The Visit Ozarks Guide

Your Guide to the Ozarks

Round Spring

A nearly perfect circle of deep blue water, 55 feet deep, slips under a natural bridge to the Current River, with a campground and picnic shelters beside it. Its lantern-lit cave is closed for the 2026 season while its flood-damaged bridge is repaired.

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Stand at the rail and the name explains itself. The water rises in a pool about as round as a coin, some 55 feet deep, runs clear and blue under a natural bridge, and joins the Current River a short walk away. On an average day about 30 million gallons move through that quiet circle. At still times the Park Service says otters, wood ducks, and great blue herons work the spring, and the whole scene is reached on a short paved trail anyone can take at any hour.

This ground has been a park for a century. Round Spring was a Missouri state park from 1924 until 1969, when Missouri gave it to the National Park Service and it folded into the Riverways. The cave across the way is the other half of the draw: in a normal summer, rangers lead 60 to 90 minute lantern tours through its formations, and the cave can be entered no other way. That half is on hold right now. The Park Service states the cave is closed for the 2026 season while the bridge that reaches it, damaged in the record flood of November 2024, is repaired, so a 2026 visit is a spring, picnic, and river visit, with the cave saved for a later year.

The rest of the complex makes this an easy base or an easy stop. Picnic tables with grills ring the spring, one shelter can be reserved and an older one is first come, first served, and the campground behind it takes tents and RVs with a handful of electric sites, no water hook-ups, and a dump station, all by reservation. One rule shapes the visit: nobody, and no pet, swims or wades in the spring or its branch. You come here to look down into 55 feet of clear water, walk the paved trail, and listen to a river being born.

Good to know before you go

Fees
No entrance pass is required anywhere in Ozark National Scenic Riverways (NPS Fees and Passes page). Camping at Round Spring Campground requires a reservation and a camping fee; the per-night amount is not stated on the NPS pages read for this listing, marked unknown, and must be taken from Recreation.gov before this listing publishes. In the off season (October 16 to April 14) the Park Service's winter page sets reduced developed-campground rates park-wide at $12 for non-electric and $15 for electric sites. No current cave tour price is carried: the cave is closed for the 2026 season, and older published tour prices are not carried forward.
Hours and seasons
The spring itself can be reached on its accessible paved trail at any time, in the Park Service's own words on the Round Spring page. CURRENT CONDITION, read on the NPS Round Spring page on 2026-11-09 and to be rechecked before publishing: Round Spring Cave is closed for the 2026 season because the bridge that provides access to the cave, damaged in the November 2024 record flood, is under repair. In a normal season the cave is open only on ranger-led lantern tours in summer, by ticket. Campground water systems and developed-campground operations follow the park's seasonal pattern (off season October 16 to April 14 on the NPS winter page, when Round Spring's picnic pavilion and restroom stay open and its electric sites carry no water). People and pets are prohibited from swimming or wading in the spring or its branch. River conditions and flood closures can change access on the Current River; check the park's current conditions before a float or a drive in.
Parking
Parking in the Round Spring day use and campground complex off Highway 19, about 13 miles north of Eminence (NPS). A secondary park tracker reported in November 2026 that the pavilion and spring parking lot was closed for the remainder of 2026 while the low water bridge over Spring Valley Creek is rebuilt, with alternative parking near the group campsites; that report could not be confirmed on an NPS page in this verification (the NPS alerts page text could not be extracted), so it is NOT carried as fact here and the parking status MUST be rechecked on NPS Alerts and Conditions before this listing publishes.
Accessibility
The Park Service states visitors can enjoy the accessible paved trail to the spring at any time. Round Spring Cave is not suitable for wheelchairs (unsurfaced trails, climbs, and stairs, per NPS education material), and the cave is closed for the 2026 season in any case.
Nearest town
Eminence, Missouri
Region
Southeast Missouri
Coordinates
37.282594, -91.407641

What you can do there

  • Accessible paved trail to the spring
  • Picnic tables with grills around the spring
  • Two picnic shelters (the one nearest the parking lot is reservable through Recreation.gov; the older shelter is first come, first served)
  • Round Spring Campground: tent and RV sites, a small number of electric hook-up sites, no water hook-ups, dump station; reservations required through Recreation.gov
  • River access in the same complex (NPS)
  • Round Spring Cave, guided lantern tours in a normal season; CLOSED for the 2026 season

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Official sources

Details last verified 2026-11-09.