When Daniel and I decided to create this travel journal for our kayaking adventures across Arkansas, we knew we probably needed to start out with a trip to our local lake in Craighead Forest Park. Only 5 miles from our home, we love to frequent it during the week and most weekends. We had tried kayaking the lake before when we were using inflatable kayaks, but it proved to be a bit difficult due the constant wind which pushes you to the north tip of the lake and the abundant limbs sticking out of the water from the latest lake improvement project (One I personally feel they should revisit to make the lake a bit better; the lake now lacks a swimming area, there are warning signs everywhere about dangerous debris in the water and there are visible signs that they seemingly left the job not-quite-finished).

Craighead Forest Park consists of about 700 acres land which is managed by Jonesboro Parks & Recreation. The lake, which is 60 acres, is at the center Craighead Forest Park and is surrounded by 9 different access points (including the boat ramp and camping area), all of which feature different facilities for visitors. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 feature playgrounds for the kids as well as picnic tables, pavilions with electricity and fire pits and/or grills. The largest of the playgrounds are at 5 & 6 which feature very large playgrounds provided by local Rotary Clubs.

There is a boat ramp between 1 & 2 which has parking, a small fishing pier and a dog-jumping dock. You can put your kayak in here, but we prefer to put in at Access 4. There is a paved drive to the south side of this access which allows you to park right next to the water and there is a small cove which allows you to walk right out into the water with ease.

If you are not from the area and will be staying overnight, there is a camping area as well. It can be found between access 4 & 5. The fees are very reasonable and you have access to around 30 paved pads, electricity and a campers-only pavilion and pier.

For this visit, we decided to go out around dusk so that the sun wouldn’t bake us the entire time. In the Summer you can go out to the lake around 7:30pm to completely escape the sun as it dips down behind the western tree line. This gives you a good two hours of paddling time without having to worry about getting burned (a constant issue with a family of redheads). Crystal was with us this time, so we decided to race across the lake…Daniel won of course. We were able to easily navigate across the entire lake several times over.

One of the nice things abour Craighead Forest Park is that the entire lake is surrounded by a walking path which is frequented at all hours of the day by people walking, jogging and running. If you’re lucky, you even meet new people as you paddle around the lake. Of course, having a 13 week-old lab mix in the kayak with you is a good conversation starter in itself. Kids cannot resist stopping to pet him, which DJ just adores.

It’s an understatement to say that we’ll be back in this lake a few times this Summer. It’s the perfect spot to keep your arms in shape, cook some hotdogs on the grill and take the dog out for a swim…all without even leaving town.

For more information about Craighead Forest Park visit http://www.jonesborosports.org/view/194