|
Camping: 10/24/2001 |
|
We departed Dallas on the 23rd, about noon, a little later than the 10 A.M. I had hoped for. But then, getting ones camping stuff together as one is loading it does consume a little time. The first leg of our Fall destinations: Mountain Thyme Bed & Breakfast. I guess by now everybody knows that this is our usual Anniversary Spot - our 4th visit, our 3rd Anniversary. I guess others are starting to pick up on what a wonderful place is Mountain Thyme, as it was recently favorably reviewed in the online Bed and Breakfast.com Report. Petit Jean State Park was our second destination. More on that later
The first to greet us
were Rhonda and Ruffus... "Ruffus," as was explained, was
a new addition to the Mountain Thyme Denizenry. Apparently AWOL for
some time from his Arkansas Deer Dog status, Ruffus was nursed back to
health from a rather emaciated condition after showing up and adopting
Mountain This has to be the greatest testament to his pleasant, laid-back nature, as he won the heart of a confirmed "non-dog / only cats need apply" person. The sentiment was shared by many of the entries in the guest logs that are kept in each room for guest remarks. The two resident cats, Scooter & Biscuit???, seemed to have adapted famously - they had been used to a sole domain for sometime. After a bit of catch-up conversation with Rhonda, Carole and I ascended to our favorite room - The Dogwood. I was anxious to see if the Godiva Chocolates I had ordered over the Internet, to be delivered to Mountain Thyme, had arrived. They had, of course, and Rhonda was kind enough to accept them and place them in the room to surprise Carole. We munched on them the whole vacation. Umm... We arrived around the normal time to get some evening eats, however we had made our traditional anniversary stop at the Jack-In-The-Box in Sulfur Springs, TX. I got a big ol honk'n burger - which I couldn't finish at the time. We bagged it for an opportune moment later. Of course, we also had to pick up a "Jack Head." This time they had "Dallas Cowboys" heads. Not so cool, but he made the whole trip with not too many bugs in his face mask. Instead of going to the Shack we ate chocolate and the other half of the Double Bacon Cheese Burger... Then retired for the evening. The next day we were up early. "Helped ourselves to the Coffee make'ns and went out for a pre-breakfast stroll. Rhonda and Mike had blazed some new trails through their garden woods. To our surprise the trail was decorated up for Halloween. Little rubber spiders were placed on strategic stumps, an eyeball in the knot hole of a tree, a skeleton suspended above a grave-like hole... The whole trail was marked with curb stones... Somebody's back was aching, I'm sure. Breakfast consisted of simply wonderful blueberry/oatmeal pancakes and a fruit cup of peaches and bananas mixed with granola and topped with yogurt. As wonderful as it was I think the ambiance added immeasurably. The homey dining room, the other guests, Rhonda and Polly taking the time to sit and chat a moment with us... well, it just makes it all for a really happy and relaxing occasion. We always mean to do something while at Mountain Thyme - like go explore Hot Springs. However, we usually just laze around. Walking, reading, napping, watching a video, afternoon coffee. These always seem good enough our first day. We did get out for our anniversary catfish dinner at the Shack - back south of Mountain Thyme about a mile. I try to always get there well before the usual busy times because it really does get packed. It's its own thing but the establishment sort of reminds me of a Dairy Queen. We had fried mushrooms and broccoli cheese bites with the catfish. Then back to the Inn. We dawdled and lazed until time for our "sit." It has become customary to share an evening out on the porch with Rhonda and Mike. I certainly enjoy passing the evening with them. I brought a couple of bottles of Champaign which we shared as we passed the time. I kicked myself for forgetting the anniversary cake remains (now 3 years old). We'll never forget Rhoda spontaneously poking a piece into Polly's mouth last year - and Polly's poise... Maybe I'll remember it next year ;) The evening passed wonderfully. Around ten it seems we were all ready to turn in. I'm sure Rhonda and Mike had a few last minute chores to finish. We sure appreciated their company, and taking neighborly time with us. I think Carole and I watched a video of the "Bone Collector" before we fell asleep. A fitting Halloween movie. The next morning, again we woke up the coffee fix'ns. Breakfast this time, a wonderful poached egg and sausage thing. It all went too fast as we were ready to leave for Petit Jean before we knew it. Some final farewells along with making next years reservations and we were off. 'Went back south a ways for gas and some groceries at Hot Springs Village. We stopped at a Rock Shop. Carole had to peruse the "Slag Glass"... §§§ The afternoon sun shone on the Autumn woods as we wound our way through the Ouachita National Forest via Scenic Hwy 7. Not "spectacular" this year but very nice nonetheless. And a very enjoyable drive. Past Ola a few miles we turned off 7 and onto 154 at Centerville. 15 miles later we were entering Petit Jean State Park.
