The heat today was a problem; not only that, a few of the other spots I checked out had dried-up streams meaning no waterfalls meaning nothing to share. Fall colors are fading. And I was running out of time quickly so I couldn’t reasonably stay down south to explore the Ozarks further on this trip. I made my way back north to Natural Falls State Park in West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma. Plentiful campsites available on a hot and humid Thursday night.
Only two other tent sites in the campground were occupied but I barely even saw another person. My site had some great shade from this tree, and they include excellent picnic tables on a concrete pad. Small, quiet, well-maintained, and great amenities for a small park. 10/10 would camp here again.
Remember that leftover steak I had from earlier gluttony? I made some miniature open-faced steak sandwiches from a $1 french bread loaf including mozzarella cheese, fresh avocado, and dijon mustard. Flavortown is at the campground tonight. Feelin’ fancy and well-fed.
Rest of the day I just relaxed, it was just too damn hot. That gave me time to fool around at camp, including making something that resembles a Wisconsin-style brandy old fashioned. Cell service was good too so I spent the remaining hours before bed surfing the ‘net and streaming Thursday night football (Vikings lost, always nice). They had a shower house too which helped clean off the hiking stink, woohoo!
Mother Nature decided I was having too much fun again and rewarded me with a tiny bit of excitement in the form of thunderstorms. Six percent chance of rain in the forecast, yeah right call me skeptical. Wasn’t even mad, 80°F still at 7pm could use some rain to cool off (and it did after the front moved through). Rained again at 2am with zero percent chance in forecast – BIG thunder and lightning let me know of it’s arrival before it rained into my sleeping area.
Spoiler: I didn’t hike to the falls tonight because I couldn’t understand the map (or had a few drinks and didn’t feel like stopping that fun, six of one half dozen the other). The falls are super close to the campground and I probably should have done that the same night. Oh well, sometimes have to stop and relax. Falls hike for tomorrow morning!
Lat = 36.1758270 , Long = -94.6722260 -- Show at Google Maps