My family hit the road for a fun filled family trip for Spring break 2022. It’s about a 6.5 hour drive to the area from our home town of Fort Worth, TX. Far enough to really get a change of scenery but still a pretty easy drive.
We actually stayed closer to the small town of Rogers on Beaver Lake. We found a 3 bedroom cabin on AirBnB that was very budget friendly!
We had a gorgeous view of the lake, plus a great kitchen. We did lots of cooking at the cabin to save money.
Our cabin was pretty rustic, but it had everything we needed and was clean. If you’re looking for a luxury cabin, there are plenty to be found in the area. It can still get pretty chilly in this area in March. We arrived to find a beautiful snowfall, so we were glad to have a fireplace.
The first day, we stayed at the cabin all day and just relaxed. The second day we headed over to War Eagle Caverns near Hobbs State Park. This is a great spot to take the kids, they have some really fun activities for them. We did a tour of the caverns first. Our tour guide Lance was so knowledgeable and funny!
The tour was really neat. We saw bats and the caverns are beautiful. Next we did the Maze and Moonshiners Mystery House (basically a fun house), which are both activities on property and included in the value pass pricing.
We also purchased a bag of gems hidden in dirt in the gift shop (for $13) and went over to the mining area that allows you to mine for your gems in running water. My kids really loved this activity!
Afterwards, we still had energy so we went over to Hobbs State Park visitor center. They have a cool little kid friendly museum inside to learn about the park. Then we got a map and hit the Historic Van Winkle Trail. It was a very easy and quick trail, but very educational and beautiful. Hobbs has a variety of trails to choose from if you’d prefer a more challenging one.
On day 3, we headed over to the beautiful Withrow Springs State Park. They have 3 trails at this park, and all are easy enough for kids to do. We chose to do the War Eagle Trail, and it took us about 1.5 hours.
We found the info on this trail to be very confusing as they have recently changed the trail due to some erosion issues. When you arrive at the trail sign, you can go either left or right. I’d recommend you go to the left. Shortly in to the hike, you will come to a fork in the trail and this sign:
I highly recommend you go to the left because that takes you down to the river. It is so worth the challenging hike to get there and back. It’s so beautiful and the best part of the hike! Then if you have energy to continue once you come back up from the river, you can continue on the loop. Either trail takes you back to the beginning.
I am a huge fan of waterfalls, so I did some research and found two that are nearby Withrow Springs. The closest one to the park is called Glory B Waterfall, so we went there after a picnic lunch. It was so pretty and worth the work to find it!! It does come up on Google maps, but it’s not exactly easy to find after you arrive if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Once you arrive, look for this sign and park by it. This is the closest area to park by the waterfall.
While facing the sign, take the trail/road on your right. You will walk for about 5 minutes and you will hear the falls and see a little trail leading down to it on your right. We loved it!
Next we headed north to find Road 299 Waterfall. I put the GPS coordinates 36.256707,-93.656746 in my phone map and it got us there about 20 minutes later. You will be driving on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere. Once you get on road 299, you will travel down just over half a mile and see an open area to park on your left. This is what it looks like:
After you park, you will look to the right of your car and see a small path. You take that trail down a somewhat steep path until you get to the creek and you will see the waterfall on your left. It is taller than the first one we saw! Take some time to look around the beautiful rocks as well.
At this point, we were tired and hungry, so we went on into Eureka Springs and had dinner. We found a great place that had steaks and burgers. The food was great and prices very reasonable!
On our last day, we started out by driving to Beaver Lake Dam Park. It was a beautiful area with a playground, picnic tables, and a swim beach. Would be a great place to visit in the summer! There is no charge to enter the park.
Next we went over to see Thorncrown Chapel. It’s a beautiful church to visit if you enjoy Frank Lloyd Wright inspired architecture. There is no cost to go inside to look around.
Next, we went to see the Christ of the Ozarks statue. There is no charge for this, however, there are other activities you can do up here that cost, such as seeing the Passion Play and trading a tour of the Holy Land. There is a free petting zoo for the kids.
We stopped for lunch at a quirky pizza place called Reds Pizzeria near downtown Eureka, and the food was great! It’s all patio seating so only go if the weather is nice.
And last but not least, we took a Tram Tour of downtown Eureka Springs. And it took about an hour and a half. It was informational a good way to really soak in this quaint town. I really enjoyed seeing the historic Victorian homes.
Please drop a comment or like if this post helps you out on your vacation. Thanks for reading!
Knoll It All Travel 