Best Glamping near Greeson Lake

Beautiful area near the Buffalo National River. Lost Valley Canoe & Lodging has a yurt, campsites, cabins with hot tubs on the deck, bunkhouse, showers, allows pets, and is family owned. Loyal customers return year after year. Canoeing, kayaking, or hiking. LVC store has groceries, even organic, supplies, and friendly folks.

The campground and the shower house/bathrooms were very nice and clean. The site we had was on a hill so I wouldn’t pick that one again.Most are flat. They have a yurt that you can rent and a deck with a heavy duty tent over it close to the water. If you want to walk nearby and get in the water it is rocky so bring your water shoes! There is a marina store nearby if you need something. We would camp here again.

Stayed here on a motorcycle trip in May 2018 and had some beautiful weather. The campsite was large with an asphalt path and a nice spot for my tent. First weekend in May and the park was pretty much full. My campsite close to the facilities. It was a nice state park campground, similar to all of the others in Missouri as far as amenities. Cell phone service and lots of walking paths. Close to lakes, the Arkansas border, and Branson was just 15 minutes away.

I am extremely disappointed with our recent stay at Buffalo Outdoor Center RV Park in Ponca, Arkansas. After a 7.5-hour drive, we arrived on June 29, 2024, eager to enjoy a week-long stay. Unfortunately, our visit turned into a nightmare within just one hour of our arrival. While setting up our 5th wheel trailer, there was a loud pop followed by smoke pouring out of our TV. Thankfully, my husband was able to unplug it before our trailer caught fire. To our dismay, none of the outlets on one side of our trailer were working, and our TV, microwave, and fan were all fried and non-functional. We immediately contacted an employee who came to our site, inspected the outside meter post by looking at it, not testing it, and nonchalantly stated that since there was no smoke coming from it, the problem must be on our end. When my husband asked for immediate assistance, the employee told us we would have to wait two days, until Monday, and go to a nearby town to find someone to help us. This response was unacceptable and showed a complete lack of concern for our safety. Moreover, the employee had the audacity to shame us by asking if we had a GFI power surge protector plugged into the meter. None of the other RV sites had this, and in our 23+ years of camping, we have never encountered such an issue. Feeling unsafe and unsupported, we decided to pack up and drive the 7.5 hours back home, after being at the site for just one hour. The lack of assistance and options provided by the Buffalo Outdoor Center was disheartening, especially considering we were in a completely different state with no information on what we could do. Upon arriving home, we hooked up our camper at our local campground, and everything worked fine. We also went on another camping trip to a local RV campground, and again, everything worked perfectly. This clearly indicated that the surge was on Buffalo Outdoor Center's end. When we requested a refund, they refunded all but one day. This is unacceptable considering the distress, inconvenience, and financial loss we endured, including having to purchase a new TV, microwave, and fan. Our experience at Buffalo Outdoor Center RV Park was nothing short of a disaster. The lack of customer service, concern for our safety, and willingness to provide immediate assistance was appalling. We will not be returning and cannot recommend this RV park to anyone.

What it's like....

The campground has sites available for camper/RVs, tents, and also has six platform tents that you can rent to sleep at.  The platform tents have electricity available in the tents, but thats about it.  The platform tents are pretty big and they do have cots, chairs, tables, inflatable mattresses, etc.. available to rent if you want to up your platform tent experience.  Each site has a fire ring and picnic table, and there is access to a dump station for the RVs and campers.  They have an onsite general store that has about everything you could want from sandwiches to spark plugs you should be able to find what you need.  There are also some disc golf holes set up, a basketball goal, and a "hammock city" area in the middle of the primitive campsites.  The bathrooms are pretty magical with access to 25 cent/min showers and the campground even has WIFI, which isn't a reason to go camping, but when you don't have any cell service it comes in pretty handy.

What to do....

The campground is located about 10 miles north of the Boxley Valley in Arkansas which has some of the best hiking and canoeing you will find in the US.  If you like to canoe or kayak and you haven't been on the Buffalo National River, you are truly missing out on one of the most scenic rivers out there.  There are also ton's of hiking trails many taking you to the various waterfalls in the region.  If you are stumped on which trails to go on my two go-to hikes in the area are the "Lost Valley Trail" and the "Whittaker Point (Hawks Bill Crag) Trail".  Both are pretty accessible to all and will not disappoint.

What I thought....

I've been to the area before so I knew the hiking / waterfall chasing would be amazing, and it was, but I had never heard about the campground before.  I was more than pleased with campground. Everyone we ran into who worked there was extremely helpful and I could not have been more impressed by the cleanliness of the park and its amenities.  I was especially impressed by by the bathrooms at the grounds and that the campgrounds had WIFI.  The only reason I gave this campground a 4/5 and not 5/5 was how close it was to the highway.  Being in the middle of know-where helped keep the traffic down at night, but if there was anyone passing you were going to hear it.   Regardless, I would 100% go back and probably do so pretty soon and take the whole family.

