Like the previous three months of this year, April was also amazing. Some new places along with some familiar favorites, making our April travels memorable.

During the month of April we made our way to Fort Worth and back out, survived that big city! Spent some time at a new place in southeastern Oklahoma, nice spot. And finally rounded out the month in Arkansas, at a new lake spot and an old favorite, Sam’s Throne.

Texas

You may be wondering why we subjected ourselves to the big city of Fort Worth. Family is the reason. Shane’s aunt and uncle live on the west side of Fort Worth. We had planned to see them last year but plans changed so we made it a point to get out to see them this year. Unfortunately we approached from the east and that made for a fun drive along the south of Dallas/Fort Worth. By far the biggest city our RV has been through. If we return next year, we will be coming from the south.

Before arriving in Fort Worth we stayed for 1 night at Lake Tawakoni State Park a couple of hours away to break up the trip from Toledo Bend Reservoir. There we had the luxury of full hooks up for $34 a night (included $10 entrance fee), not a bad price and with lake access. After arriving we of course took the boat out for a little exploration. It was nice to have a little downtime before making the drive to Fort Worth.

After a stressful drive through crazy amounts of lanes and cloverleafs heading off into a million different directions, we arrived to the peace and quiet of the Texas version of the Benson Campground. Shane’s aunt and uncle live in a little oasis, with plenty of space to spread out, all while surrounding neighborhoods are the typical suburban type. During our stay we got our puppy fix with Sally and Gracie. They loved coming out to hang with us in the RV. We also sampled some homemade wine which inspired me to start making my own. Equipment has been ordered and will be ready for me once we return to Indianapolis in a week. I am super excited to start this new venture. Updates on that to come!

And of course, while in Texas, I had to have some In-N-Out Burger. And yes it tasted as good as I remember! In-N-Out if you are reading this (ha ha), please come further east!

Oklahoma

We found a nice halfway spot in southeastern Oklahoma on Pine Creek Lake at Pine Creek Cove campground. This is an Army Core of Engineers campground and they had several great spots right on the lake for a reasonable price. $20 a night with water and electric at the site, plus lake access. During our stay we had to move from our original spot when they did a controlled burn. The second spot was nice as well with a few more people.

But our time on the lake was really why we chose this spot. We had planned to check out Broken Bow while camped at Pine Creek Cove but decided against it for a few reasons. Turns out it is a highly touristy spot and it was an hour away, Instead of driving and dealing with lots of people we enjoyed our lake and explored up river as far as we could before hitting some small rapids.

We enjoyed plenty of beautiful sunsets and had ourselves a little Tequila tasting lake side. I came up with the drink Tequila sunset, adding a splash of kombucha to the Tequila and orange juice. The drink matched pretty well with the sunsets over the water.

Arkansas

By far one of our favorites, a hidden gem really. There is so much beauty in this state and we love spending part of our spring here on the return trip to Indianapolis. This year we decided to camp at a different lake instead of Lake Ouachita. Turns out DeGray Lake did not disappoint. Beautiful lake with a river to explore as well. Lenox Marcus is a free spot to camp with a boat ramp, flush toilets, water and trash. A nice find and less than an hour from Hot Springs.

We enjoyed our lake side retreat for 9 days with one trip into Hot Springs to stock up on supplies, snag some fresh spring water, and meet up with our friends Joe and Colleen (it was great to see you guys).

This time while exploring up river when we found a spot too shallow for our motor we decided to walk it through. The rocks were smaller, making it more manageable to get our boat through. This would be a new “skill” that would come in handy later in our travels in the Ozarks. Stay tuned, more on that below.

More gorgeous sunsets. I must say we truly love lake life, especially the way we do it, lake hopping never gets boring.

Sam’s Throne is by far one of our favorite places to camp. A free campground in the Ozark National Forest with vault toilets. Primitive camping but with the added bonus of excellent hiking and incredible views steps away from your chosen site. A spot we return to every year. No matter how many times we visit, there is always something new to explore in the Ozarks.

