Snow in the Ouachitas

I'm not traditionally a fan of mornings, so I wasn't too happy to meet up with Matt and Zack. It was well before sunrise, long before any sane person should be awake on a weekend. But we were heading out into the Ouachita Mountains, which still had a few inches of snow from the recent storm. It was painfully early, but I was happy to get a few pictures of the snow before it melted. Especially since this will probably be our last bout of winter weather for awhile.

So we drove west from Little Rock, and eventually hit the Ouachita National Forest. The roads were mostly clear of ice and snow in the city, but here there were still a few slick patches. When we turned onto the Winona Scenic Drive, the road was a solid sheet of ice. I was glad I wasn't driving, since my car struggled to get up a small incline in the snow a few days before.



There were several downed trees along the road that we had to drive around, the pines and oaks bent under the weight of the ice and snow. There were a few tire tracks on the road, so someone else was crazy enough to drive out there.



After a few miles, we were blocked by a large tree that had toppled across the road. It was too big to move, so we had to turn back. The other tire tracks, we noticed, reached this same point and also turned around. It was still amazingly beautiful out there, the woods were coated with snow and shrouded by a thick fog.







One last shot from along the Winona Scenic Drive...



We got back onto paved roads and went to visit a nearby lake. It had gotten above freezing, and the snow was melting. Huge chunks were sliding off the trees and crashing onto the frozen lake.


No swimming that day...

This is along the fence by the lake...



We drove further on, and I was surprised to see a few other people out driving around too.



We did a lot of driving, so there are a lot of snowy road shots from this trip...



We decided to visit a nearby waterfall. There aren't many waterfalls in the Ouachitas, and this one is really more of a small cascade. It is not considered to be a very beautiful or noteworthy waterfall, in fact the Tim Ernst waterfall guidebook says it "will be a big disappointment to most waterfall chasers." But since we were nearby we drove to the falls. After dodging more fallen trees on the road, we made the short hike to the falls. It definitely isn't the most exciting waterfall, but the snow did add a nice touch. This is Brown Creek Cascade:



After we headed back to Little Rock. I wanted to stop along the way to get a shot of a small covered bridge that I found while looking around on Google Maps. It's right outside of the city, actually only about ten minutes from where I work.



And one more waterfall shot. This was taken near the covered bridge, and we couldn't resist stopping for a few more shots.



After that it was time to head home. I was looking forward to taking a nice nap after dragging myself out of bed so early.

Snow in Little Rock

After taking pictures at The Old Mill, I drove back towards Little Rock. The snow from the night before had melted off the roads, but there was still a few inches on the ground. I tried to think of a few places in town that would be good places for pictures of the city in the snow. I ended up driving through Riverfront Park in North Little Rock, to get a shot of the snow and the downtown skyline.



Somebody decided to build a little snowman in the park...



I drove over the river into Little Rock and ended up at the Old State House. This is the first state capitol for Arkansas, built in the 1830s and 40s. The gate here was closed and the snow on the lawn wasn't trampled, except for some prints from squirrels.



The next stop was MacArthur Park, and the old Little Rock Arsenal Building.



This is one of the oldest buildings in the city, and the snow around it was untouched except for a few prints around the trees from birds.

Snow at the Old Mill

We had a little bit of a snow storm pass through Little Rock on Friday night. It wasn't much, only 2 or 3 inches or so, but it was enough to effectively shut down the entire city of Little Rock. I would stand back and laugh at the silly southerners who can't handle a bit of snow on the ground. But then I was stuck in the middle of it, unable to drive my car up any hills.

We went out to eat Friday night, and walked out of the restaurant to find that the streets were already beginning to get clogged with abandoned cars. Fortunately we weren't too far from home, but the neighborhood has a lot of hills and I couldn't get the car to go up any sort of incline. We ended up parking the car in a church parking lot and walking home in the snow.

But the next day it warmed up again and the snow, which so menaced Little Rock the night before, had started melting. The roads cleared enough so I could rescue my poor car, and then head out to take some pictures. I drove to the Old Mill in North Little Rock, and hoped that it would be open. I've taken probably thousands of pictures here, but never in the snow. Every time I drove there after a snow, the gates would be locked. But luckily, some kind city worker opened up the gates of the park that day.



I was amazed at how empty the park was. Usually there are throngs of people at the Mill. But for most of the time I was there, I had the place to myself.

Junction Bridge

So it has been a bit chilly this winter, and going out to take pictures when it's below freezing isn't the funnest way to pass time. But on Sunday it was actually warm, with the temperature up in the 60s. So I took advantage of the sunlight and warmth and drove to take pictures of the new lights on the bridges in downtown Little Rock.

I left home a few minutes too late, and just barely missed the sunset. I was going over the I-30 bridge and saw the sky lit up in bright oranges and red. By the time I stopped at a good spot for a picture, the best light had faded away some.



I headed over to the Junction Bridge to take a few pictures as it began to get dark. The Junction Bridge is an old railroad bridge that was built in 1884, but converted into a pedestrian bridge in 2008. It's one of the best places to get pictures of the Little Rock skyline.



The Junction Bridge also sits right on top of the actual "little rock" that gave the city its name. In fact most of the old rock was destroyed when the bridge was built (apparently historic preservation wasn't that big of a deal back in the 19th century). The city built a nice plaza at the foot of the bridge a few years ago, and put a few chunks of the rock on display.



I've been meaning to get out and take pictures of the downtown bridges for a few weeks now. The electric company recently installed some fancy new LED lights on the Main Street, Junction and Clinton Park Bridges. The new lights definitely make the bridges stand out more.



I was amazed at how still the river was that night. There was hardly any wind, and the river looked like glass.



And one last shot of the Junction Bridge, from Riverfront Park in North Little Rock:



This is a great place to take pictures. The only downside is that when you're hungry, you can start smelling all of the aromas from every nearby restaurant in the River Market District and Argenta. I hadn't had dinner yet, so I was starving the whole time I was taking pictures out there.

Day-Off Pictures

The office was closed last Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I used my time for a chance to get a few pictures. I met up with John, who was keen on taking his new car out on a photo trip. It was bright and sunny, not the best conditions for photography, but we headed out towards east Arkansas.

Along the way we passed by this old house, which looks like it has been abandoned for a long time. I peeked inside, the front rooms were filled with an assortment of random and creepy pieces of junk.



From there we drove onward, passing through the small town of Des Arc. We stopped at the old courthouse, which sits on the hill above the White River. This sign was right by the courthouse, but I can't find anything that explains what it means...



From there we headed to our next stop, the Hurricane Lake WMA near Bald Knob. I went there a few years back and wanted to make a return visit. But we got there only to find the road blocked - flooding on the White River had closed most of the WMA. So we headed over to one spot in the WMA that was accessible, a small lake that is home to countless cypress trees. There was no wind, and the water was as still as a mirror. We got a few pictures before heading back home...