Petit Jean State Park

May 7, 2018 Petit Jean State Park
Pretty much missed all spring camping. I spent the spring finishing my outage project at ANO and retired for the second time. Then we focused on our vacation to Spain and Italy. Finally home last week we de-winterizing the trailer and took a camping trip. On short notice we reserved campsite A10 at Petit Jean State Park. For us it is only a 45 minute drive to one of our favorite spots for in Arkansas. Arriving on Monday as is possible for retired folks the Park was a quiet relaxing place. 

Campsite A10

Airstrip Across Lake Bailey from the Campground

A trip to Petit Jean is not complete without a walk down the boardwalk to the Cedar Falls Overlook.

Stopped for some pictures of the falls at the Davies Bridge over Cedar Creek.

Drove on from the Davies Bridge to Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. 

Dinner at the Mather Lodge restaurant is always as treat when you get tired of cooking. We seem to tire of cooking every time we camp at Petit Jean.

The weather had been pretty warm but in the evening temperatures dropped and a breeze came up on top of the mountain. A nice evening for a campfire and some music.

Our older neighbors from Mountain View had their blue grass festival (Honky-Tonk) lights going all night. 

Our campsite A10 had a view of Lake Bailey but no mid-day shade. We need to try and reserve sites along the shore of Lake Bailey for the best view. The lakeside spots are hard to reserve on short notice.

Heritage Acres Venue

Saturday, November 18th, 2017 - Heritage Acres Venue, Clarksville, AR.  

Although not a traditional camping trip I felt compelled to write about this trip we took with the camper.

Donna's friend Tracy had requested help finding a camper for her daughter MacKenzie's wedding. Donna saw her request on Facebook and we decided to offer our camper. MacKenzie and her fiancé Cole were planning a barn wedding at Heritage Acres Venue which had no facility available for the groom and groomsmen to dress and hangout. So Saturday morning we pulled the camper to the Heritage Acres Venue.

We dropped the trailer about 10:30 in the morning and met Cole. Then we returned to Russellville for a the afternoon until time to return to Heritage Acres dressed for the wedding.

Tracy explained that Cole and MacKenzie had been friends since kindergarten. She had a photo of the two of them together as kids. They tied the knot outdoors overlooking the valley on a cold and windy but otherwise beautiful afternoon. 

 

The wedding was followed by a reception inside the barn with Fat Daddy's BBQ, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, wedding cake and more.

Cameron Bluff Campground

November 1, 2017 Cameron Bluff Campground, Mount Magazine State Park
Donna and I took a four day trip to Mt. Magazine State Park staying in the Cameron Bluff Campground. We had site #17 reserved for about 8 months anticipating the campground being packed with campers there to see the fall leaves. The campground was in fact completely booked.

At over 2700 feet the climate can change dramatically on top of Mt. Magazine. Driving up on Wednesday afternoon we had a partly cloudy sky at the base of the mountain in Paris. By the time we reached the visitor center we were down to about 50' visibility.  We had to creep into the visitor center parking lot without the building or the parking lot visible. We saw two white lines that said RV Parking on the asphalt and pulled straight in. From across the parking lot we could barely see the visitor center in the clouds.

Campsite #17 is the last campsite on the outside of the East loop. This gave us an almost completely private campsite with no neighbors beside our trailer. 

Cameron Bluff Overlook Drive circles the campground.  Although you can't see off the mountain from the campground you can take the short hike through the woods to the overlooks. Trees were starting to turn. We had one of the wetest summers on record in Arkansas and were hoping for spectacular colors, but after the driest September on record the leaf color was mostly yellows. Pictures from the bluffs were never the less pretty.

 

 
Cameron Bluff Campground is on the north side of the mountain just over the peak at Signal Hill. A south wind blew over the mountain top in eerie gusts much of the time that we were camping. The Mt. Magazine Lodge is on the south side of the peak and according to the visitor's center takes the brunt of the southwest winds with the campground being more protected.

 

We took a day trip on Saturday down to Paris.  Donna always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower.

On Sunday our final day camping I had to take a hike to the top of Signal Hill. The trailhead is across the road from the campground. Only about 0.7 of a mile up to the top of Signal Hill where there is a stone monument. As described in the park brochure "The monument is an approximate 400 square foot map of Arkansas made of stone and mortar. It was built to the scale of one foot = 13 miles. The survey marker represents the location of Mount Magazine, between the Arkansas and Petit Jean Rivers. The map also shows the six natural divisions of Arkansas. It was constructed by state park personnel and members of Americorps Team Silver Seven in May 2003. The round trip over the top and down to the Lodge, then back around the north side of Signal Hill is about 1.5 miles.

Had to add this picture to prove I made it to the top of Signal Hill

The Lodge as seen form the north trail head of Signal Hill