Ladderbucket Falls

Ladderbucket Falls sits in the lower reaches of the Ozark National Forest, which means that it is relatively close to home (it still takes a bunch of driving down bumpy dirt roads to get there). A few weeks back I met up with Matt and we decided to visit the falls one evening before it got dark. So after the driving, and a bit of hiking, we finally made it to the creek below the falls.



And soon we made it to the 36 foot-tall falls, which spill out into a scenic little grotto. The falls were running well after some storms dumped a bunch of rain the day before.



The falls get their unique name because there used to be an old ladder and bucket sitting out along the bluff line by the falls. We looked, but didn't see them this time.



And one last shot before we hiked out. We passed by another waterfall, the 84 foot-tall John Mountain Falls, but by then it was getting too dark for pictures. Guess we'll just have to go back again to get a good shot of that one.

Junction Bridge

The Junction Bridge has probably the best view of the downtown Little Rock skyline - its perch over the Arkansas River provides a good angle of the buildings and their reflections in the water.



It was too cloudy that day for there to be a colorful sunset, but the sky did turn a deep shade of blue as it got dark.



I was playing around with a fisheye lens, which allowed to get a much wider and pretty cool view of the bridge structure and the skyline.





And one last shot, from along the riverbank on the Northside looking back at the bridge and downtown.

Argenta

Tulips growing in front of the Argenta Drug Store, along Main Street in downtown North Little Rock. The store was founded in 1880, which makes it the oldest continuously operating pharmacy west of the Mississippi River. I grew up in NLR, and I remember taking trips to downtown in the 1990s when the only thing open along Main Street would be Argenta Drug and City Hall. Now the difference is so striking - there are numerous shops, restaurants, galleries and a theater open along Main. The new Argenta Plaza is under construction, along with hundreds of new apartments. Quite a lot of change has happened in front of this little pharmacy over the years.

Old State House

I was downtown shooting some pictures the other day with my friend John, and he was kind enough to let me again borrow his fisheye lens. I love using the fisheye, you can get some unique (and sometimes strange) views while it's on the camera. We were by the Old State House, so here's a shot of the old iron gate (which was closed for the night).



Next to the Old State House is this tree, which was overgrown its planter and is causing the bricks on the sidewalk to buckle and pop loose. The roots have also swallowed up the base of a parking meter.

Emerald Park

It seems like most of the waterfalls in Arkansas are congregated in the Ozarks and Ouachitas, but there are a few of them hiding right here in the middle of the state. Emerald Park in North Little Rock is home to a neat little waterfall (called Emerald Park Falls or Dogtown Falls), which I decided to head out and pay a quick visit to last weekend while it was pouring rain. The falls are on a small creek that runs down the side of Big Rock towards the Arkansas River.



The falls are about 20 feet tall or so (I'm guessing), and spill down in a few different levels. The water in the creek was running high and muddy - it was pouring rain when I took these (while trying to unsuccessfully shield the camera with an umbrella).



And one more shot of the creek, as it pours over a concrete wall and hurries on its way towards the river.



Emerald Park sits on a hill that was named in 1722 by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe, who deemed it "Le Rocher Français” (the French Rock, it was later renamed Big Rock). He also named a nearby outcrop of rock "le Petit Rocher" which would later become Little Rock. The Big Rock site would see a lot of different uses over the years. The army would establish a base here, Fort Roots, which is now a VA hospital. But a good chunk of the hill was taken away when it was used as a quarry.

During heavy rains, there are few more waterfalls in Emerald Park. Water streams over the cliffs in the park, creating a few waterfalls that are probably about 200 feet tall (I'm guessing - I didn't go out there with a measuring tape like Tim Ernst does in order to get an accurate measurement).