Watercress in MO -- Campground & RV Camping

Watercress Campground sits along the Current River in Van Buren within Mark Twain National Forest. The site features 17 first-come, first-served campsites for tents or RVs, each equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Facilities include drinking water, vault toilets, a seasonal trash dumpster, and an east-bank boat ramp suitable for motorized and non-motorized craft. Two riverfront group picnic shelters are on site. A 1.2-mile trail leads to Watercress Spring past Civil War-era earthworks, and Big Spring is located five miles away.

Getting there: From Highway 60, drive north on Main Street to the National Park Service sign on Watercress Road. Turn north and drive just past the Park Service building complex, then make a left to Watercress Recreation Area. The picnic shelters are on the left toward the north end of the day use area.

• Little separation from through roads or other sites here, a 17-site campground with the nearest through road 0.2 miles off.
• A river runs 0.1 mi off.
• Estimated night sky: Bortle 5, a rural sky with a glow on the horizon.
• 19 on the water, with most of them shaded.

Rules