A friend invited me and my oldest son on a three day trip Aug 8-10 with him and his two boys, but he left the location up to me. We want to keep the driving to under six hours, one way, but this area (deep east Texas) can be miserable this time of year. I was thinking somewhere in the Ouachita mountains in SW Arkansas or in Oklahoma would be the best compromise between low(er) humidity and plenty of shade. Plus there's some beautiful views there. If we drove west of the DFW area, it would be a lot drier, but it may be harder to find consistent tree cover. Does anyone know an option that may be more comfortable?

I'd have to say Lake Ouachita. It's the clearest lake in the State

Bring swim fins, masks, and snorkels for the boys. The water there has 20+ feet of visibility and there are lots of fish. There's big Gar in there and, while they look mean and have lots of sharp teeth they are a blast to swim with and very curious, and they don't bite.

I don't think your boys would have more fun anywhere else. You can rent little boats at the marina in the State Park there and go explore the islands, the campgrounds there are nice, lots of trees, lots of shade, and the lake should be the perfect temp for swimming.

We use those cheap blow up beds for a raft at the lakes and swimming holes here and they'll dry fast enough to sleep on at night too. The boys will get your money's worth out of those there.

Ouachita Lake sounds awesome, but it also sounds like more of a car camping destination, and we want to backpack. Sorry, I should have been more clear about that. We'll car camp Friday night, hike in Saturday, primitive camp, hike out Sunday morning, and high tail it back home. I'm tentatively thinking Petit Jean would be a good destination. I'm about to look for their trail map online.

I've been using inflatable pool rafts for camp pads too. It may have been you that gave me the idea, I don't remember, but they work very well for that purpose. I've got one nice thick one that's a bit heavy, and one I got for less than a couple bucks that's nice and light. It's also really hard to get all the air out of the heavy one because of the design of the air channels. That's not a problem with the light one. I think I'll grab another one of those before leave.

I suppose I should have taken for granted you wanted to backpack

It's been decided we'll save the backpacking for fall and camp at Lake Ouachita this time around. I think the boys are going to have a blast.

That said, anyone have suggestions for a good loop, say around ten miles, in Southern or central Arkansas or Oklahoma, or in the hill country of central Texas for the fall trip? When we go, I figure we'll do more miles the first day, maybe six or seven miles, and fewer hiking out the next. So, there should be a spot to camp around the six or seven mile mark, preferably with a nearby water source.

If no one has specific suggestions, that's fine, I'll figure it out, but you never know when someone might know the perfect spot already.

I have a few suggestions for Central/Western AR and Eastern OK.

Check out ouachitamaps.com for maps of these areas and more information.

There are loops off of the Ouachita Trail in Oklahoma, but I haven't done them, although I can recommend the Ouachita Trail itself.

You can make a loop in the Caney Creek Wilderness with a short road walk. I think it's about 10-12 miles, and there are plenty of places to camp near the creek. The trail up and down Buckeye Mountain is pretty steep, but you can also do an out-and-back just along the creek.

The trail along the Cossatot River is nice. It's about 12-13 miles one-way, but fairly flat and you don't have to walk all of it. You do have to camp in designated areas since it is a state natural area.

Out and back in the Black Fork Wilderness is probably 10-12 miles and there is a spring not that far from the end of the trail. It's also strenous, uphill most of the way going in, but there is one spot where the trail goes way down the side of the hill around a huge rock slide area, and then back up again to make it even more strenous. I like the tiny gnarled oak trees up on top that most mountains in AR aren't high enough or exposed enough to have.

My dad took me to the Cossatot once (that I remember - maybe more) as a kid. That's where I fell in love with freediving. Just hanging out under water for as long as you can hold your breath and watching the fish is a blast.

Judging by the weather forecast, I think we could have done our backpacking trip this time around, no problem. Oh well, we couldn't have know earlier.

If you're going to the lake you'll be in the Ouchita NF and there are some nice hiking and backpacking trails there, so you can still get some in. As far as I know you can backpack pretty much anywhere you want in the NF there.

Looks like it will be pretty nice for you with temps in the high 80s to low 90s. That's still pretty hot when you're in the forest, especially if it's humid and the air is still, but I understand. You have to be a real Texan to call that a cool spell