Arkansas State Parks Trip Ideas

Lake Dardanelle State Park, located in Russellville, Arkansas, provides a quiet and relaxing setting to enjoy the outdoors with the entire family, including man’s best friend. The park features a large amount of pet-friendly space including open grassy fields, picnic areas, and the Meadowbrook Trail, an easy ¾-mile walk through a wooded section of the park. Responsibly...

Village Creek State Park is a 7,000-acre park located in northeast Arkansas. The park’s mission is to protect and conserve the natural, cultural, and historical resources of Crowley’s Ridge. We have an unusual ally in protecting our natural resources: the rotten logs of the forest floor. Where many people see a rotting log as an eyesore, many creatures see it as the key to...

Parkin Archeological State Park in eastern Arkansas focuses on protecting cultural resources. The St. Francis River, a very large and mostly overlooked resource here, has proved to be a lifeline for past cultures that lived on this site. And, it continues to be a valuable resource today. These photos will guide you through past cultures of Parkin to show how the St...

Because Village Creek State Park is here to conserve the natural, cultural, and historical resources of Crowley’s Ridge, there is always something new for you to discover. Many of our guests come for specific reasons—camping, fishing, hiking, biking, horseback riding—but there are so many more things to do here. You can download and print this scavenger hunt, which reveals...

Even brief observations of nature provide incredible insights and memorable moments at Logoly State Park. Use this sheet to focus your thoughts and unlock unexpected details. You can download and print this Nature Notes form to help you take notes, sketch specimens, and aid the park in community-based science.

In this article, we will cover some helpful tips and habits a potential hiker like you can incorporate into your routine. Whether you are an experienced hiker or not, these habits can help you make the most of your adventure while hiking our trails.

Fishing is a favored pastime at Lake Dardanelle State Park, making people the top of this food chain. We love to catch fish, but often don’t think of all the creatures it took to build that strong healthy fish on the end of our fishing line. Mayflies are an essential part of the food chain that keeps the fishery at Lake Dardanelle State Park healthy. In this photo essay...

Village Creek State Park offers a chance for survival to many white-tailed deer. Natural resources that are protected here give the deer plenty of spaces to make their homes. The wide variety of plants that grow here provide the deer with food. Also, deer, like all wildlife in the park, are protected from hunting and harassment. All these things together mean that our deer...

Logoly State Park in southwest Arkansas is the state’s first ecological state park dedicated to protecting the dynamically diverse ecosystem of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. The butterflies here are worthy of study and those with a keen eye can capture their beauty. Come mid-March and early April in Arkansas, butterflies begin emerging from their cocoon-like chrysalis...

What lives in a lake? If you are like most of us, your first thoughts were fish, snakes, and turtles. Believe it or not, that’s only a small part of the life below Lake Dardanelle!