By Joe Mosby
In the bottomlands of the Ouachita River, you have to climb up to the cabins at Moro Bay State Park.
The five cabins, less than two years old, are a new feature of this locally popular small park. The climb up is a long flight of stairs because the cabins are built on stilts. Why? Simple. The Ouachita River and its backwaters like Moro Bay can rise significantly during floods.
The park, sitting in an area long popular with fishermen, boaters and other water activity enthusiasts, has a marina with assorted boats, canoes and kayaks to rent, fuel and bait and other supplies. Hunting and fishing licenses can be bought. There are 20 campsites, shaded and with hookups and a bathhouse. Picnic area, two short hiking trails and a group pavilion are on hand.
A boat launching ramp is next to the marina, and boat slips are available to visitors who bring their own vessels.
The visitor center is in the park office and has a variety of exhibits and a small gift shop. There is a meeting room with kitchen available for meetings, reunions and other uses.
The park is just 117 acres, and it is one of several created during something of a boom in state parks in the early 1970s under Gov. Dale Bumpers. The park is at the junction of the Ouachita River, Moro Bay and Raymond Lake.
Another feature of the park is the old ferry used to cross the river and replaced in 1992 by the completion of two bridges. Moro Bay ferries go all the way back to 1828, before Arkansas was a state. There was a hiatus from 1947 to 1965 in the ferry service, creating a major travel problem between Warren in Bradley County and El Dorado in Union County.
The Moro Bay park cabins are not your grandfather’s state park cabins.
They are not rustic. Far from it. They are modern. Comfortable. Spacious. And, yes, those steps are good exercise. The cabins overlook the bay. With a full array of appliances, the cabins don’t draw a label of luxury, but they may be along the line of something you would build for a weekend or lake cottage if you had a generous budget.
The kitchen’s refrigerator has an ice maker. The electric range is augmented by a microwave. There is a dishwasher, coffee maker, toaster, mixer and blender. A bathroom connects to each of two bedrooms. The dish-connected television is high definition and hooked to a DVD player.
A popular feature of the cabins is a large screened porch on the back overlooking the bay. A ceiling fan on the porch eases the humid summer air, and a sizable table with six chairs invites meals on the porch.
Assorted songbirds flit among the trees between the cabins and the water. Fish dimple the surface of the bay, and early morning coffee drinkers on the porch can watch fishermen troll along the bank casting for bass or other fish.
Like nearly any Arkansas state park cabin, the Moro Bay ones have relaxation high on the list of priorities.
During hunting seasons, the cabins are popular with outdoors people who may hunt at nearby Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge are in other deer-rich areas. No hunting is allowed in the park itself.
Moro Bay State Park was born during a re-focus in Arkansas state government.
After World War II, there was much concern over outward migration of Arkansas people, especially young high school and college graduates. Efforts were channeled toward bringing in industry large and small to provide jobs. Recreation took a back seat, and building new state parks was only talked about.
This changed under the Bumpers administration.
Moro Bay State Park, Woolly Hollow State Park near Greenbrier and several other relatively small parks were created then came some new major ones like Village Creek State Park near Wynne and Forrest City and DeGray Lake Resort State Park near Arkadelphia.
For more information on Moro Bay State Park, go to www.arkansasstateparks.com/morobay.
——–
Joe Mosby is the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas’ best known outdoor writer. His work is distributed by the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. He can be reached by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback.com.
