(No pictures--my phone decided to store images in a compressed format that the computer can't convert. Some stupid upgrade changed my setting.)
Fri Apr 19, at Stephens Park (Corp. of Engineers)
We've stayed in a lot of strange and unusual places, but this one was uniquely weird in a lot of ways. It looked and felt like a pull-off at the side of the road. Not really, but...really. The drive into camp is just an offshoot of a small state highway. On either side of the drive, there are camping sites--mostly back-in but a few pull through. There are no sidewalks and very little pavement; if I want to walk the dog I have to go up and down the drive past other campsites or cross the grass to the road, and walk alongside the road.
Molly's evening walk consisted of two loops around our campsite and past the ones immediately to either end of ours. If I went further backward, I'd walk past people enjoying a quiet campfire. If I went further forward, I'd pass the people at the end with the two barking poodle-type dogs. I didn't see anyone sitting outside down there, but I didn't see the point in stirring up noise.
And that's all there was. A bathroom, a pavilion, and a tiny playground down by the lake, but I couldn't get there without walking across the grass and alongside the road, which is luckily little traveled.
We were right beside a creek which is mostly dry but still has a trickle or two of water. And there's no trash around anywhere, which must mean someone is cleaning it up. There's always trash, especially at COE campgrounds, so the lack of trash means that maintenance is being done daily.
On our afternoon walk, Molly and I went across the bridge and past the power plant and alongside the huge spillway. Then the road split off to the right but there was a COE drive on the left-hand split that went up, up and up a huge hill until it reached a scenic overlook of Lake Ouachita. Wow.
The campground was a cute little place. I feel both exposed and pleased. There were t*Tons of summer tanagers, blue-gray gnatcatchers, chipping sparrows. And a bunch of little warblers I couldn't ID by ear and couldn't see in the trees.
Better luck tomorrow...but there's a long drive tomorrow. Four hours and thirty minutes with a gas stop. Yuck. I won't have time for birding in the morning...the spring migration trip is over.
Review Stephens Park
$15 with discount
Hard to find on google maps, but if you search for the address listed on recreation.gov, Google takes you right to the entrance. There were some dodgy little roads getting there and a few tree branches creeping out over the roadway, but nothing serious. (We came from the east, near Hot Springs)
Don't be put off by the appearance--it looks run down and crummy but once you're parked and settled, it's actually very nice. A good bit of traffic on the little road that runs beside it, but it's not a super busy road so there's only a little noise. Other than that, it's quiet and very clean.
Our site 6 was pull-through and very unlevel but we have pretty good jacks on the Class A and were able to level easily. Picnic table a little old but okay. Site surface was hard gravel. Water, sewer and 50-amp electricity. Sufficient room between us and the neighbors; not as spacious as some COE parks but okay. And it's a small park so there aren't a lot of neighbors--maybe 20 sites or so total. More than half empty on a Friday in April.
There's no good place to walk your dog other than down to the tiny playground by the river, but if you're feeling adventurous you can walk past the power plant along the spillway, then turn right and go up the huge hill to the scenic overlook of Lake Ouachita. Nice view up there.
It's convenient to fishing in the tailwaters below the dam. Not sure if there were any fish there, but an Osprey kept patrol.
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