Camping and Canoe Rental

Buffalo Outdoor Center
Ponca, Arkansas

Camping
Camping on the Buffalo River is a beautiful outdoor experience, whether you’re in a designated National Park Service campground or camping on a vacant gravel bar along the river.

Upper River Campgrounds
The upper Buffalo River features several National Park Service campgrounds with pretty scenery and rustic services. The campgrounds of the upper Buffalo River are: Lost Valley, Steel Creek, Kyle’s Landing, Erbie, Ozark, Carver, and Mount Hersey. Lost Valley, Steel Creek, and Kyle’s Landing campgrounds are the most popular because of their proximity to the Ponca-to-Kyle’s Landing section of river.

First-Come, First-Serve Camping
Upper river National Park Service campgrounds do not accept reservations. So, if your plans include a spring weekend outing, you’ll want to arrive early in order to secure a site, as it is not uncommon for the campgrounds to be filled by Friday evening. Sites are $10/night. Up to 6 people may camp in a site.

No Electricity or RV Facilities
Please note that ALL upper river campgrounds have no electricity and no shower facilities. The campgrounds do, however, have running water, pit and/or flush toilets, and tent camping sites with a grill grate, lantern pole, and picnic table. Plus, there is a pay phone at campgrounds. (Please note that cell phones cannot receive reception at campgrounds due to the geography and lack of towers in this area.) If you have an RV, you should call the NPS at (870) 741-5443 for campsite recommendations.

Free-Choice Camping
You may camp along the river or hiking trail in a site of your own choosing as long as you stay ½ mile ABOVE or BELOW a designated National Park Service campground. This type of camping is FREE, but certain park service guidelines and regulations do apply such as those relating to trash and fire rings. Check with the NPS headquarters in Harrison at 870-741-5443 for specific details. Always camp with rising water in mind. Check qualified weather forecast sources before choosing to launch. Choose a camp site that offers an escape out by land.

The Buffalo National River begins as a trickle in the Boston Mountains, where it flows north and then eastward through the Ozark Mountains until it merges 150 miles later with the White River at Buffalo City.

The upper Buffalo, where we’re located, offers the river’s finest scenic beauty. With its massive towering bluffs, countless waterfalls, watchable wildlife, ties to both historic and prehistoric cultures, and remote unspoiled location, the upper Buffalo River wilderness is surely mid-America’s finest outdoor destination.

In fact, the entire river is such a special place that in 1972, Congress designated it as America’s first national river. This unique status protects the Buffalo from commercial or residential development, along with other destructive operations such as damming and gravel mining, thus preserving its scenic beauty and natural wild state forever.

Buffalo Outdoor Center

Jct. AR Hwys. 43 & 74
P.O. Box 1
Ponca Arkansas, 72670
1-800-221-5514