Ouachita National Forest, Arkansas

Bob and I left the Pine Bluff area and drove all the way to a spot just west of Hot Springs, AR. That's right, it was a relatively short drive. The last time we were in this area our friends Hoss and Lynn were with us. Gail and Cecil were not far away. Lynn, Gail, and I got to visit Hot Springs, but Bob and Hoss were stuck on Cloud Nine! Yes, there is a story behind that and I will not go into it now.

We decided to stop at a national forest campground even though there were many COE parks to choose from as well as state parks. Ouachita National Forest Charlton Camp was our choice.
When we arrived, it looked as if the campground was closed. Bob pulled the rv to the side of the road and we walked up the hill to inspect the signs. The day use area was closed, but the campground had one of its 3 loops open. We unhooked the car and drove through the loop to make sure sites were available. We were in luck, there weren't many people camping! We drove back to the rv and returned to the campground to pick our site. The campground was recently renovated and all sites had water and electric.From the looks of geocaching.com the area was filled with geocaches. We set off to grab a few and to hit the Hot Springs Wal-Mart for milk and fruit. We found most of the caches for which we were searching. We even picked up two at Wal-Mart.

It was starting to get dark and it was beginning to rain so we headed back to our site. After dinner we planned a day of geocaching--we wanted to break our old record of 35 in one day.It rained off and on all night, and the morning didn't look nice. Finally the rain went away leaving only clouds so off we went.One of our caches was near a ford. The large sheet metal gates on the left could be closed when the water rose too high for a safe crossing.Another one was placed near a head guarding a fence post.We had a great time. You would think with all the rain the pollen would have washed away.....but noooooo! It stuck to both our pants legs as we walked through the grass and plants! Bob's didn't show nearly as bad as mine! Yes, that is yellow pollen!After a late lunch and nap time, we explored the rest of the campground. We walked over the partially constructed bridge going to loop C. A stream runs through this area separating the day use area and camping loop C from loops A & B.In the 1930s, the CCC was active here. They built the dam and swimming area in the day use area. There are two octagon shaped swimming platforms with red ladders.Park workers can shut the gate and fill the swimming area when the weather is warm.
From the day use area we walked to the interpretive trail which is a 3/4 mile trail looping between campgrounds A and B. Signs along the way identified trees and plants of the area as well as their uses.

There was still daylight left and we weren't cached out--yet. We drove west on US 270 to look at the COE park in Joplin, AR. There were also some caches located nearby. The campground at Joplin COE was not nearly as nice at Charlton so we were delighted with our choice!

On the way into the Joplin COE Campground we passed a meditation area dedicated to a young man who died suddenly in 1999. He had a passion for landscape design so this was a fitting tribute.The gazebo at Micah's View overlooks Lake Ouachita. It was a wonderful place to take in the vistas of the area.
There was also a cache located near the memorial.

We enjoyed our day of geocaching and exploring. And by the way, we set a new personal best for number of caches found in one day--43!