MOUNT MAGAZINE STATE PARK
At 2,753-feet, Mount Magazine is Arkansas's highest mountain, rising dramatically above the broad valleys of the Petit Jean River to the south and the Arkansas River to its north. Graced with timeless natural beauty, this plateau?a remnant of an ancient sea floor?runs east to west stretching six miles long and up to a mile across. Rugged, isolated, and rich in natural resources including rare and endangered species, Mount Magazine has long lured explorers, adventurers, scientists, naturalists, and vacationers.
Though now graced by Ozark National Forest lands and Mount Magazine State Park, Mount Magazine earlier served as home to the settlers who came here in the 1800s to farm. Later, cabins and lodges were built atop the mountain to attract and accommodate the travelers who journeyed to the mountain for recreation, relaxation, and escape from the heat in the lowlands below that the summit's cooler temperatures afforded.
Arkansas Camping at Mount Magazine
The campground at Mount Magazine State Park is located at the site of the former USDA Forest Service Cameron Bluff Campground. The park campground, which opened in the summer of 2001, features reconstructions and upgrades to the original campground, including 18 campsites with water, electric, and sewer hookups. The campground includes a barrier-free bathhouse with hot showers and flush toilets. The park provides an RV dump station. Park campsites man be reserved online or by calling Mount Magazine State Park at: 479-963-8502.
Cameron Bluff Campground
The Cameron Bluff Campground offers 18 campsites (including Class AAA and Class AA including Tent rates). Each site has electric, water, and sewer hookups with a large tent pad, picnic table, upright and ground grill, light pole, and a spacious camping area.
All sites offer 30 amp electric services except for sites #3 and #5, which are supplied with 50 amp service. Site #7 is a barrier-free ADA campsite. Paved parking areas range from 47 to 75 feet in length and are generally very level. Most of the sites will allow for awnings and pull-outs on each side of the camping unit. The bathhouse in the campground offers hot showers and flush toilets. It is open throughout the year.
The campground is located in a wooded area north of Signal Hill, at 2,753-feet it's the tallest point in Arkansas. Camping here is especially popular during summer because of the mountain's cooler temperatures that are usually 10 degrees cooler than in the valleys below. Another advantage to camping on the mountain is that mosquitoes are a rarity here.
When the campground is full, campers may choose from two overflow camping areas at the Brown Springs picnic area and the horse camp.
Mount Magazine Horse Camp
This camping space for tents and horse trailers is within the state park. It is currently undeveloped but in the future will offer up to 21 modern campsites for campers with horses. Located at the entrance to the Huckleberry Mountain Horse Trail managed by the USDA Forest Service, this site provides a great starting point to explore the 34-mile trail system.
The park's magnificent 60-room Lodge at Mount Magazine and 13 park cabins opened in May 2006. Featuring breathtaking views from Mount Magazine's south bluff, these first-class facilities carry on the mountain's lodging tradition that has been a part of the recreational legacy of Mount Magazine since 1900, one most recently carried forward by the U.S. Forest Service lodge that operated on the mountain, at the same site, from the 1940s until it was destroyed by fire in 1971.