Other than that we prepared a bit by emailing the Park, inquiring about the camp sites. Petit Jean has very many campsites, just about all of which have accommodations for RVs. Areas A, B, C & D offer a variety of camping milieus. Areas A & B are mostly for RVs, though we noticed a few tents auxiliary to campers. These areas are fairly cleared of underbrush but with many trees. One can see from end to end just about. It has more of a "park" atmosphere. More tame, or civilized, if you will. In Areas C & D, particularly D, the brush is allowed to encroach and insulates, somewhat, one campsite from the next. In Area D only neighboring campsites were visible. These neighbors did seem a bit close even then. There is an attempt at Petit Jean to maximize the number of sites as this is truly one of Arkansas' premier State Parks. We also got us a new tent! Late June / early July I began searching the Internet for camping tents. Our good old Dome tent proved a little less that weather worthy at Devils Den. I never did really finish my entry for that episode. Let it be enough here to say it rained the whole time... Anyway, I surfed several sites, even surfed some to shop for price, but settled on three sites, mostly due to their reputations. Coleman, REI, and a couple of wonderful new ones I found, AltRec and EXPED. I had a couple of criteria when shopping. I guess they're sort of related. First, it had to be fairly weather worthy. Second, it needed to be big enough to 1) stand up in without standing on a queen size air mattress and 2) have enough "living" area to accommodate two people as refuge during waking hours in the event of rain, and 3) have space to put a bunch of stuff/gear without getting in the way.
Now... At the time AltRec only had a "Terra Cotta" version of the Big Bear for online purchase. I just could not see myself in a "red" tent. After all, I'm the kind of guy who prefers army surplus stuff. Blankets, boots, stuff sacks, etc. Surplus stuff is just made for camping - and to last. It's usually OD green though. I got used to OD and now it's synonymous with camping. So... I contacted AltRec and asked, since they featured an image of the green tent, could I get that one? The courteous reply was that I would have to contact the distributor - which I did. Carl Brody. The U.S. EXPED distributor based in Washington state, Carl was perhaps the best example of online salesmanship - and customer service - that I have ever encountered, whether that be physical retail or virtual online sales! I contacted him via email inquiring about the "green" version of the Big Bear. He was a "can do" guy. He would have to order it in from Switzerland but he would get it! We emailed back and forth several times and, as I was in no hurry in July, I committed and had Carl special order the tent for me and Carole. He even worked out arrangements with AltRec so that when it did come in I could buy online. But not only that... the Big Bear was due to go on sale at AltRec, which he informed me of saying that even though the tent wouldn't arrive until after the sale, I could still have the sale price (which was 20% off). Not too shabby. It certainly more than paid for the shipping. And the tent even arrived well ahead of the tentative date. Wendy Dodd at AltRec was clued in and let me know when it arrived (Carl had clued me in earlier). I had time to set it up in the back yard to test it out before real use - in the hottest part of the summer (this is not a Texas summer tent..!) The Big Bear met my expectations and helped make for a wonderful camping trip. We arrive at Petit Jean well within daylight hours... We stopped first at the visitor center / registration place. 'Asked about the camp sites in general. The lady ranger gave us a quick run down. I thought she pointed out Area D as having a bath house. So we cruised though D, picked out site 108, staking it with an ice chest. We checked out the bath house but it looked closed for remodeling. When we returned to register we learned the bath house in Area D wasn't the "only" bath house... it was the only one undergoing remodeling. So we decided to give a closer look at the other Areas, particularly C, which was adjacent to D. C indeed had a working bath house, however the camp sites didn't seem to be as insolated from each other. Plus there were already a good number of campers there on a Thursday. Since D only had only two or three campers it was more private by far. We decide to keep site 108 even if we had to drive a bit to get to the bath house. It really wasn't far. So back to the registration place we went and paid up till the following Tuesday. Finally back at the camp site. We could begin setting up camp. Of course this was the tent's maiden campout and I was excited to get it set up for real. I hadn't used ground covers since Boy Scouts but thought it