Written by:

David Hosea

Last updated: October 20, 2023

Arrow Rock is a state managed campground in central Missouri with tent and RV camping.  There is a primitive section and two small RV loops with electric only sites.  Well, kind of.  Site 43 is the only site with full hookups. Click on the link for a campground map

Arrow Rock State Historic Park is a beautiful campground.  We camped there four times so far in three of Missouri’s four seasons – summer, fall, and winter.  We find that the park remains one of our favorites, so we have another off-season and in-season trip already planned.

The park is about two hours east of our home in Kansas City and getting reservations during the open season was easier than expected.  The park was almost full during the summer, but there were plenty of sites in the fall and we had the park to ourselves during a cold-weather trip in February.  Fall weather was perfect for camping. Winter weather was cold, but not unpleasant for us in our Airstream.

We started camping at Arrow Rock because we wanted to find a park that was not too far away, but not too close, either.  Arrow Rock fit the bill because as we took our Airstream out for her shakedown trips, we were able to continue working, but bail out and get back home when the connectivity we needed to work was insufficient. 

All of the RV sites are paved, but not entirely level.  Each site was level enough that I would consider them within an expected norm and the slight slopes were easy to overcome with our standard set of leveling blocks. 

I am an affiliate for the products mentioned in this article.  I could be an affiliate for many products but, the links below are for products that I actually use, like, and recommend. By using my links, you help support this website

So far, we stayed in both loops at sites 17, 25, 39, and 43.    There are picnic tables, fire rings, and lantern poles at each site, but no grills. We prefer sites numbered in the 30s because of their orientation and cell strength.

Only one site has water, but there are few hydrants available through the park to refill tanks. There is a small fishing pond just off of the southwest RV loop.

Location

Arrow Rock State Historic Park is located about 105 miles east of Kansas City, 45 miles west of Columbia, and about 12 miles north of I-70. 

The town of Arrow Rock is a small village along the Missouri River and is on the Lewis and Clark trail.  It was an historic jumping-off point for the Oregon Trail and the town claims the oldest continuously operating tavern west of the Mississippi.  We ate there a couple of times and the history within the building is intriguing.  The floors, for example, are original from the 1830s.

Things to do in Arrow Rock

The entire village is a National Historic Landmark where visitors can enjoy a professional production at the Lyceum Theater, eat at J. Huston which opened in 1834, shop at the boutiques along the boardwalk, visit important buildings and museums scattered throughout the very small downtown area, or go for a hike.

The Visitor Center is a block and a half from main street and is where guests can see detailed history about the Boone’s Lick area.  The center features a video, dioramas, and artifacts from the Native American presence, wars, area settlers, steamboats, French and Spanish influence, slavery, and local industry.

Off-Season Camping

No reservations are required during the off-season. 

During our fall trip, we arrived on a Thursday night and there were only two other campers in the entire park. We found a site easily, filled out the information on the pay envelope, included a check, and dropped it into the Iron Ranger. Easy. 

The weather was perfect with clear, gentle winds, highs in the 60s and lows in the mid 30s. Our fall trip was near the peak of the leaf color change and the park was especially beautiful. Other campers arrived over the weekend, but we didn’t see more than 8 or 9 other campers during the stay.

Every sites had electric, but all of the water was turned off so hydrants around the park and the shower-house were not available. A vault toilet near the host site was open. Firewood was not available for sale.

Technology

My wife and I work from the road, so connectivity is important to us.

Our shakedown trips taught us that cell connectivity at the park was a challenge.  The park is at the outside edge of cell service so if connectivity is important, then location within the park will be, too (a store in downtown Arrow Rock has a sign that reads, “your cell phone works here”). 

On our first trip, we reserved site 25 but after arrival on Friday night, we found that neither one of us could make a phone call and neither one of us could grab the internet on any of our devices.  Site 25 is one of the lowest points in the park. Saturday wasn’t an issue because we were not working but I took my wife home on Sunday so she could be in her home-office Monday morning.  My job has a bit more flexibility and I can do a large portion of my work without an internet connection, so a decision to bail from the campground was hard to make.  I found a way around it by moving the Airstream to higher ground and I worked the next few days with intermittent connectivity.

During our fall trip, we arrived with a Cradlepoint IBR900 and an unlimited, unthrottled ATT 4g plan through Bix Wireless. Connectivity was rock solid, so we were able to access work networks, make and receive calls through Skype and Teams, and chat with no issues.

The Verizon JetPack we used at the time for backup had no connectivity. Our Cradlepoint had 4 bars. Our ATT cellphones had zero to 1 bar.

Wrapping it Up

For such a small town and small campground, there is a lot to do at Arrow Rock.  The campground is beautiful.  The professional theater draws an audience from areas that require two to three hour drives just to get there.  The productions are that good.  If culture isn’t your thing, you can experience history in the visitor center and in the dining rooms at J Huston, shop at the boutiques along the boardwalk, and grab an ice cream while you wander down the road.  Arrow Rock (the village) and Arrow Rock campground are among our favorites, we enjoy the park often, and we recommend it to anyone passing by.

NomadicNeighborhood is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We also participate in other affiliate programs which compensate us for referring traffic.