Best Equestrian Camping near Buffalo National River

Steel Creek is home to the most iconiv and photographer bluff of the Buffalo National River, Roark Bluff. It is an absolutely gorgeous area and features a short trail to a vantage point for taking pictures of Roarok Bluff as well as access to other Buffalo River hiking trails.

Campground has tent sites, self-pay, and bathrooms with running water. Not as many sites have the trees for hammocking as some of the other campgrounds. Sites have picnic tables and firepits.

Easy access with paved roads up to the campground.G

It does get fairly crowded in the summer, so the best time to visit is a warmer spell during off-season.

Steel Creek is a simple strip of campsites with a beautiful backdrop of the Ponca bluffs. Nestled alongside the Buffalo National River, Steel Creek is accessible yet hidden at the same time. We chose this area for a perfect weekend getaway and for an exquisite Autumn camping trip. This was also the perfect time try out my new Ledlenser MH2 Headlamp.

Campground Review:

The sites are first-come-first-serve an cost $12 a night (with a maximum of 6 people per site). When I arrived the board read CAMPING FULL, but when I went to the campground I found it to be pretty empty. There are toilets and water spigots around the campground, but no showers. I set up camp at site #16 which was out in the open and provided us the best seats for the nighttime sky. Each site has a table, fire ring, grill and hook to hang your food or trash. Most sites had good trees for hammocking! The sites along the treeline were just a minute's walk down to the river.

The campground is well maintained with lots of picnic/day use areas, a beach and lots of nature trails (for hiking and horseback riding). We went on a weekend in mid-October and there were probably about 5 to 8 other sites being used (with plenty of vacancy still). The weather was fantastic with cool Fall nights in the 40's and nice warm days anywhere from 60 to 75 degrees.I noticed that other campers brought their dogs and one site even erected a volleyball net. This is a great spot for a family getaway.

My favorite part of this campground though were the trails, which we actually researched on the Dyrt and planned our entire trip around them. Right from the Steel Creek campground we took the Old River Trail (abbreviated as ORT on trail posts) up to the Centerpoint trailhead, which happens to have its own parking lot since it is a pretty popular hiking trail. We then took Centerpoint all the way to a crossing with multiple trails in multiple directions. However, the Goat trail was the one we were looking for as it had been described as a difficult trail with a breathtaking view. Please refer to the pictures I have posted to see how narrow this trail is along the face of the bluffs with a sharp drop down the mountain. Watch you step!! At the end of the goat trail, we took the Buffalo River Trail (BRT) right back to the campground. This was such a great experience. I would love to try more primitive camping outside of the campground off the trail as I did see a number of fire rings in some very ideal spots. Again, take a look at the pictures and give this campsite a go!

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Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products. At Steel Creek, I tested the MH2 Headlamp by Ledlenser. I happen to already have a headlamp, which I got for cheap at a local outfitter store. The MH2 blew my headlamp out of the water! I decided to do the nice thing and give the MH2 to my partner in crime since he has yet to own a headlamp, but by the end of the trip I was full of regrets for not giving him my old one! :)

What I loved about this headlamp:

1. The focus is unbelievable. First of all, my old headlamp has zero focusing capabilities. The MH2 allows you to target anything in the distance. At our campsite, we spotted with the bright setting an animal in the bushes. We were able to focus the beam on whatever animal it was and we were able to see perfectly a little armadillo staring back at us! I looked at the same thing with my old headlamp and barely saw anything but its eyes.
2. Bright as hell! Enough said!
3. So easy to use, with its tilting head for seeing the ground in front of you as well as the three easy-to-set settings (bright, dim, and strobe).
4. It's so light and comfortable for being such a handy piece of equipment!

We will be definitely be using the Ledlenser MH2 for all of our outdoor adventures in the future!

Campground Review:

River surge warning forced us to bed down for the night at the Erbie Campground along the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. It was a welcome and comfortable site for our sore, wet bodies!

Our group of 9 guys had planned a canoe/kayak trip to the Current River originally but heavy spring rain flooding had left our route muddy and littered with debris. Last minute change of plans put us on the Buffalo River.

Plans were to set in at Kyles Landing and paddle to Ozark Campground for the night and then reach Carver Campground the next day. Because we were going it alone, we dumped the gear at Kyle's and then a couple of guys took one vehicle to Carver. LONG DRIVE! Much longer than we expected so by the time they got back, we were really late in the afternoon.

Some commercial guides who were pulling out at Kyle's informed us that heavy rains upstream were headed our way and would create a surge sometime in the late evening. Told us that it would not be a slow rise.

Finally put in and paddled for several hours. The river was up and running fast from the get go and canoes did tip and gear got wet. Around 8pm, we had stopped on a sandbar and as we were talking, you could see the river rising. Being about a 1/2 mile from Erbie, we decided paddle quickly there and pull out rather than chance it by going all the way to Ozark. GLAD WE DID!

River side of Erbie has a great primitive loading and unloading area. We were able to easily paddle in and carry the kayaks and canoes up about 25 yards to a safe and dry area. There was a circle road that, should we have wanted to use Erbie as our put in or final take out area, it would have made gear unloading and loading very easy. In the area of the ramp, there was a wide open space of freshly mowed meadow, a parking area, a vault bathroom and a half a dozen picnic tables. Looked like the perfect place so we pitched our tent and broke out our kitchens. Turns out that we weren't really in the camping area of the campgrounds but we didn't realize it until morning when it the light came up.

