Powerboating in Arkansas

Clear water is Arkansas's calling card. The big reservoirs tucked into the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains (Lake Ouachita, Greers Ferry, Beaver Lake, Lake Norfolk), run deep and clean, ringed by forest instead of development, and the Arkansas River carries navigable water clear across the state. A solid network of marinas keeps all of it accessible, with fuel, slips, and launch points positioned where boaters actually need them in the Natural State.

Each lake has its own personality. Lake Ouachita, near Hot Springs, is the wild one, undeveloped islands and water clean enough that the shoreline still feels like backcountry. Greers Ferry, in the Ozark foothills, pairs dramatic bluffs with serious fishing. Beaver Lake opens onto the Ozark Highlands to the north, while Lake Norfolk and Bull Shoals, up on the Missouri border, are deep, cold, and famously clear, the kind of water that keeps anglers and cruisers coming back season after season.