Our 2011 Family Vacation was to Devil's Den State Park in northwestern Arkansas for July 4th week.
Duration, timing and travel time:
We drove there on Monday and came home on Friday and that was plenty of time for this trip. It's about 7 hours drive time including rest and lunch stops. July is too deep into the
summer to vacation in Arkansas!! Hot, hot, hot!
Accommodations:
We stayed in a cabin that was built during the depression by the CCC. We made the reservation in mid-April and it was literally the last cabin available in an Arkansas state park for the whole summer. The rate was very reasonable at around $100/night. It was a studio, so smaller than we would have liked, but we managed by pitching our 2 man tent in the living room each night. That made a place for Sophie to sleep without the worry of her falling off the futon couch or getting up in the middle of the night with her feeding tube. The look and feel of the cabin was really cozy and everything was very comfortable. The kitchen was fully equipped, and there was a picnic table outside with a grill. The cabin was on a hill and was near other cabins but still private. This was not really roughing it as the cabin had AC, satellite TV, DVD player, and some sort of game system. It also had an impressive fireplace that was closed for the summer.
What to do:
This park has some really nice hiking trails. They weren't as challenging as Petit Jean, but there easily were enough shaded trails to hike a few hours for three days.
On Tuesday we did the Devil's Den trail and saw three interesting animals of note. We scared a dear sleeping near the river and got to see her run right past us. We also saw a cool tiny brown frog and an armadillo. It's fun to share these experiences with Sophie since she's pretty interested in animals.
Wednesday was our longest hike. We packed a lunch and did a 4 mile loop trail that was moderately interesting. Sophie went tee tee in the great outdoors for the first time. We sang lots of songs while hiking and got Sophie involved with the singing. She seemed to enjoy the responsibility of the 'boom boom boom' in Alice the Camel, but it did take alot of prompting. Brian and I got chiggers on this hike, so that's unfortunate.
We enjoyed a fun and informative Ranger led hike on Thursday morning to Yellow Rock. The views were great and we met some interesting people. We learned about the caves in the park which are more crevices that true caves. There's a large bat population in the park, and all of the caves were closed to protect the bats from a fungus that is killing bats in other parts of the country. We heard that the caves used to be fun to tour. They've been closed for years and may be closed for a long time to come.
Every late afternoon included time at the swimming pool. The park has a large play pool with two slides that Brian and I enjoyed. Sophie liked the wide steps that spanned the width of the pool. Since they allowed floaties in the pool, Sophie had some independence. She's very comfortable with the water but not swimming yet. The pool also had a sprinkler area that was a good diversion. This pic is of the edge of the small sprinkler area and doesn't show the sprinkler. The actual pool was pretty large but we didn't get a picture.
Sophie also enjoyed the luxury of satellite TV and watched Nick Jr for an hour or so in the heat of the day. There was also a very nice playground an easy walk from the cabin that we visited most evenings. The park is in a valley with a small river running through it. A portion was dammed off and canoes and paddle boats were available for rent. The open part of the river was really small due to some flood damage earlier this year. We did a short trip in a paddle boat which wasn't too exciting but did make for a cute picture.
The park also has a small store, snack-bar type restaurant for breakfast and lunch which we didn't visit, and laundry facilities.
Other points
Always travel with antihistamines. I had an allergy attach mid-week that made me pretty miserable for a day or so. We had to make a trip into town to buy medicine, an hour's round trip ride.
No cell phone coverage, but there was free wi-fi in the main visitor area near the pool and store.
July is too late! This trip would be better in early June before it gets so hot.
Plan trips to Arkansas sooner to ensure better cabin selection. We got really lucky this year. Try making a reservation by December.