This year we added a few new items to our exploration adventures. And they did not disappoint. Up first Pedestal Rocks and Kings Bluff. Last year we ran out of time to do this hike so it was at top of list for this year. And wow! Quite beautiful. I called it an adult playground. On the Pedestal Rocks loop there is a trail along the top of the rocks but more exploration and fun awaits on the lower trail at the base of the rocks. Small caves and interesting rock formations await and are worth your time to explore.

The Kings Bluff loop was also impressive with various lookout points and a waterfall. You could see where the water flowing can vary with the rainfall. During our visit there was not much flow. Both loops are accessed from the same parking lot and are relatively moderate to some challenge when hiking below the cliffs and exploring the caves.

Taking a break from hiking and always looking for an excuse to get out on the boat we opted for some river crawling. A new activity we came up with this season and one we found ourselves getting better at each time. The Buffalo National River flow is very rain flow dependent. Some seasons it can be very low and others rushing water. You have an option to pay for a shuttle service to drop you off and pick you up further down river. For this year we decided to skip the shuttle and try our hand at river crawling.

We found a great spot to put it near our campground and opted to motor up river as far as we could or wanted to and then float back down. This first time around was all about trying it out and seeing if it was even possible. Putting in at Blue Hole we managed to make it up river to Hasty with five portages. Meaning we were able to motor against the current for a bit. Then we had to get out, rope up the boat and walk it though some of the more shallow and rocky portions. Each time we would evaluate before attempting. Most of the spots were fairly easy to get through, however, the current adds some challenge as you walk through pulling a 70 pound boat with the added weight of a motor.

But the float back made it all worth it. It was incredibly scenic and peaceful. A little work to get up river but fun in its own way and a relaxing float back fully immersed in nature.

To round out April we finally tackled a hike that has been on my list since our first year visiting. Hemmed in Hollow Falls is considered a hard hike, at 5.5 miles round trip, it’s not the mileage that makes it challenging. Instead it is the elevation change of 1400 feet and that is on the way back out. There is a sign warning hikers at the start of the trail, hiking out is equivalent to walking up the stairs of the Empire State Building. Pack plenty of water and take your time, it is steep and rocky in sections. But the falls are worth every step. Bonus there is a short trail that leads out to the Buffalo National River. For those that want to skip the grueling hike out there is another option. Arrive via kayak or canoe on the Buffalo National River and take the short hike to the falls with very little elevation change.

Hemmed in Hollow Falls is a 210 foot waterfall. Considered the tallest waterfall between the Appalachians and the Rockies. We were lucky to visit when the falls were flowing nicely. The coolest thing was watching the water “travel”, with the wind blowing it similar to a pendulum. I recorded a video while we were there but sadly something happened and it did not save it. I guess we will have to hike it again next time we are back.

I packed us a lunch and a couple of beers to enjoy while taking in the beauty of this impressive waterfall. We allowed ourselves plenty of time. Spending about 2 hours to hike down, 2 hours enjoying the falls, surrounding landscape, and the Buffalo River, and finally about 2 hours to hike out. We took breaks as needed on the way out but overall found the hike wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected.

In fact I had been avoiding this hike because of the elevation change and the need to hike down to it and back out. That is not to say it wasn’t challenging. It is and you need to be in relatively good shape to attempt this hike. We picked a cooler day to do this and that helped as well. So happy we finally did this, it was truly incredible.

And to round out this post with a few last photos of the views from the Sam’s Throne Campground.

To look back through these photos I feel almost like this was longer than a month. We really packed in a lot of exploration into one month. Traveling from Texas through Oklahoma over to Arkansas, visiting family, lake hopping, river crawling and loving some amazing hikes. What a month it was! Memories to last a lifetime.

Our time at Sam’s Throne dipped into May a bit so expect to see the tail end of that in the next post. For now that is a wrap on the April recap (and here it is already the middle of May). Where is the time going??