Weekend Hiking

This weekend, I went hiking twice. The first day I went to Hawksbill Crag, which is one of the most photographed places in Arkansas. It has even graced the cover of the 2005 Rand McNally atlas! It was a gorgeous fall day (about 60 and PERFECT!), and I was delighted to be getting my hike on.

The ride to Hawksbill Crag is -- how shall I describe this -- a challenge? 8 miles. Uphill. Unmarked and unpaved gravel road. Potholes. Seriously, it's out in the middle of nowhere and if you don't know where you're going, you will totally miss the road to the trail. All of a sudden you get to the top, though, and there are just a ton of cars parked! It is kind of bizarre, but it hinted to me at how this was going to be a great view. There were a ton of people there, so apparently we weren't the only people who thought it was a nice day outside.

On the trail, there is a waterfall (it's maybe about 20 feet tall). To hike to get there was a little challenging, but this really nice couple helped me and my friend slide down a tree about 5 feet to get to a place where we could hike to the bottom of the waterfall (we started up on that bluff on top, and needed to figure out a way to get to the bottom....)

...which we did!

We then continued out to the crag itself. It was pretty but a little more anticlimactic than I expected -- and also very crowded! I even ran into a couple of students from the department. Kind of strange. I wanted to stick my feet over the edge but I didn't get too crazy sitting on the edge with my knees hanging over... (editor's note: at the time I thought I was being really brave in this picture and it would look impressive, but now I realize how ridiculous I look in this photo!)

We didn't really catch a good view of the crag until our hike back. It is actually really pretty, and I managed to get a good picture. It would be a little nicer if there weren't tons of people on it, but you can get a perspective as to how big the crag actually is with them in the photo (and yes, I was out there on the VERY END. The feet picture doesn't feel so ridiculous anymore, does it?).

So that was hike #1. It was about 3.5 miles round trip. Hilly in sections, but the trail was well maintained. I'd say it's an easy to moderate hike.

The second place I went was with the NWA Hiking Club to Pedestal Rocks. I had a good time, and met some really nice people. We went on two hikes, one to the rocks, and one to King's Bluff. Not much to say about this hike right now, but I will post a couple pictures. I thoroughly recommend this hike. Moderate, I'd say -- hilly in sections and lots of rocks on the trail which mean you have to be careful and watch your footing, lest you bust up your ankle. About 4-5 miles round trip.

Note that there is a dude on the right rock in this photo below. It helps give this picture a little perspective as to the size/coolness of this place. And by the way, some of the drops were 100+ feet. Yikes.

Finally, we saw a waterfall that was about 100 feet tall on this hike. My pictures completely do not capture the beauty so I am not going to attempt to post pictures. Look at the third picture down on this link if you are curious. The total distance of both hikes we took on this day was about 4.5 miles, and it was very hilly. I had a good time, and would love to visit this place again when the leaves are green and the waterfall is really flowing.

Good weekend, great weather, good exercise, and gorgeous scenery. I consider it a success!