Arkansas River - Pool 5 · Arkansas

Tar Camp — how to get a site when it's sold out

Overview Tar Camp Park is situated near Pool 5 Lock and Dam on the Arkansas River. The campground is known for its beauty and first-class fishing. Whether camping, fishing, boating or just relaxing in the sun, this area provides something for everyone.

🏕️ 47 sites 🚐 Standard, Group, Shelter

Booking Tar Camp

Sites at Tar Camp are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.

Site facts

Total sites47
Site typesStandard, Group, Shelter
HookupsElectric hookups at some sites
LocationPine Bluff, AR
Book throughRecreation.gov
Official listingRecreation.gov

The cancellation play at Tar Camp

Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.

itOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Tar Camp around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.

Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Tar Camp; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.