Sunday 17 October

Lake Ouachita State Park

I awoke and got out of my tent to realsie quite what a spectacular location the campsite had. I'd had inklings the night before but as it was dark I only got a vague idea of what it was like. The tent campsites were on a little peninsula sticking out into a lake and they have to have been one of (if not the most) scenic campsite I've ever stayed out. Although the previous evening I'd been thinking of staying only one night this immediately made me decide to stay another night.

As I'd originally been expecting to finish the long hike this morning I effectively had the morning free so decided to do one of the walks at the park. This was in my hikes guidebook but I'd discounted it as it seemed close to the road. However in reality I never saw the road from when I left it to when I returned to it and I was really glad I did the hike as it had some scenic views of the Lake. However I was quite glad to get it down as after the last two days I was already starting to feel tired after only four miles.

Hot Springs National Park

That afternoon I headed into Hot Springs and visited the National Park there. The federal government brought land there in the middle of the 19th century to preserve the Hot Springs and allow their public use as a health facility. Several bath houses were built and run as buisness and many of these still remain, although only one is still on buisness. Another one is the national park visitor centre and has a self guided tour. It was quite interesting to see what it would have been like and some of the glass skylights were quite something.

After looking at the bath houses I went on one of the two scenic drives in the park. On this drive there was a high observation tower that I went up. As seems to be the norm when I go on observation decks the clods was a little hazy so the view wasn't the best although it was still good. After this drive I went on another scenic drive before heading back to bathhouse row and walking around a bit more - including finding one of the places where you could get to a hot spring. I can confirm that it was hot!

Monday 18 October

Little Rock

Next day I headed towards Little Rock and my first port of call was Toltec Mounds State Park, only to find that it was closed on Mondays. I then headed back into Little Rock, took a snap of the state capitol and headed to Little Rock High School. This is a National Historical Site and the scene of a race confrontation when the Supreme Court's decision to integrate schools was being implemented. The school is still an active school which you have to join an organised tour to visit. I didn't and was glad I dind't as they were still outside the school 25 minutes into a 45 minute tour. I had a look round the exhbits and then went and saw the outside of the school - bloody impressive for a secondary school. Due to Toltec Mounds being closed I still had some time before dark so headed to Pinnacle Mountain State Park

Pinnacle Mountain State Park

Having visited the vistor centre and got a leaflet explaining the hikes I decided to head up Pinnacle Mountain on one path, come back down another and head back to the car around the bottom of the mountain. The first bit of this was easy walking but then I reached a scrambly bit to the summit which was quite hard work in the heat. Getting to top was worth it however, as once I'd found the correct view point, the views were really good. Once I finished the hike and explored a bit more of the park I decided to get a motel for the night. This wasn't my original plan but I still fancied visitng Toltec Mounds and this way I'd be nice and close to the park.

Tuesday 19 October

Toltec Mounds State Park

Next morning I arrived at an open Toltec Mounds and walked around the mounds. The were made by a Native American tribe that lived in the area althought there exact purpose is not clear. They were pretty impressive to think about but slightly less so to look at! There were also some interesting trees by the river. Having finished at the park I headed North where I planned to spend a few days exploring.