The real camping area was better equipped. Some designated spots were fairly primitive with just a grill area and a picnic table but others had full pad sites with water and electricity. The designated camping areas were nestled in trees and were nicely spaced. Many offered a very "remote" feel to them. There were at least 3 vault restroom facilities but while we were there, only the one in the parking area where we camped was open. Not sure why as there were quite a few other campers in the area. There were also several "communal" water hydrants but all were locked. Since there was no camp host that we could find, we never did find out why there wasn't water available. That was disappointing but we just may not have known the details on how to get access to the water.

Overall, the campground was well maintained, seemed safe, and the the restrooms were clean and stocked. We liked the remote feeling of the area and the river access was excellent. I would recommend Erbie to those needing a spot to stop on a float trip.

Gear Review: Klymit Insulated Static V Luxe Sleeping Pad

As a Dyrt Ranger gear tester, I was offered an opportunity to evaluate one of the sleeping pads offered by a newer but very innovative outdoor gear company named Klymit. ( https://www.klymit.com). They do other things like sleeping bags and backpacks but I believe they are best known for their pads.

Pros:

• WIDE! Allows for a restless night without falling off.
• Durable. Made from a rugged polyester fabric that has a substantial feel to it.
• Thick. This thing is flat out comfortable.
• Easy to inflate.
• Easy to deflate.
• Easy to roll-up

Cons:

• Valve system takes a little getting used to.
• Noisy if not fully inflated.

I'm not an ultra light backpacker so do keep that in mind regarding my evaluation. First the specs. The bag weighs in at 35 oz and offers an R value of 5. It is a wide 30 inches and a long 76.5 inches. It is designed with V chambers to limit air movement and comes with a cinch down bag and repair kit.

Again, not being a hardcore, ultra light backpacker, the 35 ounces wasn't a concern. As long as it is durable, warm and comfortable, a few extra ounces are worth it to me.

Being 5'9", the 76.5 inch length was more than adequate and the 30 inch width allowed me to do my normal tossing and turning without hitting ground. Fully inflated, the pad is a whopping 3 inches thick and extremely comfortable. Being so thick, I felt no discomfort when I was side sleeping. Something other pads fail at. I believe it has to do with the design as there didn't seem to be any air movement between the chambers when fully inflated.

I read somewhere that it takes 50-60 breaths to fill it up but my experience was only 25-30. You'll be blowing in and not seeing much happening and then all of the sudden it's full. Not sure if you would be able to use a pump to air it up but don't know why you would. 25 puffs and lest than 2 minutes and it is fully inflated ready for sleeping. Deflation is as simple as releasing the valve and pressing the air out.

The valves are very durable looking. I was inclined to try to "unscrew" them to open an close and that caused me some confusion in the beginning. It's more of a push/pull and a twist maneuver. Guess they expected me to be smarter that the pad!

This trip was my third opportunity to use the Insulated V Luxe. Man have things improved since my first sleeping pad! I highly recommend the Klymit Insulated Static V Luxe pad. Durable, comfortable, warm and affordable - all good things in my book!

We booked 6 sites of horse camp for Labor Day weekend back in July. They had plenty of time to take care of sites. We got there and the grass was high on all sites. One of the guys with us brought a battery operated weed eater and started to weed eat our area when a park ranger stopped and said we weren’t allowed to weed eat only they are allowed to mow. We asked if they would mow sites and they said NO. The people right down from us on other horse site had to keep horses tied to trailer because weeds were that high you couldn’t get to horse post. One of had brought our RV with horses and were told we weren’t allowed to bring RV even though when we booked it online, it gave us the option to book RV with horses. We usually come to horse camp 5-6 times a year, but think this might be our last time going. Seems they are trying to close down horse camp.. we had reservations on Memorial Day and when we got there it was full of tent campers with NO HORSES but they were allowed to stay there. This place is turning into a joke. You pay $20 a night to get nothing but harassed by the park rangers!!

Steel Creek campground is a beautiful grass savanna orbited by 500 foot bluffs. From the campsites is a short hike through large beautiful hardwood trees. A glorious river of milky blue green waters flows at the base of the bluff around the camp's peninsula. East of Ponca this is the closest area to car/RV camp. This camp is also horse camp friendly. Many trails come through Steel Creek for backpackers, horse trails, and of course canoe/kayakers dock and launch from here. I call this base camp because there are so many trails and historic options in this upper area of the Buffalo. My one and only con is the tent camp area is open to all the other tent campers. In other words your camping side by side. Aside from that its definitely worth it!

We rolled in at 8pm on a Friday night. The sign said "campground full" but thanks to another review we disregarded this and found an open site, as did the person who drove in behind us. The 26 sites are in two layers, one closer to the parking lot, one closer to the woods, river and bluffs. Rangers patrol regularly and are very helpful. There is a ranger station beyond the horse campground which is a pleasant walk or a quick drive. We stopped there to get our National Park stamp! Easy access to a trail directly from the lot, or walk beyond the horse camp to the Old River trail head. Centerpoint Trail is a 15 minute drive away and offers access to the Big Bluff/Goat Trail. Caution drivers: the road in to the campground is windy and steep. A sign warns against bringing RVs. However there were an enormous bus and tons of horse trailers and campers at the bottom of the hill - braver people than I:) Bathrooms are clean, dimly lit at night presumably to keep bugs out. Each site has a lantern pole, fire ring and picnic table. Lost Valley Trail and shelter are a 10-15 minute drive away. Since it was raining we cooked our dinner in the shelter. Overall a beautiful place with great access to multiple trails as well as river access. Sites are a little close, but if you're fine with having neighbors 20 or so feet away, we highly recommend:)