Lake Chicot is situated in a grove of majestic wild pecans and ringed with cypress trees standing literally “up to their knees” in water along the nations’s largest natural oxbow remnant, a cutoff of the mighty Mississippi.
At the end of September we visited Lake Chicot State Park. If you find yourself near Lake Village, Arkansas, stop in at this beautiful state park and spend a few days enjoying Lake Chicot. We envision stopping here again!
Scenes from our visit!
“Welcome to Lake Chicot State Park”Lake Chicot, an oxbow remnant , a cutoff of the mighty Mississippi River
Late evening fishing
Egret Reflection
Egret Art
Up a Tree in Lake Chicot State ParkSunset over Lake Chicot
I am so behind in posting. I hope to catch up, now that things have settled down! During the last few weeks we have visited family in Mississippi, attended a family wedding in Florida and visited with friends in Georgia. Tonight, I write this from a Florida State Park in Sebring, Florida called Highlands Hammock.
Lake Dardanelle State Park in Russellville, Arkansas
Marina at Lake Dardanelle State Park. This was our back yard for a day!
Our ride on this 25th day of September, 2014:
We traded the agricultural fields of sunflower, wheat and corn, that we drove through the day before, for trees. Gentle rolling hills covered with gorgeous trees. We traveled along I-35 to I-40 and spent one night at Lake Dardanelle State Park, located in Russellville, Arkansas.
This beautiful state park is surrounded by the Ouachita Mountains to the south and the Boston Mountain Range of the Ozarks to the north. Lake Dardanelle offers some of the finest fishing and boating resources in Arkansas. Formed by the Arkansas River, this 34,000 acre man-made lake is two miles west of Russellville. (info taken from web)
We will definitely return to LDSP when we have more time to explore this lovely area.
Reflections on Lake DardanelleThis area is a major bass fishing tournament site!Arkansas Nuclear Plant as seen from Lake Dardanelle State ParkDamselfly hanging around at Lake Dardanelle State Pak
A unique place for fuel:
When we left Wellington, Kansas we had to fuel up. We decided to stop in Billings, OK at the Cimarron Travel Plaza. This was the cleanest truck stop we have ever been in! The large parking lot was spotless. When we pulled up to the pump an employee came up to us and said he would pump the fuel and clean our windshield. He stated it was a courtesy of the Travel plaza.
This was a first. When we mentioned how clean everything was he beamed with pride. If you are ever in this area stop in for fuel!!
Being the navigator is sometimes a thankless job:
Our route today took us through Tulsa and it wasn’t a fun experience. Road construction with too many, small detour signs telling us which direction to go in. Our well planned research fallingl by the wayside. My Gps screaming at me for not following his directions. The driver, well what can I say. As navigator on this crew, I wasn’t happy either.
However, we made it though Tulsa and arrived in Russellville, Arkansas all in one piece to enjoy this peaceful, lovely state park.
Site 46 at Lake Dardanelle State Park
On Friday, September 26, 2014 we left Russellville and traveled to Lake Village, Arkansas to visit another Arkansas state park called Lake Chicot. More on this state park to follow.
Our ride today took us across I-70 to 1-135 then to I-35.
We are staying one night at a KOA in Wellington, Kansas. Wellington was first surveyed in 1871 and named for the Duke of Wellington. This area produces vast quantities of winter wheat and wheat is still the driving force behind the local economy, so much so that Wellington is called the “Wheat Capital of the World”.
As I sit here typing this post, I can hear the mournful sound of a train whistle in the distance.
Railroads and petroleum, along with the wheat, are also significant to the economy of Wellington and manufacturing, especially aircraft parts, is growing.
Wellington, Kansas
It was a pleasant ride today with “green” being the word to describe the landscape we saw.
Lots of rain in this part of the country. It was nice to see fields of green grass, ponds filled with water and bales of hay dotting the landscape.
We spotted hawks flying high, riding the currents, and scouring fields for food. I saw a huge, dark colored bird that I thought was a Golden eagle sitting on a bale of hay. Couldn’t get a positive ID going 65mph down the interstate. 😦
Mourning Dove
Walks and a little birding.
When we pulled into the Wellington KOA, we took our girls for a walk. We flushed up, out of the brush, a male Pheasant. He was beautiful flying low across the field and out of sight. I have seen Pheasants before in Colorado, but it has been a very long time since my last sighting.
A little further down the path we spotted a pair of Yellow-shafted Flickers. I have only seen one before today and this was many years ago. We added to our campground bird list an Eastern Kingbird, American Robins, Northern Cardinal, Eurasian Collared Dove and Mourning Dove.
It begins! We left our gorgeous mountains behind and drove through the eastern plains of Colorado, where we saw Antelope grazing on autumn grasses.
Our current journey is taking us south toward Mississippi and then Florida. Leaving Colorado in the fall is bad enough, but leaving a month early has been very hard. But leave we must.
We have a family member getting married in early October and we are looking forward to attending the wedding. We have also planned a few fun stops along the way, visiting family in Mississippi and friend get togethers in Florida and Georgia.
Initially traveling south on I-25, taking I-270 out of Denver, and then turning onto I- 70, led us into the high plains of Kansas. It has been a few years since we have taken this route.
I couldn’t think of any other word to describe the landscape we drove through today, but peacefulpops into my head. It was a beautiful day with blue skies, open road, dairy farms, sunflower fields and corn stalks. We have never seen so many, mile after mile, of corn fields.
under beautiful skies
as far as the eye can see
corn stalks growing tall
We are spending one night at High Plains Camping in Oakley, Kansas. When we pulled into this campground we remembered being here once before. We were on vacation traveling back home to Colorado from visiting family.
It was late December, it started to snow and it was piling up quickly. Temperatures had reached the low teens. We were desperate for a place to stop and extremely lucky to find this campground with a few open sites. It reached a low of eleven degrees that night. It was the coldest we have ever been. Traveling in our very first RV, an Airstream travel trailer, it was one experience we will never forget!
So once again, after several years, we find ourselves back in Oakley, Kansas at High Plains Camping. This time the temperatures are in the low eighties, so we decided to enjoy locally brewed micro brews at Jacks Pub, here on the camp ground premises. These micro brews are from a brewery in Hays, Kansas and boy were they delicious. Not a bad way to end the day after a lovely ride!
On this lovely autumn evening, I leave you with a sunset photo.
We spent our last day visiting Glacier National Park hiking along Avalanche Creek to Avalanche Lake. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous area filled with Red Cedar, Black Cottonwood, Hemlock trees and much more. Some of these trees can live to be a 1000 years old. One can not walk among them without being in awe of their beauty and feeling their strength.
Sights from our hike…
A canyon of red argillite rockRed Berries along the trail.Moss covered forest floorNursery TreeWater, the gift of life
Tall, strong, beautiful treesBeautiful mountains surround Avalanche Lake
Avalanche lake sits at the base of 8694-foot Bearhat Mountain, which rises almost 4800 feet above the lake towards the northeast. The mountain dominating the view towards the south is 7886-foot Little Matterhorn. If you look closely at the cliffs and mountains that surround the lake you’ll notice several long waterfalls cascading hundreds of feet as they make their way towards the lake. (info taken from the web)
Three WaterfallsBearhat MountainAvalanche! Named for the numerous avalanches that roar down the surrounding mountains in the spring!
In the morning we head home. We leave Glacier with sadness, happy hearts and fond memories. Will we return? You bet!
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