Sunday 1-31 Camping - Fort Parker State Park

Fort Parker Entrance

After staying at home for a couple of days we were back on the road going on our next camping adventure. This adventure is taking us 80 miles to Fort Parker State Park. This is another state park that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park offers swimming, fishing, biking and hiking trails, camping, picnicking, bird and nature watching, paddling and geocaching. 

I started the day out by finishing getting the Minnie ready for the trip. We left around noon and it took less than two hours to get to Fort Parker State Park. Before going to our campsite Larry checked in. There was a short wait because there were a couple of people in front of him and only one person was allowed in the building at a time, masks were mandatory. 

Once we were checked in we went to our site. All the camping sites have a view of the lake. We found our site and setup the Minnie. Afterwards I finished doing my Daily Challenges and the Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 2 hours and 38 seconds to complete because I got stuck on two games. I played some Mahjong games.

After I finished my games we went for an hour walk around the park. We took the blue trail to the day area, from there we took a bridge over an arm of the lake. The blue trail continued on but we took the yellow half mile nature trail. Along the nature trail there were point of interest signs. The signs talked about the plants and ecosystem in the area. Where the trail looped around to take you back to the beginning there was an overlook ramada. The overlook gave a great view of the lake. When we finished walking the nature trail we went back to the day area. As we were walking we saw a family enjoying the trail and we saw a bench built by Jacob Sosebee in 2013 as an eagle scout project. We walked around the day area, there was a building that was built by the CCC and is now used for a Nature Center and Recreation Hall. There was another building where you can rent canoes and paddle boats. There was a playground and picnic tables with grills. Then we walked back to the Minnie. The hike went through trees. We had to cross over a creek via a wooden bridge at six different place. It was a nice walk.

 

The CCC building that is the Nature Center and Reaction Center

 

Bridge across lake

One of the six bridges we used during the hike

The hiking trail

By the time we got back it was time of dinner. It was too windy to barbecue so I heated up leftover chicken and sausage and we had wraps. After dinner I went on a 45 minute walk. I walked the same trails we did earlier. As I walked I took pictures. When I was walking the bridge to get back to the day area I met a couple and we said hello. When I was back at the Minnie I saw three deer in the field. I had a pleasant walk. 

 

Bench built by Eagle Scout, Jacob Sosebee

 

 

 Bur Oak

Sunset on Fort Parker Lake

Deer watching me

During our walks the trail were very easy but you had to be careful because there were a lot of tree roots. We walked through trees and the trails were full of leaves.

The rest of the evening we relaxed. Larry read and I finished doing my steps, which was 25,000 steps, which put me in first place in my group. For the week I did 189,359 steps.