An Arkansas Parking Lot

There was still some daylight left as we drove out from Lake Catherine, and we searched in vain for something to get pictures of. The interstate crosses over the Saline River just south of Benton, and it looked like there was access to the river there. So we pulled off the freeway with the thought that there might be something interesting down there to get pictures of.

And was there ever, but it wasn't a nature type scene like we expected. We got to the area under the interstate to see people crowded by the river looking at a truck that got stuck in the water. Apparently the owner was trying to drive it through the river when the riverbank gave out and the truck was partially submerged.

Which raises an important question, just why would you drive out into a river anyways?

Several trucks appeared and tried to help out. A Toyota truck tried first to pull the sunken truck out of the river, but failed. Then a Chevy truck came in and managed to free the soaked truck from the grasp of the Saline River. Now you truck people might like this. The truck that sank was a Dodge, and it was rescued by a Chevy (after a Toyota wasn't able to). I drive a Hyundai sedan with over 150,000 miles on it, so I have no dog in that hunt.


The truck was taken to dry ground, where the owner opened up the doors with huge amounts of water comically streaming out.

I witnessed all this with a fellow photographer who is from another state, and the spectacle made me quite proud of my home state of Arkansas.

Lake Catherine

On Wednesday I met up with another photographer, who was visiting Arkansas on business. My plan for the day was to drive down and visit the waterfall at Lake Catherine State Park, and he joined me for the drive down there. Lake Catherine State Park is a nice little state park with a 10 foot waterfall that is located along a short and easy hike.

The falls are Falls Creek Falls, which weren't really running as much as I would have liked. We need to get more rain here to get these falls back up.






After the hike we drove a bit around the state park. Lake Catherine is a nice park, although its beauty is largely diminished by a large power plant sitting across the lake. Even from here, you could hear a loud humming noise coming from the plant. But here is a shot of a dock, now landlocked by low water levels, with the plant in the background.

Snow at Petit Jean

I was a bit worried that the snow would begin to stick on the roads up at Petit Jean. The road off the mountain is steep and curvy, which probably wouldn't be a good combination with snow or ice. As much as I love Petit Jean Mountain, I didn't want to get stuck up there for the night.

While the snow was sticking to the ground, it wasn't sticking to the roads. Probably because the asphalt still had some heat in it from the other day when it was 70 degrees outside. I was in a hurry to get home, but did make a quick stop at a waterfall located just off the side of the road. This waterfall tumbles down from the stone dam that forms Lake Bailey, and there was a nice amount of snow on the ground.


The snow was still falling at a brisk pace...


And one last shot, of the lakeshore covered with a thin layer of snow:

Cedar Creek Trail

The plan, originally, for last weekend was a grand camping adventure at the Buffalo National River. But watching the weather on Thursday night, those plans got cast into doubt. The low temperature on Friday night around the Buffalo would be well below freezing, with rain storms turning into snow overnight. While I thought the Buffalo River would look amazing with some snow on the ground, the thought of sleeping outdoors in below-freezing weather didn't sound appealing and the camping trip was postponed to a later and hopefully warmer date.

Instead I made yet another trip out to Petit Jean Mountain State Park on Saturday, this time hiking the Cedar Creek trail. The trail loops around for 1.5 miles, running alongside Cedar Creek in a scenic area upstream of Cedar Falls. This is the third trip to Petit Jean I've taken this year, but its been ages since I've hiked this trail. I was eager to explore it yet again.

So our tour of the trails of Petit Jean Mountain continues. The Cedar Creek trail starts out running downhill alongside a small creek with several nice little waterfalls. This one was just about 10 feet from where it ran into Cedar Creek.


As I started the hike, there were ice pellets falling to the ground. This would later change to snow, and I hiked the rest of the trail as the snow continued to fall. It was nice, we don't seem to get that much snow here nowadays, and it was nice to hike through.

The trail met up with Cedar Creek, and then followed alongside it. This one little spot had a neat little waterfall, which ran in between several huge boulders.


From there the trail crossed over the creek via a small bridge that was already starting to accumulate ice and snow. The bridge overlooked a few more neat little waterfalls, which I went over to get a few pictures of.




From there the trail leaves the creek and runs up along the hillside. It eventually went back down to the creek, and this one neat spot with this little bluff hanging over the water.


There was a lot of snow coming down, and it was beginning to stick. The top of the bluff and the fallen tree are now starting to show a little covering of snow in this shot.


The trail ran above the creek, eventually dropping down alongside this neat area where the creek made a nice waterfall and then shot around a few large rocks.


And a wider view of these small falls:


The snow had begun sticking, and was maybe a quarter of an inch thick as I was finishing up the hike. The trail crossed over Cedar Creek one last time via another bridge, and this was taken from the bridge looking at another small waterfall.


And this is looking back towards the bridge, which has a small layer of snow on it. Shame about the footprints there, which were mine.


From there the trail heads uphill, heading back to the trailhead. It was still snowing, sometimes a bit heavily. It seemed to be sticking more and more, and I hoped that it wasn't affecting the roads. This last shot was taken along the trail...

The Old State House

Last Friday I drove around downtown Little Rock for a bit, and ended up wandering around the Old State House taking pictures.


The Old State House was Arkansas' first state capitol building, and is the oldest state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. Construction began in 1833 and was finished in 1842. One of the notable moments in the building's history came when a knife fight between two state legislators in the chambers resulted in a fatal slaying (in 1837). The state senate and legislature moved to the current capitol building in 1912, and the Old State House served as a hospital for a time, and as a home to various veteran's offices. It was nearly torn down in order to provide a parking lot for a nearby hotel, but luckily sane people stepped in. It has been a museum now since the 1940's.

This was taken looking past some trees on the lawn, with the Peabody Hotel in the background.