Lenox Marcus Recreation Area & Campground

Beautiful and for the most part a quiet campground. I was here on a Sunday night and it was fully occupied by 6:00 p.m. This is an Army Corps of Engineers Class D campground. No services, no electric hookups, and no fees charged. I stayed one night but would happily stay longer the next time I am here. My neighbor went paddle boarding in the cove and it’s a great place to go swimming, kayaking or paddle boarding. I could not get a cell signal in the campground but I walked up the hill going back towards the main road and was able to call out. I have AT&T cell phone service.

There’s tent sites on both the open lake side and on the cove side before you get to the boat launch area. I was on the cove side. Road is nice and paved, well lit near the bathrooms which have flush toilets and screen doors. They are rustic and shows signs of age (built in the 70s), being vandalized with spray paint and not regularly maintained but are working. The campground sites have a concrete tent pad, brown site markers, picnic tables and some a grill and round food prep table.

Outside the designated campground there are several more remote sites. I was able to get back there in my small SUV easily since it was very dry and packed but there’s only a couple that I would attempt if I had been in my Class C RV. None of them would I attempt if it’s rained recently as that would be a recipe for disaster and a great reason to have to call a tow truck which is made more difficult by the limited cell phone coverage in the area. All of the roads in to those sites are dirt and deeply rutted. And since you can’t see if they’re occupied or not until you get back there I would walk in and check out before driving my RV in there because if someone is set up there it’s difficult to turn around since these are essentially what appear to be logging roads.

Also if you are in a RV I noticed two sites beside the road where you could essentially parallel park overnight if it is dry conditions and the campground is full.

Campground Review: Lenox Marcus - Lake Degray (3 of 5 stars)

If you like something remote and removed from the typical grasp of other campers this just might be the site for you. I was exploring the area looking for inexpensive and free campsites and found this one online. It seemed to good to be true so I had to check it out and find out if there was a catch.

Catch? No. It was only about 3 miles from the main road in (Highway 84, a winding highway which travels through lower Arkansas at slow speeds), it was well maintained and did not have a lot of overgrowth and it had great lake views. But I can say that while it is FREE it does have a few things which could weigh on your decision in selecting this site.

It is a part of the Wildlife Management area at Lake Degray, which simply means that like other public lands you can come and camp here no strings attached for up to 14 days completely free. They only request you maintain a level of respect for the area and honor the leave no trace code. If you can do this you will be treated to beautiful lake views, picnic tables, grills and soft grassy pad sites in addition to flush toilets and a boat ramp. (See now why it seemed to good to be true).

But with all these amenities there is a little fine print to go along. It is remote, that can be both positive and negative depending on you as the camper. For me personally, I love remote sites but I also like to have a little security in knowing I can let people know where I am when I arrive since I travel alone most of the time. This site offered all the remote with none of the ability to contact, I had to drive up the road a considerable way to drop my regular nightly pin to my safety buddy back home. (Something I recommend all solo campers do, especially women.)

Then there were the flush toilets, which indeed did flush, however the restroom itself was more of a shack that had been used and abused. The screen door separating the world and all the creepy crawlers from outside to inside was damaged and there was no light. Graffiti was strewn about and lets just say it wasn’t a place you would want to be during the day let alone at night. So I basically discounted that as though it was non-existent. A real shame too because the rest of the campground was very well maintained.

I arrived around 5 p.m. on a weekend afternoon. I was expecting it to be busy with people getting in their final weekends before school started since the lake is so popular. However there was only one other camper when I arrived. I saw and heard many boats on the lake in my time here however none of them seemed to be utilizing the ramp at our site and instead were on the more resort side of the lake, fine by me because it kept our site quiet throughout the evening.

It began to rain late into the evening and shortly after another camper came into camp to park their RV near the boat ramp. Even with the addition of a third camper at such late hours it was pretty quiet at camp. I feared the rain would make the conditions of getting out of my site a bit rough but the combination of gravel and sand made for an easy return to the paved road and exit from the park in the morning.

The campsite did not live up to its full potential because it did need a little TLC for this reason I feel like it deserves a solid 3.

TIPS:

• Bring everything with you because town is not close enough just run grab something.
• If you already don’t make it a habit to bring something for your table, bring a table covering of some kind you will need it!!

Product Review: - Midland Two-Way FMRS Radio (5 of 5 stars)

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products from time to time and for this trip I was given the opportunity to test the Midland Two-Way GMRS Radio in the GXT1030VP4 Series.

Pros:

• Easy to charge wherever you might be with both AC and DC chargers.
• SOS & NOAA Weather features
• Battery comes fully charged straight out of the box.
• Lengthy battery life

Cons:

• Signal can be a bit hindered by terrain and you lose some of the 30 miles you are told you have for communication.

I will say that before I hit the road I did a few tests on the equipment to make sure I fully understood the features. The communication from radio to radio was crisp in my tests up to 10 miles. Although I will say that after that distance I did have a little struggle. I feel like after reading the materials that it had a lot to do with the tree coverage in our area and my lack of previous experience in use to troubleshoot.

With this particular trip I took both radios with me because I would be later meeting a friend along the way, but for this campsite I was most interested in using the radio for its NOAA weather alert feature. Recently, in Arkansas there have been a lot of flash floods in remote areas such as the one in which I was staying. These particular Midland Radios are ideal for allowing you to know when one of these is coming your way so you can seek shelter immediately.

I scanned several times through the 10 NOAA stations and it did in fact pay off just before bedtime when I was warned of a severe storm which would be passing through. Had it not been for this I would have more than likely taken my rain fly off my tent for improved circulation since it was so hot and humid.

In addition, I always make sure to keep something in my tent and on my day pack for emergencies and safety. I usually have a tool or some kind or a knife, but adding the Midland Radio to that for its SOS Alert was a perfect way to make me feel a bit more secure in my travel. The alert is a loud substation noise which can be heard for quite a distance when you simply press and hold down the SOS button located on the front face plate of the radio.

I was a little worried about the battery life of the radio and leaving it on for the duration of an evening to feel secure. I fully tested the battery life when camping at Lenox Marcus, turning the radio on steady at approximately 8 p.m. and not off until 6 a.m. The charge not only held but was still full when I returned it to its carrying space in my front cup holder of my car. This was in addition to being turned off and on throughout the day when I would exit my car to explore sites.

All in all, the Midland Two-Way GMRS Radio has made its way into my travel pack for more adventures. The features go on and on as to how it can benefit my hikes with friends, improve my overall awareness, bring efficiency to charging through both AC and DC connections and of course provide that SOS Safety net. I would give the Midland Two-Way GMRS Radio 5 stars!