Petit Jean Campground - Morrilton, Arkansas

Chris D.

We will be back to spend more time . Spent the afternoon and next day exploring the park and watching the eagles , 5 total Bald Eagles and possibly a Golden Eagle ? These all from our campsite at A, 16. Many good sites in this section and ample space and visibility to the lake from most , 16,19 are waterfront .. Very clean facilities and the trails and hiking is fantastic . Ran out of time and did not see the natural bridge .. Lodge has a great view restaurant with decent food ..

Candace W.

Great RV park! We stayed in Section A so I can't speak to the other sections. Section A was on the lake and a beautiful park. For a state park, the bath house was very nice and clean. In the women's side, there was 2 sinks, 3 locking stalls with toilets, and 2 showers. My only 2 small complaints were that the showers only had a curtain - I prefer shower areas with locking stalls doors. Additionally the heat was turned up way too much. It was December and it was blazing hot in the bath house - like sweating after being inside for 2 minutes. Other than those two tiny things, it was a nice park and even had some cell service (which was not the case in other state parks we stayed at)!

Relax R. P. (.

We arrived at our campsite and backed our 30' class A motorhome into it. The site was super narrow with a severe uphill slope. After trying to get our rig situated, we gave up. We had 8 blocks under each front wheel and it was still not level. And with the narrowness of the site, we would not have been able to extend our slides. We called the office, the woman said there were no other sites available in any of the loops. We had to move to the overflow field. We have owned this rig for over 6 years and have stayed in hundreds of campgrounds and we have experienced such issues in only 1 other campground.
We then walked through the campground loops and saw many other sites that appeared to be in as bad shape or even worse as compared to our original site.
For such a great park we expected RV campsites that would suit the rig that were entered into their reservation website.
We talked to a couple of employees and camp hosts and they agreed that some of the sites need to be improved. SMH

mrserwin101114

Petit Jean is beautiful. We stayed in section B with our camper. This section has been newly renovated, the pads are level, there are a couple of handicap spots that are extra wide, the bathroom is really nice (pictures shown) but it is by the main road which is fairly busy. It didn't bother us but to some it may. Also, ask the visitors center to email you an updated map of the spots because it took us 2 circles around to find ours - come to find out, when they remodeled they changed spot numbers and moved the bathhouse. The map online hasn't been updated as of yet. Section A is on the lake and most of those looked to be pull-thrus. Section c & d are more wooded and seemed to be non-septic and alot were not level. They would be ok for small campers and tents though. Overall, we can't wait to go back

Caroline F.

Stayed at site 72 off Bratcher Rd for two nights on a roadtrip. Wish I could've stayed longer! It was not far off I-40, but the road up the mountain is steep and windy, which would've been much more difficult with a larger camper, but it seems like plenty of people do it.
The park was incredible. The birding was great. I wish I could've had more time to explore more trails. Staff was also super friendly and helpful.
Bathrooms were clean, but I wish the shower had another curtain for the changing area. There were two showers with curtains, but I had to walk across to the changing area with no curtain to get to the towel hanger and bench.

Overall my favorite park I've been to on my journeys!

Mackenzie S.

I hate to have to give this beautiful campground such a low rating, but I’m doing it after seeing so many ticks. We took a picture of one and showed it to the workers at the visitation center, but they seemed very casual about it and did not give us any resources. We checked ourselves and all seemed clean, but a few days later, we noticed that my husband had a tick bite and had to get medical attention.
However, the campsite was very nice. Plenty of space for our vehicle, tent, hammock, and the picnic table. It was nice to have a water set up while also being so close to the public bathrooms and showers. Not too much privacy in the campgrounds. You can see and hear everyone around you. We often had people walk through our campsite and actually woke up to a child sitting in our site.

John C.

There are four campgrounds. A is the best with big, widely-spaced sites mostly with water views. B is somewhat less spacious but pretty good mainly with some sites too close to the highway for some (me). C is next with maybe 25% sites that are too small, too crowded together, too uneven or too close to the road. D has about 50% unusable (to me) campsites. Each loop has comparable restroom and shower facilities of varying ages.

Edward L.

This was our first visit to Petit Jean State Park, a very nice park which exceeded our expectations. We were there in early September 2022 in a van and tent. We stayed at site 70. The sites are large, flat and well spread out. The park has a pool which was closed when we were there after Labor Day. Unfortunately, unlike many other state parks in Arkansas, they do not allow swimming in the lake. There is a large waterfall in the park but it was not flowing when we were there to our great disappointment. But it had not rained for a couple of weeks, so that was not unexpected. There are a number of very challenging hiking trails, so be careful which one you select. We found one elderly couple hiking one the valley trails who got lost after 3 hours of walking. They were so exhausted that we gave them a car ride back to their campsite which was several miles away by road.

There are modern, clean bathhouses with flush toilets and free hot showers. The historical log lodge provides some good top-of-the mountain views with excellent food at affordable prices. We highly recommend you try dining there at least once. There is an incredible lookout called Petit Jean Overlook and Gravest only 2-3 miles east of the center of the park on Rte 154 (a.k.a. Petit Jean Mountain Road) that overlooks the Arkansas River valley. The many informative signs tell the history of the park and the breathtaking view should not be missed. One can even see the lock and dam from the bluffs above the river along with a portion of the “Trail of Tears”. You can see for many miles in all directions and one of the best panoramas we have seen anywhere in the world. They allow you to crawl out on the large rocks for a dramatic view of the river valley just like the tourist photos you see of the Norway Fjords. For us, this was the highlight of the park visit and missed by too many visitors.

Overall, we would rate this a 5 star campground and plan to visit it many times in the future. We found the Arkansas State Parks and the US Corp of Engineer campgrounds spread out across the state to be excellent and inexpensive compared to other states. Almost all of them have lakes and modern facilities much superior to those in many other states. We especially like Lake Charles SP, Bull Shoals SP, and the Corp of Engineers Waveland campground. All were excellent and 5 star properties.