We continued exploring the Mississippi Delta at Lake Chicot State Park in Lake Village, Arkansas. Traveling south on Highway 165, a section of the Great River Road, we passed fields of cotton on both sides of the road.
The largest natural lake in Arkansas, Lake Chicot is also the largest natural oxbow lake in the United States. Our campsite was surrounded by wild pecan trees with a nice view of the lake. Our first day there, we drove across the mighty Mississipi River to Greenville, Mississippi to bring home 3 dozen delicious hot tamales.
Cypress Trees on Lake Chicot
This little raccoon is much cuter than the ones at home
Sunset at Lake Chicot
Sunset at Lake Chicot
Located in the Mississippi Flyway, the park is a great place for bird watching. In addition to egrets, herons and ducks, we were surprised to see a huge flock of White Peliicans on the lake.
White Pelican flies by blue heron over Lake Chicot
White Pelican on Lake Chicot
Far at the other end of the lake we saw this huge flock of white pelicans
We took a self guided driving tour along the Mississippi River levee. Most of the 20 mile tour was right on top of the levee. On one side of the levee were borrow pits with cypress trees, lily pads and many birds. On the other side was farmland.
Egret in the tree on the levee tour
Borrow Pit beside the levee
When traveling the backroads, you never know what you’ll see crossing the road
Cypress Trees beside the levee
We camped at Lake Chicot State Park in site 7 on October 21-22, 2014. For my review of this campground click here.
Our home base to explore two scenic byways through the Mississippi Delta was Mississippi River State Park in Marianna, Arkansas. The large visitor’s center is less than 2 years old and has an excellent interpretive center about the Mississippi Delta area. The staff and rangers were friendly and helped make our stay here memorable.
The park is located in the Mississippi Delta on the Crowley’s Ridge Parkway and the Great River Road within the St. Francis National Forest. We stayed in the Beech Point Campground on a peninsula in Bear Creek Lake. It is one of the best state park campgrounds we have ever seen. There are only 17 sites in the campground with 14 full hookup waterfront sites and 3 tent sites. Ours was a large pull through with a big patio area for the picnic table and fire ring. For my review of this campground click here.
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To ask about exploring the area we talked to Park Ranger John as he was patrolling the campground. After getting directions, we had a plan for the next day.
Crowley’s Ridge rises 200 feet above the Mississippi River Delta flood plain and stretches more than 200 miles from just below Cape Giradeau, Missouri to Helana, Arkansas. The Crowley’s Ridge Parkway in Arkansas traverses the entire ridge. The section of the parkway we drove is called the “high road” by the locals.
The Great River Road and Crowley’s Ridge Parkway run together for a few miles
We started our drive to Helena-West Helena on the “high road”. On top of Crowley’s Ridge, the gravel road wound through the St. Francis National Forest. Only a few of the tall oaks, sycamore and buckeye trees had started showing any fall colors. The only other vehicles we saw belonged to hunters. I hope they had better luck with deer than we did. We only saw one all day. Except for a couple of National Forest campgrounds there was no other sign if civilization.
After about 20 miles we were back on a paved road and soon were on Cherry Street in Helena-West Helena to visit the Delta Cultural Center. Oh No! Closed on Monday! We felt like the Grizwalds when they got to Wally World to find it closed for repairs!
We took the “low road” back to the campground. This gravel section of The Great River Road is just a small part of the 10-state route from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico along both sides of the Mississippi River. In Arkansas the road rarely goes right beside the river.
As we drove along the “low road” we passed through Cypress swamps and took a side trip to the mouth of the St. Francis River where it joins the Mississippi River. With Willow Trees growing along the banks of the river, the mighty Mississippi is about a mile wide in this location.
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We enjoyed two delicious meals from local restaurants that day. The meals were so memorable I will post about them in a later post. Stay tuned!
There is a line from the George Jones song “Tennessee Whiskey” that has been going through my head ever since we crossed the Tennessee State Line. It goes “You’re as smooth as Tennessee Whiskey”. There. Now it’s in your head, too.
Our first stop of our fall trip was Barton Springs Campground, a TVA park in Normandy, Tennessee. We love waterfront camping so of course when I found this campground I made reservations for a site right on the water. The lake is down now during the off season but comes right in front of the campsite in spring and summer. This is a federal campground so you can use your Senior Pass to get a discount on your camping fee.
