Agency-listedNPSFee
Big Spring Campground
Dispersed · National Park Service · MO · 36.96250, -90.98196
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →National Park Service lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Big Spring Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 450 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Big Spring CampgroundNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Big Spring Campground · National Park Service · MO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- ShShower0 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- RxPharmacy20 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- HHardware24 mi
- OOutfitter28 mi
- DDump28 mi
- +Urgent care33 mi
- WWater34 mi
- EVEV fast charger35 mi
- LLaundry42 mi
- AAir-up51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 34-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 35-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Big Spring Campground
Access
Dispersed
Land
National Park Service
Elevation
450 ft
Ground slope
1.1% · flat
State
MO
Coordinates
36.96250, -90.98196
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Big Spring Campground · National Park Service · MO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCurrent River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townVan Buren · ~3.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~3.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~28.5 mi
- GroceriesSmalley's Convenience & Deli · ~3.1 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~19.8 mi
- HardwareCastle Products · ~24.5 mi
EV charging — from Big Spring Campground · National Park Service · MO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger34.8 mi straight-line SE — Baldwin Chevrolet Cadillac, POPLAR BLUFF, MO · EV Connect · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 5 within 50 · 49 within 100 · 283 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)80.1 mi — Miner, MO - Tesla Supercharger, Miner
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO35.4 mi — Vine Street Parking - Poplar Bluff, Poplar Bluff
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)31.8 mi — Fairfield Inn - Popular Bluff MO, Poplar Bluff, MO · EV Connect · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Poplar Bluff, Poplar Bluff, 31.9 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 Hours Daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 306912 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Big Spring Campground · National Park Service · MO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomLC BS Big Spring 200 Loop Restroom 483 · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomLC BS Big Spring Group Site #1 Restroom 479 · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomLC BS Big Spring 5-Mod Restroom/Hot Showers #481 · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomLC BS Big Spring 300 Loop Restroom #490 · at this camp · NPS
Coming out here — Big Spring Campground · National Park Service · MO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Current River as a perennial river, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.1% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Big Spring Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Big Spring Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Watercress~3.4 mi · fee
- Pinewoods Lake~11.9 mi · fee
- Peck Ranch Conservation Area~12.9 mi
- Roberts Field Primitive Campground~15.6 mi
Who holds the land at Big Spring Campground
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Ozark National Scenic Riverways, manager on record: National Park Service (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Big Spring Campground
Fire rules
Campfires are permitted at designated campsites and must be contained in the metal fire ring provided.
Stay limit
14 nights (14 days in a 30-day period)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Ozark National Scenic Riverways, developed campground on the Current River beside Big Spring; 137 reservable sites on recreation.gov. FEE: NPS developed-campgrounds page -- summer (Apr 15 - Oct 15) standard non-electric $20, standard electric $30, cluster $45, group $140. Winter (Oct 16 - Apr 14) standard non-electric $10, standard electric $20, cluster $10, group $50. "Developed campsites are available by reservation only" through recreation.gov. STAY LIMIT: "Camping stays are limited to 14 days in a 30-day period in the same campground." (nps.gov/ozar/learn/management/camping-regulations.htm) FIRE: campfires must be in the metal fire ring provided; "During periods of elevated fire danger, open fires may be restricted or prohibited." Fires are prohibited in caves, within 50 ft of cave mouths, and within 50 ft of designated river accesses/landings except during gigging season. recreation.gov lists Amphitheater, Ranger Station and Showers as campground amenities. ACCESS: paved; recreation.gov -- "four miles (6.4 km) south of Van Buren, Missouri." NEAREST TOWN: Van Buren, MO. COORDINATE: mean of the 137 per-site coordinates recreation.gov publishes (facility 234044, read 2026-08-17); the NPS Public POIs pin "Big Spring Campground" is 0.12 mi away. SOURCE: https://www.nps.gov/ozar/planyourvisit/developed-campgrounds.htm | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Big Spring Campground
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether the fire rule stated above still stands today — what we have is a dated reading of the agency's listing, not a live restriction feed
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Big Spring Campground
Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →Dispersed camping tips →Picking a spot →All field notes →