Cedar Creek Trail

It rained heavily the day before, enough to quickly fill up the gutters on our street with water and fallen leaves. Would it be enough to get waterfalls going? I thought so, and drove off to the closest place with good waterfalls – Petit Jean State Park.

As I left Little Rock, the sky overhead was filled with thick gray clouds. Which was perfect, since you need cloudy weather for waterfall photography. What a perfect combination, I naively thought, as I got onto the freeway.

So of course, as I made it to the park I was saddened to see breaks in the wall of clouds above. Blue sky was starting to poke through the clouds, and sunlight was starting to drift across the landscape like a spotlight. I hurried over to the Cedar Creek trail, which runs downhill along a small creek. There are a few small waterfalls along the creek, so I dutifully stopped for a few pictures while there was still good light.





The creek tumbles over this waterfall, before finally emptying into Cedar Creek. I got a few pictures before the last of the clouds drifted away, and bright sunlight washed over the park. I walked along the trail for a bit, but wasn’t able to get any other pictures due to the harsh afternoon light. Oh well, at least it was a pleasant little hike in the woods.

Petit Jean

It was rainy and foggy last Saturday, which just happens to be some optimal conditions for waterfall photography. So as soon as I able to get away, I drove off towards Petit Jean Mountain. After driving through the pouring rain on the freeway, I finally made it to the park. The first stop was the Stout's Point Overlook, which was concealed under a thick blanket of fog.



Usually there is a nice view of the Arkansas River from here, but it was hidden by the fog. But I did get a few pictures of this old CCC building, which was built back in the 1930s.



And the view looking out the windows:



The side of the road was still lined with fallen leaves, which added a bit of color to the foggy landscape.



From there I headed over to the lodge, which was also built by the CCC in the 1930s. I ran in to use bathroom and was surprised at how cozy it was in there. There was a fire going in the lobby fireplace, and a large bar offering tempting drinks. If I wasn't planning on hiking, I would have moseyed up to the bar and had a few drinks while watching the fog through the windows. Instead I headed out into the cold rain to an overlook and took pictures of the fog as it drifted and danced through the trees and bluffs.







And then I started the hike to Cedar Falls. The trail switchbacks down alongside a small stream, which was full of water thanks to the steady rainfall that day.





And it was still steadily raining, but I had brought an umbrella with me to at least make an attempt at keeping the camera dry. It was mostly successful, I was able to get a few pictures without raindrops on the lens.





The trail follows a few switchbacks and then reaches the bottom of the canyon, where it then runs alongside Cedar Creek.









At one point along the hike I realized that I was missing something - the umbrella. I had stopped to tie my shoelaces and had set the umbrella down, and must have forgotten it when I started hiking. I debated whether or not I should go back for it. I was almost to the falls, and I hadn't seen anyone else out along the trail. Surely it would be ok until I finished the hike and turned back around?

I stopped again at another spot along the creek and realized I was missing something else. My polarizing filter was missing! It must have slipped off the camera at some point. Since this was a more vital piece of equipment, I decided I had no choice but to turn around and go searching for it. Hopefully it was still at the last place I had stopped to take pictures. So I started to backtrack, hiking back down the trail.

Soon I walked by the umbrella, which was open and sitting along the trail. It probably would have looked odd to see, like Mary Poppins had gone hiking and then got attacked by a bear or something. But I retrieved the umbrella, and then continued on. Eventually I reached the spot where I had last stopped, and thankfully found the filter resting atop a bunch of leaves. It was covered with raindrops, but thankfully it hadn't bounced into the creek when it fell.

And then I continued on the hike and finally made it to Cedar Falls. This is one of the most popular waterfalls in Arkansas, and rightly so. The falls pour into a canyon with a roar that echoes off the canyon walls.





It had taken longer to do this hike than I had expected (backtracking to search for missing filters didn't help), and it was starting to get late. It would soon start getting dark. I rushed over and tried to get a few more pictures of the falls as quickly as possible.





It was just after sunset when I made it back up the lodge after finishing the hike. I was thankful that I made it to the top and hadn't left anything behind again, like an umbrella, filter or car keys.

Petit Jean

Jonah joined Cub Scouts, and last weekend was the first big campout that he's done with his pack. It was at Petit Jean Mountain, which is always a great choice for hiking and camping.

We got up there Saturday morning and did a hike along the Cedar Creek Trail, which is one of my favorites at the park. Like its name suggests, it runs along a scenic section of the creek above Cedar Falls.



We stopped and took a break next to a large bluff. Water was dripping off of the bluff into a large puddle, and the sun was hitting the ripples in the water and making a reflection back onto the bluff.



We camped overnight at the Group Campsite at Petit Jean, which might just be the best camping site in the state. It sits along Lake Bailey, so you can sit in your tent and watch the light change on the lake. We went to sleep that night listening to the sounds of a waterfall.



It also has an actual restroom (which is always appreciated), and electricity and water.







