Gulpha Gorge Campground
Hot Springs National Park
Write a Review 305 Gulpha Gorge Rd. Hot Springs, AR 71901 501-620-6715 Reservations: 877-444-6777 Official WebsiteGPS: 34.5235, -93.0364
Overview of Gulpha Gorge Campground
Gulpha Gorge Campground is open year-round and all campsites require reservations on Recreation.gov.
RVs and trailers are allowed. The max allowed length is 60 ft. and includes vehicle length.
Last Price Paid: $17
Reported by Nomad Reign RV on 8/18/2024
Longest RV Reported: 38 feet (Toy Hauler Travel Trailer)
Reported by RVwithRandC on 3/4/2020
Number of Sites 40
Pad Type asphalt
Reservations yes
Elevation 524 ft / 159 m
Max Stay 14
Max Length 60 ft
Tent Camping Yes
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Q&A - Ask the Community about Gulpha Gorge Campground
To ask questions of the owner or manager please contact the campground directly. 501-620-6715
Kmurphy asked on 3/26/2022
How difficult is it to get a site here in April? Concerned about no reservations!
Reviews of Gulpha Gorge Campground 96 people have reviewed this location.
Cell Phone Coverage
Confirmed by 65 Users
Last reported 9/11/2024
Confirmed by 29 Users
Last reported 8/18/2024
Confirmed by 14 Users
Last reported 8/18/2024
“Great volunteer stint as trail hosts!”
Reviewed 9/11/2016
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 90 |
| Site Number: | 13 |
Overall Rating
We stayed at Gulpha Gorge CG from June, 2016- August, 2016 as trail hosts (we hiked instead of paying rent for the summer. Happy to answer questions about this if you message me! @hello_casita on Instagram). Campground: -FYI - in August, 2016 they started transitioning all campsites into full hookups. There will no longer be any $... more
We stayed at Gulpha Gorge CG from June, 2016- August, 2016 as trail hosts (we hiked instead of paying rent for the summer. Happy to answer questions about this if you message me! @hello_casita on Instagram).
Campground:
-FYI - in August, 2016 they started transitioning all campsites into full hookups. There will no longer be any $10 dry camping spots.
-Be sure to check for dead trees above and around your campsite. The landscaping crew has been working to remove hazardous trees, but they can only do so much. We had a tree go thru our roof the first week we were there and it was a painful process to have it fixed.
Connectivity
-The campground has great Verizon service and we were able to stream Netflix consistently without a booster.
- Most establishments downtown offer free wi-fi.
Hiking:
-You can walk into town via Dead Chief Trail > Grand Promenade. To avoid a steep hill where Dead Chief meets the Grand Promenade, take the Reserve Trail spur and road walk a few blocks to Central Avenue (aka, the main street in Hot Springs).
-You can walk to Mickey's BBQ from the campground via the Sunset Trail. Mickeys is open W-Sat 10:30-7:30pm.
-The Arlington Trail takes you to the unlocked 7th Floor outdoor pool & hot tub area at the hotel.
- If you only have time for one hike, the Goat Rock Trail is probably your best bet. It's one of the only hikes where you actually get to a vista point. A nice loop is to combine this with the Upper Dogwood trail.
Food & Drink
-DeLuca's Pizzeria is fabulous. It's expensive, but oh so delicious. And the chef/owner will come out to your table and talk to you.
-Superior Bathhouse has great beer, but crappy service & food.
-Kollective Coffee or Red Light Roastery are great for coffee/tea. Kollective has food
-The Pancake Shoppe is worth the wait, but if you don't want to wait Phil's Restaurant is a wonderful alternative.
-Maxine's has great food and beer selection. But really, really shitty service at the bar.
-The Wine Rack & Spirit's Shoppe on Albert Pike Rd. has an excellent selection of beer/wine/liquor. This is the only place we found for the good stuff. There is a craft beer shop opening downtown in Fall, 2016. FYI - you cannot buy booze in Arkansas on Sunday, but you can buy growlers from restaurants (Superior Bathhouse is your best bet for this).
