Backyard campfire.

This spot in the backyard during the summer is where my pool is. But in the winter, we like to have campfires. 

Campfire

It's been a while since I have posted anything.

We had a simple Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with just my immediate family.

I tried three times to get away to go camping for a well needed rest, only to have to cancel each time for weather.

So instead, we have started having Sunday evening campfires in the backyard.

Wright Patman Lake, Texas, summer vacation 2022

So this year for summer vacation, we went to Clear Springs campground on Wright Patman Lake in Texas. It was an easy two hours drive. Because this was early summer, and in Texas, there was the possibility of it being a little on the hot side, so I got a campsite with electricity to have a fan in the tent.

It turned out to be wonderful weather, even though it did rain the second day, the temperatures weren't much above 90F/30C during the day, and about half that at night.

 

We only explored the campground a little before and after the rain, but we went hiking at Atlanta State Park across the lake on the third day.

On the forth day, after returning to camp from taking a shower, we discovered that the wind had some fun with our gazebo. There were several tears in it, so I have already ordered a replacement.

We always try to have a big campfire our last night camping, and this one was perfect with the sunsetting behind the trees on the other side of the lake.

I always say that a camping trip isn't memorable without a problem to laugh about in the future, and this time, not only did the wind damage our gazebo, but we had a tire blowout on the trailer on the way home. I heard a roaring noise over the music playing in the car and the air conditioner, so as soon as I pulled off the road as soon as I had a place to do so. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was an easy fix, since we had a spare tire for the trailer. Destiny learned how to change a tire. Now I just need to buy a new tire.

Mount Magazine

 It's Spring Break in Arkansas this week, and we went camping to Mount Magazine, which is the highest point in Arkansas. They just completed a prescribed burn last summer, and because it was still early for spring, nothing had grown back. You can read more about a prescribed burn, and how it can help a forest, by following the embedded links.

I'm first going to share with you several links to other peoples videos of Mount Magazine on YouTube, and then I will share a few of my own. Each video offers different perspectives and tidbits of history and information. The last video shows the highest points in each state of the United States. I have now been to two of these points. The first was last summer when we went to Clingmans Dome in Tennessee. You can see that at about the 9.5 minute mark of the video. The second was this trip to Mount Magazine, which you can see at about the 5 minute mark of the video.

Mount Magazine video 1

Mount Magazine video 2

Mount Magazine video 3

Mount Magazine video 4

Mount Magazine video 5

Mount Magazine video 6

Mount Magazine video 7

Mount Magazine video 8

Highest points in each state

Mount Magazine is 275 kilometers from our home in Camden, Arkansas.

Camden is only about 60 meters elevation above sea level. While Mount Magazine is about 780 meters elevation above sea level. So, Mount Magazine is 720 meters higher than Camden.

Because the weather was predicted to rain for the first two full days of our four days stay, we put up the gazebo tent to have a place to cook, eat, and watch movies in the evenings, and stay out of the rain.

And because it got down to freezing, or near freezing each night, we tried out my new thermal heater fan. It worked great.

We went for a drive along the north ridge of the mountain, on a very overcast day before it started to rain.

Lodge.

Cabins.

Blue Mountain Lake

After a cold morning seeing the north side of the mountain, we went to the lodge, which is located on the south side of the mountain, and had some hot chocolate in the restaurant.

We were told that there are about ten black bears in the area, although it was still too early in spring to see any.

On the third day, after the rain cleared out, we took a drive down the north side of the mountain.

This is a lovely lake we saw on the way down.

Looking back at the mountain we had just come down.

There are 23 towns in the United States named, 'Paris'. This one is in Arkansas. (population 3,413)

This is some kind of mushroom.

We spent our final day hiking and exploring, followed by a bonfire that evening.

Last drive through the Great Smokey Mountains

A mother black bear with two cubs.

There were several tunnels.

While it was 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) at home in south Arkansas, we mostly had 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius) while camping, with lows near 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius).

Pre-Memorial Day vacation.

We have so much camping gear now that loading it on and in our little car is difficult at best, so now we use a small utility trailer to keep all our camping gear on, and just add the bikes if we take them. This way, instead of loading everything when we get ready to go camping, we only need to load our clothes, food, and a few other things in the car, hook-up the trailer, and go.

We went camping from May 21st to May 28th, just before Memorial Day weekend, which is one of the busiest camping weekends.

This was the view from our camp spot at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It took us about eight hours to drive here from our home.

This is a really big lake, and a popular destination for many people who like to camp, fish, swim, or boat.

There is lots of wildlife to be found here. We saw geese, ducks, deer, chipmunks, squirrels, turkeys, and much more.

The water was a little cold because the average daily temperature is still low. It was about 85 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) during the day, and 60 Fahrenheit (16 Celsius) at night.

Destiny tried swimming once.

Many people were enjoying boating.

This is the entrance to a cave system called, 'Ozark Caverns'. This was our first cave to visit on this trip. They did not allow photography inside the cave, because it would disturb the bats inside.

Our first fire on this vacation.

 

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'.

Camp out with new tent.

I ordered and finally received my new Kodiak Canvas Flex-Bow 10 x 14 VX  tent. I bought it for primarily for our summer 2020 vacation, but because it is extremely good quality, and will last for at least a decade, we will be using a lot. I set it up in the back yard, complete with air mattresses and sleeping bags, to try it out tonight. We will also have a campfire to toast marshmallows.

Spring Break 2018 day 5:

We said goodbye to my father and drove to see where an ancient Indian civilization used to live about 3,000 years ago up to about 1,000 years ago. They built mounds of dirt to keep track of the Winter and Summer solstice, and of the Spring and Autumn equinox. Next, we drove to Murfreesboro, Arkansas, to spend the next four nights in a Tipi. After settling in, we built a campfire, and Destiny made some new friends. They all went out at night with flashlights on a ‘treasure hunt’ the campground owner arranged for them.