Spring at Pinnacle Mountain

There have been some good benefits from starting the new job last week - namely the fact that I am going to be getting a paycheck. The downside is that working has made a deep cut in the large amounts of free time I previously enjoyed. I tried to remedy that last week with a quick trip out to Pinnacle Mountain. The new job is located far out in west Little Rock, which is conveniently close to Pinnacle Mountain State Park. So last Wednesday I took the camera to work, and drove out to Pinnacle instead of battling rush hour traffic.

The park was busy, which was no surprise since it was a gloriously sunny Spring day. I ended up taking the short Kingfisher Trail, which runs alongside the Little Maumelle River. Spring has made its presence known here, the trees have gotten their bright shiny new leaves. This was taken along a little collection of water just off of the trail.


The Kingfisher Trail runs alongside several towering old cypress trees, with dozens of cypress knees poking out of the water. This was the view along part of the trail:

And apparently I just missed another Flickr photographer out there, who was taking pictures along the trail. His version of this spot can be seen here.

Spring here is a neat sight. When trees first get their leaves, they come in a neat shade of green that is unique for a week or so. Before too long they'll turn to the usual muted green that will stick around until fall.


I walked over to a different spot along the Little Maumelle River, trying to find a place to get pictures. There is one certain spot that I've been trying to get a good picture from, but have had little success with. I think that this one spot will let you get a good view of Pinnacle Mountain reflected in the river, but I haven't quite gotten to it yet. I tried to get that shot on this trip, but realized the flaw in the plan of taking pictures after work. I was still dressed in the "business casual" clothes, and didn't want to get my nice shoes or pants too muddy or dirty. So I filed the shot away in things to try again later.

But on my way out I stopped at some dogwood trees that were blooming along the base of the mountain.


To get these shots I used a conveniently placed picnic table to get high enough to be amongst the blooming trees.