We arrived at our next campsite about four O'clock and immediately regretted it. Leisure Landing RV Park was marketed very well, Wi-Fi, Clubhouse, Fitness Center, Dog park, on the shores of Lake Hamilton. What it turned out to be was a 1 acre Homesite with the attached garage converted to an office, the entire yard was gravel with 33 side by side RV sites designated by painted lines in the gravel. There was an 8 x 10 patch of grass under each of the plastic picnic tables. The shores of Lake Hamilton was the end of a cove and maybe fifty feet of seawall but view of the lake. The Wi-Fi was so bad you couldn't watch a tv show more than three minutes at a time between buffering. Thankfully it was good enough to book another place for the rest of our stay here. We got up and left first thing in the morning and made our way down into Historic Hot Springs. We couldn't check-in to our next campsite till after 2pm so we decided to explore the local picnic grounds and found a beautiful spot at Gulpha Gorge. A Hot Springs National Park Campground with a picnic area too.
I wish I had taken more pictures of the place. This was all just a great way to kill a little time, we stuck around for a while and ended up doing a drive around the campground too. It was beautiful, autumn colors, a nice breeze, a cold mountain stream and the whole picnic area to ourselves. It was enough to settle my attitude after being stuck in a gravel parking lot last night. Wanting to see more, we headed back to the historic district and found our way through to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. There is a one-way winding road to the top of the mountain overlooking Hot Springs. A sign at the entrance to the mountain loop forbidding vehicles of 30 feet long. HA, Georgie Girl is 27 feet long... There were a LOT of hairpin turns but the road was very well planned and the drive to the top was very enjoyable in itself. The view was wonderful and we continued around the north mountain loop just because!
After that, we still had a little more time to kill and found a simple picnic area called Bull Bayou out in the woods several miles away. We fixed a quick lunch and let the dogs out to play. It was quiet, practically deserted, and far enough out of the way there was no hint we were anywhere near town. Still more time to kill, we made the drive out to Brady Mountain where we were originally going to stay but cancelled because of the communications dead zone. It was a 30 minute drive and 7 miles off the highway down a narrow winding two lane country road. Brady Mountain campground was beautiful, secluded, and surrounded by Lake Ouachita. It's a COE (Corps of Engineers) campground with only electrical hookups. This means we would have to fill the water tank on the way in and go back again when we run out of water or need to empty the waste water tanks. Not really an issue since we can usually go 3 to 4 days on the water tank. The park is closing for the season November 1st and our little tour revealed only 5 campers in the entire park. Too bad about the signal.
And Finally, Ahhhh, This is the view behind our campsite for the next few days. This is Treasure Isle RV Park on the Ouachita River upstream of Lake Hamilton. Full Hookups including cable tv and excellent Wi-Fi. We'll be heading home in a few days but I'm planning to get another post in before we head home, for now it's all rest and relaxation in Hot Springs Arkansas. Until next time, Cheers!
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