Cass To Oark

The plan was to meet Zack at an overlook called Hanging Rock. So I headed up a very bumpy and muddy dirt road to the overlook, only to find that it was completely fogged in. So we changed plans and decided to drive the scenic road that connects the small communities of Cass and Oark.

Our first stop was at this scenic overlook, which provided this view of the Mulberry River.



We headed on, and turned down a dirt road that crossed the Mulberry on a low-water bridge. This was the view from the bridge, with some great fall color reflected in the low water of the river.



And the view of the bridge. The fall colors were so vibrant that it was hard to not constantly stop and take pictures.





The next stop was at one of the put-ins for the Mulberry, which is a popular place to canoe when there is more water in the river. No one was floating that day, but the water in the river did produce some great reflections of the fall colors.



Down the road is this old church. I wasn't able to find out how old this church is, but it does look like it's been here for awhile.



We drove further on, but then quickly made yet another stop at another put-in on the river. The water was low, but very clear.



Despite our numerous stops to take pictures, we finally made it to Oark. The tiny community is the location of the Oark General Store and Cafe, which was established in 1890 and is considered to be the oldest continuously operating store in Arkansas. It was quite busy when we were there, the line of people waiting to order food was nearly out the door. And there was a constant stream of people stopping to get gas.





Of course we had to get lunch when we were there.



Just south of Oark was this old home, which looks like it's been abandoned. I hurried to get a quick picture before we headed out to try to get more shots of the fall colors. Stay tuned here for those pictures!

The Pig Trail

The Pig Trail is one of the most scenic roads in the state, and one of the funnest roads to drive on. The stretch of Hwy. 23 north of the town of Ozark curves and dips along the Ozark Mountains, through deep forests of tall oak and spruce trees.

I headed up there last weekend to meet up with Zack, so we could try to take some pictures of the fall colors. The colors in the mountains were right at their peak, and the weather conditions were cloudy and foggy (perfect!). We had arranged to meet up at an overlook, but I was running late because I kept getting distracted by so many things to stop and take pictures of. Like mountains covered with orange and yellow trees, and drifting fog...



And old barns...



At one point the road enters what seems like a "tree tunnel," and I found a safe place to pull over and park for a few pictures. 



And I know it probably really doesn't make sense to take pictures with a camera that only shoots in black and white on a day when the fall colors were peaking, but it did look kinda neat with the infrared camera too.



And a bit of a wider shot, after some of the fog had moved down the mountain. Luckily there wasn't much traffic out that day.



I couldn't help but stop a little bit down the road again.









It was about this point that I realized I was long overdue from the time I promised to meet up with Zack. I sent him a text which said "Distracted by foggy road shots." He almost immediately responded with "I knew it!" I hurried back to the car, eager to see more of some peak fall color in the Ozarks...

Emerald Park

The other day we took a little stroll through Emerald Park, which sits atop the "Big Rock" in North Little Rock. The park gets its name from French explorers, who were heading up the Arkansas River in the 1700s. They heard from some of the Native Americans (presumably the Quapaw?) that there was a large green rock along the river. Their description must have been lost in translation, because the French explorers believed that it would be a massive emerald. But when they made it up the river, they saw that it was instead just a hill covered with trees. It was named “Le Rocher Français” (the French Rock). This set it apart from the smaller bluff nearby, which was called “Petit Rocher” (Little Rock).

A good chunk of the Big Rock is missing, there was a massive quarry here that removed about 20,000,000 tons of rock. But it makes you wonder what this would have looked like it if had been allowed to remain in its natural state. The first explorers described it as "having three steep peaks, with stone 'hard as flint,' and a waterfall." There are several trails that wind through the park, providing some great views. Here is one view, of the bluffs and river. In the distance is the state capitol:

Starry Night

In a few months I'm going to be able to visit a National Park out West that is known for having some of the darkest skies in the country, so I've been wanting to get out and do some night photography as a little practice run. I was able to get out the other day and visit an old abandoned church near Scott, and tried to get some star trails. This attempt was much better than my last try. I remembered to bring the camera, the battery, the tripod and the shutter release. And luckily, this time I managed to succeed in not having the lens fog up and ruin most of the shots!

I set up the camera, which was set to take a :30 second exposure continuously for about two hours. It was quiet out by the old church, except for a few large combines in the field nearby that were working deep into the night. The combines were kicking up a ton of dust. At one point I turned on the flashlight, and the falling dust in the beam of light was so thick it looked like falling snow. But here is the final product, which is a combination of all of those :30 second shots from that night...



Before I left, I moved the camera over to get another angle of the church and the blanket of stars shining above:

Chester Street

A little bit of traffic along Chester Street, in downtown Little Rock. Many years ago I used to work on Chester, as a camera and master control operator at KTHV-11. The one big thing I miss about that job was that the station was right by Vino's, the live music and pizza place. When we had to go run the camera outside in the "Weather Garden," the smell of pizza would drift over. It would be like a cartoon, where the smell would hit your nose and try to drag you over there. Now I want one of their calzones....