Arkansas State Park Adventures. How to Visit 3 Awesome Parks in One Amazing Day.

We love our Arkansas State Park Adventures! With 52 parks, Arkansas has plenty of parks to keep us busy. For this trip, we explored 3 of the parks: Daisy State Park, Cossatot River State Park, and Queen Wilhelmina State Park.

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Arkansas State Park Adventures Begin…

Waking up Monday morning in Crater of Diamonds State Park, we knew today would be a full one. The initial plan was to visit 1 of the 3 to 4 options of state parks between our current location and home.

After reading the Arkansas State Parks Guide, we agreed on a stop at Cossatot River State Park.

Noticing that Daisy State Park was only slightly off our travel path (and because it has the prettiest state park name), we decided on a quick visit to that park as well to complete our Arkansas State Park adventures for the weekend.

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Arkansas State Park Adventures @ Daisy

After a short 30-minute drive, we arrived at Daisy State Park visitor’s center in Kirby, AR. Although the building was shockingly small and bland, it had 2 turtles and a snake that was lively and welcoming.

The park sits on Lake Greeson, which seems to be the center of the offered activities (fishing, boating, skiing, scuba diving). But, with a cold day visit in November, we weren’t up for taking advantage of that.

We had the park to ourselves and spent our time on the shore- skipping stones, searching the bank for small treasures (cool rocks), and playing fetch with Penny.

After 30 minutes of playing, we loaded up and headed north again. 45 minutes later, we arrived at Cossatot River State Park.

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Arkansas State Park Adventures @ Cossatot River

As we pulled into the Cossatot River State Park, we both let out a gasp of surprise.

This large, well-kept visitor’s center seems to sit in the middle of nowhere. We always fully explore each state park’s visitor center. The inside was not a disappointment either. Their multiple exhibit animals (turtles, fish, snakes) were active and had name tags on each of their enclosures.

Our main point of interest at this park was Cossatot Falls- due to the namesake and because of it being one of the sites in my “Arkansas Waterfalls” book (purchased at a previously visited Arkansas State Park) with 200+ waterfalls I hope to see.

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After a quick chat with the super friendly park ranger, who gave us good directions and recommendations (and with a far too empty gas tank), we headed to Cossatot Falls.

Cossatot Falls

The drive led us almost 5 miles down a rocky gravel road, with the path to the falls not so well marked. The drive was anything but scenic due to the logging efforts.

We managed to find our location and good parking since we were the only ones in the area. With wooden bridges within view of the parking lot, our path to the falls was clear.

It was a very short walk to the beginning of the falls, or more accurately described, the cascades.

Stepping off of the walking path and into the open areas of the cascades is a breathtaking experience. The water level was low, but still flowing beautifully toward the mountain backdrop.

Compared to the scenery of the past hour, it felt like we had entered a different world.

We immediately took off climbing across the rocks to get as deep into the cascades as possible, frequently stopping to take in the scenery, and of course, to take pictures of our Arkansas State Park adventures and the beauty around us.

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Arkansas State Park Adventure Surprise…

Looking for the highest vantage point possible, we spotted a high-setting rock and climbed to the top.

While admiring the view, we spotted a small glimpse of color. A spot of red stood out among the monotone browns, grays, and greens.

We made our way over to investigate and came across the most beautifully unexpected thing I have ever seen- A dozen live red roses sitting at the water’s edge. When paired with the gorgeous backdrop, it was one of the most breathtaking scenes I have ever come across.

Although I haven’t been successful in finding the story behind the roses just yet, I continue the search.

After taking some time to soak in the moment and scenery, we continue along our way, climbing and hoping rocks back to the shoreline.

Arkansas State Park Adventures @ Queen Wilhelmina

We made our way back to the van, hopped in, and crossed our fingers. Hoping we had enough gas left to make it to the next gas station, we headed toward Queen Wilhelmina State Park.

This stop wasn’t on our radar at the beginning of the day but was highly recommended to us by the ranger at the previous visitor’s center.

An hour later, and with a full tank of gas, we arrived at our next destination.

The drive up Rich Mountain, Arkansas’s second-highest peak, to the Queen Wilhelmina State Park was spectacular! It’s not often you can drive a ridge and have a mountain view skyline on both sides of the vehicle.

We took a moment at one of the pull-offs to kick back, relax, and take in the scenery.

At the top of the mountain sits a beautiful lodge, where Robert treated me to my birthday dinner, in the Queen’s Restaurant (fitting… I know). The delicious (and affordable) southern cuisine is recommended by us both.

With full stomachs and on a tight timeline to get home, we opted out of the hiking trails just beside the lodge. And maybe because they looked like they led straight downhill on the steep mountainside.

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2 1/2 hours later, we arrived home, thoroughly exhausted. These are our favorite kinds of days, well spent taking in multiple types of scenery and exploration.

Daisy State Park was quaint and peaceful. Cossatot River State Park was stunning and adventurous. Queen Wilhelmina State Park was a laid-back beauty with good food.

A little bit of everything squeezed into one long day for our Arkansas State Parks Challenge.

Final thoughts on our Arkansas State Park Adventures

All 3 Arkansas State Parks offered beautiful scenery and were free to explore, costing only gas, $30 for lunch at The Queen, and my usual souvenir state park patches that I add to my favorite canvas bag.

In a summer setting, you could probably fill a day full of activities at each park. Cossatot River State Park was our favorite of the 3 Arkansas State Parks we visited and is high on our re-visit list for more exploration.

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