advisable. The small brown tarp under the "master bedroom", the honk'n green tarp under the "living area." First we brushed all the leaves off the tent pad. This was a dubious exercise since it exposed all the powder fine dust. It always hurts a little to get something brand shiny new, dirty... Leaving the leaves would have mitigated that some. Then... leaves meant more bugs, condensation and take down clean-up. Anyway, we had it up in no time. Maybe not as square and plumb as it was in the back yard several weeks earlier but close enough. Next was the air up the mattress thing. As an afterthought just before we left I grabbed a 50 foot outdoor extension cord and threw it in the trunk . That was one of the better things I did this trip. I shall henceforth always bring the extension cord. Formerly, I plugged the air pump in at the pole and aired up the mattress there, then hauled it back to the tent. This usually meant some dirt and leaves getting dragged into the tent, and bed... This time I just laid out the mattress in the tent, ran the cord in from the pole, and aired it up on the spot. How convenient... :) Carole got the sleeping bags out and made the bed. We brought our pillows this time too. Pretty decadent for an old Boy Scout.
§§§ Next Morning - Friday, I
think There's a certain mysticism, if you will, involved with the unconscious observation of the passing of night into day and vice versa. I say unconscious because I usually enjoy those moments rather passively, not necessarily making explicit mental notes to the fact that, " Gee. This is really a wonderful morning," though I will usually get around to thinking or saying something like that. Like many camping humans, after my sneak into the woods, I had two imperatives: warmth and wakefulness. Fire and Coffee. Which is sort of like making roux and shrimp dip at the same time. (I'm chuckling to myself at the profundity of the analogy). The deal is, both analogates are worthy of ones complete attention and due ministrations. More often than not, it does not bode well for either when ones attention is unduly divided. (Say that three time real fast). Anyway... The need for fire won the inner struggle. One of the things we did the previous evening was to pick up a few bundles of firewood at the Registration Center. That, and the fact that I had some Gulf-Lite left over from our last camping trip, and the "firewood" angel made my morning so much easier. What's a firewood angel, you ask? He's a guy in a pick-up that just happens to show up at your campsite the moment you get squared away asking if you would like some of "all this wood in my bed..." I never did get his name. I did spend some time speculating about him though. Was he a camper fixing to head out, distributing his leftover gatherings to other humble "tent" campers? Was he just so considerate to have heard the local weather reports about just how unseasonably cool it was going to be this week-end and decided to help out a little? Whatever his origins and motives, we certainly appreciated the gift. It was mostly kindling. Twigs and small branches suitable tender for the largish pieces in the bundles we bought. In fact, I really didn't need the gulf-lite, though I used it anyway. Whoosh. I had been puttering around in my insulated cammy overalls (my "invisible suit"), and flip-flops. This is about the quickest apparel one can don on a camping trip. For a moment I savored the degrees wafting up from that cheery blaze, with particular attention to the toes, then put the coffee together. Boil the water atop a propane burner, pour boiling water through salvaged automatic drip basket directly into stainless steel thermos. A subtle lateral faint past the ice chest and - 'had Half-n-Half in hand. Not all too mystical but these are the pre-reflexive actions that occur automatically, almost unconsciously on my camping trip mornings. Then time for the really passive: Sitting next to the fire sipping coffee, none more delicious than which can be thought. (To paraphrase Anselm) From the time I emerged from the tent to my present posture (sipping wonderful coffee) had scarcely taken the time it takes for water to boil (plus a little) yet it seemed much had transpired. Maybe it's just that urgency seems to make time slow down. Or maybe it's just that, that period between being fully asleep and fully awake is sort of twilight zone special. Maybe it's just a certain innate attribute of predawn itself, observed by few... Oh well, in a flash one has time to have profound thoughts about any and everything... and nothing; perhaps the best and most significant part of camping... gives way to the sun peeking over the trees. Little dabs of lights shooting through the pine boughs slowly tracing bright streaks fading into daylight. Stirring. I hear stirring in the tent. Carole's waking, and fix'n to emerge...
