Since we don't tow a car behind our motorhome, our bicycles serve as our main form of transportation when we are parked in a campground. It's so much easier to head out on bikes rather than unhook and prepare Pearl to hit the road, so we only take her out on longer journeys, when actually changing campgrounds. While staying at Charlton Campground in Arkansas's Ouachita National Forest for two weeks, we had plenty of time to explore the area on two wheels. This map will help you locate the areas discussed below. Charlton Campgound is not shown but is slightly (3 miles) to the left (west) of Crystal Springs. (Sorry about the small font.) As you can see from the map, Lake Ouachita limits the number of roads in the area. From Charlton, we had no choice but to ride on Highway 270 for at least part of the way to anywhere. In some places, this road had a nice, wide shoulder, but in other parts, the shoulder got narrower. And there was quite a bit of traffic, both recreational and not. So riding on this road was not ideal, but it was either that or not riding at all, so you can guess which option we chose! Early in our stay, we were out of wine so took a short ride east to Outlaw Liquor in Crystal Springs. There are several competing liquor stores in this tiny outpost and not much else. I guess they get their name because the next county over, just a few miles west, is dry. Arkansas has a lot of dry counties, so make note of that if you travel in the area and enjoy adult libations. You can find a map and list of wet and dry counties in Arkansas here. Another day, we took the road bikes on a longer journey east to the town of Royal, which you can see on the right side of the map above, to pick up our mail. We periodically have a packet of mail sent to us from a mail-forwarding service, and we also had a package to pick up. We had both sent to General Delivery at the Royal post office since we knew we'd be in the area for a relatively long time, so our mail wouldn't miss us. Although the 9-mile ride to Royal was not very pleasant due to the amount of traffic, we made it there safely, and our mail was waiting for us. I am sure they don't get too many cyclists in this post office! On the way back to Charlton CG, we decided to take a longer route on back roads south of Hwy 270 to avoid some of the traffic. These rural roads in farm country were hillier but very pretty. I even got to stop and help a turtle cross the road! I had just seen one smashed a bit further up the road, so I didn't want this beautiful creature to meet the same fate. On Memorial Day weekend, wishing to avoid the busy highway, Barry checked Google maps and found some unpaved forest roads where we could ride our mountain bikes through the woods. This was a great choice as the highway would have been clogged with recreational boaters heading to and from the many lake access points in the area. We only got passed by a couple of vehicles on these peaceful unpaved roads. Bliss! This was by far our favorite ride in the area. On our last (and longest) ride in the area, we headed west on Hwy 270 to the small town of Mount Ida. Traffic wasn't as bad as heading east with the Hot Springs traffic. We first stopped at Marilyn's Old Country Store, where we were delighted to find a bevy of fresh, local produce as well as health foods. Surprising, given that we were in a rural area, but most welcome! Barry was able to pick up some Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran, and we also purchased some lovely veggies to take back with us. Next, we continued west to Morning Joy Donuts. We thought we were going to be too late, as they are only open until 11 am, and it was farther than we thought so we didn't arrive until around 11:10. But they were still open and happy to see some customers to buy up the leftover donuts, I'm sure! We bought a variety of donuts, scones, and muffins, and they even gave us a bag of donut holes on the house. Yum! Our last stop before turning around to head back to Charlton was the Mount Ida town center and the Montgomery County courthouse. Although the cycling from Charlton Campground was not ideal since there were limited options, we managed to make the most of it and still had a lot of fun and put in some productive miles.
0 Comments
When we stayed at Charlton Campground in the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas for the Memorial Day holiday, we were lucky enough to have an excellent hiking trail beginning (or ending, depending on your perspective!) right in the campground. This 4.3-mile (one-way) trail runs from the Charlton Recreation Area over to the Crystal Springs Corps of Engineer campground on Lake Ouachita. It crosses a couple of ridges, one steep, so there is a fair amount of climbing and descending. We definitely appreciated our hiking poles! The trail is also open for mountain biking, but I can't imagine riding on the part of it we started on, with narrow switchbacks going up, up, up. Definitely beyond our technical skill level on the mountain bikes. The maps below that I nabbed from a mountain biking site show the trail map and elevation profile, starting from Charlton recreation area on the bottom of the map and left side on the elevation profile. I am guessing that the colors show the degree of technical difficulty, with green being easy and red being most difficult. The photo below shows the top of the highest ridge near Charlton Campground. It was absolutely full of poison ivy. Thankfully, I am not allergic, and Barry managed to get through this area coming and going without picking any up. Probably best to wear long pants if you are seriously allergic, though. Other than the poison ivy, it was a really pretty area with many beautiful rocks. We got a good day for our long hike, overcast and cool. It was only 72 degrees when we got back in the afternoon. Not bad for late May! This is Pipe Springs. The water is always running, but a sign warns against drinking the water without boiling it. It is on a forest road that the Charlton Trail crosses. Below is one of the many switchbacks that take you up to the highest ridge. I am smiling because I am on my way down and almost finished with our 8.6+-mile hike! I am sure this hike would be absolutely gorgeous during fall foliage season, but in the spring, you'll get to see a variety of pretty wildflowers, like these.
When Barry mentioned that we might be driving near Hope, Arkansas on the way to our Memorial Day spot in the Ouachita National Forest, I immediately said "let's go there!" I remembered the touching video during Bill Clinton's presidential campaign stating "I still believe in a place called Hope". The video featured this small Arkansas town where Clinton was born. I thought it would be fun to check Hope out in person. We thought we might just drive through and stop for an hour or two, but I went online and found a place where we could park for the night -- turns out the city park had RV spots with water and electric hookups. Even better, they had laundry facilities, and we needed to do a couple of loads. So, we pointed Pearl towards Hope. Fair Park was huge, and we had the RV lot all to ourselves. It would be a fine place for the night. The GPS took us down some skinny neighborhood roads to get to the park, when we should have just followed the signs to the park and stayed on wider roads. Make note of that if you ever visit. Barry checked the map and determined that Clinton birthplace home was only about a mile away, so we could walk it. This part of town was kind of run-down and not a place we'd want to be walking around after dark, but during the day it was fine. Before we knew it, we saw the white house with green trim I recognized from my online research. Here's the house, which has been designated a National Historic Site and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). Charming, I think. According to the NPS website, President William Jefferson Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope Arkansas on August 19, 1946. Named after his birth father who was fatally wounded in an automobile accident three months prior to a young Bill Blythe's birth. While the home itself was closed for renovation, the visitor center and museum next door was open, so we checked it out. There were some photos of Clinton's actual room, which was very basic, with a narrow twin bed and small desk, showing his humble roots. We bought a magnet for our magnet board and got our photo taken with the bust of Bill by a friendly NPS staffer. We're really happy that we made this short stop and got to see the home of one of our nation's presidents, and a personal favorite of ours. We believe in a place called Hope!
|
Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
Favorite Travel Blogs |