AT A GLANCE
Why go?
DeGray Lake Resort State Park is Arkansas's only resort state park, set on the shores of the 13,800-acre DeGray Lake amid the tall pines of the Ouachita Mountains. Near Hot Springs and Little Rock, it pairs a full-service lakeside lodge with a championship golf course, a marina, campgrounds, and an unusually wide range of year-round outdoor activities — from paddling and fishing to mountain biking and winter eagle watching.↗↗
A Lake at the Center of Everything
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began constructing DeGray Dam on the Caddo River in 1963, and the lake that followed became the heart of a state park created in 1974. The resort and golf course arrived by 1975, making this the one Arkansas state park where you can book a hotel room on an island. That island lodge — reached by a short causeway from the mainland — overlooks the lake and anchors the park's identity as a destination for getaways, reunions, and corporate retreats as much as for rugged outdoor adventure.↗↗
The 90-room lodge includes a 300-seat conference center, a heated swimming pool open May through September, a fitness room, and the Shoreline Restaurant with full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. Lakeside views from the room or the fireplace in the lobby make it easy to see why this park draws visitors who want comfort alongside the wilds of the Ouachita National Forest just beyond its borders.
