Autumn camping.

Ready to roll out on our fifth camping trip this year. I've been working everyday for the past 50 days, and now that autumn is finally arriving, I have been looking forward to another camping trip.

This is one of four campsites in this little wooded area across from White Oak Lake, which is only 25 minutes from home. We camped in campsite one at the end of January. This is campsite two. Because the weather wasn't going to rain for the three nights of this camping trip, we didn't put up the gazebo.

On our first full day, we drove ten minutes to White Oak Lake State Park and went hiking.

They have three trails to choose from.

This is the shortest and our favorite. (1.5 miles)

This is the second longest. We did this trail when we were camping here. (3 miles)

This is longest, and for me, probably would take all day. (10 miles)

On our second full day, we went to another of our favorite places to visit, called, 'Little Grand Canyon', right across from where we were camping.

Not so primitive camping.

Our campsite.

Our camp setup.

Since I had a couple of days off, and the weather was going to be nice, at least as nice as it can be for late January in south Arkansas, we made last minute arrangements to go camping about 25 minutes away.

This is a primitive campsite through the Arkansas Forestry Commission. All we had to do is select a spot from their map, and then call them and tell them how many nights we wanted to stay. It was that easy, and without paying.

Of course we carried everything we needed. It was only for one night, but since we haven't been camping in a month, it was nice to get out of the house.

We found some trash around the campsite, so we gathered it up, and took it away with us when we left. My motto is to leave a campsite cleaner than we found it.

Near the camp was a spot where hunters had setup to clean deer. I think this isn't legal to do here, so I have reported it.

We also found a couple of deer carcasses, a skull, and a hoof.

After we setup camp, explored around our campsite, and cleaned up the trash, we went hiking at the northern end of White Oak Lake, where White Oak Creek continues on it's way after passing through the dam.

We went back to camp and got ready for dinner and a movie by the campfire.

Someone had left a doll head, and we had some fun with it.

Campfire.

The doll head enjoyed the movie, but not the fire so much.

Campfire after dark.

All-in-all, one of our best camping trips. Too bad it was only for one night. We will definitely come back here again.

White Oak Lake State Park camping trip.

We stayed in the 'tents only' section of White Oak Lake State Park. For $15 / night, they provide a picnic table, barbecue grill, lamp post, fire pit, water, parking, and a 12 x 12 raised and level tent pad.

Since our tent is 10 x 14, it wouldn't fit on the pad, so we found a nearly level area next to our designated spot to pitch our tent at the trail head of three popular trails.

You can read about our hiking experience here.

There was lots of wildlife to observe, such as Whooping and Sandhill Cranes, squirrels, and ducks.

This is NOT a spider, although it looks like it, and they can be found everywhere in the southern states, especially in areas around pine trees. We call them, 'Daddy-long-legs'.

This is commonly called a, 'stick bug'.

Little Grand Canyon excursion.

 This is an overflow area from the lower half of White Oak Lake, called 'Little Grand Canyon'.

We took a short detour from our camping trip to visit this spot.

Hiking at White Oak Lake.

On our most recently camping trip, we went to White Oak Lake State Park, which is only about 25 minutes from where we live. This is a wonderful and beautiful area, well known for it's fishing and hunting.

One of the most popular activities at the campground is to go hiking. They have three trails to choose from. We took the shortest trail, 'Beech Ridge'.

We saw some incredible fall foliage and views. And the weather was perfect, starting a little cool in the morning, but quickly warming by noon.

Easter 2019

These are my two daughters. Suzanne will be 22 at the end of September, and Destiny will be 10 at the end of August.

I always enjoy spending time with my daughters. For Easter this year, our church had a fellowship and egg hunt at Beech Springs on the Friday evening before Easter.  

And on Saturday before Easter,  my mother prepared a wonderful meal for everyone. Then in the afternoon on the same Saturday, I took Destiny to another egg hunt at White Oak Lake State Park. 

We attended church Easter Sunday morning, and again in the evening to listen to a Christian concert.