But we did have company at the campsite. We were constantly being watched by a Canadian goose, who would sneak in like a ninja to find any stray bits of food left behind by a wayward scout. While dinner was being cooked on Saturday night, it managed to slyly make its way over and steal an entire stick of butter. If any of the kids got too close to it, it would hiss at them like a cat. Despite that, they lovingly named it "Sir Goosealot."

Petit Jean

The heavy rains we had at the end of October actually produced enough water to get some waterfalls up and running. Which also coincided with some great fall color in the Ozarks. I decided to take a day off from work so I could make a trip up to Petit Jean, because surely the waterfall there would be running full-tilt after all the storms. And the weather prediction was for it to be cloudy all morning, meaning ideal conditions for waterfall pictures.

But as I headed to the park, the sun started to break through the clouds. I didn't think I'd have enough time to hike to the waterfall before the sun came out, but I thought I'd instead do a different hike along the creek. But all that didn't matter. I was saddened to see that there was hardly any water in the creek. In fact it didn't even seem like they had gotten much rain there at all.

But then I made a heartbreaking discovery.

One of the most photogenic trees in Arkansas was at Petit Jean. It grew at the base of the stone dam that sits below Lake Bailey. It was perfectly placed next to a waterfall, and it was a location that I returned to many times over the years. Here are a few shots of it over the years:









But it's gone. The stone dam now seems so naked and empty. Where did the tree go???



I decided to still do a short hike, even if there wasn't much water in the creek. The fall colors, which were peaking up in the Ozarks, were subdued. Most of the trees here were still green.





I then headed over and did the short walk through the Bear Cave area, as the sun finally broke through the clouds.



And then I drove home. I still had the day off from work, which meant that I could squeeze in a nice little nap before picking up the kids from school that afternoon!

Petit Jean Mountain

Petit Jean State Park is Arkansas' oldest state park, and there is plenty of reasons to see why it has been preserved as a park since 1923. There are waterfalls, scenic trails, overlooks and unique Native American history. I made a visit there recently, just as the landscape was transitioning into the bright greens of Spring. This was the view from the Stout's Point overlook, near the supposed grave of Petit Jean herself.





I brought along the infrared camera, eager to use it now that the trees were getting leaves and vegetation was growing again. This was the view of the Arkansas River, as it rounds a bend near the base of Petit Jean Mountain.



Nearby was this little dirt road that rambles off into the woods. I'm not sure where it leads (maybe to someone's house?), but I thought it might look neat with the infrared camera.



There is a lot of history at Petit Jean Mountain. Native Americans are thought to have lived here for many centuries (from around AD 900 to AD 1600). Their presence has been found in about 100 archeological sites on the mountain, including the largest collection of rock art in Arkansas. Settlers arrived at the mountain in the 1840s, and there is a pioneer cabin that still stands in the park from those early residents. By the 1900s, a lumber company acquired the land atop the mountain. Parts of their holdings were too rugged and difficult to log, but a worker for the lumber company thought "the idea occurred to me that the trees might as well be left to live out their lifespan unmolested by axe and saw, and the area converted into a park."

An idea was proposed to turn Petit Jean into a National Park, but the then-director of the NPS said that the lands were too small for consideration. Why don't you try for a state park instead? So the lumber company donated the lands to the state, which designated Petit Jean as Arkansas' first state park (there are now 52 state parks).

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps was established to provide work for unemployed men. A CCC camp was established on Petit Jean, which included many veterans from World War I. The CCC would build many trails and structures that are still in use today. One of those structures is the old water tower, which is shaped like a castle tower. There was a water tank in the upper level that provided drinking water to the nearby lodge and cabins.



Another project of the CCC was the small stone dam that created Lake Roosevelt in 1935. The dam is a scenic little spot, especially with the small waterfall that flows over the rocks along Cedar Creek. A large tree sits by the waterfall, which had many new bright green leaves adorning it.



Lake Roosevelt was named after President Roosevelt, who established the CCC. 





I didn't have enough time to hike to Cedar Falls on this visit, so I instead hiked along a short but scenic section of Cedar Creek.



It had started raining while I was there, and I was thankful for the waterproof camera bag.



This was taken from a wooden bridge that crosses Cedar Creek. It was a little worrisome, since a few of the boards were either rotten or were missing entirely. But obviously I made it across ok and survived the hike.



On the way back to the car I stopped to get this shot of the historic Davies Bridge, which was built by the CCC in 1934.



The Davies Bridge is just downstream from the waterfall on the Roosevelt Lake dam, and I tried to get a picture of the waterfall there with the infrared camera. This was the first time I tried getting a long-exposure on the infrared camera:



And then a view of the bridge:



And another view of the waterfall, this time in color:



And a panoramic view of the waterfall over the dam, with the bridge downstream:



After that it was time to head home, but I made one more stop at the Stout's Point Overlook. When I was there earlier, people were doing family portraits at the stone ruins that marked the spot of an old YMCA lodge that burned in the 1940s. When I went back no one was around, so I tried to get one last picture with the infrared camera before heading home: