A little farther North

 

We departed Mountain View and pointed the truck and trailer in a Northerly direction.  Not yet quite ready to head toward home.  We wanted to visit some friends near Garfield, AR; up on Beaver Lake.  Lunch time caught us near Eureka Springs, so we started looking for a place to stop for a break and a sandwich.  Noticed a sign just West of the town which mentioned City Park.  We turned and slowly made our way down a deteriorating paved road for a couple of miles.  What we found was something from a 1940’s-50’s travelogue.

 

The park consisted of a small lake, a huge bath house constructed by the WPA, a few small cabins and about 5 rustic RV sites.  We parked in one of the sites to fix lunch.  Notice the huge Catalpa Tree in full bloom.  There were several all around the bath house.

Down the hill was the small lake which was in use by a few paddlers and fishermen.

Sally surveys the diving platform from a distance.  Though it appears that it hasn’t been used in years, the craftsmanship used to construct it stands the test of time.  The ladders were still in good condition, and the brackets which once held the old diving board were still in place.  No worries about liability and lawsuits back in those days. 

Seems the biggest problem was skinny dipping.

Another place we happened upon was Roaring River State Park.  A Missouri state park just above the AR/MO border.  A really nice park set down in a gorge with a trout hatchery, fishing stream, beautiful campgrounds, and lots of scenery.  As luck would have it, my camera batteries were dying and the others were back in the trailer when we toured it.  Most of the park and hatchery were constructed by the CCC.  Lots of beautiful rockwork on the trout pools and buildings.

All the water used by the hatchery comes from this spring.  It is over 200 feet deep and provides millions of gallons of water daily.

The water is captured in this pool and then directed through all the trout ponds and runs.

The stream below the hatchery was lined with dozens, if not hundreds, of fishermen.  Boys, girls, old men and women, all trying their luck with the illusive trout.  As my camera had already died, I’ve included a link to a short slideshow of more of the park.  It takes a few seconds to load, but the pictures are worth the wait.  We are definitely going back and try our luck.  More later.  Thanks for looking….jc