Cedar Falls

If you want to get pictures of Cedar Falls without any people standing around the base, then you probably don't want to visit the falls on a Saturday. Which just happens to be the day we decided to visit the falls. I had hoped there wouldn't be too many people there as we drove through Petit Jean. It was cloudy, and still a bit early in the morning. Plus there was a big Razorback game on later in the day. I hoped that combination would keep people at home...

But we got to the parking lot at the lodge and it was packed with cars. We claimed the very last parking spot and started the hike. There was a big crowd of people on the trail, apparently because of a wedding held at the falls. The wedding was over and the wedding party was slowly making their way up the hill back to the lodge by the time we started the trail. We didn't know it was a wedding at first, but it was the sight of a woman wearing a nice white dress (not something you usually see on a hiking trail) that gave it away. At first I thought, "that sure is a fancy dress for hiking," but someone on the trail told us it was for a wedding. Cedar Falls would make an interesting spot for a wedding, except for the whole hiking up the hill part afterwards...

But the waterfalls at Petit Jean were awesome on Saturday. As the trail switchbacks down the hill, a small creek rushes and tumbles down some moss and lichen-covered boulders. With all the rain this past week, it was running unusually high.


It's a neat little waterfall - like the appetizer for the upcoming main course of Cedar Falls.




There were also quite a few ferns growing by the falls too...


Cedar Creek was running high, and we made a few quick stops there along the way...




We finally made it to mighty 90 foot-tall Cedar Falls. I feared it would be really crowded there, but it wasn't too bad. I did have to wait a few minutes for some people to clear out to get this shot.


There was a group of people who decided to walk out behind the falls and pose for some pictures. It wasn't too bad - they'd end up providing some nice perspective to show how tall the falls are.


And one with the people photoshopped out:


And one last Cedar Falls shot:


We didn't have much time there since I needed to eventually get back to Little Rock that afternoon. But the falls and Cedar Creek were so scenic on Saturday that we could have easily spent all day there...