Sunday 4-3 Mountainburg & Lake Fort Smith State Park

 

Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day with sunshine and the temperature got in the 70s.

I woke up and made blueberry muffins for breakfast. We didn't leave the park until after lunch because our next  destination was only 40 miles away, Lake Fort Smith State Park.

While we were hanging around Springhill park I played my computer games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I did the Event: East Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 27 minutes and 49 second, which put me in 10th place in my group.

Our drive was through the mountain and very nice. Our route roughly followed the same path as our train did yesterday. We went through Chester, over creeks, Mountainburg and other points of interest the conductor talked about yesterday. We stopped in Mountainburg to visit their city park. The park has a neat playground, they have three dinosaurs (Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and T-rex), that were originally built to be climbed on but now only one is available. The park also has dragons and a circular swing where two people can sit in. There was a train depot and a creek that flows through the park. There are bridges over the creek. We parked in the parking lot at the City Hall, Police Station and Fire Station. There was an old fire truck. It was a beautiful park and there were some locals using it.

Brontosaurus

T-rex

 

Triceratops

Dragon 

 

The train depot

 

Old fire truck

We arrived at Lake Fort Smith State Park around 12:30. We stopped at the visitor center to check in and get our senior discount of 25%. When we received the reservation confirmation Larry noticed it indicated our site was an ADA site, he asked the lady if she could change our site because we didn't really want to prevent someone else from using the site who may need it. She said no problem. She moved us to the site across from it. Before leaving the visitor center we walked around the museum, it had displays of the history of the park. We also watched a movie. Right next to the visitor center there is a swimming pool and water park. After walking around we went to our site. It was occupied but they were leaving so we only had to wait a few minutes. Then we setup the Minnie for three nights.

Welcome sign

 

A gorgeous building to the swimming pool

 

Visitor Center

Larry filled the water tank. Then we relaxed with a book until it was time for dinner. 

Larry barbecued sausages for dinner. After dinner I went for an hour and a half walk. I walked to the Black Bear Dining Hall, Wild Turkey Lodge and Kingfisher Lodge, originally all the structures were built by the WPA but due to increasing the size of the lake all the facilities had to be rebuilt. I peaked in the window of the dining hall, it had gorgeous polished concrete floors, wood window frames and rock pillars. It had a huge fireplace outside and a porch that wrapped around the building with beautiful views of the mountains. The lodges were gorgeous, they didn't have a porch in the back but they had big windows that allowed folks to look at the mountains and lake. Next I walked to the cabins, they were very nice with beautiful fireplaces. The park provides the cabins with firewood. There were 10 cabins and 4 were rented out. They were fully furnished and had a kitchen. Then I walked to the day area, marina and boat ramp. The day area had sites with picnic tables, some of them were covered and they had grills. They have a great view of the lake. There a playground and a beautiful Pavilion with a fireplace. Next I walked to the marina and boat ramp. The marina was small but very nice. Before I got to the marina I saw a fishing pier that went over an arm of the lake. The boat ramp had two lanes and a very nice dock to load and unload. After taking pictures I headed back. I walked around the campground, which has two loops. One loop is on the lake with 50 amps and full hookups and the other loop where we're staying has 30 amps with water. Each loop has a very nice restroom with showers. I had a great walk. I walked the road but I had to walk up and down a couple of steep hills. There was a nice creek that ran through the campground and off the mountain.

Black Bear Dining Hall

Wild Turkey Lodge

 

Kingfisher Lodge

Outside fireplace at the dining hall

Inside of the dining hall

One of the cabins

Fishing pier and walkway to the other side of the lake

 

 

Pavilion

 

Pavilion fireplace

 

Fort Smith Lake

I ended up doing 21,000 steps for the day, which put me in 5th place in my group for the week with 178,638. I didn't get my daily goal but I went over my weekly goal of 175,000 steps.