In no hurry to get to Beaver Lake

We weren't in any hurry to leave our Boondockers Welcome camp site in Bella Vista, Arkansas, because we were only traveling an hour to our next campground. So we made a stop at the Veterans Wall of Honor in Bentonville. As we walked through the granite entry, we didn't realize that we were walking into a history classroom. 

The wall outlined every war where American soldiers have fought, beginning with the American Revolution. It included a timeline that threaded America's history on the battlefield. We read each bronze plate that summarized the U.S. role in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American war, the Spanish-American War, World War I . . . It was a history lesson that curved around a circle of memorial stones representing local soldiers. We enjoyed being schooled this day.

Have we mentioned the winding roads of Northwest Arkansas? We found out that car insurance rates were high here because of all the one-vehicle accidents that come from driving off these curvy narrow roads. That was a good description of the roads we traveled this day to get to Horseshoe Bend Campground on Beaver Lake. It's a good thing we were in no hurry, with low speed limits and so many curves in our path.

We love Corp of Engineer campgrounds that are usually found around beautiful lakes. But we have a little rant about the policy that you must make an on-line reservation before arriving at the campground. There were plenty of sites open in the middle of the week in April, but we had to choose one based on the information available on-line. We chose site #131 because it was on the water,  had some shade, was a good length for our pickup and trailer, and looked level. Perfect, right? Wrong! It looked like it was on the water on the digital map, but was actually high on a hill that made getting to the water very difficult. 

It was a good thing we were in no hurry, because it took some time to get the trailer into the site we reserved. We never could get the trailer level even using all of our leveling blocks, and our pickup had to be parked at an angle and still stuck out into the street. Of all the empty sites all over this huge campground, we certainly would have never picked this site if we saw it in person. But it looked good on the computer. We might have been able to make a change, but no one was working at the gate during this off-season. So even experienced campers can get a not-so-great camping site.

We had planned to go kayaking on Beaver Lake tomorrow. But based on the weather forecast, we decided we better go paddling this evening instead. Suddenly we were in a hurry.

We have consistently found that Corp of Engineer parks are clean and well managed, with spacious sites. Since we turned 62 year old, we especially like their half-price rates for us old-timers. But we have found very few hiking trails in these parks. It looks like the corp is all about the lake and the dam, and doesn't spend much time on trails. But directly across this neck of Beaver Lake was Hobbs State Park, home to lots of trails. It would be a 16-mile drive to get to the state park from our campground, meandering around the fingers of the lake until we could find a bridge to cross the water. But we can kayak there in 1.6 miles. The rocky shoreline ahead of us was the edge of the state park property.

We're not sure if anyone else had ever tried to kayak between Horseshoe Bend Campground to Hobbs State Park, because there was no beach to easily paddle into. It was quite a job hoisting the kayak up over the stone cliff. Then it was time to change from boat shoes into hiking boots.

It was a rocky walk around the edge of the lake.

 

It was a good thing that we had the Bayshore Ridge Loop Trail downloaded in the Alltrails app so we could find the opening in the trees that would intersect the state park trail.

It was a 3.5 mile walk through heavy forest, and we wouldn't see the lake again until we completed the circle. In April, we found only a few spring wildflowers blooming in the forest.

To tell the truth, it was a pretty boring 3.5 miles. We took almost no pictures until we came to this very picturesque tree shaped like the number 4.

 

How many pictures can you take of a 4 tree? Look, Denisa has no legs!

Mark could only play this game so long, and then he started playing possum.

That hike took longer than expected, and the sun was already low in the sky when we got back to the water. It was the golden hour, with the sunshine lighting up the rocky shore line. We have wandered God's wonders again today!

The water was calm in the cove, so we took a selfie of our first lake paddle of 2026.

After a day that got started with no hurry, we were now hurrying across the lake to make it back to the trailer before it got dark. It was a good ending to a day at Horseshoe Bend Campground at Beaver Lake.