Overview
Ruff Road is heading west, steadily and slowly from Florida. One stop along our journey was Lake Ouachita State Park located on Arkansas’ largest lake. This park is surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest and close to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Our stay was one week at the end of March. We found this park scenic and just what I needed for a mountain fix and Gary needed for a water fix! You can check out Lake Ouachita State Park, Arkansas Ruff Road Review on our You tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c7nqegyVC8. You will be able to see the campground and park areas to get a clearer idea of what this beautiful park looks like.
Things to Do
What is there to do at Lake Ouachita State Park in Arkansas? You can hike, bike, fish, sightsee, kayak, and boat. Additionally, swimming, skiing, and scuba diving are three more activities listed on the park’s website, but we were there off season and it was still a little chilly. Also, there are boat launches and a full service marina with boat and kayak rentals. Of course, the kids can enjoy the playground near the marina. Important to us, this park is pet-friendly with dog pots and bags located around the area and plenty of room to walk your fur babies. There are day use areas, camping, cabins and on site is the historic Three Sisters Springs. The ranger station has a gift shop and they do have ranger led activities.
What did we do while here? Of course, we went on lots of dog walks, kayaked,and hung out at camp.
Hiking: There are two hiking trails here and miles of camp roads for walking. The Caddo Bend trail is four miles long and provides nice views of the lake as you follow the trail. However, it can be a little challenging due to ups, downs, and rocks. It is designated as “strenuous” according to the brochure. If you want an easier walk to the point or back, there is a service road that the trail crosses several times. There are deer here so if you are hiking with a dog who gets excited around wildlife, be aware. Additionally, there is a shorter half mile long trail called the Dogwood Trail. This one meanders along in a loop through the wooded hillside. The difficulty rating for this trail is “easy”.
Kayak: I kayaked around the peninsula here and in the little coves along the way. There are rocky cliffs and boulders in some areas and colorful rocks along some shores. The clear water and the mountains surrounding the lake made a peaceful paddle. Unfortunately, it was too windy to kayak on some days, but when it wasn’t it was amazing.
Hanging out at Camp: Finally, we enjoyed just hanging out with the ruffs at our waterfront campsite. It was simply peaceful to just be in this space surrounded by water, mountains, and trees. We watched and listened to the many birds here. My favorite times are when we have our propane firepit brightly burning, Gary playing the guitar, and ruffs curled up at our feet. Ahhh. Good times.
Phone Service
How was the phone service at Lake Ouachita State Park? Well, I drove ahead and tried to call Gary to warn him about a steep hill entering into the camping area and he wouldn’t answer. That’s when we learned that we had no service in that specific area. We had limited service at our campsite. The ranger station had wifi that we could use anytime if needed. In case you are wondering about the hill, it was fine and looked worse than it was.
Noise Level
Lake Ouachita State Park was quiet during our stay. It wasn’t full but there were quite a few campers. Overall, peaceful and quiet.
Park Views
One feature we love about Lake Ouachita State Park is the views. Almost every site has waterviews and mountain views. As a bonus, many sites are waterfront. The sites are large, with trees and grass. Each site in our area had a gravel tent pad and a concrete pad for rvs. There is plenty of space between each site. Our site was waterfront although we did have a steep little walk to get to the water. Still, we were able to launch the kayak from our backyard and retrieve it up the hill.
Cleanliness
Lake Ouachita State Park is clean. We have stayed at a few parks with a little litter here and there, including many dead fish or fish bones. That was not the case at this park. We found it very clean, including the bath house. Nice job, Lake Ouachita State Park!
Campsites
Lake Ouachita State Park really spoiled us with 50 amp service, sewer and water hook ups! We stayed at site #25. There are 93 campsites with 58 being full service and the rest being walk-in sites or no hook up sites. Also, they have full service cabins with all the comforts of home. You can reserve a site or cabin on Reserve America. https://www.reserveamerica.com/
Would we stay here again? Yes, indeed. We enjoyed our stay at Lake Ouachita State Park. As a bonus, this park is close to Hot Springs and Hot Springs National Park where you can visit historic bath houses and dip your hands into the warm water flowing from the earth there. Look for our Ruff Road Review of Hot Springs in pictures coming soon.
If you would like to see a video of Lake Ouachita State Park, check out the link in the first paragraph. We want to share pictures and videos of the places that we stay because that information isn’t always available for every campground. We wish that it was available as explained in our last post, Campground Reviews: Ruff Road Reviews. https://ruffroadrvlife.com/blog/
Stay tuned for more Ruff Road Reviews as we continue our trek west!
“We like looking at freedom!”