nearly 5 hours to go. Well, until my trip this weekend. I'm a covid front lines worker and haven't had a weekend off in far too long, so I brought a friend with me and my dogs to go camping. The campground claims to be dog friendly. Also, quiet time is at 10 pm, which is fine. Long, long after 10 pm there are people up partying, playing loud music, screaming and laughing and walking all around the campground. Each time they'd get near our site, or walk through our site, my dogs would bark....as dogs do. Also, there were at least 4 other sites with dogs that were barking as the parade would walk through as well. The next day, the super trooper park police come by and tell me that there were complaints of dogs barking. I explained the situation and that their barks followed after the late night frat party going on, accompanied along with other dogs. I ask if they're going to talk to the partiers who broke quiet time rules,"well, no. They're allowed to walk around"(completely disregarding the noise part of it). I asked if they're going to talk to other dog owners,"well, we didn't see any other dogs"(mind you, I could see dogs from my site while we were talking). They told me I had to keep my dogs quiet or we were gone. I motioned towards where I had hung up tarps around their kennel, and said this would fix most of it as long as the parade doesn't walk around loudly again. They said if I can't find a solution, we were gone. Two of these super troopers came up while my friend and I were napping, onto our site, one of them towered over me with an attitude and a complete disregard for my personal space, as if he were trying to intimidate me(no masks). The other one was appropriate and kind. This was absolutely ridiculous. They didn't address any of the other problems. They chose our site, 2 young females. Perhaps a course on conflict resolution for the 7 foot super trooper would be in order. I'm beyond disappointed in this experience, and doubt I will be back. NOT a dog friendly park.

There are some good reviews here so I will just add a few extra notes.  First and foremost if you are travelling on I 49 and your camper is longer than 25' it is highly recommended that you take exit 53 (170) exit.  There are fewer tight turns for maneuvering big rigs.  Second we camped in campground E which has full hookups.  We had site 79 which is on the end of the left loop and near the bathhouse.  All the hookup were very convenient.   In fact I only had to short hoses for all connections.  Lin Creek is right behind the campground and we could hear the running water which was pleasant for camping and sleeping.  The only down side to our experience was the check-in.  The check-in is not at the campground so, we had to drive our 32' RV to the Visitor Center which has a very small parking lot for big rigs and for turning around.  Signs say to check-in before going to your camp site however; campers with 5th wheel campers were parking their camper then driving their truck to the visitor center.  This I would suggest was a good idea to avoid issues with parking at the visitor center.  Hiking trails were well maintained and easily accessible,   If you only hike 1 trail take the 1.5 mile trail to the water falls.  We were there a day after a rain and the water falls were mesmerizing to see and watch.

General: Located in the Boston Mountains of northwest Arkansas, you can enjoy time off the grid (we had limited cell service when we were at the summit of the Yellow Rock Trail but none in the campground). Limited rainfall resulted in less dramatic (or non-existent) waterfalls that are otherwise boasted of during other times of the year but the scenery was still beautiful, especially in the fall. 

Sites/Facilities: Many different camping options (some loops have full hookups while others do not have hookups and there is a dump station near Loop E), a hike-in campground, a group campground, and an equestrian campground. There are also 17 rustic cabins (1-3 bedrooms with kitchens and a/c and heating plus nearby bathrooms). We camped in Loop E and there was reasonable separation between the sites. The pads were paved. Each site had a metal picnic table, lantern hook, and fire grate. Many of the sites provided shade from the many trees. 

Bathhouse: Like some other Arkansas state parks, there are two bathhouses in some loops, and they were open on alternating days so that the other one may be cleaned and sanitized (Covid related policy). While the open one in Loop E was clean, the several soap dispensers were empty which does not make sense to me when hand washing is recommended. You also need to bring your own towel, which I have been doing regardless. There are showers but I did not use them so I cannot comment on how good they are. 

Activities/Amenities: Hiking! I highly recommend the Yellow Rock Trail and the Devils Den Trail plus there are several others. During the summer, you can rent paddle boats and canoes. There are several areas with picnic tables throughout the park. There is also a swimming pool, although I did not see it when we were there in October(it would only be open in the summer). Firewood is available for sale.