The Visit Ozarks Guide

Your Guide to the Ozarks

Powder Mill Campground

A small Park Service campground and river landing on the Current River at the Highway 106 bridge: eight basic sites in an open field, a year-round restroom, and trails running to Blue Spring and the Ozark Trail.

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Powder Mill is the campground that came back. The 2017 flood wrecked this Highway 106 site so thoroughly that the Park Service kept it closed for three years; it reopened in 2020 with its eight sites and its river access restored, on the same open ground where Powder Mill Ford once crossed the Current River, before Congress authorized a bridge at the ford in 1936. The setting is simple: a long, mostly sunny grass field on the south bank, Powder Mill Creek sliding down its west side, and the river right there.

Camping here is basic on purpose, at the park's backcountry standard: picnic tables, fire rings, and lantern posts, a restroom building that stays open all year, and no hookups. Sites are first-come, first-served, paid at the backcountry rate through the Recreation.gov app, and the Park Service notes this campground has no accessible sites, pointing campers who need them to Alley Spring, Round Spring, or Big Spring. The river access is a gravel landing at the far end of the field, where Powder Mill Creek meets the Current, open to motorized and non-motorized boats alike, and the same bank serves swimmers and anglers.

The trails are the surprise. From the campground, a trail runs downriver to Blue Spring, one of the deepest springs in the United States, and another connects to the historic Owls Bend area, which the Park Service calls quite beautiful in fall. The Ozark Trail's Powder Mill Trailhead stands just up the entrance road, and hikers cross the river on the Highway 106 bridge. Come for the paddling if you like; most people end up walking somewhere.

Good to know before you go

Fees
Camping is $10 per night for a back-country campsite (National Park Service fee schedule, rates effective April 15, 2022, which names Powder Mill among the park's back-country campgrounds). Backcountry sites are first-come, first-served and are paid through the Recreation.gov app's Scan & Pay (NPS, March 2025). No fee is charged for river access or day use, and no entrance pass is required anywhere in the park.
Hours and seasons
The campground is open year-round (National Park Service: campgrounds remain open through the off-season and backcountry camping fees still apply in fall and winter; the Superintendent's Compendium states all campgrounds are open all year unless otherwise posted). Campground quiet hours are 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. park-wide. This site was destroyed in the 2017 flood and reopened in 2020; river conditions and flood closures can change access, so check current park conditions before you go.
Parking
Parking is in the campground field itself, along its central gravel road. Reaching it (NPS): Highway 106 about 13.5 miles east of Eminence; cross the Current River bridge, take the first right, and follow the side road (addressed by NPS as NPS Road 509; Google Maps labels it County Road 106-531) south past the Ozark Trail trailhead to the large grass field, which is the campground. The listing pin (37.182328, -91.174914) is the Google Maps place record for Powder Mill Campground, identical within about a metre to the NPS campground place record, at the north-west entrance end of the field. Google Maps routes the campground 14.0 road miles from Eminence and 14.0 road miles from Ellington, a tie; the nearest town is Eminence because the Park Service's own directions run from Eminence.
Accessibility
The restroom building is accessible (National Park Service). There are no ADA campsites at this campground; the Park Service directs campers who need accessible sites to Alley Spring, Round Spring, or Big Spring instead. The area is not wheelchair accessible, though the terrain is mostly flat and may be suitable for power-driven mobility devices (NPS).
Nearest town
Eminence, Missouri
Region
Southeast Missouri
Coordinates
37.182328, -91.174914
Access type
Motorized and non-motorized river access (gravel landing at the mouth of Powder Mill Creek)

What you can do there

  • Eight campsites with the Park Service backcountry kit of picnic tables, fire rings, and lantern posts (NPS: eight sites restored at the 2020 reopening; backcountry campground standard)
  • A restroom building, open year-round (NPS)
  • River access for motorized and non-motorized boats at a gravel landing where Powder Mill Creek meets the Current River (NPS reopening release, 2020; satellite read 2026-11-09 shows a gravel bank and track, no concrete ramp)
  • Blue Spring Trail: the walk from the campground to Blue Spring, about 1.5 miles one way per the NPS Blue Spring page (the NPS Blue Spring Trail page describes the Powder Mill to Blue Spring trail as a 1-mile round trip; the figures conflict and are recorded in the verification record, not resolved)
  • Trail connections to the historic Owls Bend area (NPS)
  • Ozark Trail Powder Mill Trailhead on the entrance road just north of the campground (Google Maps place record, 37.1849684, -91.1748397), with the Ozark Trail crossing the river on the Highway 106 bridge
  • Swimming, floating, and fishing on the Current River at the campground (NPS)

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Official sources

Details last verified 2026-11-09.