Featured amenities
Pet Friendly
River Access
Sites & Rates
Average nightly rates39 total sites
Tent Sites
26 sites
About Steel Creek Campground
Number of accommodations: 39
Activities & Attractions
Nearby
Hiking
Horseback Riding
Year-round
Hiking
Horseback Riding
Seasonal information
2026 Season availability
Campground Amenities
Most popular amenities
Pet friendly
River Access
Water Access
- River Access
Pets and Policies
- Pet friendly
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Rates, Sites & Availability
39 Sites Available
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Site Details
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39 Sites Available
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Reviews (151)
What Guests Are Saying
Steel Creek Campground offers a beautiful and well-maintained location along the Buffalo River, known for its clean facilities and friendly camp hosts. Visitors appreciate the peaceful atmosphere, scenic trails, and wildlife encounters, making it a popular spot for both families and individual campers. While some experience issues with nearby noise and wildlife disruptions, the overall camping experience is highly praised, emphasizing the campground's charm and natural beauty.
What Guests Are Saying
Steel Creek Campground offers a beautiful and well-maintained location along the Buffalo River, known for its clean facilities and friendly camp hosts. Visitors appreciate the peaceful atmosphere, scenic trails, and wildlife encounters, making it a popular spot for both families and individual campers. While some experience issues with nearby noise and wildlife disruptions, the overall camping experience is highly praised, emphasizing the campground's charm and natural beauty.
Review Summary
Jill L
VerifiedMay 8, 2022 • Stayed at: 29 - Horse Site, Loop: Horse Camp
Lisa, camp hostess, is awesome, diligent, very competent, great communicator. Hydrant was broke, fixed, on a sunday, within several hours by lisa and maintenance staff. Camp is beautiful, however, drainage from first 1-3 sites is poor. Need signage to discourage, too fast and needless driving thru horse camping area by people looking to park, launch in river. River is spectacular, what a joy for all public to experience. Way to go to save the buffalo from damns and development!!! Kudos to residents and arkansas!
Jonathan H
VerifiedMay 5, 2022 • Stayed at: 04 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
Great campground fundamentals. Bathrooms reasonably clean during a busy time. Thanks!
Bobbie H
VerifiedApril 27, 2022 • Stayed at: 04 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
Love this campground. Park Ranger came to check in on us after a storm. Thought that was really nice.
Eileen E
VerifiedApril 24, 2022 • Stayed at: 01 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
Camp grounds were clean and gorgeous views. Park attendant was very friendly and helpful. Will stay there again. Loved the place!
Alyssa M
VerifiedMarch 25, 2022 • Stayed at: 08 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
Great place, just don’t like how all the campsites are right by each other and there is no privacy. But everything else is great
Hannah D
VerifiedNovember 19, 2021 • Stayed at: 02 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
Amazing campground and experience. Beautiful scenery, especially in the fall. The drive to the site was crooked and steep but all paved and not too bad. No cell service at the site, but there is a wifi outside of a shop in Ponca about 10 mins away where you can pull your car up outside and connect to the internet. Lots of awesome hiking nearby as well and very dog friendly.
sneha r
VerifiedNovember 11, 2021 • Stayed at: 08 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
Steel Creek was wonderful! It's not primitive at all - so make sure your expectations are accurate. There's plenty of parking, clean restrooms (no showers), and easy access from car to campsite. Campsites don't have a ton of privacy and if full you'll be close to others, but we were there on a cold off-season weekend so wasn't an issue. The setting itself is beautiful, there's a trail directly from campsite that is in total >30 miles. And the location of the campground is central for many day hikes and is close to Jasper, Ponca, and Compton.
Recommend checking out JB Trading Post in Compton - they have gas, hot a la carte food including breakfast, any camping gear you may be missing, and lots of great trail info. Super helpful and glad we stumbled upon it!
Douglas T
VerifiedOctober 31, 2021 • Stayed at: 13 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
The ranger was super nice and helpful. The area and facilities were clean and in nice working condition.
Steve D
VerifiedOctober 30, 2021 • Stayed at: 04 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
We stayed at site #4 and it was fantastic. It was right along the tree line with plenty of space for our tent and canopy, a small alcove in the shade for our hammock and a path that led right down to the river - which was absolutely gorgeous!
