Arcadia Valley and Big Creek RV Park

The Ozarks of Missouri are home to beautiful, cool creeks and rivers, enjoyable state parks, great hiking, and history. On our most recent weekend Cricket Camping trip, we found new sites to explore including Big Creek RV Park on Big Creek and the best of Arcadia Valley in Iron County, Missouri. ​

We started out our weekend in the Arcadia Valley with dinner at Thee Abbey Restaurant inside The Arcadia Academy. The Academy was built in 1847 as a Methodist co-ed school. During the Civil War, the Academy served the Union Army as a hospital. After the war it was as Arcadia College, and later a Catholic boarding school. In 1968 it became a convalescent home. The Arcadia Academy is still being restored but is currently home to a creamery, a bed and breakfast, a chapel, and Thee Abbey Restaurant. We stopped late on Friday night and enjoyed salads from the salad bar and steaks. ​

Later Friday night, we arrived at Big Creek RV Park. This location was recommended to us by campers from Missouri that we met at Catherine’s Landing near Hot Springs. They discovered it on the Good Sam Club website, noting the 10/10/10 rating. This is the gold standard of private campground ratings and something we had to see in person. Big Creek RV park is run by a husband and wife team. They are very involved in the overall experience and are nice people. Saturday night they hosted rubber duck races in the creek, a hay ride around the property, and a bonfire with roasted marshmallows. What else can you possibly expect a campground owner to offer you? We also enjoyed the walking trails and in-ground pool, which was thankfully still open. There is also a community room where you can catch a Cardinals game, a game room, gem mining, and honor-system firewood. The guests are a mix of seasonal campers and weekenders that are mostly visiting for a float trip. They are currently adding on to the campground and building a fishing lake. The bathrooms are great - they are four individual bathrooms with a toilet, sink, and shower. We never had to wait as the campground was fairly quiet the weekend we were there, but wondered if there would be wait times to use these facilities on busier weekends.

We visited Fort Davidson at The Battle of Pilot Knob State Historical Site, which has a nice Civil War museum and the remains of the earthen fort. The story of the Union defense of Pilot Knob during the war in interesting, playing a vital role in stopping the approach of the Confederate Army on St Louis. We also walked downtown Caledonia. Caledonia is home to 130 residents and all of the buildings in the downtown area are on the National Registry of Historic Places. There is a great general store with cool items, antiques, candy, coffee, and a lot more. Downtown there are also a couple restaurants, antique shops, and bed and breakfasts.

On prior visits to this area, we've enjoyed Johnson's Shut In State Park and Elephant Rocks State Park. You can also explore Taum Sauk Mountain State Park, Silver Mines and Sutton Bluff Recreation Areas, Council Bluff Lake, the Ozark Trail, Sam A. Baker State Park, Millstream Gardens Conservation Area, Marble Creek, and the Black River are also nearby. Floating Missouri Rivers, like the Black River or the Current River are great ways to stay cool on a really hot summer day. Johnson's Shut In State Park is mother nature’s water park as the Black River flows over the "shut ins” rock formations. ​

The Arcadia Valley is home to Ozark mountains, clear and clean rivers and streams, and dense forest. We enjoyed our recent visit and would put Arcadia Valley and Big Creek RV Park both on our “go again” list. ​Stay tuned to see where Cricket Camping goes next!