Tuesday 19 October

Petit Jean State Park

My first stop in northern Arkansas was at Petit Jean State Park. After a brief stop at the visitors centre I headed off to the lodge where the hike I was wanting to do started. At the lodge were several old cars which was an unexpected bonus. The first stop on the hike was a waterfall, which again was sadly lacking due to the lack of rain. However it was still a scenic location and with a little imigination I could see how it would be quite cool had the water flow been better. I decided to walk back a longer way from which there is little to report, apart from a cool looking river crossing and wondering whether I'd finish before dark.

When I got back from the hike I realised that I really should go and see the Turtle Rocks and the Rock House Cave and desoite having to go a short distance on gravel roads and it being nearly dark I was really glad I did. Turtle Rocks really did look like the shell of a turtle and the cave was pretty impressive as well, even if it was too dark to properly see the acient Indian art. Having finished at the park I headed to my campsite to the night. Apart from some fun finding an actual site in the dark everything went OK and I was soon pitched and asleep.

Wednesday 20 October

Pedestal Rocks Scenic Area

The next morning I headed to a part of the National Forest where there were a couple of good sounding hikes. They did not disappoint. The first headed to some cool bluffs and other interesting rock features. As I did this hike quicker than I expected I did the second straight after, which although quite similar was different enough for me to find it just as interesting and it never lost interest.

As I had finished those hikes quicker than I'd expected I still had a lot of the day left with no real idea what to do with it so I decided to head to my next campsite and stop off at anywhere interesting along the way. The one place I did stop off was a recreational area that had clearly seen better days. That said the natural bridge that was a short trail away was very cool and it was well worth stopping and seeing. After I got to my campsite I decided to try to get some more information about my plans for the next day but unfortunately the ranger station looked closed for the season. I did however manage to get petrol which I was definitely needing by this point. On the way back from the Ranger Station I also saw some Elk which was cool, but as it was nearly dark the photos didn't come out that well.

Thursday 21 October

Buffalo National River

My first hike of the day started from my campsite so I was soon on my way on the Lost Valley Trail. The first stop of note on this walk was a waterfall. Once again this had hardly any water flowing over it but in some ways this made it cool as you could see the water flowing down and dripping of the vegetation, something you wouldn't have seen with more water. After going past some impressively high cliffs I reached the end of the trail where there was a cave to explore. You had to properly crawl for a bit but you very quickly arrived in a large cavern with a water fall which was very cool.

After lunch I hiked a portion of the Buffalo River Trail. However as I hadn't found a ranger to talk to I managed to choose a bit of the trail where you couldn't really see the river! I walked quicker than I was expecting and soon reached the campsite which I'd decided was the furthest I was going to go. Here you could get down to the river and it was pretty scenic. After a while I turned round and headed back, seing a snake on the way. Once back at the car I went down to the river there and that was also nice and scenic - it was just a shame I couldn't see the river between the two points!

Bull Shoals Lake

As it was still quite early I decided to take a detour on the way to my next campsite and stop at Bull Shoals Lake for a walk. This took some finding (largely due to me not reading the guidebook properly) but I was glad I did as it a nice walk to a really nice location by the lake side where I sat and watched the sun go down which was a really nice end to the day. I then headed to my campsite where after a bit of searching I managed to find what, I think, was the only free campsite. I was only staying one night which cost ten dollars but only had twenty dollars and as it was self-registration this was a problem. However I asked a nice group of Americans on the next site and they changed it for me, despite the two ten dollar notes coming from different people which was incredibly nice of them.

Friday 22 October

Blanchard Springs

Blanchard Springs Cavern is a show cavern and as my campsite was there I was in the car park waiitng for it to open and I got on the first normal tour. There were two other tours, one which didn't run at that time of year due to roosting bats, and a more proper caving one which I refused to pay $75 for and which anyway would probably take up too much of the day. Anyway the normal tour was stunning enough and some of the rock formations were amazing - well worth the visit!

The caverns had been carved out of a spring and I next went for a walk along the spring the where it emerged from the caves. This was muh more impressive than I was expecting - the flow of water was huge. I then took a very circular walk back to the car walking around a lake created by damming the stream.

More State Parks

I next visited Mammoth Springs State Park, which frankly was a little disappointing and there's not much to say about it really. There was a old railway depot that took up a few minutes and a lake where a spring emerged that took a couple more - that was about it!

Grand Gulf State Park

I then crossed the state border into Missouri and as it was still reasonably early had a quick visit Grand Gulf State Park. This had been created when a cave roof collapsed and was impressively large although due to amount of trees around it was difficult to get a really good feel of it.