Ouachita National Forest Fall Colors

We wanted to see some of the local fall colors so we decided to head for the Oauchita National Forest in Oklahoma and Arkansas. 

We left home on Thursday Nov 4 2016 and headed northeast.  We spent the first night at Beavers Bend campground near Broken Bow, OK.  We have stayed here before in a rainstorm so didn't have fond memories of the place.  This time we got a beautiful day and a hike in the forest with plenty of falling leaves...it was nice.  They also have a cool visitors center with a museum showing the history of the logging industry in the area...well worth seeing.

Totem Pole Outside Beaver Bend Visitor Center/Museum

Day 2 we drove north into the Oauchita National Forest in Oklahoma and Arkansas.  This mountain range is unusual in that it runs east and west.  This range has peaks of around 2500 ft from a valley floor of about 800 ft so it feels like real mountains.  We took the Talimena Scenic Byway drive that runs along the top of the mountain range providing scenic views on both sides of the road.  The fall colors were beautiful but not nearly as vibrant as we saw on our fall trip to Vermont and New Hampshire.  We might have missed the peak and this year wasn't the best for fall colors here.    We stayed at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park on the mountain top in Arkansas.  This was once a resort built on top of the mountain by some wealthy Netherlanders to honor their Queen Wilhelmina back in the late 1800's.  It has been taken over by the State and turned into a hotel and restaurant with a great view.  The day we were there the parking lot of the hotel was full of antique cars that were gathering for a car show nearby.

Queen Wilhelmina Hotel and Restaurant

View of Oauchita Mountains from Hotel

Steam Engine at Queen Wilhelmina State Park

Day 3 found us at Cedar Lake Recreation Area, a beautiful little lake nestled among the hills in Oklahoma.  Here we did some hiking around the scenic lake.

Cedar Lake Recreation Area, OK

Next we headed up to Fort Smith and spent the night at Sams to replenish supplies.  We spent one night on Lake Ouachita at the Denby Point campground.

Then we headed home, planning to spend our last night at the Choctaw Casino where we could watch Hillary Clinton's victory in the presidential elections on Nov 8th.  As the election returns came in it became more and more apparent that our worst nightmare was going to come true...despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million, the Donald was actually going to become the next president.  We drove on home late that night wondering how this could happen and what the effect will be on our kids and grandkids.