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Clear Springs

There are no other words to describe the beauty of one of our favorite camping spots of all time.  Clear Springs.  They flow through the sandy soils of the Mississippi hills, emptying into a 12 acre lake.  Clear Springs Recreation Area is a National Forest Service park, currently ranked as one of the top ten Forest Service properties in the nation.  Located just off State Highway 84, halfway between Natchez and Brookhaven, Mississippi,  Clear Springs is another of those wonderful gifts built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930’s.

Clear Springs is a small park, set up for day use for picnicking and swimming in the lake;  but camping is the best.  We first camped there as children during the 1950’s, when there were only 22 sites, one bathhouse, and a central water spicket that all the kids had to go to to haul water back to the campsites. Electricity was taboo in the campgrounds. By the time we returned with our own children during the 1970’s and 80’s, there was water at all the sites, and electricity at some.  Now that we are returning with our grandchildren, there are still 22 sites, all with water and 30/50 amp service.  It just keeps getting better and better.  There are no reservations; but if you call the ranger station in nearby Meadville, MS, (601)- 384-5876, they can give you the number for the campground host, always on duty, who can tell you how full the park is when you call.

What a special place.  Small, sandy-bottomed creeks flow into Clear Springs Lake, along with the artesian springs that rise from the lake bottom.  This is absolutely the best swimming experience in the whole wide world during the hot summer months.  If you use a float, and just drift around the lake, you pass through a warm spot, then an icy current.  A spillway at one end of the lake leads to a creek that is filled with old-fashioned swimming holes for the kids, and one sandy, rocky beach after another with treasures of agates, petrified wood, fossils, and quartz waiting to be discovered by rockhounds of all ages.

Hiking and mountain biking are favorite activities.  The one-mile trail around Clear Springs Lake is hilly, picturesque and just a little challenging.  Over 30 miles of mountain biking trails traverse up and down the steep hills.

Our favorite hiking trip is one that almost didn’t end!  Maps of the area are available, and we had one.  We set out about 1 pm in the afternoon for what we thought would be about a 3 hour hike on one of the many trails shared by bikes and legs alike. The trail was beautiful.  We were watching the trail markers carefully.   A small foot bridge that crossed a creek had been washed out and not yet repaired.  So, we had to detour.  Aha!  Therein was our downfall!  As we walked on, we began to realize that the path we were on looked nothing like the map we were following.

When we thought the trail should have led us right back to the campground, there was more trail, and the sun was getting low.  Truth be told, we were thinking, “Can we really drink out of the creek?” and, “Can you really survive by eating pine bark?”  Then, we came out onto a small gravel road.  It was NOT on our map.  We seriously hoped a local would come along and give us a ride in the back of his pickup truck.  But apparently, the road was not used often.  No luck there.  Deciding that the road must lead to somewhere, we followed it.  Just as the sun was dipping below the horizon, we saw lights, and heard the sounds of children. Following the sounds over the top of the nearest hill, we looked down and saw the campground nestled by the lake.  What a relief!!!

Don’t let our hiking experience scare you off.  The fault there was absolutely hiker error!  Even lost on the trail, it was a beautiful hike. Clear Springs is a special place to put on your Bucket List.

Camping Brings Families Closer

The Army Corps of Engineers operates Campgrounds on some of the most beautiful waterways in the United States. One of our favorites for many years has been Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, Arkansas. Lake Ouachita is a special place for us. Our children, and now or grandchildren, attended summer camp at Camp Ozark, just outside of Mt. Ida. All of their lake activities, such as skiing and riding the giant banana took place on Lake Ouachita. During one of those summers, our son received his scuba license diving in the clear waters.

Twenty-two years ago, when our own children were in summer camp nearby, we tent-camped on a rocky point that extended out into the lake, giving us the feeling we were the only people there. We watched sunsets rivaled by none, and floated leisurely in the cool lake waters next to our campsite. This was Denby Point, a Corps of Engineers Campground in the Ozark foothills on Lake Ouachita.

Denby Point had always been a special place for us. Hiking trails were beautiful. The lake was clean and clear, just perfect for swimming, boating, fishing, or whatever you could figure out to do on water. Arkansas quartz deposits protruded from the high banks of the lakeshore, literally littering the rocky shoreline with crystals. When our granddaughters started going to camp like their father had so many years ago, we knew, having graduated from a tent to a 32 ft. fifth wheel, that Denby Point was a place we wanted to return to.

Here was the plan. We would set up our RV in Denby Point. Our son and daughter-in-law would pick up their girls on the last day of summer camp, and they would all join us for a night of camping and family time in Denby Point. While our granddaughters had camped with us many times, it would be our daughter-in-law’s first time camping with us. This really needed to go well.

And all WAS going well, as we watched the sun start to set and got the campfire started to roast the hotdogs. In the distance, where the sun should be making a spectacular exit, clouds had moved in. You could see lightning, and hear faint thunder. It was a spectacular show; it was a LONG way away.

We were not worried. In what seemed a second or two, the storm was upon us. The wind blew; heavy rain pelted on the RV roof. The lightning flashed like fireworks all around us. Needless to say, the campfire and hotdogs were long, lost memories of what might have been. We were all huddled inside the camper, having quickly rolled in the awning and picked up anything that could fly away. With a really loud, oh-so-close lightning strike, all the power in the campground went black. Flashlights were now the order of the day, and any operations in the RV were on battery power. Dinner turned out to be sandwiches.

It was about then that we learned how frightened our daughter-in-law was of thunder storms.
Finally, the storm passed. The ranger drove around to let all of us know that the bathhouses would be closed until the power came back on, because they relied on pumps to bring water to them. All water was cut off in the campground, so we had to rely on what was in our reserve tank. It was deadly dark outside; with the passage of the storm, the winds subsided, and it got hot.

About midnight, the ranger came around again, letting us know that the power outage was not local, that the entire 5 country region was out, and we probably wouldn’t have power until the next day. About 3 am, our battery power, that had been operating small fans and some limited AC, gave up the ghost. It was a L-O-N-G night.

The next morning, the campground was emptying quickly. Our son and daughter-in-law and family had been out of there at daybreak. As we approached the dump station, we learned it would be closed, as there was no power to pump the waste water. In the end, we still love Denby Point, and our daughter-in-law still loves us!

The moral of this story: Sometimes, there’s just nothing just nothing you can do about it. Things happen!

A great guide to Corps of Engineers campgrounds is Camping With the Corps of Engineers. You can make reservations online at www.recreation.gov.