I had in mind to get to a grocery store somewhere. I was obsessed with getting a broom, and some pumpkins since it was Halloween week. We looked at the park map and the legend indicated Morrilton was about two miles away - 1.0 miles to the inch. Carole graciously humored me so we headed off. It was about noon. Just as we left the park we noticed a convenience store that looked like it was part of the park. Thinking I would just save some time I pulled in but they were closed for lunch. So off we were again. We drove and drove. I was sure we had been two miles already. Later I gave a closer inspection to the map legend. The scale was printed over map features in such a way that "10" looked like "1.0." Oh brother.... So it was a 20 mile trip into Morrilton and back. We didn't really mind though. We got to see the broader setting of the park that way. We pulled into the first grocery store we came across. It was a smallish store, not at all what one gets used to in Dallas. Items picked up: A broom, of course; two "little" pumpkins, disappointed that they had no larger ones; a little American flag on a stick, to display our patriotism during the initial stages of our "War on Terrorism; paper plates, bread, bacon n eggs, peanut butter; a kitchen knife, and so on. On the way in we noticed a sign: "St. Elizabeth's - 1-1/2 Miles That-a-way." So we pulled off to look at it on the way back. It was locked up, of course. I was curious that it might be one of my online customers since we've had several internet sales in rural Arkansas.
Since we hadn't eaten breakfast we made some peanut butter sandwiches, then off exploring again. We decided to go see "Petit Jean's" final resting place. Apparently there really was a Petit Jean.
The historical information posted around the nice deck overlook informed us of various things. Near the spot I think officials guesstimated as Petit Jean's burial spot was a brief account of her story. Apparently the young woman dressed as a man and hired on as a hand on an expeditionary ship back in the old days. Hence, she was dubbed "Petit Jean" - Little John. She was following he beloved whom, earlier, said she could not go because of the danger. Anyway, they sailed up the Arkansas River as far a what is now Petit Jean Mountain and camped out for a year or so getting to know the Indians and all. Petit Jean got sick and during her illness her true identity was found out. The reunion was bitter sweet as she succumbed to her illness. She apparently request to be buried on the mountain overlooking the river. In the same area were the stone ruins of some college fraternity building. It was built in the 20s or 30s. Carole and I crawled around the roofless structure exploring the old fire place, windows and back stairway. It's sort of interesting to see the way architectural things were accomplished in days before our modern conveniences. It's also fun to speculate about what went on there. Surely the place was primitive - and even more remote that it is now... §§§ Today being Saturday morning, many folks had showed up yesterday afternoon and evening and into the night in the RVs, etc.. Lot's kids today whizzing around on bicycles. What was once peaceful and quiet with only two other campsites occupied was now bustling with mostly young families out for a Halloween weekend. Like going out to eat in Dallas, camping is best done during the week. Things are much more sedate that way... :) This trip we had a weekend in the middle of the trip. By the time we got around to doing breakfast it seems allot of folks were off to various activities. It's interesting to compare the sounds and smells of mornings camping to those in the city. In the city the background noise of traffic, imperceptible after a while, is punctuated by things like distant trucks hitting potholes or speed bumps and the occasional errant car alarm. In the woods the gentle background sounds of the breeze in the pine boughs and chirping birds is punctuated by the muffled sounds of wood chopping and the smell of a neighbors campfire or cooking. Breakfast was bacon and eggs. Mmm. Clean was a little difficult as the cool weather made getting the grease off the skillet a little difficult. This mornings activities for us was a visit to "Rock House Cave." Not really a cave but a big ol hole-in-the-wall. Like many of the attractions at Petit Jean, Rock House was incorporated into one of the hiking trails. Many of the trail either intersect each other or are continuations of each other. In this case, both. The leaflet described it as one of the easier trails. I assume that is because the trek from the gravel parking lot to the cave was relatively short by any standard. What was neglected was the fact that it's practically all downhill - like straight down. Well, I exaggerate a little. We braved it anyway. These things are almost always worth while!
