Mississippi River State Park — Attraction in Helena-West Helena

Very mixed review on this from my personal experience. The campground is great. I don't think there is a bad spot here. The visitor center is modern and very nice. I've camped here twice, once in a tent and once in a camper. The odd thing is the ranger is ridiculous. When I tent camped, I had my tent rainfly at a neighbor site drying from the dew while I packed up camp. He freaked out as someone might come in and see the spot might be occupied. He was all over my wife till it was moved. Keep in mind there was nobody tent camping except us, and on a Sunday afternoon I saw no rush of people coming in. The other time was in the rv. We had friends in their rv next to us. The ranger was all over them for having 2 vehicles in the camp spot and made them move one. Neither were parked in the grass or in the road. We also had 2 vehicles and nothing was said to us. So the place is great, the ranger is hit or miss. Maybe he is still there, maybe not. It was just our experience both times we were there. I've camped all over the country in state and federal parks. I've never had an experience like this both times I've camped there. This was several years ago, maybe he moved on. If he is still...

Absolutely loved this park. The visitors center had a lovely garden full of hummingbirds and butterflies. The interior had a wonderful hands on exhibit about the local area. They had cool little themed backpacks for kids you can borrow for FREE!!! There was one for general forest stuff, astronomy, birding, and plants. They had little games and a sketchbook and story book and tracking book and magnifying glass and other cool kid adventure stuff. Aaaaand they let you borrow fishing poles and bikes. Arkansas State Parks are better than all the other ones we’ve been too and the campsite was super clean and the bathrooms were clean and had running water and a hot and cold shower which was super refreshing and needed. Many resources available, very nice shop with souvenirs, fishing supplies, and camping necessities if you forgot something. The staff were all incredibly helpful and friendly as well. Out of the 8 parks I’ve used during this specific road trip, no others come close to being as nice as Arkansas State Parks and definitely the Mississippi River State Park is ranked...

This is a big park, and the campgrounds are spread out. The visitor center is about 16 miles from the Storm Creek Lake campground. The staff at the visitor's center was very helpful. We were able to switch our reservation from Storm Creek Lake to Beech Point. The Beech Point campground is very nice. There are a few pull-throughs, but the back-ins are very easy to back into. Most, if not all, of the spots are right on the water. Spot 8 was right across from the bath house, which was nice and clean. The downside of the park is that, in spite of the locations' historical significance, Helena, West Helana. and Mariana suffer from a poor economy. We were there over Labor Day weekend, and most everything was shut down. If you're looking to dine out, the restaurant options are few and limited to barbecue and fried chicken. That being said, we enjoyed our stay and met some very friendly folks at the Mariana...