What About Arkansas?

[GoHorns]

Is there a place in Arkansas with scenery, and cool nights? Looking for a place within reasonable distance from the Dallas area that might be a good spot for a "beat the heat" weekend getaway...

TIA

[DiskDoctr]

agesilaus wrote:
Ah maybe I'm missing something, but Mammoth Cave is in Kentucky not Arkansas.

Hahaha! Yes, you are absolutely correct! We did both that trip, LOL.

Thanks for the polite correction 😉

[garmp]

About an hour west of Petit Jean SP is Mount Magazine SP. Mount Magazine State Park is on the state's tallest mountain and said to be cool year round. We only drove through the campground and although it was nice weren't that impressed with it. Petit Jean is far nice campground in our opinion, but maybe not as cool.
Just a thought.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I don’t know about the OP, but 544 miles is a lot longer than I want to drive on a Friday night after work, and drive home on Sunday.

And is is about that distance from McKinney - US-380 and US-75- to Ruidoso NM where at 5,000 ft elevation it will definitely be cooler.

Though I don’t know exactly in McKinney the OP lives so that could add another 80 miles to lake he round trip.

[ljr]

welove2drive wrote:
It is 544 miles from Dallas to Echo Bluff State park or Alley Spring SP near Eminence, MO. If you like to do float trips the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers are national scenic riverways. Many large springs and very cold water. Nice and cool. You can just float along, no effort required except an occasional "fun" spot (rock or tree). Beautiful area.

I spent a couple weeks at Echo Bluff last September. It’s more like an Aspen resort than a typical state park. The resident herd of (not very) wild horses wanders freely through the park.

[Prevost97]

There are no reliably cool places in Arkansas between May and October. I live in Hot Springs, and it is a Hot Box this time of year. We love it, the area is beautiful, but that's the truth!

[BlindGuynAR]

Lake fort smith is one of my favs, but not much cooler than DFW. Today we had a cold front, but we’ve had heat index 103-105 last few days leading up to today.

Hot Springs area is also very nice.

[welove2drive]

It is 544 miles from Dallas to Echo Bluff State park or Alley Spring SP near Eminence, MO. If you like to do float trips the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers are national scenic riverways. Many large springs and very cold water. Nice and cool. You can just float along, no effort required except an occasional "fun" spot (rock or tree). Beautiful area.

[Isaac-1]

The closest place to DFW that I might suggest in Arkansas is Queen Wilhelmina State park which sits at about 2,600 ft elevation on a mountain near the Oklahoma / Arkansas line. There is not a lot to do there, it is a small state park with a few nature trails and a miniature train that runs around the perimeter of the campground a few days per week, located along a scenic ridge line drive outside Mena Arkansas. I spent a couple of nights there on the way home to Louisiana after the big solar eclipse last summer waiting for Hurricane Harvey to get out of the way. The weather was nice when I was there, though there was pea soup thick fog in the mornings, of course as you likely know hurricanes mess with the usual weather patterns. I have read that the highway that passes right by the length of the campground is popular with motorcycle riders, though did not experience this when I was there. Beyond that there are a number of deep lakes in Arkansas with nearby campgrounds that may be a little cooler than you will find in the DFW area.

See http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/park-information/current-weather.aspx

[agesilaus]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Mammoth Cave. Inside the cave. Otherwise....we spent time in Arkansas last July. I can tell you after that trip we were out here in 90+ degrees, working hard, and never felt "hot" the rest of the PA summer after that! LOL.

There is some real heat in that state!

Ah maybe I'm missing something, but Mammoth Cave is in Kentucky not Arkansas. Blanchard Springs Caverns is in AR (USFS run) but is 60 miles of twisty, ill-marked, hilly 2 lane road to get to it. Once you get there it is well worth the visit tho, we thought it was a mini-Carlsbad.

The Ozark 'Mountains' after all are just the Ozark Hills and there is little altitude gain to provide any heat relief. All the trees probably do make it a little cooler, plus there is the urban heat island effect which heats up a city 5 degrees or more over the surrounding rural landscape. All that black asphalt and such.

[BB_TX]

Your question made me curious. Googled weather for several cities. Ft Smith was 98 degrees. Eureka Springs was 74. That seemed odd, but Branson was only 82. Springfield, MO was 94. So apparently ozark mountains of northern Arkansas/southern Missouri do run cooler. But that is pretty far from McKinney for a weekend.

[welove2drive]

Bull Shoals SP below the dam. Get a site by the river. Very cold water. Breese feels like blast from the freezer.

[Jayco-noslide]

Buffalo National Scenic River in the Ozarks would be nice but I don't think it would be cool. Just not enough elevation to make a difference.

[DiskDoctr]

Mammoth Cave. Inside the cave. Otherwise....we spent time in Arkansas last July. I can tell you after that trip we were out here in 90+ degrees, working hard, and never felt "hot" the rest of the PA summer after that! LOL.

There is some real heat in that state!

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I love Arkansas, but it is only going to be 5 degrees cooler than the metroplex most of people he time.