The trail finally focused
and descended between craggy boulders. At the base, the trail swung
west along a rock The "Rock House" sure enough looked like it could accommodate a large number of people, Indians. Like I said, not a cave really but a cathedral like hole or opening in the bluff face. The mouth was as large as it got. Inside the grade and ceiling tapered in to the back. If you looked close, faint petro-glyphs were indeed visible. In the montage to the right there appears to be images of a bison, sun-head, and tree. The climb back up was a bit more aerobic than the trip down. Younger folks I'm sure would have no difficulty. :) Our afternoon excursion found us at the Cedar Falls overlook (see the 4 frame montage above). We visited this spot a year earlier so it wasn't quite the same shock to come down the nice zigzag ramp to all-of-the-sudden be peering down into a chasm. The "falls" were nice, of course. This time we explored the side trails a bit an got few photos of the canyon from different angles. We also made it over to an older overlook spot apparently built by the CCC or something. Rather than the modern structure we walked down to the current overlook, this was constructed of stone and timbers for fence rails. Here we finally found the odd rock formations that served as the floor of the overlook. Triangular formations that looked like tiles set with grout. As the day grew on we made our way back to camp. We had explored a couple of other camp facilities, the boat dock and lake. For dinner, a simple meal of peanut butter sandwiches. We had a larger than usual lunch at Mather Lodge - Burgers. §§§
The second leg of the hike was an adventure. Not at all the gradual slopping walk we had just accomplished. The north side, which we were now on, made its way through where craggy bluffs met the creek bed. The creek was quite shallow and we stopped to admire it frequently. Usually from a rocky perch over-hanging it a bit. Some spots on the trail were virtually straight up. Fortunately, stone stares had been built to make it a little easier. One problem we faced was we really couldn't remember at the time which trail we were on - and far it really went. Our best guess was that we were at the halfway point and that we might as well continue on. Not too many folks on that trail. We were passed early on by some photography buffs laden with gear. I assume they were on the way to the base of the Falls. Another, younger couple passed from ahead of us a little further on, on the north side. They seemed to be not too sure about this trail either. Finally, after much close up nature, we arrived at the far end of the trail where it again crossed the creek, back to the south side. This time the bridge was not as inviting. It was little more than some expanded metal tread-way propped atop some piers. It had rickety railing only on one side made of galvanized plumbing pipe. It was about 6 feet in the air and the stairs to it... well, maybe three feet of them were extant. Shortly before we arrived at this bridge we met an elderly couple who had apparently just traversed it. The old man looked like he was recovering from a stroke suffered some months earlier... So we took heart after the initial shock of seeing the bridge' condition. " If they could do it, we can do it" we said to each other... Like the previous couple we met on the trail these folks also didn't really seem aware of how aerobic some spots on the trail were nor how far they had to go. A dollar to a dime all three of us couples got talked into it by our wives... :) Either that or they coaxed us along to the point where one might just as well continue on as backtrack out. :) God bless 'em! This trail was one the pamphlets call a "Self-Guided" Nature Trail. That is, there are numbered markers all along the trail as it makes it circuit. If one had intentionally taken this hike one would have had the little pamphlet to refer to - to read what kind of tree this was or what kind of fossil that was. Inadvertently, we had started the hike backwards... So, after a while, it dawned on us that we had some idea of how much further we had to go by observing the markers decrease in the numbers they displayed - 5, 4 , 3, 2, 1. We took heart, now confident we were not on the 12 mile trail... The very last bit of trail, maybe 100 yards worth, which would have been the first bit if we'd started off right, was another bit of virtually straight up business. There were carved stone stairs interspersed with natural stone to assist the ascension back to the Pioneer cabin. The honk'n tree that had fallen across this arrangement was child's play to us by now. We knew it was there to sit on for a spell... :) We finally made it back, a bit worn out, a bit relieved, but a whole lot rejuvenated all the same. Glowing. Any man who doesn't let his wife talk him into stuff