
Gallery:
Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas
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For information on the park and mountain, please see our Petit Jean Information page.
Petit Jean State Park, situated on Arkansas’s Petit Jean Mountain, which rises above the south bank of the Arkansas River between the Ozark and Ouachita mountain ranges, is 3,471 acres in size and was the first park in Arkansas’s system of state parks. Buildings of log and stone, constructed during the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), are found in many areas of the park and impart a rustic feel. Petit Jean, the “flagship” of the Arkansas state park system, is managed by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Petit Jean is Arkansas’ only state park with its own airport.
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Last week we took a short trip to eastern Arkansas and, after that, over to northeast Kentucky.
Our first campground was at Village Creek State Park. The park is located on Crowley’s Ridge, a geologic anomaly of rolling hills in eastern Arkansas’s Mississippi Alluvial Plain.
With five trails totaling 7 miles, we had hoped to spend one day in the park doing some hiking.
Unfortunately, there was some kind of gnats hatching out. After taking one walk the first evening where we couldn’t get away from them, we decided to alter our plans and check out some of the other parks in the area.
The first day, we went to Parkin State Archeological Park and Jacksonport State Park. The next day, we drove over to Memphis and spent a few hours at Mud Island. I’ll be posting more on these as I get the photo gallery set up for each one.
The last evening that we were there and the next morning before we left, we didn’t have much problem with insects at all.
Our next destination was Paducah, Kentucky, so that Karen could go to the annual Paducah Quilt Show. Karen has several posts on her blog from the quilt show:
A couple of weeks ago, we took a drive down to Hot Springs to visit Garvan Woodland Gardens.
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We’ve been in Arkansas for nearly 30 years and this was the first time we had visited this wonderful attraction.
Photos from the visit are included in my newest photo gallery, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Garvan Woodland Gardens is a botanical garden in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA. The 210 acre garden is owned by the University of Arkansas and open almost every day during daylight hours, for a fee.
The gardens are situated on a wooded peninsula with 4.5 miles of shoreline on Lake Hamilton. The gardens feature rocky inclines reminiscent of the surrounding Ouachita Mountains, floral landscapes, streams, and waterfalls in a natural woodland setting, plus a Japanese Garden with Japanese maples and tree peonies, a conifer border, and various flower and rock gardens. Its collections display hundreds of rare shrubs and trees, including camellias, magnolias, roses, and over 160 different types of azaleas. (Wikipedia)
Gallery: Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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Gallery:
Big Dam Bridge (Pulaski County Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge – Murray Lock and Dam)
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For more information on the bridge, see, our Big Dam Bridge page.
Opened in 2006, the pedestrian and bicycle bridge built over Murray Lock and Dam between Murray Park in Little Rock and Cook’s Landing Park in North Little Rock is a major addition to the Arkansas River Trail, connecting several miles of hiking and biking trails on both sides of the river.
The project’s official name is Pulaski County Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge – Murray Lock and Dam—however, it is known as the Big Dam Bridge and is the world’s longest bridge specifically constructed as a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. At 4,226 feet (1288 m.) in length, the bridge rises to 65 feet over the surface of the Arkansas River and 30 feet over the dam. The span over the river is 3463 feet (1055 m.), with the ramps on either side of the river accounting for the rest of the length.
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