My one concern was that the site was at the bottom of a small hill and whether that may be problematic if we got a bunch of rain, but luckily we never had to find out.
The grounds were very well kept. We saw several deer and we actually had a nightly visit from some curious armadillos.
Just a heads up that we did have absolutely zero phone signal here - which wasn’t all together a bad thing, in fact. We would definitely stay here again when in the area.
Hannah S
VerifiedOctober 30, 2021 • Stayed at: 09 - Tent Site, Loop: Main Loop
This is a beautiful place but the first night we were there we had no water (no flushing toilets and no water at the pump). We also had a problem with someone setting up on our reserved site. The ranger was helpful but really couldn’t do much to make them move. We ended up having to share the site with them the first night. We love Steele Creek but were disappointed with our stay this year.
Location Steel Creek Campground
Address:
386 Nc 2104
Jasper, AR, 72641
United States
From Fayetteville, Arkansas drive north and take US Highway 412 East for approximately 42 miles (67.5 km) to the intersection with State Highway 21. Take highway 21 South for approximately 17 miles (27 km) to the intersection of State Highway 43. Here, take highway 43 East for about 5 miles (8 km) to the intersection of State Highway 74. Here, turn right onto highway 74 and drive about 2 miles (3.2 km) to Steel Creek Road. Turn left and drive approximately .5 miles (.8 km) down into the campground. At the bottom of the hill the main campground will be to your left and the horse camp will be to your right.
From Little Rock, Arkansas take Interstate 40 West for approximately 93 miles (150 km) to Exit 64. At Exit 64 take Business Highway 64 west through the town of Lamar for about 4 miles (6.5 km) to the intersection of State Highway 21. Take Highway North for about 48 miles (77 km) to the intersection of State Highway 43. Here, take highway 43 East for about 5 miles (8 km) to the intersection of State Highway 74. Here, turn right onto highway 74 and drive about 2 miles (3.2 km) to Steel Creek Road. Turn left and drive approximately .5 miles (.8 km) down into the campground. At the bottom of the hill the main campground will be your left and the horse camp will be on your right.
From Springfield, Missouri take US Highway 65 South for approximately 70 miles (112.6 km) to the town of Harrison. In Harrison, take State Highway 7 South about 1 mile (1.6 km) through downtown Harrison until you come to the intersection of State Highway 43 on your right. Follow highway 43 for about 25 miles (40 km) until to get to the intersection of State Highway 74. Turn left onto highway 74 and drive about 2 miles (3.2 km) to Steel Creek Road. Turn left and drive approximately .5 miles (.8 km) down into the campground. At the bottom of the hill the main campground will be your left and the horse camp will be on your right.
Elevation: 476 feet
13 mi drive to downtown Jasper (about 20 min)
Policies & Rules
General
- Sites 27 - 39 are our Equestrian Camping Sites only for campers with horses.
- The facility is available for camping free of charge outside of the reservation season, generally November 15th to March 15th every year.
- Climbing and/or diving from the bluffs is dangerous and highly discouraged.
- Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states.
- All park trails are closed to pets with the exception of the Buffalo River Trail, only on the section of trail between Ponca and Steel Creek, the Villines Homestead Trail at Ponca, the Mill Creek Trail (trailhead is at the Pruitt river access area in the Upper District), the Tyler Bend Campground trails (Spring Hollow, Buck Ridge, and Rock Wall in the Middle District), and all three Buffalo Point Campground trails (Forest Trail, Overlook Trail, and Campground Trail in the Lower District). For more information visit the Pets page on the park website.
- Do not swim alone during high water.
- Please be aware that some special events held at the pavilions or anywhere in the park (such as weddings, press receptions, concerts, et al) require a Special Use Permit in addition to the pavilion reservation. To obtain a Special Use Permit or additional information, please contact the Commercial Services office at (870) 365-2724. For more information visit the Special Park Uses page on the park website.
- Please be advised that providing business services within an NPS unit is prohibited per CFR 5.3 without a written Authorization or Permit approved by the Superintendent. This includes services such as RV or tent delivery & set-up, firewood sales and delivery, shuttle (transportation) services, and guided hikes, floats, etc. For a list of approved visitor services and to learn more about working with Buffalo National River, please visit the Doing Business with the Park page on the park website.
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Last updated: September 6, 2026