from time to time doesn't know what he's missing. Not that we need to make a habit of it, eh... :) Next, we drove back over to Mather Lodge for Burgers - which are certainly allot better than the Orange Roughy... Back to camp. We had left a big piece of tree trunk on the fire so we'd had some embers to get another fire going this evening. When we got back to camp it had rolled forward, burning is balance off, I guess. All the weekend campers rolled their RVs out yesterday and this morning I had scrounged nearby campsite for leftover fire wood. That big chunk was one of them. That chunk did keep the fire going all day and when evening came there were plenty of good coals. I piled a bunch of wood on and we snaked a bit for supper. And sat around the fire talking. As the evening wore on, the fire burned down into a mound of chunky glowing coals. We took turns poking pieces that still had some good flame left in them back to life. Something about those coals reminded Carole of an episode in the "Lord of the Rings", so I got to hear Hobbit stories for a good while. Never having read it myself, I enjoyed listening immensely. Much better than cable any day... I observed the contrast of a warm front and chilled back as we sat in our little globe of dancing luminescence, suspended in mountain murk. We listened to the short wave a bit on this our last evening. Everyone was still anxious to hear news about Afghanistan and so on. §§§ I'm still asleep now. Early next morning. Last morning. Half asleep half awake, I listen to the crows, chattering, cawing. Sometimes it seems like their laughing. Just having a good old time. I heard someone walk through camp. Really, it was behind us, like in the next camp. Since I had not heard anyone pass through up to now, I listened intently as I lay there. Not that anyone would be up to no good here... I continued listening to the crows, savoring those sounds as a last bit of nature for a while. Shortly, I decided to get up to, to enjoy the last bit a little better Once I got the fire and coffee going I looked around for something quick for breakfast. Poking around the picnic table. I notice a tortilla sack on the ground but no tortillas. I was sure we had almost a whole package. Oh well, maybe some French toast. Hmm. 'can't find the bread either. Messing around with something else, I noticed some trash between our camp an that beside behind us. Out of habit I went over to pick it up, to police the camp a little. The sun hadn't peaked over the trees yet but it was daylight. It was our bread sack. No bread. Carole was up by then and we had remarked to ourselves earlier about about exuberant the crows were this morning. Now we knew why... We had been raided by a bunch of party crows...! Let that be a lesson to you. Just because there are no coons don't think your vitals are secure... :) It wasn't long before we made ourselves start to break camp - sigh. Getting the down was as easy as getting it up and I was very satisfied with its performance. 'Turned the tarps over, swept them off a bit and let them sit to dry out. Finally everything was packed and loaded. One last look around, a hug from Carole, and we were off for home. Carole wanted to visit the rock shop near Hot Springs again, so we decided to travel back down Scenic 7 again - we'd stop at the Shack in Jesseville for Brunch.
|
By
the time we get there each season Rhonda, the Innkeeper, already has the
place fixed up for Halloween/Fall. It's always so nice to 
step
into a festive atmosphere. Mr. Pumpkin was the second to greet us
upon our arrival. Perched on the spacious front porch amid assorted
pumpkins and other Fall appointments, we get to admire his pleasant
welcome each year. Carole also seemed to enjoy visiting with one of
the hovering goblins...
Thyme
as his place of retirement.
Northwest
of Little Rock, near Morrilton on the Arkansas River, we had scoped out
Petit Jean the year before on our way to Devil's Den in Northwest
Arkansas. We didn't spend but a few minutes there but we did stop to view
the Cedar Falls overlook. It was so spectacular that we, after
scoping out the park a little more, decided we had to come back and camp
sometime. This year was the year.
would
run off fairly amicably, ie, not under and into the tent. One of the
nicest things is the enclosed "living" area, as I call it.
You can stand up full on terra firma to get dressed. You can have a
camping chair inside - to sit down on while you put your shoes on.
And if it did rain, plenty of room for two or more chairs to sit and talk,
play dominos or read. No stuff under foot as it's stowed in the
wings. All in all, 'pretty cool to me!
Unloading
the rest of the stuff out of the car I worried a bit about coons, not
wanting a repeat of the pillaging we got at Lake Catherine. I think
I put the ice chest back in the trunk before bed the first night.
