It’s actually hard to write this post. Usually because I relish writing about my trip after the fact. But somehow I feel that if I write about it, I will be putting it to rest. I don’t want that trip to end.

Just a short drive from Little Rock lies Petit Jean State Park. Because the pickings are scarce in the AAA guide-book for Arkansas, I decided we better review what’s on the list. Petit Jean was the first state park in Arkansas, founded around 1921 with help from Stephen Mather of the National Park Service.

We started off at the point in the picture above. Overlooking the Arkansas River, we saw the remains of a building and a cemetery. It turns out this land was a former YMCA Camp Mitchell until it burned in the 1940’s. Later that decade, it was purchased by the Episcopalian church which leases the land to Petit Jean today.

We drove through the park until we reached the Cedar Falls. Nestled in a horseshoe shape, the waterfall seemed far away. Little did I know that I would be hiking to the base of those falls a few hours later!

Finding the lodge, I kept noting it looked like a National Park Service lodge. It turns out they wanted it to be a National Park, but Stephen Mather said it was too small. Instead, he helped them build the park up to NPS standards.

The lodge had the big dining room with large windows and then an enclosed breezeway to the older section. The large lobby with huge stone fireplace and then the CCC room (which had been the original dining room). Towards the end you walked past an old lobby desk with a puzzle. It was the original desk. A covered breezeway with a magnificent view of the canyon led us to the wing with the rooms. The hallway felt old and we made a right turn down the L shape passing the Arkansas room which was a lobby like room with a table, puzzles, chairs and a piano. When we opened the door to our room, I saw why there were so many lobbies. The room was tiny and spartan. A wood-paneled room with a window unit, one queen bed in the corner, a small desk and two chairs. Thankfully, there was  a Tv. the bathroom was small but clean. Our room looked out onto the swimming pool. nested in the mountains, it was perfect and I felt I was at a real NPS lodge. Unfortunately, I can’t find any of the photos I took inside the lodge.

I decided to do the 2-mile Cedar Falls trail to the base of the waterfall. It consisted of about four steep switchbacks. In some places, steps had been carved out of the rock formations. I asked a man how much farther. He said it flattens out in about 20 minutes. I kept going. At the bottom, it turned sandy and led me to a bridge.

Once I crossed over, I walked on a rocky path along the creek bed. Instead of looking out over the canyons, I was at the base of them. Unbelievable. In the distance I could hear people splashing around so I knew the falls must be nearby, but I just couldn’t get over the beauty of the rock formations.

This was Arkansas. This was what I had remembered as a kid. This granite-like rock was what I wanted in the Smokies and just didn’t get. We ate dinner in the lodge and went to bed.

The next morning, we took an early morning walk over to Bear Cave. The boulders were enormous and it was fun walking around them.

Then we set out for Rock Cave. Although neither of these are actual caves, you can see how the boulders provide shelter and could be considered a cave. Both of these hikes were short – under 1/2 mile.

Outside of the cave, the rocks resembled large turtles.

Although we wanted to spend more time in the park, the next leg of our trip beckoned. We ate a pancake breakfast in the lodge and set out to Eureka Springs via Scenic Hwy 7.

For more information about Petit Jean State Park, click here.