We don't often stay in commercial RV parks for shorter stays.  They are too often laid out like parking lots, with little privacy between closely spaced sites; and they tend to be more expensive than the public parks we favor.  In this case, however; we wanted to ride the Frisco Highline rail-trail, and the only campground nearby was a commercial one, Red Cedar RV Park.  The reviews were positive, but we pulled in with some trepidation, as it was behind a rather modest motel, and we weren't sure what to expect.

We were relieved to see that this park was quite nice, very clean and well-maintained. Sure, it was basically a parking lot, but at least there was grass, and it was neat and tidy. The bath house was large, modern, and clean. We didn't need it, but I did peer inside. There were a couple of washers and dryers that worked well.  This is a plus of a commercial parks, as very few public parks offer laundry facilities, and we needed to do a couple of loads.

We had made advance reservations since we'd be staying over a weekend, and it was a good thing we did.  This park caters to longer-term stays (weeks or months), and all of the perimeter back-in spots were full.  The few pull-through sites for transients were at near capacity: there was only one free spot on two of our three nights, and all sites were full on the Saturday night we were there.

The nightly price of $26.50 before our 10% Good Sam discount was not bad at all for a spot with full hookups (electricity, water, and sewer), and best of all, there was fast (4G LTE) wi-fi that worked well.  We were able to use that rather than burn through any of our Verizon data allotment for the month.  Sweet!

The very best park of the park was this dog park, where we could let Paisley off leash to burn off some of her energy for awhile each day.  She just loved it.  We would only go in when no other dogs were using the park, since she doesn't always love other dogs, but solo, it was her perfect puppy playpen!

Another plus of the park:  it was only a short walk down the road to a great barbeque place, Boones BBQ Barn.  On our last night, we walked down and brought back pulled chicken with sides of smoked beans and sweet potato casserole.  Oh, and the cobbler of the day, blackberry.  Not the healthiest meal, but oh so yummy.

As I hinted at in an earlier post, the views from Mt. Magazine State Park in the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas are some of the best we've seen.  Until the current road trip in Pearl, we'd only made one quick pass through the state, stopping to stay briefly in Little Rock (our 2014 blog post), so we had no idea how breathtaking Arkansas could be.

Our favorite after-dinner walk was to the Cameron Bluff Overlook, not far from the campground.  You could see for miles, and the views were unbeatable.

On our last day in the park, we took a bike ride down to get a photo of the entrance sign, a hilly but beautiful ride.  Isn't this a pretty sign?  It does this lovely park justice.

The sign is right across from one of the park overlook points and some of the best views around.

That night after dinner, we waited until shortly before sunset to head down to the Cameron Bluff Overlook.  We were treated to an absolutely fiery sunset over the valley.  How lucky were we?

We were lucky this time.  We ascended most of the way up Magazine Mountain, the highest point in the state of Arkansas at 2753', in our motorhome, Pearl, on the way to Mt. Magazine State Park.  The summit trail itself is a short one and manageable by most anyone of moderate fitness.

That was a good thing, because Barry's cold was in full swing by the day we did this hike, and he was dragging.  This is not the norm for him at all; usually, the tougher and longer a hike, the happier he is.  I had not yet caught the cold, so I was feeling much more chipper than him on this day. 

The Signal Hill Trail actually starts at 2600' elevation, so we only had 153' to ascend.  Easy peasy!  If you take the shortest route to the top, you can do the out and back in just a mile. If you make the entire loop, it's still only 1.4 miles. 

At the summit is a stone map in the shape of Arkansas, and a sign indicating the highest point. There's actually not a view from the summit.

We signed the register to make it official.

A lot of folks take summitting state peaks more seriously than we do, but it was still fun to add another to our list:

• Mount Magazine, Arkansas (2016)
• Wheeler Peak, New Mexico (2013)
• Harney Peak, South Dakota (2013)
• Mount Mitchell, North Carolina (2006)
• Mount Rogers, Virginia (2005)
• Brasstown Bald, Georgia (2005 )

I found a nice map of state high points on the site in one of the stickers on the mailbox: http://www.highpointingtheusa.com/home-masonry/
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Thanks, Arkansas, for making this one a piece of cake!