Ozark National Scenic Riverways · Missouri
Overview The rolling, forested landscape around Alley Spring is where two of America's most beautiful spring-fed rivers combine to make up the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. As the first national park area to protect a wild river system, visitors are able to enjoy various water activities as well as hiking, horseback riding and wildlife viewing. Recreation Canoeing, tubing, swimming and fishing are popular activities on the vast waterways in the region, with over 130 miles (209 km) of water trails.
Sites at Alley Spring 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.
| Total sites | 165 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Standard, Tent only, Group, Picnic area |
| Hookups | Electric hookups at some sites |
| Location | Van Buren, MO |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
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 Alley Spring 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.
| Big Spring | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Round Spring | Cancellation alerts available |
| Pulltite | Cancellation alerts available |
| Jacks Fork / Middle Current Backcountry Campsites | Cancellation alerts available |
| Lower Current District Backcountry Campsites | Cancellation alerts available |
| Upper Current District Backcountry Campsites | Cancellation alerts available |
| Two Rivers | Cancellation alerts available |
| Akers | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Alley Spring; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.