COE Lake Ouachita Crystal Springs Campground

COE campgrounds are among our nations best! Water and electric at site. Only negative was our bathroom was still closed for the season.

Great campground, especially for the price. Water and electricity at all sites, dump station on site. We stayed on loop A, all sites here were just redone. Not sure about that other loops. The best sites on loop A are 15-17. All are at the end of the peninsula and are right on the edge of the lake, and are large and level.

Beautiful views and a great playground for young children. The bathrooms were very good. I just wish they had full hook ups. 

Nice level sites, most along the water front and with lovely views. Clean bathrooms and showers and the camp hosts and park rangers were nice, friendly and helpful. Well kept sites with plenty of space to enjoy the outdoors.

Loud, poor fishing location. We weren't allowed to check in until 6 pm, which was fine. But our site was covered in trash, pop tabs, and broken glass. You would think they would be picked up in-between campers. Had to make it safe for our kids before we set up. Devil's Den State Park was a much better location with more exciting hiking & swimming.

if you have a boat, this is the place for you. if you don’t, expect to be annoyed by the boaters. first night in, we come a little after check in( 6pm mind you, check out is 4). head down to our spot, and the previous campers are still there, no where to be found (they were on their boat). after 45 minutes, had to have rangers come down to tell them to leave. then our neighbors (also had a boat), was about to charge his boat on our electric. moral of the story, if you own a boat, don’t be an asshole. otherwise, the site/campground was nice. decently clean bathrooms, although no soap. i dunno if this is just an arkansas “thing,” but no campgrounds i’ve stayed at had soap in the bathroom, so i kinda just expected it at this point.

Tent camped with a view of the lake. Facilities were well maintained. Hosts were very friendly. Easy to collect firewood. Definitely recommend even if you don’t have a boat.

Good place for both tent and rv. But filled with rvs in most spots. Lake for swimming nearby. Good bathrooms and toilets. Lots of hiking places nearby which are moderate to hard

Army corps of engineer site so it’s cheap, bathrooms were fine, and views were unreal. The lake was nice for the dogs, and the campsites were spaced out!

Great location great host, offered to help us set up! Great Lake!

It was a fun COE but busy... many locals showing up for the weekend and made it a bit crowded but that's ok.. it's here for all to enjoy!

Only issue was the 6pm check ion time... plus the people in our spot didn't leave till after 6pm which was not very considerate of them....

Would I stay here again... probably not....

We love this campground . We love sites 47-48 water front ,nice swim area with Sandy beach and nice playground. Clean showers we camp there at least 3 times a year

Arkansas has variable weather in January. Cold clear day today but higher temps predicted for later in the week. Many sites available. Beautiful views. A hiking trail nearby with others a short drive away. Clean showers and restroom

I come to Crystal Springs often. The hiking trail is great and the campground is always clean and quiet. I only stay in the A loop. The sites are all good but 13, 17, and 18 are my favorites. I don’t stay in loop B because there is no bathroom on that loop, otherwise it would be really great. I don’t like loop C. The sites are on top of each other and its just too busy when the campground is full.

Most sites are back in and pretty easy to level in. Two bathrooms are clean with hot showers. All the sites have fire ring, charcoal grill, lantern hook and picnic table. Most have decent shade and are fairly spread out.

Great campground right on the lake. Sites were reasonably level but be prepared for hitching on a small incline/decline. Hookups worked great. Website says 50a only but they all appeared to have 30 and 50a plugs. Most sites were back-ins but there were a handful of pull throughs. Nice hiking trails close by.

Overall a beautiful campground. Some of the nicest shower houses I have ever seen. Only drawback was unlevel campsites.

What an amazing place tucked deep in the woods, off the beaten path! Just on the other side of Walnut Creek offers quiet and peace. Lots of firewood and natural spring water. Hiking trails are plentiful and if needed, supplies less than 10 minutes away. Verizon had 1 bar. Do recommend.

We had a wonderful time! The place was filled with happy kids playing and having fun off their cellphones! Either playing on the playground, swimming, kayaking, riding their bikes or even fishing! Great to see. Way to go parents for getting them outdoors and having a terrific time. As some stated, the place is showing its age but still a wonderful place to stay. Sites are pretty well spread apart, but some areas a bit more tighter than others.(Great if have groups of people.) They are somewhat level, for smaller rigs. You will need more support than usual, depends on the site you get, for larger rigs. Closer to the water seemed to be more level than ones up inside the park but doable. The Park Ranger staff was very pleasant to work with and accommodating. The park host/volunteer was not there. They were in transition, so no one to talk to about the park info. You will need to go to the website/ Recreation.Gov to get info. We called and got most of the answers we needed. Verizon cell was ok, our WeBoost was in the shop so we were limited in coverage. TV reception was sparse, only working off RV antenna. Satellite worked better, if you have, we do not. Did not use Restrooms/Showers but they were cleaned daily, as we were close to one and noticed the service that came by.

