Crystal Recreation Area — Hotel in Hot Springs

It's a beautiful area, away from everything. Most sites have a firepit, picnic table, and lamp-hanger post. Pit toilet. Pet friendly. Carry out your own trash. No potable water. We stayed Monday night through Sat morning. Sadly, I spent a great deal of time cleaning up other people's garbage left in our site, half-burned plastic trash out of firepits, bottle caps , cigarette butts, a big pile of used cat litter, etc. 😰 And, unfortunately, there is a camper in an RV who seems like a permanent resident, and he runs a generator a few times a day for about an hour, starting at 5 or 6am. The weekday tent campers were quiet, clean, and respectful. However, Friday night the loud party crowd began to arrive at dusk. One group arrived after 10, and was very rowdy until 4am, left piles of beer bottles and garbage--I have camped all my life and have never met such disrespectful campers. There were vehicles driving in and out all night, seemed like. There is no cell service at the site, so you can't call anyone about all the noise, so we got no sleep. Was an unfortunate end to a good vacation. It would be a great place to camp, except...

This place was absolutely beautiful, my boyfriend and I camped for one night. Campers be aware: it is extremely secluded and dark so bring lights and prepare for a slightly rougher road. The trees are beautiful. Conveniently located around multiple Crystal mine sites, and once we arrived there were already a few crystals on the campsite that someone left. While we were in our tent around 11:45 pm, we heard some random flute music off in the distance, which kind of spooked us. Then about 30 minutes later, a few guys on fourwheelers came and did donuts around our campsite, screaming YEE YEE at the top of their lungs. Then they came back twice and did it again. Be aware you are in the middle of no where, and come prepared for anything! The next day I met a nice lady who was also camping, we sat by the creek and had a nice discussion about the site. It truly was so beautiful, I would rate 5 stars but those hillbillies scared the...

This is a small free campground that has about 10 spots. The only amenities this campground has is one vault toilet, which hasn't been taken care of. So make sure you bring your own toiletries and stuff for your trash(ALWAYS pack it in, pack it out ALWAYS). As long as you know what to expect in that matter than the rest is great. We stayed a full week and had a great time. Twin creek mine is down the road a ways along with another natural spring. Also the town of Norman is a few miles down the opposite direction and has a dollar general and gas station, so supplies are close! It's a nice campground that's fairly quiet. We saw maybe 3-4 people on a Saturday, if that's any indication. The last thing I will add is that if you are a forest goblin like me than you will want to bring something to carry home all your cool rocks and shiny crystals you...