After that it didn't seem that coons were going to be a problem. I
can't remember what we had for dinner if anything. Maybe that was
the night we went down to the Mather Lodge Restaurant. If it was, I
ordered the fish - Orange Roughy or something - as if it were a real
restaurant... Yuk. Well... I guess it was better than
allot of things we could have been eating. Certainly a lot more
convenient! Back at camp we went to bed, snug on a coolish
evening. Mather Lodge, by the way, is sort of a focal point at Petit
Jean. Arkansas has four "Premier" State Parks where they
shoot the works, in a rustic sort of way. The four parks each have a
"Lodge" which offers motel-like accommodations, a restaurant
and, of course, a junk shop. At Petit Jean the Lodge just also
happens to be the trail head for the Cedars Falls Trail and the large
parking lot is quite packed with hiker's cars on week ends. I guess
being not too far from Little Rock and really close to Morrilton and
Russellville, Petit Jean is a nice Fall getaway for the natives too... :)
For
a while we sat together by the fire getting toasty. Things were
warming up a bit and we were chatting about what should be the day's
activities. We decided to scope out the Park a little, drove this
way and that. It was still early so we went and investigated the
"Bear Cave Area." This trail was marked as
"easy" and it was short. It was pretty neat though. 
The
whole area was involved with craggy rock outcroppings. There were
several fissures one could explore around in and monolithic piles to scale
atop. The trail wound down around and behind these 
outcroppings
and skirted past the "bear cave." It was geologically
quite interesting. After we finished there, a little further down
the road we stopped at ??? 
overlook
at the southwest end of the Petit Jean creek/canyon area. It
was a little tricky getting over to the fence. We had to step across
a minor precipice. The view was marvelous though. This was one
of many perspectives we were to enjoy. Later we enjoyed the same
view but from the peak across the canyon pictured here.
Heading
back into the Park we found the place where one can drive across Cedar
Falls Creek. From there we found our way back west again, this time
on the north side of the canyon. There is a gravel road on that side
that loops around past Rock House Cave. The far end of the loop
terminates at the bluff above but looks off more to the north. At
the "Memorial" overlook we were informed that in the distance
were Mount Nebo and Magazine Mountain, two other Arkansas
attractions. On the out leg of the gravel road loop we stopped at
the Rock House Cave Trail Head parking lot and noted it for another days
exploring.
Back
at camp, after I set up the pumpkins and the flag, I couldn't wait to
sweep the slab footing for our picnic table. It was covered with
leaves and dirt when we arrived. A little "whisk" brooming
with the broom Carole grabbed out of her van just before we left just
didn't do the trick earlier. If we'd have brought a little rake,
cleaning off the tent pad would have been easier too. 
The
site is located at the east end of Petit Jean Mountain, overlooking the
Arkansas River at its base. In the distance one of the several Corps
of Engineers Lock and Dam Systems could be seen, so I zoomed in with my 
camera
and snapped a shot for Pop. I don't know how much it is used but the
Arkansas River is navigable from the Mississippi River at least to Tulsa
Oklahoma. I also got a shot of the Geodetic Survey Reference
Marker. For some reason those are interesting to me.
First,
down a steep grade about a hundred yards. The surface was a bunch of
curious rock formations the pamphlets called Turtle Rocks. As we got
closer to the real "down" part the formations grew and did look
something like turtles.
bluff
to our right and woods and brush continuing down hill to our left.
The
next morning we finally made it over to the "Pioneer Cabin" that
Carole had been wanting to visit. Not it's original location, the
cabin had been moved there and was similar to those we saw when we visited
Smoky Mountains National Park. Still, 'interesting to see what
passed for digs in former days. The spot here was, as usual, a trail
head. I think that was Carole's ulterior motive. She convinced
me to explore up the trail a bit. Then a bit more. Then a bit
more. This was not the longest trail at Petit Jean by a long
shot. It took us about an hour and a half to complete.
Anyway, the day was very nice. Actually a little
warmish. I brought my camera but if I had know we were going to do
the circuit I would have brought some water along...
The
trail started off gently down into the trees then back, paralleling the
paved road we had come in on. It was up above us maybe 25 or 50
yards. At points, much closer than that. Then it sloped gradually
down to Cedar Falls Creek, down creek from the Falls. There was a
little wooden foot bridge there to cross the creek and continue the trail
circuit. Another thing I would have brought with us had known
we were going for a hike was some more floppies for the camera. This
is the last shot on the hike and there were allot of nice views.