We went camping over Memorial Day.

I do not usually camp on that weekend because that is what EVERYONE is doing…

My boys are getting old enough now that they really enjoy it though so we planned a camping trip, two days before.

It was stressful…

I ended up choosing Hobbs State Park in Arkansas as the place I wanted to hike.

Unfortunately they do not offer any camping other then backpacking.

I was not prepared to go backpacking so I chose from a list they offered of other campgrounds on Beaver Lake.

I am not good at last minute planning.

The campground I chose ended up being an HOUR away from Hobbs State Park!

Yay me…

It was called the Starkey Campground and is run by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

It is close to the lake but the camp sites themselves are farther away from the water then I thought they would be.

And there is no hiking trails at all.

Thankfully nearby was the Beaver Lake Dam campground and they did have a couple trails(they were full for the weekend).

Sunday evening we went on the Dogwood Overlook Trail at Beaver Lake Dam Park.

Although the park was pretty crowded there were not many people hiking at all.

We only passed a few people near the entrance and no one farther in.

It is a really difficult trail and can be hard to follow at times.

The boys LOVED it!

My oldest said this was the trail we should hike on from now on.

You have to cross the highway at one point and it is hard to see the trail marker but it is there!

Thankfully I found this blog post by Arklahoma Hiker and she tells you it is there and to bring water(we would not usually for such a short hike).

The boys really liked all the different terrain and the difficulty of this hike.

Also they enjoyed the wildlife…

We went down to the river afterwards to check it out.

The water is crystal clear and so beautiful!

The water level must have just recently risen.

Beautiful light.

We did not really have anything else planned for that evening so we headed into Eureka Springs.

It is such a fun town to explore!

I highly recommend at least driving through it if you are in the area.

The houses and businesses are built into the mountains it is so interesting to look at.

We stopped at a ice cream shop for a little treat while there.

On Memorial Day we made the hour trek to Hobbs State Park(next time I will choose a campground that is closer).

We decided on the Pigeon Roost trail.

It is 8.4 miles to do the whole thing or 9 miles if you take a wrong turn…

Poor Maddie she had no clue what she was in for.

They found something.

Just a little garter snake.

Kind of pretty.

We were going to stop and eat lunch at one of the backpacking camps that were about 4 miles in.

That is when we figured out we had taken a wrong turn.

They ended up being about 5 miles in.

Not too bad except we kept telling the boys we were almost there…

We kept telling Maddie that also.

I think she is assuming we are done for the day.

Nick thought he was going to have to carry her.

She really needs to get more exercise.

We let the boys dip their feet in the water when we were almost done.

Probably a mistake since my oldest decided he forgot how to get his shoes on.

7 miles in is not a good time to decide that.

I was focused with getting to the vehicle and buying the biggest sweet tea I could find not reshowing my six year old how to put his foot in a shoe.

Miraculously he did remember and we made it back.

Even though I was tired(it takes me a while to get myself acclimated to hiking in the heat).

I really wanted to check out the parks visitor center.

It was opened in 2009 and is a beautiful building.

The boys were very happy with the number of touch screens they had.

We used them to identify some of the snakes we had seen on the trails.

Someone(could have been anyone) decided to buy the boys slingshots…

They have not killed any animals so far.

Not from lack of trying though!

I did tell them if they kill it they are eating it.

My youngest seemed to see that as an incentive to try harder…