Sitting outside watching the lake was a great way to end the day after a 300 mile driving day which included going through Atlanta and Chattanooga. A doe and a fawn were across the lake grazing. A great blue heron stood on a point out in the lake. A couple launched their canoe and went for a paddle. And we were able to watch a pretty sunset.
Just before sunset at Barton Springs
Almost a Full Moon over the campground
Blondie enjoying our site Barton Springs
Old canoe on the beach
Sunset over Normandy Lake from Barton Springs Campground
Monday morning saw thunderstorms coming through the area. After breakfast we waited a little while for the rain to let up and then hopped in the truck to visit the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Jack Daniel was 13 years old when he bought his first still for $25. He developed the formula for his famous whiskey and the whiskey is still produced using the same formula and method. All the water used comes from an underground spring on the property, the barrels are still made by hand out of white oak, and the charcoal used for filtering the whiskey is made there from Sugar Maple wood. Jack was only 5 foot 2 and never married.
Our guide Janine told us the story of how Jack died. One morning Jack came to work early and tried to open the safe in his office. He was too impatient to wait for his nephew to arrive to open it so he kicked the safe and broke is big toe. He was too embarrassed to go to a doctor right away and when he finally saw one he had developed an infection which led to gangrene. He died as a result of this. It just goes to show you should never go to work early!
He left everything to his nephew shortly before prohibition shut all the distilleries down. His nephew opened a hardware store in town and made enough money to pay the property taxes every year. The distillery opened back up when prohibition was repealed.
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After our full day of sightseeing Blondie took a swim in the lake and we ended the day with a Single Barrel Jack on the rocks.
Before we left the next day I took Blondie for one last walk along the lake and enjoyed watching a Great Blue Heron and 2 Egrets. A great ending to our enjoyable stay at Barton Springs.
Our favorite places to camp are the campgrounds with a view. There’s nothing like waking up with a view outside the RV or sitting outside in the evening enjoying the scenery around us. We’ve enjoyed campgrounds with views of spectacular mountains, glaciers, forests, and all kinds of water.
For us, the best camping is beside a river, mountain stream, lake, or any body of water for that matter.
We enjoy watching the different water craft go by.
Moon rising at Ortona COE in Labelle, FL
We watched boats going through the lock at Ortona
We sat in our campsite and watched barges on the Mississippi River at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, Arkansas
Coal barge going down the Mississippi River from our campsite at Tom Sawyer RV Park
Sometimes we see wildlife.
White Pelicans behind Sunset Isle RV Park in Cedar Key, FL
Egret on the deck behind our campsite at Sunset Isle RV Park in Cedar Key, FL
Pair of Bald Eagles across the canal at Ortona
Blondie loves it when she gets a chance to go swimming.
Blondie swimming behind our campsite at Petersburg COE
Blondie swimming in Lake Ontario at Golden Hill State Park, NY
We love watching the sun rise and set over the water.
Sunrise over the Mississippi River at Tom Sawyer RV Park
Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal COE
Sunset at Petersburg COE on J. Strom Thurmond Lake, Appling, GA
Sunset over J. Percy Priest Lake from Seven Points Campground
Coastal Georgia is home to many wetlands birds. Herons, Egrets, Wood Storks and Ibis are regularly seen in and around the salt marsh, creeks and rivers here.
One July afternoon this summer I was surprised to see a large pink bird flying over the marsh. It was too far away and flew by too fast for me to to tell for sure but I thought it must be a Roseate Spoonbill. Spoonbills nest along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana and in south Florida but they are considered uncommon this far north.
A neighbor confirmed that yes, I did see a Spoonbill. In fact, she saw a pair feeding in the creek at low tide. I continued to see the brilliant pink of the pair as they flew by our house almost every afternoon for about 3 weeks. One day I finally saw where one landed so I grabbed my camera and ran out to capture a few pictures.
Roseate Spoonbill with 2 young juvenile little blue herons in Georgia
Roseate Spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbill eating oysters
Roseate Spoonbill in Georgia creek
Tri Colored Heron finds a snack in a Georgia creek
Juvenile Little Blue Heron
Roseate Spoonbill in Georgia Tidal Creek
Other Roseate Spoonbills have been spotted in other coastal Georgia locations in recent years. I know from now on I will always be on the lookout for pink birds among the flocks of Herons and Egrets I see in the salt marsh.
Wandering Dawgs 