Kayak Camping - 2 Days Island Living (Lake Ouachita)

Lake Ouachita is Arkansas's largest lake. A vast 40,000 acre pool of pristine mountain runoff that's surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest. Development is forbidden making this wilderness a perfect place to kayak camp. Lake Ouachita is one of the clearest and cleanest lakes in the whole U.S. and so we're really excited to explore it. We're in a new region, a completely new state, someplace I've never paddled before and we're out here looking for islands to camp on. We're going to see which ones are conducive to camping and which ones might be a bust. Of course the sun is setting so we need to find one quick and set up camp. Ready to go paddling? Yeah. All right. I also wanted to make sure Lisa felt safe. This is her second kayak camping trip and we're in the middle of nowhere. The start of another adventure. We'll head to the gap. At current water levels over 200 islands rise from Lake Ouachita. This provided an abundance of options but not all are suitable for camping. The sun was disappearing quickly and we needed to set up before darkness creeped in. We don't know which island we're going to camp on and that's kind of what makes this a fun adventure. We know there's a bunch of islands out here but which ones are conducive to camping? Failure to find camp would result in a lack of resources to build a fire, cook food, and stay warm. Plus I really enjoy sunsets and you could tell this one was going to be exceptional. I think we see a nice little gap over there. We're going to check it out and see if there's a nice flat area to set up. Even though we were on a flat water adventure we made sure to keep our gear safe in the Remote Designs dry bags. You never know when a boater is going to buzz by and produce a huge wake just like happened to us. There you go. Not sure why that guy just buzzed us. Really hoping this is the one because we are just about out of time. Oh look at here. There's even a little fire ring. It's a little windy up here because we're in the main part of the lake back behind me and then over there is a cove. It's actually a pretty extensive island and there's a bunch of places to camp so if you had a huge crew you could easily come out here and fit everyone. But it is going to be chilly tonight like down in the 40s, low 40s. I don't really want to be in a windy place that's going to zap our warmth. Temperatures dropped and wind shear became prominent. Foolishly the wind was not something I had considered while planning our trip. Fortunately we had a team. Lisa paddled around the shoreline while I marched inland. This combined effort was key so that we could cover ground quickly. What do you think? Up in the trees? Yeah. Less wind, more warmth. Hallie's vote warmth. We're gonna get busy setting up the camp. We have dinner and happy hour on our hands so we need to get to that quickly. Good job Lisa. The setup for this evening is going to be a Big Agnes double on top of a double sleeping pad. This is such a great setup. This is what Lisa and I used last year on our fall trip. Having an actual air mattress out here plus a double sleeping bag just kind of makes for a little bit more comfortable of a couple's camping trip. All right time to go enjoy the sunset. Lake Ouachita is showing out for us. This sunset is incredible. Wow. You can see the mountains off in the background. We have the bay side where our kayaks are. Little flowering. Camp is just up there in the woods. Looks good. We're gathering some firewood right now because it's time to put together something to cook on. We actually decided to move our fire up into the woods. The wind picked up and it's really chilly so I need to go toss on a jacket and then we're going to start cooking. I can already feel the trees and the bushes cutting the wind so that's going to be huge for whenever it's time to keep warm. We scavenged the island for sticks and built up some nice coals. We had sausage on the menu and later on we'd be doing some s'mores over the fire. You can see the sausage is sizzling. Oh you better take it off. That is sufficiently... I couldn't believe it but this was actually Lisa's first ever fire cooked s'more. Pretty good? Very good. Nice. We kept the fire going well into the night staring up through the tree canopy at twinkling stars and a passing moon. Good morning. We just woke up and the sun is starting to shine over the lake. It's looking straight up magical out there. How'd you sleep? It was actually kind of interesting. Lisa said she feels more comfortable camping out here in Arkansas in the National Forest than she does in Texas. So that was really cool to hear. Yeah we found a special place that's for sure. We used our kayaks to navigate a foreign land and proved that stepping out of a familiar region can be rewarding and easy. Island camping on a lake was not something I'd ever done but it had been on my bucket list for quite some time. Lake Ouachita was perfect for that. All right that was amazing but now we go. Trips like these are why kayak camping is one of the best ways to experience the outdoors. This experience also made me appreciate public lands and the freedom they promote. Having a 40,000 acre lake surrounded by mountains will forever be a scene we've remembered. And YouTube thinks you'd like this video. If you enjoyed this adventure, I've got more on the way. Make sure to subscribe.