Things to do
-Garvan Gardens is worth the money. I loved that place so much I bought an annual membership. If you don't want to throw down $20pp, at least go and see the Anthony Chapel by Architect Fay Jones (free access outside of the Garvan Gardens gates).
RV Repairs/Propane
-Razorback RV is the only game in town and they are AWESOME. They put on our roof and have provided lots of free advice over the phone. I would go out of my way to have my trailer fixed here.
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Verizon 4G
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Awesome, wish we would have stayed another week.”
Reviewed 6/24/2016
| Nightly rate: | $15 |
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| Days stayed: | 7 |
| RV Length: | 36' (Class A) |
Overall Rating
This is a wonderful spot! Close to town but feels like in the middle of nowhere. Only real noise, other than the sound of the stream outside our window, was trucks using their exhaust breaks on the valley road. Good connectivity, Full hookup sites. The park is first come first parked, so we arrived on a Sunday midday. Foun... more
This is a wonderful spot! Close to town but feels like in the middle of nowhere. Only real noise, other than the sound of the stream outside our window, was trucks using their exhaust breaks on the valley road.
Good connectivity, Full hookup sites.
The park is first come first parked, so we arrived on a Sunday midday. Found a spot no problem (needed some serious leveling though) but it was not on the stream. Camp host was walking by while we had dinner outside and said the guy across from us on the stream was leaving in the morning and we could move if we wanted to. He just had to sign our site slip...
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AT&T 4G
Verizon 4G
RV Sikeseeing would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Perfect!!!”
Reviewed 5/1/2016
| Nightly rate: | $30 |
|---|---|
| Days stayed: | 9 |
| Site Number: | 23 |
Overall Rating
Wow!!! Our favorite type of campsite: non-reservable, full-service, close to town and decent shopping, hiking opportunities right from the campsite, close to many attractions: Hot Springs NP, Garvan Woodland Gardens, some wonderful lakes, the Clinton Presidential Library and several historical civil rights sites (in nearby Little Rock... more
Wow!!! Our favorite type of campsite: non-reservable, full-service, close to town and decent shopping, hiking opportunities right from the campsite, close to many attractions: Hot Springs NP, Garvan Woodland Gardens, some wonderful lakes, the Clinton Presidential Library and several historical civil rights sites (in nearby Little Rock,) the southern edge of the Ozark Mountains, local art & music festivals, and the list goes on.
Full hookup sites are $30 night ($15 with Golden Age or Interagency Pass) and no hookup sites are $10 (or $5 with the above passes.) There are 44 sites, the best ones are undoubtedly the full service ones along Gulpha Creek: #'s 20, 21, 23 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 & 33. Some of these sites are larger than others, but all are large enough for the biggest rig and all offer very good separation/privacy from your neighbors. Our site (#23) was unarguably the largest and best site of the lot. But you'd be hard pressed to find a bad site among those in this list.
In addition to enjoying all that the Hot Springs area had to offer, we really enjoyed just sitting on the banks of the creek reading our books!
Verizon internet speeds were among the fastest we've ever seen and we were easily able to stream HD video.
As this is a no-reservation (i.e., first come first served) campground, I recommend arriving early in the week to be assured of a site (i.e., Sunday through Wednesday,) especially during the peak family camping season. There are other private campgrounds nearby which could serve as a "Plan B" but in my opinion they are quite inferior to the National Park campground and it would be disappointing to end up in one of those if you had your heart on staying in the National Park.
