Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Calico Rock, AR

This is probably an excellent site in spring or fall. However summertime is hot at the site because of the lack of shade trees. Site 15 is by the water and has a large area for dogs or family. There is a staircase down to the water next to site 8. The fishing is good. It’s a pet friendly site however if your dogs bark neighbors will complain. The manager is friendly. They do not have trash pick up service; you just take your trash to a dumpster at the end of the camp, which is not a big deal. No grill available but has picnic tables and fire ring. WI-FI aid very good.

My wife and I camped here for four nights. Overall it was nice, but there were some things that I wish we knew. The location is great in the sense that it’s easy to get to and it’s laid out well. Unfortunately, it’s directly under an overpass and it is loud- loud enough that I used ear plugs at night.

It’s located on the White river and has a very nice gravel boat ramp, which is a big positive. It also has fishing access during low water.

The WiFi is excellent and the staff are super helpful and friendly.

The biggest plus for us is the bathrooms were among the best that we have found. They’re clean and fairly new.

There is plenty of property to walk and they were very pet friendly. It looks like many of the guests are long term residents.

We love this campground. We love having direct access to creek. It is kayak, family, pet friendly. The only thing it is lacking is internet connection, which for us is a plus for disconnecting. All sites are reasonably level. Site F is the premium and most secluded full hook up site. They have all levels of sites: primitive, water and electric, or full. Their small store has firewood and many other convenient items for sale. We take our own kayaks, but they do have rentals. They have public showers and restrooms, but the restrooms are currently closed due to renovations. It’s really one of our favorite local sites to camp.

Buffalo national river is the first national river established in the US and let me tell you it's gorgeous!! There are many places to camp but we stayed at Buffalo Point. There are a few different loops to stay on, we stayed in A. Each site has parking, for car or RV all differing in length, and you walk behind the parking to an area with benches, picinic table, lantern hanger, and fire pit. The river is behind the sites and you can swim in it. I recommend swim shoes because its all rocks to get to it and entering in and out of the water. Behind A loop on the opposite side from the ramp before the curve in the river is a rope swing. Its across the river so you must be a strong swimmer to beat the current. The bathrooms are well kept and there is trash bins available. Pets are allowed too. The loop that we stayed in was first come first serve and there was a self pay station near the bathroom. If you are up early enough, you may see bald eagles flying around the river like we did!

I completed my undergrad and graduate degrees in Arkansas about 30ish miles north of Little Rock. While living in Arkansas, my brother and I traveled all over the state, including a visit to the Blanchard Springs Caverns and recreation area. Hiking through the caverns and around the recreation area is phenomenal. The caverns make you feel like you’re looking at something made my aliens. It’s really pretty amazing. It’s also enormous inside the cave. For us, it was a day trip excursion. However, we did explore all around the recreation and campground area. I’ve camped all over Arkansas and what I’d say is that this is probably a great place for primitive tent camping and/or backpack/hammock camping. I have three small boys and it wouldn’t be my first choice for a family camping trip, albeit very very cool. The campground is small, maybe 30 or so spots and heavily wooded. The terrain isn’t conducive to kids unless you’re ok constantly being concerned about injuries. There are lots of cool swimming holes, moving water and falls nearby with it’s close proximity to Mirror Lake and Sugar Loaf Mt. definitely worth a trip if you’re close by, but not something I’d make a multi-hour trip for. Also wouldn’t stay there more than maybe two nights. I’d say if you’re camping somewhere relatively close, work in a day trip to Blanchard Springs. If you are like me and have kids, and you’d have to travel anything beyond an hour or two to get there, it’s not worth it. There are too many beautiful places in AR and you’d probably drive by more than one of them to get to Blanchard Springs. I’m giving it 3 stars for that reason alone. If I were rating based solely on the sites, activities, etc. I’d give it 5.