Cadillac Ranch

This is Cadillac Ranch, just outside Amarillo, Texas. The many layers of paint that visitors have applied to the cars have slowly oozed off the cars in puddles. You can see the many layers of the paint, with cars somewhere underneath.

Spring Break 2024 vacation across Texas and Palo Duro Canyon.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon is the 2nd largest canyon in the United States.

There is a rich Native American history in the canyon with a very sad ending.

1st fall camping trip for 2023.

My younger daughter, Destiny, and our cat, Baby. 

We only stayed two of the three nights for several reasons. First, deer season started, and we like to camp in the peace and quiet. There were neighbors shooting their guns, and riding ATVs all the time. Second, the cat wouldn't stay in the tent at night. She kept escaping into the forest. Third, I fell the morning of our second day and hurt my shoulder. I thought I had a torn rotator cuff,but it's just bruised. 

Spring break 2023 camping.

It was below freezing the first night, and I couldn't get the heater working, but we stayed warm in our sleeping bags which are rated to -20 Celsius. 

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.

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.

Great Smokey Mountains, Elkmont Campground, Tennessee

We loaded up the trailer with our camping gear, and also took our bikes, for a week long vacation in the Great Smokey Mountains, in Tennessee.

We split the long drive into two days by staying in a hotel the first night in Jackson, Tennessee, about halfway. We arrived at Elkmont Campground the second day, and setup camp.

HERE is a link to another video, done by a YouTuber, with more information about this area of the Great Smokey Mountains.

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.

Last camping trip for 2020.

Our last camping trip in 2020 was after Christmas and before New Years. We went to Millwood Lake, and stayed at another U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground, called Beard's Bluff Park.

This was a small campground, but one of the best we have been to, and very well maintained.

We only stayed two of the three nights we had planned, because of bad weather moving in for the last day, but we had a wonderful, relaxing time.

So far, each camping trip has had something that kept it from being perfect. Sometimes our spot isn't very level for our tent. One campground had freight trains passing near the campgrounds, even at night. The weather can also be a factor. This trip, we drove over an hour to reach our campground, and when we started to put up the tent, realized we forgot to bring the tent poles. We had to return home to get them, and by the time we got back to the campground, it was already dark, and had to put up the tent using our car headlights to see.

Each trip had been special and memorable for different reasons. But what made them fun, was doing these camping trips together with my younger daughter. We love to go hiking together, see new places, be out in nature, ride our bikes, sit around the campfire, talk, relax, and enjoy each other's company.

January and February are the coldest months in Arkansas, so we will spend those months at home, and will return to camping during school Spring Break, at the end of March.

Springhill Park

Our next to last camping trip for the year was to Springhill Park, next to Massard Creek, along the Arkansas River, near Fort Smith, Arkansas.

It rained all day the second day. And, our tent did have some leaks around the back door. I think an improvement for the tent would be to have another awning on the back of the tent, because with the awning up, the front didn't leak.

It was also very cold, below freezing each night. We were comfortable with the heater on low. But when we went to bed, we turned off the heater and stayed inside our sleeping bags, and were toasty warm all night long.

The only other problem we had was when we broke camp and started packing, we found that there had been some condensation between our sleeping bags and air mattresses. So, we had to open these up for them to air out when we got home.

It didn't snow, although we were looking forward to it.

This park has some of the best cycling trails we've experienced, and we enjoyed cycling while there.

Daisy State Park at Lake Greeson

We had another camping trip, this time to Daisy State Park at Lake Greeson. It was raining all Sunday morning before we left, but stopped in the afternoon. We arrived about two hours before sunset. After setting up camp, we did our usual campfire and then prepared dinner, and enjoyed a movie. The next day, we explored the camp, and went for a hike. Because it was supposed to be raining all day on Wednesday, we decided to leave a day early. It was 21 Fahrenheit (-6 Celsius) when we woke up Tuesday morning. We had left our heater on low all night, so not to freeze our drinking water in the tent. It was still just above freezing in the tent. I turned the heat to high so we could get dressed and prepare breakfast. After breakfast, we went for another hike, and took a picnic lunch with us to enjoy. We found a picnic table setup on the banks of the lake. We ate lunch, and then played a game I brought along, and finally, explored a little bit, before returning to camp and packed up to go home. Even cutting our trip short by a day, it was still nice.

As we were exploring the camp, we saw this squirrel warming itself near a yurt.

Camping lifestyle.

 Back before Covid, I had planned a nearly three week road trip to travel through a dozen states, to visit an eclectic assortment of historical and nature hotspots in the United States. But those plans were cancelled because of Covid, and for now, I am just camping every other weekend in Arkansas.

I do want to share with you a link to a couple that also enjoys camping, and they have camped in many wonderful places in Arkansas, as well as around the United States.

They have great tips on camping, cooking while camping, and they are advocates of preserving nature and keeping nature clean. You can click on their logo above to go to their YouTube channel. Some of their videos include drone footage that really shows off the beauty of Arkansas. And you can also visit their website here.

This is something I had considered doing, but they already do such a great job, that I could never do. Enjoy.

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'.

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.

Halloween camping at Iron Mountain, Degray Lake

 It was perfect autumn weather for camping at Iron Mountain, Degray Lake.

Our campsite was right next to the bath house.

This is our kitchen with Coleman stove, and dining area.

Destiny's bed.

My bed, electric cooler, laptop and projector for movies, and my CPAP machine.

We have electricity at this site, but sometimes we camp off-grid, so we use a big battery to provide all our power. Right now it can last about five days. But, starting next spring, we will be camping a week at a time, and I will need to get some solar panels to recharge the battery.

We put up the movie screen to watch movies.

All our suitcases and extra gear is stored in the corner, at the foot of my bed.

I turn on the heater on cold mornings.

Camping on the Arkansas River.

We went camping this weekend along the Arkansas River, just south of Clarksville, at Spadra Park, which once was home to a Native American village, and part of the Trail of Tears.

The view across the river is great, and there are many ducks, geese, and cranes.

We are going for an Autumn drive tomorrow through the Ozarks to hopefully see some beautiful fall colors.

Arlie Moore trail and geocache.

We went camping again, this time to Arlie Moore, another Army Corps of Engineer site at Degray Lake.

They have a wonderful hiking trail. While on the trail, we spotted this old pickup truck on the ridge, and had to investigate.

Inside the truck, we found a geocache.

A coral mushroom.

The water was too cold for me.

We were able to park next to our campsite.

Sunrise on Lake Ouachita.

We went camping again this last weekend, to Brady Mountain, on Lake Ouachita, in the Ouachita National Forest.

We had to carry all our camping equipment about 125 meters, uphill, to our camp spot, but we had a nice view of the sunrise out on the peninsula.

We enjoyed relaxing at camp, and walked to the nearby beach each day, for swimming.