This campground exceeded our expectations. Though packed for Labor day weekend, we never felt the crowd. Scheduled activities for the kids over the weekend was amazing. They had crafts, bubble parties, (see photo) pool, hay rides, and more. The staff was friendly, and beyond helpful when needed. The other plus is that it is 20 minutes from Branson. No need to hear or fight crowds until you are ready! Rated it a five bit did wish my particular site was better. It was small, rocky, and starting to wash out. There were many great sites, and we will use one of their executive sites when we return. Look at park and read up before reserving. Half the sites are close to pool and playground, but not many trees. The other half are an easy 2 minute walk and tree covered!

Well taken care of place with lots of activities. Close to lake Bull Shoals, Taneycomo, and Branson if that's your thing.

Awesome staff! Great place to go if you want to be close to Branson but not spend all day every day there and still have activities for the kids to do. Sites are closer together but found that to be fairly typical with yogi campgrounds. This one has beautiful mature trees all over and the staff are continuing to make improvements/upgrades.

We’ll be back

This was a beautiful layout and a family friendly camp. They had a bunch of wonderful activities that were perfect for my 10 year old and I felt completely safe allowing my son to play around on his own.

Family style theme campgrounds are always fun.   Not really so much about the hiking and outdoors as many other camps in the area but the amenities and attraction of the campgrounds are usually the selling point.  

I have seen many Jellystone Parks in the past, and I will say this one is a bit less themed than others.  However what it lacks in theming it does make up for in charm as the cast and staff are extra friendly and involved.   They ensure that children have interactions with Yogi and that there are plenty of fun activities for the entire family to enjoy!!

They host daily activity times for foam parties, scavenger hunts, interactions and crafts which is really fun and makes for a great family style outing especially for the younger kiddos.   Additionally they have a splash pad, swimming pool, hiking areas which are a bit less challenging, playground and ranger station.    

Though they do have an all inclusive style approach to entertainment they also have show tickets available for purchase for venturing into Branson itself, a great touch for additional entertainment as there are many things the entire family will enjoy.

Tent camping along with RV camping and Cabins is available but something unique to the park is the RV rental service where you can rent an RV to stay in, something not to many parks in Branson offer.

When I visited the park, some of the amenities and special attractions were currently closed due to the conditions going on in the world, but they still made sure to make it an exciting experience for all staying there.

This was a weekender for us. The campground is well organized and very clean. Kids have lots of fun activities waiting for them.
One great feature of this place, is the fact that they separated the 'Family' and 'Activity' areas from the older folks area. Oldies like us can enjoy the kids play and noise, but can get away when it becomes too much. That's great.
Nice hot showers.

The camp is directly off of the river.  For those how love to kayak, swim, fish, of just be in nature this is the place to be.  There are a few tent locations that are located away from the main area if you what to be away from it all.  There are cabins as well.  The camp offers a plethora of boat options to enjoy the river, and they also provide shuttle services for the 8 and 5 mile floats. If you love to hike, there are some amazing hiking trails with gorges views, water crossings, and even waterfalls.  They also have an amazing bathroom area complete with showers for after your day of adventure.  The cleanliness rivals most home bathrooms.  They also have a stocked store on site with nearly anything you would want or need.  The best part of this place are the owners.  They truly care for the campers/floaters.

Great run park just not really a fan of gravel sites. And some sites are very steep

We’ve been staying here for the last five years with no issues. Has a pedestrian gate that dumps out on the strip right between titanic and a steakhouse right across from Hollywood wax museum and mini golf course. We stay on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends and this park is close to everything, but still is easy to get in and out of town. Staff helps pull/back in and helps pull out if needed. Also has a little convenience store for RV things that may have broke or been forgotten. Super friendly people. Can’t say enough nice things about this park. Very quiet too even though it’s almost right on the strip.

This is one of the largest KOAs I've stayed at and the kampground itself is very nice. The staff were great ands check in was super quick. Also, there's a rugged little trail that goes behind the kampground. It was a great little walk for the dog and I to stretch our legs after our long drive. 

The tent sites are all located at the back of the kampground around a circular pavillion. Each tent site has its own water facet, electricity, and fair internet which are somewhat redeeming for the negatives below. It's nice to have a covered picnic table and the lattice provides some privacy from the picnic tables of the other campers. Other than the traffic is very quiet in by 7:30 or so. Everyone seems respectful of each other. 

The tent sites are disappointing to me. They're small, close together, and nearer to the highway than makes for a good night's sleep in a tent. That makes them kind of pricey for what you get.

I'm tent camping because I want to be distanced from other people. I put mine up as far to the side as I can go, but I'm  still literally only 10 feet from the next tent. Other users mentioned grass on the sites. I haven't seen any grass around and site 5 has only stones on the tent pad. This site also has probably the worst view. It faces out toward one of the kampground roads and is in full view of the street light. The back sites seem darker.

I'd highly recommend this KOA if you're visiting Branson in a trailer or RV. The kabins also look really cute (and there are lots of them!). If I visited here again in a tent, I'd pick one of the two sites that face the woods.