Petit Jean

This has been an unusually rainy year. In fact it has rained so much lately that waterfalls are actually running, which is such a rare treat. It seems like the last few years we have been suffering under droughts, which dried up all the rivers and creeks and turned the trees brown. So after it rained all day on Saturday, I headed out to Petit Jean Mountain to take advantage of the flowing waterfalls on Sunday afternoon.



My first stop on the mountain was Stout's Point, and after I few minutes I got in the car to head toward the park. Just as I was about to turn onto the main road, I heard a distant siren. Soon enough, a big pickup truck came flying up the road with a blaring siren. But it wasn't with the police, the truck had a large American flag flying from the back (along with a red and black flag I didn't recognize) and had a large TRUMP sticker. The truck roared past, and I turned onto the road and followed it. Shortly after, I heard another siren and pulled over as a police SUV zoomed past, hurrying towards the truck. By the time I got to the entrance to the park, the truck had been pulled over. There were park rangers directing traffic past the scene, which involved the driver of the truck laying on the ground while the police gave him CPR. I didn't slow down much to gawk, so I have no clue what that was about. I never heard anything about there being a chase or anything that exciting on the news that day. I continued on towards the lodge, where things were much calmer and normal.

From the lodge I headed down the trail to Cedar Falls, which was fairly busy with people enjoying the nice weather. I wasn't sure how much water there would actually be in Cedar Creek, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was flowing nicely.



And a bit further up the creek. This was actually taken while standing on one of the boulders that lines the creek.



It was still a bit early for fall color, but the trees are just starting to change some.



I finally made it to Cedar Falls, which is one of the most scenic waterfalls in Arkansas. The falls are 95 feet tall, and they plunge into a deep pool that is surrounded by a tall canyon.



There was a lot of water going over the falls, but it's not the most I've ever seen there. In 2015 I hiked in when the creek was flooded in order to get this shot:



And a panoramic shot showing the falls and the pool, with a few other hikers sneaking into the frame.



I headed to a spot downstream of the falls, and waited for people to clear out in order to get this shot of the falls and the creek crashing amongst the boulders and rocks.



And the view from a wee bit further downstream:



And one last shot of Cedar Creek. I tried to stop as much as possible to delay the inevitable hike up the trail, which ends with a steep ascent up the canyon back to the lodge (which is a perfect way to remind yourself how out of shape you've become).