We stayed here Spring Break 2021 and had a wonderful time. Our site was on the water at the end of the swim area. The kids spent hours in and out of the Kayaks on their own. Great hiking, close to Hot Springs National Park and some scenic overlooks, clean enough bathrooms. The campground was full and plenty quiet. We had a wonderful few days.

Really good location. Lots of sites almost all on or very near the lake. Swimming area and playground. Beautiful clear lake.

We stay there several times a year.  Great hiking the lake is always fun.  It is near enough to Hot Springs.  Also near plenty of quartz mines.  My favorite place in Arkansas.

This is our 2nd time to stay here. The 1st time we had a great site that backed up to the water, but those were all booked this time. We were lucky to get a site being Easter weekend. There is a great playground in the beach swimming area. There are 2 bathhouses that looked fairly clean, although we didn't use them. We had a W/E site, but there may be a few FHU sites. The lake itself is supposed to be a great fishing& scuba diving area. The drive to Hot Springs is only about 30 minutes.

The place is beautiful!

So we have noticed that there are a couple of different review options/pages on Dyrt for this particular area of Lake Quachita. We have written reviews for both Lake Quachita State Park and Crystal Springs Campground. If you are looking for reviews for either of these campgrounds, I would recommend looking at those specific pages on this website. They will offer more reviews than this page.

I uploaded a video and a few pics from both just to give you an idea of the stuff they have to offer.

All-in-all, you can't go wrong with either option if you are looking for a campground in this area of Arkansas.

We absolutely loved our stay at Crystal Springs. The woman at the gate booth was wonderful upon checkin, just so kind. The site was wonderful. It had trees for a couple hammocks, a picnic table and firepit facing the water(most of the sites are lakeside with wonderful views), and was an easy pull-thru for our vintage Avion trailer.

I also feel like our site was the most ideal site if you have kiddos with you. They can walk in the water from the adjacent beach, you can see them the entire time, and you’re super close if they need you. The beach has a very large area that is shallow enough for littles to stand in and play(our daughter is 7), and it gradually deepens.

There is also a small playground on the beach(however, it was roped off for Covid-19). I don’t recall our site number, but it’s just to the right of the beach, and you can see its position in our youtube video.

On one day, we made the short drive to Hot Springs National Park for an afternoon hike and also went digging for Crystals at Ron Coleman Mining which our daughter loved. And I didn’t know this beforehand, but the“Coleman Rock Shop& Crystal Mines” on the corner of the main road(State Hwy 7) also offers crystal mining for a LOT cheaper. They mine a different area though, and we don’t have video or pics of their mining lot. Call to compare the two before you go.

I can definitely say, we will visit Crystal Springs again(same site, too). Our Little D loved the entire trip.

I love going to Crystal Springs. The water is cool and clear. The campsites are very nice. My family live in Hotsprings, Arkansas so it's a great place to stay when I go for visiting them. The fishing is great and there is so much to do. I love the mountains. I like looking for crystals on my walks. Camping is 1/2 price for seniors and 100% disabled

My GPS took me on an interesting route to this campground in a torrential downpour. That being said, once I arrived, it was worth it. 

Site: 23  in B Loop - water and electric H/U,  treed and enough room to open an awning if needed, gravel pad needed some leveling, but not extreme. This is an end site so there wasn’t anyone to one side. However, to the other side was a neighboring site with little privacy and enough space to allow for any visitors to the site next door to park. This site also backs to the lake which is nice except that people would park their boats on the shore and walk through the site at which I was camped. This was a first for me. I’d choose a site on the back of this loop. Site 31 looked great! These sites are also on the lake, but the shoreline doesn’t allow for boats to park. All sites have picnic tables, fire rings and a BBQ. 

The bath house was in a separate building from the restrooms. I wish more parks would have this arrangement. Showers were clean and a good size. Flush toilets were also clean.

Amenities: This Corps of Engineer campground has so much going for it. Sandy beach, playground, picnic area with common fire pit. Boat launch (not much parking) but that limited the number of boats that could put in at the campground. No wake area in the lake around the campground so it was quieter. Nothing against boaters, just FYI.

The standout for me is the trees! Forests of hardwoods and pines with a campground tucked into a little lakeside cove. I really enjoy COE campgrounds. 

What drew me to this campground was the location. One of the trailheads to the Lake Ouchita Vista Trail is adjacent (about a 10 minute walk). This hike was a standout for me! I’ll be back to hike the other leg which is the Carlton Trail. True to its name, I actually found crystals in one of the springs!

We had a lake front site that was almost perfect. There wasn't as much shade as we thought we'd have. We have a popup so it got a little warm. From our site, the kids were able to get in the water. There was an awesome playground, but it was inaccessible due to C19. The bathrooms were clean. The sites on the other side of the campground were away from the lake a bit, but were very shady. Overall, the views were fantastic, and we would definitely go back. Pretty decent cell service with T-Mobile.

Reviewed park on line ACE site, no notice that is was going to be closed, definitely was when arrived, had to find alternate park.