Petit Jean State Park

Last camping trip of 2024 was November 10th to Petit Jean State Park. We reserved sites 48, 50, 51 and 53 back in July to accommodate four trailers for Donna and I, the Parker’s, the Riffey’s and John and Lynda. Sunny and cool, we had great weather for the entire week.

Sites 48, 50, 51 and 53 

Sunday night after getting setup at the campground we drove to Point Remove Brewing Company in Morrilton. We enjoyed some local beers and pizza on the outside patio.

After dinner in Morrilton we returned to the campground for an evening around fire at the Parker's trailer.

Monday I took a walk around the campground. I walked down to Lake Bailey and around to the Visitor Center. Near the overflow camping on Lake Baily is the Kayak Kiosk where you can rent a kayak and gear.

Kayak Kiosk

Old Visitor Center

New Visitor Center

Tuesday we got out to explore around the park. We went to Cedar Falls Overlook where recent rains had made little impact on the quantity of water in Cedar Creek and the falls were almost dry. While there we were buzzed by a C-130 flying low over the mountain right up the Cedar Creek drainage.

View from Cedar Falls Overlook Toward Mather Lodge and Rental Cabins (Top Left)

Rental Cabins as seen from the Cedar Falls Overlook

Palisades Overlook Photographed from Red Bluff Drive

While on the Red Bluff Drive we decided to take a walk down to the Rock House Cave. The cave has Native American pictographs dating up to 2000 years ago. Archeological digs have dated artifacts in the area that suggest native people visited the area as far back as 8000 B.C.

Native American Pictographs

Faint Native American Pictographs

On the hike down to the Rock House Cave you encounter the Turtle Rocks. A rock formation that resembles the shells of turtles covering the hillside.

While out exploring the guys took a hike around the Bear Cave Trail. On the Bear Cave Trail you walk under, around, through and over gigantic sandstone boulders high above the Cedar Creek drainage. The rock outcrop is visible from Mather Lodge back steps.

One of the best parts of camping as a group is taking turns doing dinner. Tuesday evening Donna and I made shish kabobs for eight. Donna assembled the kabobs and I cooked them on the campsite charcoal grill.

Directly behind our trailer was a grassy field on the property of Tanyard Springs. During the week we watched numerous deer grazing. One large doe in the heard appeared to be injured.

The last night at the campground we played Boom Again, a 50's, 60's & 70's trivia game. We played boys against the girls and obviously the girls had better memory for trivial things, especially for musical questions. The guys were defeated!

Petit Jean State Park

This was an impromptu trip to Petit Jean State Park on June 16, 2024. Donna had invited several of her elementary school friends to visit Russellville. I decided to let them have their space and me take mine as well so I reserved site #11 at Petit Jean State Park for a three nights. 

Donna and Her Girlfriends

After tire trouble on the previous two trips I was hoping for an uneventful getaway. I decided to invite grandchildren and work around their schedules. The first evening I pulled the trailer to Petit Jean by myself and setup for the night. I sat for a while outside the trailer and watched the birds, squirrels and deer. After going in for the evening it didn't take long to realize that the air conditioner was not keeping up. So I abandoned the trailer and drove back to Russellville for the night. 

Monday morning I took the window AC unit from my shop and went to pickup Brayden and Hannah. Hannah had a class in Danville to attend so we dropped her off and continued on to Petit Jean with Brayden. With Brayden's help we rigged the AC unit into the back window of the trailer. We cobbled together a wooden stand and sealed it up with plastic and duct tape. I'm sure this seemed comical to the folks around us with their quarter million dollar motorhomes, but it worked. 

After getting the AC working we returned to Danville to get Hannah. While we were in Danville we took a little tour to see the city. We stopped at the City of Danville office building to look at the historic marker and the adjacent bridge (over nothing). 

The marker reeds: 

IRON BOWSTRING BRIDGE

First Iron Bridge in Yell County built in 1880 by King Iron Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio. It spanned Petit Jean River at Danville until 1920, was relocated to Mickle Switch in 1922 and moved to its current location in 2013. In 1883 two men were hanged from the bridge by vigilantes. The Oldest Bridge in Yell County

Hannah felt like the "In 1883 two men were hanged from the bridge by vigilantes" was a little creepy.

Monday evening we decided to take a truck ride around the mountain. We stopped at the the Davies Bridge. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1933 just beyond the the Lake Baily spillway / waterfall. The bridge crosses Cedar Creek upstream of Cedar Falls so the water flow you see coming over the spillway is approximately the flow you see at Cedar Falls.

While driving around the mountain we went to WinRock Farms. We slowed down to look at the cows and apparently they thought my truck was the feed truck. Below is a video of the stampede for dinner.

Lake Baily sits on top of the mountain in a bowl shaped depression between the campground and the Petit Jean airport. Campground Loop A is on Lake Bailey.

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Museum of Automobiles. The museum opened in 1964 by the then future Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. The museum still houses several of his personal automobiles along with cars owned or driven by other notable people such as Elvis Presley and President John F. Kennedy.

After our tour of the Museum of Automobiles we went to the east end of the mountain to Stouts Point, the site of Petit Jean's grave and a great view of the Arkansas river valley. While there we got to see a bald eagle flying just off Stout Point.

After our drive to Stouts Point we returned to the trailer and got ready to go to dinner at Mather Lodge. Stepping down the stairs onto the gravel Hannah fell down. I initially thought she had just turned her ankle. After a few minutes with her sitting on the ground she convinced me it was more serious. She was in considerable pain, so Brayden and I helped her from the ground to the truck. We drove her home to Dardanelle and her mom took her to the ER where it was determined to be an ankle fracture. So this trip had gone from bad with the AC issue to worse.

Brayden and I had dinner in Russellville and returned to the campground. The next morning we loaded up the trailer and broke camp. We parked the truck and trailer at the Visitor Venter and walked to the swimming pool. Poor Hannah was left at home.