On Thursday June 20, 2019, we loaded up the Jeep and headed to Lake Ouachita State Park in Arkansas. Every year we go to a National Park and our objective this year was the smallest of the National Parks, Hot Springs National Park. Hot Springs National Park has a nice smallish campground that is first come first serve and I did not want to drive over 10 hours to discover that there were no open spaces, so I reserved a site at Lake Ouachita State Park within easy driving of Hot Springs so we would have a site when we got to our destination.
Lake Ouachita is a very nice State Park, We had a site on Loop D, tent camping. The sites are limited to 2 tents but I managed to luck out and score a second site as we had 3 tents between our two family groups. The campground was full for the weekend and I bet that is the case for most of the summer. The Lake is a real jewel. It is the largest man made lake in Arkansas and touted as the cleanest. The campsite was nice, the bath house was free and well maintained. We enjoyed our stay.
It was hot and muggy. The air so thick and humid that the sweat did not evaporate from the skin as we headed out for the 4 mile hike on the premiere trail for this park. The Caddo Bend Trail is a loop that follows the shoreline of the peninsula where our campsite was located. We went left instead of right going opposite of the recommended route. The trail is well marked with signs telling about the geography, wildlife and history of the Ouachita mountains and the formation of the Lake along with mileage markers. Our two teenage girls had enough hiking and departed our company to return to camp via the access road that splits the peninsula creating a shorter easier route to the observation deck at the  tip of the peninsula.
The trail has nice views of the lake in places and we saw quite a bit of wildlife. We saw does and a buck with a nice rack and a doe and spotted fawn. We saw squirrels and a Raptor soaring overhead. There  was a turtle crossing the path. There were a couple of nice bridges and the trail had a bit of everything, we climbed some rocks and took pictures on the lake shore. A tornado crossed the peninsula in 2011 and its path was easily discernible. The land is recovering.
The trail was challenging with several little climbs as one wends one’s way around the peninsula. At the tip of the peninsula is a wooden oservation deck with great views of the lake. We met a couple from Memphis and had a nice conversation. The walk back to the vehicle had us in more sun. As we neared the end of our walk at the trail head we heard a weak female voice call ‘Dad!’ And our teenagers rejoined us for the final leg with a tale of grand adventure.
The park also has a short 1/2 mile nature trail loop called the Dogwood trail. I checked it out Tuesday morning at the end of my morning jog.
We shared our campsite with a monster of a trapdoor spider and at least one maybe more Arkansas Chocolate tarantulas. They made for interesting times as we watched them do their thing.
I would heartily recommend Lake Ouachita State Park. The Lake really is it’s jewel. We swam, kayaked, took a sunset cruise on this beautiful lake. The Park Rangers and staff are friendly and very helpful. The camp store and marina are nice and well stocked and the park has many scheduled activities for families.
MrsSmithsLifeUnexpected 