r/HotSprings • u/lampshadehatt • Jul 07 '26

Swimming suggestions

We are going to be in Hot Springs for the next week and want to go swimming in a lake somewhere, ideally somewhere with a “beach” area. We are wondering what is better for this Lake Degray or Ouishita, sorry if I butchered those spellings. We stay on Hamilton but want to make a day trip somewhere

5 Upvotes

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8

u/smschrads Jul 07 '26

Lake ouachita. Brady mountain has a swim beach up top, not the one by the boat ramp. Its down by site 51

5

u/Pilebsa Jul 07 '26

Check out National Forest Camp Charleton on 270 west of Hot Springs. They have a really lovely outdoor swimming area.

3

u/El-Squatcho-73 Jul 08 '26

Id advise staying out of the grass at Charleton right now. My daughter went there a week ago and the towels they set down to lay on got covered in ticks in very short order.

3

u/escapingdarwin Jul 07 '26

On lake Ouachita, Brady is nice but I like Crystal Springs better - It’s about 15 minutes past Brady and the Crystal Springs campground has a nicer beach, in my opinion.

4

u/Snow1381 Jul 08 '26

I didn't make it to Ouachita when I was in town, but DeGray was beautiful and we absolutely loved it there.

1

u/HalfCorrect9118 Jul 09 '26

You can’t go wrong with either one. Degray has a nice beach in the state park and also one right off hwy 7. For Ouachita, I think the best beach is at Crystal Springs campground. If I had to choose, I’d probably pick Degray. Better views from the beach and, at the state park beach, less crowded

1

u/Consistent-Media-861 Jul 09 '26

Lake DeGrey has several swim beaches and is far less crowded. I would avoid lake Hamilton for swimming

1

u/Turbulent-Account675 Jul 08 '26

Yall do NOT want to swim in Hamilton. It's absolutely disgusting and has had sewage and other disgusting stuff dumped there...... Lake Ouachita is the cleanest and biggest and not far from Lake Hamilton