Camping In Arkansas

Camping trips are our favorite. From sitting fireside to hiking the campground trails we love it all.

We are definitely glampers though. I need my bathroom and fluffy bed to fully enjoy camping. I dont think I will do tent camping ever again. HAHA. I wouldn’t mind backpaing and sleeping in a hammock though!

For the kiddo’s 12th birthday we went camping in Arkansas. We visited 3 different campsite locations over a 8 day period.

Blue Mountain Lake (Havana, Arkansas)

Beautiful view of the lake at Blue Mountain in Havana, AR

Beautiful views, stunning blue lake and gorgeous treed area. We found the perfect spot, site #13, sits back away from everyone else and has a little creek running right next to it. We didnt have any cell reception at this site, but we had so much fun just exploring the area, sitting by the fire, and playing in the water. No swimming was done this trip, as it was April and still pretty chilly.

Mt. Magazine (Paris, Arkansas)

Stunning views from the highest point in Arkansas

Bear Country. No, we unfortunately did not get to see a bear. My husband was pretty bummed. The weather while we were at this location was BRISK! It dropped down to 28F in the evening. So most of our stay here, was spent indoors playing Uno, Clue, and Cinco Linko! The views here were pretty stunning. Being at the highest point in Arkansas gave some pretty spectacular viewing. The hiking was steep, and definitely had us wishing for more oxygen. At this campground we stayed at site #15. Pretty much all the sites here were great having lots of space between neighbors and lots of hammock trees. Those are always a must for us. Plus it was Full Hookups -this is always a win!

DeGray Lake (Bismark, Arkansas-Near Hot Springs)

The start of our hike into Hot Springs National Forest

Another gorgeous lake location. Trees galore, and it was just so pretty. We hit a little bit of a bummer bump here. Our initial site that we had reserved was AWFUL. It was severely slanted and out in the middle of the road and just not a great site. We finally booked a different one and loved it. (Site #33) However, there was poison ivy EVERYWHERE. Ive never seen so much in my life. Luckily we dont get it bad or if at all, so we werent too concerned.

While at this site, we had family come up and join us for the rest of the trip. It was so much fun, and so great for our kid who then had cousins to play with. We made a special trip into Hot Springs and hiked in the National Forest, ate lunch in town and visited the infamous Fat Bottom Girl Cupcakes, that was featured on Cupcake Wars.

Our trip though it had some testing moments with campsites and weather was all in all a great trip. We enjoyed our time together as a family and exploring new locations. Im already trying to plan our next trip….wondering where we should go. Any suggestions?

Some of our favorite items to have for camping: