On this trip in October of 2021, Cook and I brought along another group of friends (Derek & Peja) for their first ever kayak camping trip. We put-in the Ouachita River at Dragover Recreation Area and paddled eastward to the Big Fur Campgrounds on Lake Ouachita. It ended up being about a 24-mile four day and three night trip. Rick the owner at M & M Canoe Rentals helped us out by shuttling our vehicles (870) 326-4937.
The Ouachita River (WAH-shi-tah) is a 605 mile-long river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana flowing through the Ouachita National Forest. The river is named for the Ouachita tribe, one of several historic tribes who lived along it. Historians suggest that word Ouachita is a Choctaw phrase meaning "hunt big" or "good hunting grounds". The River begins in the Ouachita Mountains near Mena, Arkansas and is the 25th-longest river in the United States. Both the North Fork and South Fork portions of the river flow into Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Lake Ouachita is the largest lake completely in Arkansas and has over 690 miles of shoreline and is completely surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest. The lake is a reservoir created by the damming of the Ouachita River by Blakely Mountain Dam. The dam was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1948 to 1953 for hydroelectric power, recreation, water supply and wildlife conservation.
