HOT SPRINGS — With the summer season approaching fast, Lake Ouachita State Park is planning for the inevitable influx of visitors, from boaters to swimmers and all the explorers.

The park spent the winter ensuring everything was clean and in top working order for visitors to the largest and cleanest lake in Arkansas.

“We’ve got a lot of maintenance in the winter, just making sure our sites are clean and ready to go, such as deep cleaning cabins and stuff like that,” Lake Ouachita State Park Superintendent James Wilborn said.

Lake Ouachita is stocking up on new merchandise at the visitor center for the summer.

“Our visitor center has been putting out some new T-shirts. Our park system is going through a new branding,” Wilborn said. “Our parks are wanting to have some very specific branding as far as shirts and decals and things like that.”

For summer programming, park interpreter Emily Stubblefield said the focus will be on recreation.

“We are focusing more on recreation-type programs going forward, such as resource-based recreation programs,” Stubblefield said. “We do boat tours year-round, but we’ll be doing more snorkeling and swimming tours, kayaking, and we’re going to do an astronomy program on Fourth of July weekend.”

Wilborn said annual visitation to Lake Ouachita State Park is around 500,000, and the whole of Lake Ouachita sees around 2 million annual visitors.

On June 6-7, Lake Ouachita will offer hiking programs for National Trail Day, and on June 12-14, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will hold its annual free fishing weekend, allowing anyone ages 16 and older to fish without a license.

“It’s designed to promote fishing statewide,” Stubblefield said. “Many places around the state will do a fishing derby. Other state parks will do fishing-based programs that week, casting programs, fish ID programs, knot-tying programs to make sure what’s put on your hook stays on your hook. Fishing is a big attraction for folks here, so getting folks familiar with how to get that started and letting them have the opportunity to fish without a license gives them a great opportunity.”

The park will have a campfire social on Memorial Day weekend for people who are staying at the park, where they will be told about all the programming the park has available.

“What I think people will enjoy most is the free access to our state parks,” Wilborn said. “To be able to come out and sit out at one of our nice beaches, the family gets to swim and enjoy the great outdoors, and it doesn’t really cost anything. People enjoy picnics and swimming and the camping.”

Clear water stretches along the tree-lined north shore at Lake Ouachita State Park in Mountain Pine. (The Sentinel-Record/Will Livingston)