High On A Mountain Top

A couple of weekends ago we set out for the Ozarks to see if we could find some snow still on the ground. We headed north on Highway 7 at Russellville and ended up at Pam’s Grotto to check out the waterfall. The waterfall wasn’t running very well, but the hike was fun. It was Abby’s first real hike in the woods and she did the 1.5 mile round trip like a champ.

The trail ends at the bottom of an undercut bluff. The bluff has sloughed off great slabs of rock and house-sized boulders. Abby got a big kick out of climbing in and amongst the rocks.

Family portrait on the banks of Haw Creek near the trail head.

It was pretty late in the evening when we got finished with the hike, so we headed back down toward Russellville and the Interstate. We stopped off at one of the scenic overlooks to take in the sunset. It was cloudy to the north and clearing to the south and I thought a great sunset might be in the offing. We hung around the overlook until the sun passed the break in the clouds and sunk below the horizon. Nothing great was happening but the rule is to never give up on the sunset until it’s slap dark. I knew Abby and Gina were hungry (and so was I, for that matter) so I decided to pack up my camera and tripod after the sun went out of sight. Big mistake. About five minutes after we left the sky lit up red, orange and pink, maybe the wildest sunset colors I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t find a spot along the highway with a wide view, so we just enjoyed the show as we sound along on twisty Highway 7.

We hit Russellville and ate a forgettable meal at Colton’s and decided to find a motel room and continue our adventure at Mount Magazine over by Fort Smith the next day. We headed up the Interstate to Clarksville and found a motel where it was still 2002. Does anyone still carry an ethernet cable around with them anymore.

The next morning we hit Mount Magazine State Park, home of the highest point in the state. We’d never been there before and we were quite impressed with the park facilities, a nice nature exhibit and a lodge that would fit right in in Aspen. The north side of the mountain still had 3-4 inches of snow from the week before and as we got to the park a heavy, wet snow started.

The snow was very wet and the temperature was above freezing so it was like being in the rain. Gina made the bold suggestion that we hike to the highpoint despite the certainty of getting soaked. So that’s what we did. When we go to the top, Abby and Gina built the highest snowman in Arkansas.

This what the USGS marker looks like without the snowman.