Camping Brings Families Closer
The Army Corps of Engineers operates Campgrounds on some of the most beautiful waterways in the United States. One of our favorites for many years has been Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, Arkansas. Lake Ouachita is a special place 
for us. Our children, and now or grandchildren, attended summer camp at Camp Ozark, just outside of Mt. Ida. All of their lake activities, such as skiing and riding the giant banana took place on Lake Ouachita. During one of those summers, our son received his scuba license diving in the clear waters.
Twenty-two years ago, when our own children were in summer camp nearby, we tent-camped on a rocky point that extended out into the lake, giving us the feeling we were the only people there. We watched sunsets rivaled by none, and floated leisurely in the cool lake waters next to our campsite. This was Denby Point, a Corps of Engineers Campground in the Ozark foothills on Lake Ouachita.
Denby Point had always been a special place for us. Hiking trails were beautiful. The lake was clean and clear, just perfect for swimming, boating, fishing, or whatever you could figure out to do on water. Arkansas quartz deposits protruded from the high 
banks of the lakeshore, literally littering the rocky shoreline with crystals. When our granddaughters started going to camp like their father had so many years ago, we knew, having graduated from a tent to a 32 ft. fifth wheel, that Denby Point was a place we wanted to return to.
Here was the plan. We would set up our RV in Denby Point. Our son and daughter-in-law would pick up their girls on the last day of summer camp, and they would all join us for a night of camping and family time in Denby Point. While our granddaughters had camped with us many times, it would be our daughter-in-law’s first time camping with us. This really needed to go well.
And all WAS going well, as we watched the sun start to set and got the campfire started to roast the hotdogs. In the distance, where the sun should be making a spectacular exit, clouds had moved in. 
You could see lightning, and hear faint thunder. It was a spectacular show; it was a LONG way away.
We were not worried. In what seemed a second or two, the storm was upon us. The wind blew; heavy rain pelted on the RV roof. The lightning flashed like fireworks all around us. Needless to say, the campfire and hotdogs were long, lost memories of what might have been. We were all huddled inside the camper, having quickly rolled in the awning and picked up anything that could fly away. With a really loud, oh-so-close lightning strike, all the power in the campground went black. Flashlights were now the order of the day, and any operations in the RV were on battery power. Dinner turned out to be sandwiches.
It was about then that we learned how frightened our daughter-in-law was of thunder storms.
Finally, the storm passed. The ranger drove around to let all of us know that the bathhouses would be closed until the power came back on, because they relied on pumps to bring water to them. All water was cut off in the campground, so we had to rely on what was in our reserve tank. It was deadly dark outside; with the passage of the storm, the winds subsided, and it got hot.
About midnight, the ranger came around again, letting us know that the power outage was not local, that the entire 5 country region was out, and we probably wouldn’t have power until the next day. About 3 am, our battery power, that had been operating small fans and some limited AC, gave up the ghost. It was a L-O-N-G night.
The next morning, the campground was emptying quickly. Our son and daughter-in-law and family had been out of there at 
daybreak. As we approached the dump station, we learned it would be closed, as there was no power to pump the waste water. In the end, we still love Denby Point, and our daughter-in-law still loves us!
The moral of this story: Sometimes, there’s just nothing just nothing you can do about it. Things happen!
A great guide to Corps of Engineers campgrounds is Camping With the Corps of Engineers. You can make reservations online at www.recreation.gov.
