Lake Catherine State Park

Monday afternoon we traveled with John and Lynda to Lake Catherine State Park. We took highway 7 over the Ouachita mountains to Jessiville then highway 192 through Mountain Pine to highway 270. There is no easy way to get to Lake Catherine from Russellville without lots of curvy and hilly road. 

On our trip over we stopped on highway 7 at the Ouachita Trail Highway 7 Trailhead to take a break and let the dogs out.  While looking at the clear little creek we saw a hiker from the trail and realized it was someone we knew from Russellville. Our friend David was coming from highway 27, through hiking to highway 9. He said he was out for 5 days to cover the 70 miles of trail.

Our Caravan at the Ouachita Trail

After arriving at Lake Catherine State Park we got setup with John and Lynda in site #11 and Donna and I in site #12. I liked the seclusion of site #11 and #12 given that they are the last sites on the upper loop with no neighbors on one side, but only #12 had a view of the lake that probably will not exist when the trees leaf out. Immediately past site #12 the road drops off so steep that many people pull up to the precipice and stop because the road drops away so quick you cannot see road in front of your vehicle. This makes backing into the spot somewhat of a hard push. 

John’s friends Mark and Jackie were already at the park from the day before and made us a delicious Dutch oven lasagna with all the trimmings for dinner. We had a great dinner, cocktails and played Ono until time to retire to our respective trailers. 

John and Lynda in Site #11

Ronnie and Donna in Site #12

Tuesday we walked to Fall Creek Falls. The trail was busy with lots of people at the falls. Fall Creek was running making for a really nice water fall.

Lynda, Donna and Jackie

Mark Testing the Waters

Fall Creek Falls

Dinner Tuesday night was at our campsite. We grilled chicken and Donna had made baked beans and potato salad before we left home. I also made Dutch oven peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert. 

Wednesday the girls went to Hot Springs for some retail therapy. John and I hung out around the campground for a while, then took a little road trip around Hot Springs. Unfortunately, Mark had internet access and had to work from his trailer.

View from Hill Behind Campground

Wednesday evening was John's famous low country shrimp boil at his campsite. Seems like we spend a lot of time eating! John's friend Fran from Hot Springs joined us for dinner and gave us box seat tickets for the Oaklawn Park horse races on Thursday. 

 

Thursday it was off to the races at Oaklawn Park. The Upper Terrace area where our box seats were located was practically a ghost town with only one lady working a single window for all wagering.  My day started poorly without cashing a single ticket in the first three races. Then I hit horses in the next four races and by the end of the day I was up $4.50. That paid for a hot dog and half of a beer. We stopped for dinner at Rolando's Restaurante Nuevo Latino. 

Returning home Friday through Morrilton we were attempting to dodge the impending storms. We left around 10 AM and missed a storm at Lake Catherine, then ran back into the line of storms on I-40 at Morrilton. We made it home safely, but the same storm produced an EF-3 tornado that hit west Little Rock and traveled 31 miles to Cabot. The devastation in Little Rock was hard to comprehend. Over 2,600 structures were damaged, 38,000 without electricity and 50 people were hospitalized with one fatality in North Little Rock. A separate tornado fueled by the same line of storms caused extensive damage in Wynne, AR killing 4.