Agency-listedNPS · dispersedFree
Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
Drive-up · National Park Service · AR · 36.00924, -92.95292
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 Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 689 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)NIFC · 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 Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District) · National Park Service · AR
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail5 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- DDump12 mi
- GGrocery13 mi
- OOutfitter17 mi
- MMechanic18 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- WWater19 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- +Urgent care20 mi
- LLaundry32 mi
- ShShower43 mi
- AAir-up46 mi
- EVEV fast charger48 mi
- PPropane52 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 48-mi run (and back).
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 — Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
Access
Drive-up
Land
National Park Service · dispersed
Elevation
689 ft
Ground slope
3.4% · gentle
State
AR
Coordinates
36.00924, -92.95292
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District) · National Park Service · AR (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMill Branch · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMount Hersey · ~0.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~13.1 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~19.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorth Arkansas Regional Medical Center · ~18.0 mi
EV charging — from Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District) · National Park Service · AR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger48.0 mi straight-line SW — Walmart 66 (Clarksville, AR) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 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 · 2 within 50 · 65 within 100 · 122 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)61.1 mi — Ozark, AR - Tesla Supercharger, Ozark
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.4 mi — Clay Maxey Ford, Harrison, AR · Blink Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Red Oak Station - Jasper - Tesla Destination, Jasper, 13.1 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Big Cedar - Top of the Rock, Ridgedale, 39.9 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily; for customer use only; see front desk for access · AFDC lists it “Free” - 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 121814 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District) · National Park Service · AR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomMD MH Mt. Hersey Romtec Toilet 3-56 · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomMD WO Woolum Campground Romtec Toilet 1 3-53 · ~4.5 mi SE · NPS
- RestroomMD WO Woolum Campground Romtec Toilet 2 3-54 · ~4.8 mi SE · NPS
- RestroomMD WO Woolum Campground Romtec Toilet 3 3-55 · ~4.9 mi SE · NPS
Coming out here — Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District) · National Park Service · AR
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mill Branch as a perennial stream, under 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 3.4% — gentle. 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District) elsewhere
Other camps near Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Gene Rush Camping Area #3~2.3 mi
- Gene Rush Camping Area #5~2.7 mi
- Gene Rush Camping Area #4~2.9 mi
- Gene Rush Camping Area #6~3.6 mi
Who holds the land at Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Buffalo National River, 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 — Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
Closures
None posted (checked 2026-08-18)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
NPS Buffalo National River. FEE: nps.gov/buff/planyourvisit/camping.htm read 2026-08-16 says of the Middle District, verbatim: "No fees are charged for any camping area in the Middle District except for the Tyler Bend Campground." STAY LIMIT: nps.gov/buff/planyourvisit/backcountry-camping.htm, read the same day: "No person or party is allowed to camp at Buffalo National River for more than 30 days in a calendar year" and "A backcountry permit is not required within the Buffalo National River." Also: "No camping is allowed within 1/2 mile (805 meters) of any National Park Service developed area unless it is in a designated campsite", and camping is barred in historic areas, hayfields, pastures, abandoned buildings and all Boxley Valley fields. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: the latitude and longitude on this row are the GPS coordinates NPS itself prints for this site on camping.htm -- not a geocode, not OpenStreetMap. FLOOD WARNING: NPS notes the river "regularly floods so some areas may be too soft for vehicles" and advises campers on gravel bars to "be sure you have an escape route to higher ground in case the river comes up at night." WATER: NO POTABLE WATER IS CLAIMED AT ANY OF THESE SITES. The Buffalo River is NOT a claimed potable source. THIS SITE, NPS verbatim: "Primitive camping is available year-round on a first-come, first-served basis. There are no designated sites, picnic tables, fire rings or potable water. A vault toilet is open with limited servicing. This is a pack in/pack out facility with no trash service provided. No fees charged." Nearest town: Western Grove ~6.3 mi. 'Nearest town' is STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village and is NOT a driving distance; in the Delta bottoms and the Ouachitas the road in can be far longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. STATUS=pending: this is a lead for review, not published.
--- NIGHT-SHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-18 (reviewer=nightshift-verified) ---
RE-CHECKED 2026-08-18. I re-fetched https://www.nps.gov/buff/planyourvisit/camping.htm today and the
page still carries this site under 'Middle District -- Mount Hersey to South Maumee' / 'Other Middle District
Campgrounds', verbatim: "No fees are charged for any camping area in the Middle District except for the Tyler
Bend Campground." The per-site paragraph is still present and still says "Primitive camping is available
year-round on a first-come, first-served basis" and "No fees charged". The GPS coordinates PRINTED ON THE NPS
PAGE match the lat/lon on this row to seven decimal places, so the coordinates are the agency's own and are
unchanged. No closure alert is posted for it. NPS still states that no potable water is available at this site,
and nothing on this row claims water. NOT A DUPLICATE: compared on coordinates against every camp we already
publish or have approved nationwide -- nearest is far more than half a mile away.
VERDICT: approved -- the source says today what we recorded.
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 Mt. Hersey (Buffalo National River, Middle District)
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- 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