Arkansas State Parks

Our tour of Arkansas State Parks began with Lake Dardanelle SP campground. Ellen loved her first night of camping, wondering why she slept better on the ground than in her own bed at home.


We also biked the area and kayaked about 5 miles of the lakefront of this immense 28,000 square acre reservoir built to tame the flood-prone Arkansas River.



A highlight of our night here was this magnificent sunset.



A lengthy drive on backroads, mostly paved but not all, brought us to Lake Ouachita (pronounced WASH-it-aw) SP, our second stop. The tent camping area was on a peninsula jutting out into the lake -- a beautiful location but with sites abutting one another and no foliage separating each site or deadening the voices of neighboring campers, it was a noisy evening. Even the din of the crickets and tree frogs couldn't mask the human vocal output. Ellen also loved her second night of roughing it.