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Verizon 4G
Bob Martel would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Full hookups + close to downtown + streamside cheap primitive sites”
Reviewed 4/21/2016
| Nightly rate: | $10 |
|---|---|
| Days stayed: | 7 |
| Site Number: | 41 |
| RV Length: | 35' (Fifth Wheel) |
Overall Rating
This is a comfortable national park campground. There are actually full hookup sites! This is the most "RV park" feeling national park campground we've ever stayed in. And it's a great location. 3 minute drive to Bathhouse Row, or a 1.5 mile hike on the Dead Chief Trail. We opted for the primitive sites to save some money. Dry campi... more
This is a comfortable national park campground. There are actually full hookup sites! This is the most "RV park" feeling national park campground we've ever stayed in. And it's a great location. 3 minute drive to Bathhouse Row, or a 1.5 mile hike on the Dead Chief Trail.
We opted for the primitive sites to save some money. Dry camping sites with a mostly level concrete pad are $10 a night. Full-hookup sites, most of which were taken when we arrived, are $30 a night.
Nearest fresh water: Right at the campground entrance.
Nearest dump station: Right at the campground entrance, too.
We stayed in a primitive site #41 and would definitely stay here again.
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Verizon 4G
188sqft would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Nice, open CG with access to trails into town”
Reviewed 3/7/2016
| Days stayed: | 3 |
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| RV Length: | 25' |
Overall Rating
A few sites along a small creek and the rest arranged along a couple parallel loops. The real attraction was either a 1.4 mile hike or a short drive into the town of Hot Springs to tour the bathhouses or grab coffee or a nice dinner. The town is definitely set up for tourism which can go over the line towards kitsch, but the history of... more
A few sites along a small creek and the rest arranged along a couple parallel loops. The real attraction was either a 1.4 mile hike or a short drive into the town of Hot Springs to tour the bathhouses or grab coffee or a nice dinner. The town is definitely set up for tourism which can go over the line towards kitsch, but the history of health tourism is pretty interesting. Several of the bathhouses are still open for fancy spa treatments and one has been preserved to display the wacky stuff that used to go on there. There are also several spots around where you can fill a water bottle with the mineral rich (but good tasting) spring water, once you let it cool from a boil that is.
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Verizon 4G
Adventures of Dave and Ann would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Serene and Peaceful”
Reviewed 5/24/2015
| Nightly rate: | $30 |
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| Days stayed: | 5 |
| Site Number: | 21 |
Overall Rating
We had an amazing stay at Gulpha Gorge in Hot Springs National Park. The setting in the gorge makes it feel like you're 100 miles away from town when it's actually just a few minutes drive. We arrived at 11:30 on a weekday prior to Memorial Day weekend and there were plenty of spots open although we grabbed the last full-hookup s... more
We had an amazing stay at Gulpha Gorge in Hot Springs National Park. The setting in the gorge makes it feel like you're 100 miles away from town when it's actually just a few minutes drive.
We arrived at 11:30 on a weekday prior to Memorial Day weekend and there were plenty of spots open although we grabbed the last full-hookup site (yes full hook-up's in a national park!) with the creek behind us. The whole campground is first-come, first-serve. Self-register with credit card or cash. Even throughout the holiday weekend, there were a couple sites open at all times. The area is also a day use area so there were a lot of people around during the day but it was also a holiday weekend.
The campsites are spacious enough, not enough vegetation between sites to block the view of your neighbor but we didn't feel like we were on top of each other by any means. All but one site were over 30', even the non-hookup sites. The campground was very clean and well kept. The camp hosts were available and friendly. There are three modern bathrooms but no showers.
There are a ton of trails in the park and they are accessible from the campground and all trails are dog-friendly! It is about a 1.5 mile easy/moderate hike to town. If you prefer to drive, it takes about 3 minutes. If it hasn't rained recently, the creek in the campground can be used for swimming/wading and plenty of people had their dogs playing in the creek as well.
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Verizon 4G
WanderWasi would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
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Amenities
Hookups
- 50 Amp
- 30 Amp
- 20 Amp
- water
- dry camping
- sewer
- Full Hookups
Recreation
- recreation trail
Site Amenities
- big rig
- picnic table
Facilities
- dump station
- ADA Accessible
- restrooms: flush
- trash
- water available
Pets
- pets
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