Monday, 26 February 2024

Lake Ouachita State Park


The next morning was beautiful!!  So sunny and gorgeous!! 

Breakfast included hot chocolate and yeah, every meal the entire trip were random MREs that Ana gave us from her being in the National Guard.  They weren't horrible, but they weren't fabulous either.  Leo got sick to his stomach as per his usual whenever his diet changes.  Poor guy.  

After breakfast we went out paddling again, following the Rabbit Tail Water Trail, sort of.  









After a while, we took a break on a little island.

The rocks there were really interesting. Per Sebastian's request, I had a rock identifier app downloaded for a time, and knew what they were.  But I've since deleted it, so sorry, I no longer know. 












It was really relaxing, just chilling and throwing rocks in the water.  Plus, I think just paddling and being out on the water is so relaxing too. Anyway, after a while, we headed back to our camp and packed up and canoed back to the lake access point where we'd had parked our car. We could have stayed one more night, but one kid's sleeping pad had gone flat with a hole, and Leo and a couple kids had froze to death, or close to, the night before, so we decided not to stay.  Sebastian said there was spiders on the kayak when we were leaving to go to the shore, and I thought Leo helped them get them all off, but Sebas was not convinced.  And then just a little ways into the lake, he freaked out, and sure enough, I could see from a quite a distance a massive spider crawling up his back. Yikes! According to him, there was more than one.  So we ended up towing the kayak and he rode in my canoe.  



We ate a picnic lunch at the access point (more MREs) before heading out.  It was beautiful there, I would have loved to see it during the summer.  So despite not going on my original trip to the Buffalo River, we still had a great time.  And I have to say, I was so impressed with my kids on this trip.  They were really helpful getting all the gear set up and taken down, loading it into the trailer, helping with the canoes, etc.  It was amazing!

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