Pinnacle Mountain

So our early morning adventure continued after I got back in the car, transferring several little grass seeds onto the interior of the car. I followed the on-ramp to the freeway and headed south over the River, and then headed out to Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

The fog wasn't as thick as it had been along the river, but it mixed well with the few remaining bits of fall color left. I stopped first at the Kingfisher Trail, and did the short and easy hike there. I took my time on the trail, enjoying the scenery. There wasn't anyone else out there, or so I thought. I was startled again when a jogger rushed by. I'm sure I looked like a crazy person, with pants half-soaked from standing in water or dew-covered plants. Add to that the bizarre layer of plant seeds coating my legs.

And to prove that I'm not grossly exaggerating - here is a shot taken from that morning, showing off the coating of seeds....

A helpful hint if you're ever in this situation. Running the seed-covered clothes through the washer and dryer helps. In fact, about 90% of the seeds fell off in the dryer and ended up in the lint trap. A few did end up attached to the other clothes in the dryer, so I had to spend a few mornings at work picking off wayward seeds.

But enough about my wardrobe malfunctions. I hiked along the trail, enjoying the morning and the fog. This is a view looking down at the Little Maumelle River, which was running very low...


My next stop was the old Hwy. 300 bridge over the Maumelle River. This old bridge is a neat spot, built back in the 1920s. The bridge was replaced by a modern bridge in the 1980s, but you can still reach the old bridge by following part of the old road that was cut off when the new bridge was completed. The old road is overgrown by tall plants, and is a neat little hike.

The old bridge had a coating of fallen leaves on it, which I thought made for an interesting picture...


After that, my lack of sleep was catching up with me so I decided to return home to a warm bed....

Rosenbaum Lake

Rosenbaum Lake is a beautiful little spot, but you hardly see many pictures taken from there. Tens of thousands of people drive right by it every single day, it's located along the side of I-430 in North Little Rock, just before the bridge over the Arkansas River. The reason not many people get there is that there isn't any true access to the lake, I think, besides parking along the side of the freeway.

I was up early again on Sunday (I hope this isn't becoming a habit) because a thick fog had settled over the city. I've been wanting to get more pictures of this place for awhile now, so I decided to make a try at the lake. I headed out and parked my car along the on-ramp to the freeway (from the Maumelle Boulevard exit). It would probably be safer to park instead at a gas station or parking lot along Maumelle Blvd. and walk along the on-ramp to the lake. But it was early Sunday morning, and traffic was light, so I hoped it wouldn't be a problem.

I carefully made my way down the hill from the on-ramp through thick grass. This was the kind of grass that features those little seeds that cling to shoes and clothes. There was even a bit of trail that worked through the grass, but I soon ended up covered in a layer of seeds from trudging through the tall grass. The lake was awesome. It is filled with tall cypress trees, whose leaves were a vibrant orange in the fog.

I got close to the bank, walking on top of the thick grass. I started to take a few pictures and looked down to see my shoes entirely submerged in water. The grass was apparently growing in the water, and I had started to wade out in the lake without knowing it.

But it was worth having wet shoes and socks. The views were outstanding out there.


I took a ton of pictures out there, and hoped that some of them would turn out and actually be in focus...


I was a bit startled to hear some rumblings in the brush behind me, when two other people descended from the mist. One of them would turn out to be a photographer. I gave out a polite warning to watch your step since you will find yourself walking in the water. She didn't answer, and strolled out to get some pictures with what looked like a cell phone.

Her pictures probably turned out better...



I took a bunch of picture out there, and decided it was time to head out.


I made it back up to the car with soggy shoes, and covered with hundreds of tiny seeds. But it looked like the fog was going to last for a bit longer, and I had one other place I wanted to check out before going back to sleep...

Sunday Foggy Sunday

I'm not a morning person, and would happily prefer to sleep in all day if I could. But for some strange reason, I woke up just after dawn last Sunday morning. Normally I would just roll back over and go back to sleep. But instead I took a look out the window, and saw that a thick blanket of fog had settled in over my apartment complex. Awesome, this was perfect conditions for trying to get some pictures.

I grabbed the camera and headed out the door. It was about 7am, and most of my neighbors were sound asleep. The first stop was this stretch of woods, actually located adjacent to my apartment complex. The woods are a rare stretch of undeveloped land here in the city. The fog was mingling amongst the trees, with a bit of fall color still clinging on.


I made my way again to the Park on the River, located on the edge of Maumelle. This is a neat park, and it still had some decent color in the trees. It's also a short drive from my apartment too. The road through the park passes by a small lake, so I headed down to get a shot of it in the fog:


The fog was thick and made a great backdrop for the trees in the park...


The ground was covered by a thick blanket of fallen leaves. This was taken right by the lake.


The boundary of the park is lined by this white fence. I like the fence, since it tends to add a little special something to the scene. It looked really good in the fog too.


The road heads down a hill to a small parking area next to the river. Being this close to the Arkansas River, the fog was thicker. I walked through this grove of trees, which stood out amongst the thick fog.


This is a really neat park, but it is fairly new and not many people know about it. To get there just take the Maumelle exit on I-430 and follow Maumelle Boulevard to the stop light at Crystal Hill Road by the new Wal-Mart. Take a left onto Crystal Hill Road, and the turn-off to the park will shortly come up on the right side of the road.

Collins Creek

Collins Creek is always a great and reliable place to get pictures. I headed up there last Saturday, long after the fall colors had peaked in that part of the state. I hoped that there would be enough lingering fall color spread around the creek to produce some decent pictures.

The trees had already shed their leaves, but a good amount of colorful leaves were scattered along the banks of the creek...


It was another bright and sunny day when I headed up there, and I wanted to time my visit so I got there around dusk. This would put the creek in the shade, and hopefully make for some better photography conditions.




Collins Creek is a beautiful spot - it's one of my favorite places to visit. It isn't that large of an area, but there are several scenic little waterfalls to explore.


This is one of the last pictures taken out there. It had gotten dark, which meant that the exposures in the camera were getting longer in order to capture the fleeting amount of light left in the day. This was an 8 second exposure:

State Street

After work on Friday night, I headed to downtown Little Rock and met up with John and Zack. The plan was to find a spot to get some pictures of of the city skyline, and I proposed heading to the State Street bridge over I-630. This bridge doesn't see much traffic, but it provides an interesting view of the skyline in one direction, and the state capitol in the other.

This is a view of the skyline - with traffic on I-630 zooming past. I was grateful that I was taking pictures of this scene instead of trying to finish my commute in it.


And a shot of the traffic on I-630 zooming past the dome of the state capitol: