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Greetings all. My family and I are planning a road trip to Arkansas this spring, and it will be our first time to visit the state. I will be travelling there with my husband and our two children (aged 10 and 12). I would like to gather some input and suggestions on places to go to that focus more on nature with breathtaking views. Any info is immensely appreciated.
Relatively central in the state are two of the best state parks, Pettit Jean and Mount Magazine. They both have excellent cabins and lodges (recently redeveloped in the past ten years or so). Magazine is taller (tallest point in the state), but Pettit Jean arguable has better hiking trails and falls even on top of the mountain, in addition to the vistas FROM the mountain.
In addition to the wonders cited above, Petit Jean has turtle rocks, great for kids to explore and climb. There are also petroglyphs in a huge rock house "shelter-cave", with the short trail from the parking area winding through a turtle rock "field".
Mather Lodge and many other park structures were constructed by the CCC back in the day. The lodge was very carefully expanded with a new dining room several years ago - be sure to ask for a table beside the windows, where there's a wonderful view of Cedar Creek Canyon below. Guests traditionally gather on the rocks and terrace behind the lodge to watch the sunset.
A couple of miles from the lodge is the Bear Cave - a natural labyrinth of huge boulders with narrow passages through them. Kids love this place, even if it's not really a cave and it was a very long time since the last bear (then) in Arkansas met his demise there. - bears are back in NWA, not sure they've made their way to PJ yet. Inquire locally.
While the lodge is lovely, the rooms are small, and you'll enjoy a cabin a lot more. The newer cabins closest to the lodge are housekeeping cabins, with modern, completely equipped kitchens, wood burning fireplaces, screened porches with porch swings, plus decks with picnic tables in many cases. There are also historic CCC cabins adjacent to the newer duplex cabins, and while they may lack screened porches and/or decks, they do have fireplaces and very rustic architecture, having been constructed from wood and stone native to the mountain. If you bring groceries, you can save money and have more room for your family than if you stayed in the lodge (don't skip at least one meal at the lodge, however!)
I stayed in Cabin 8 a few years ago - it's a historic cabin, and has a high log-beamed ceiling in the pine-paneled living room plus a stone wall with a fireplace at the far end. No porch, but a patio with a porch swing was out back.
More recently, I stayed in a newer duplex cabin, which also had a fireplace, plus a large eat-in kitchen-dining room area, and the screened porch with swing plus the deck with picnic table overlooking Cedar Creek Canyon below. It was a great place to star gaze after my visiting local cousins departed one evening.
Also on PJ mountain is a museum of historic autos, plus a very scenic overlook high above the Arkansas River, at the far end of the anvil-shaped mountain from most of the state park.
When I've visited Arkansas on recent trips, Petit Jean has served as a great place for me to meet up with my Arkansas relatives, before heading down the mountain to Highway 7 (rightfully known as "Scenic Seven") and heading south through the mountainous, wooded, Ouachita National Forest to Hot Springs Village, which has a pleasant motel ( two queen bed rooms have fridges and microwaves, and there are restaurants in the same shopping area that houses the motel, whose name I can't recall - maybe the Village Inn??)).
This is a good convenient base for digging beautiful quartz crystals at the nearby Ron Coleman's Crystal Mine, just up the road near Jessieville. Crystals of all sizes can be found there, and you get to keep whatever you find. There's also a small campground there which has gotten rave reviews online, but I'm not a camper so can't add much.
Farther down the road is Hot Springs itself, very much a tourist site, with all manner of attractions and accommodations. It's been a while since I've been there, so I'll leave Hot Springs for someone else to describe. Ditto Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock, though I have been to LR within the last 18 months - there are historic areas, museums, and Pinnacle Mountain to check out, but if I described them all, this already lengthy post would be way too long.
In addition to crystal digging, Ron Coleman's is very popular with families and normally with visiting elementary school field trip groups. There's a well supplied rock shop and tours of the open-air mine - visitors ride down in the outfitted back of an old army truck, after visiting a private rock and crystal gallery. Tour guides were well-informed, well-spoken and intelligent, and enthusiastic (as have been all of the Ron Coleman employees I've encountered, including little dog Bella, the official greeter). There's also a zip line across the mine, for visitors more daring than I.
Also nearby is the Home Plate Restaurant (located next to a baseball field) which offers good traditional Southern dishes at reasonable prices, along with the usual burgers, salads, and fries. Not at all fancy, but locally popular and a good place for families to enjoy dinner.
If you dig for crystals, wear old clothes, rubber boots or sturdy hiking shoes that you don't mind getting muddy. Bring small hand tools for digging with you, or buy them locally. If it's hot or sunny, a lightweight hat with a brim can make digging more comfortable. The best time to find crystals is right after rainfall, though it's muddier then. Nonetheless, the rain helps wash out crystals from the mudpiles. So if it should be lightly drizzling, go crystal digging!
The crystals are found in red clay and anything you wear is likely to get stained while you go through the spoil piles, which are regularly "refreshed" via dump truck from the mine below. Bring bottled water, a snack, and buckets or cloth bags for your finds. You might want to put some old towels or newspapers on the car seats when you leave. Newspaper works well for wrapping fragile crystals, too.
There's a lot online about Ron Coleman's, particularly on YouTube, which will give you an idea what to expect.
Other places your family would enjoy would include Mountain Home, near another state park which focusses on Arkansas's traditional music, dance, and crafts - there is a small crafter's village, a great restaurant where you can usually see local wildlife (just outside the windows) each evening, and a hotel plus cabins which are comfortable but basically one big room, very different from the Petit Jean cabins. Also nearby is Blanchard Springs Cavern, which is the most visually spectacular cave I've ever visited. It's operated by the National Forest Service and has a variety of tours, including one very easy to walk trail that take you through two heavily "decorated" huge cave chambers which are quite breathtaking.
All of these places may be affected by Covid-19 closings and regulations, so check before you head out. Ron Coleman's has managed to stay open pretty much as normal, since everyone who digs is outside and easily able to socially distance. I cannot vouch for the other places, however.
Haste the day when most will be inoculated, so we can start to cautiously resume something resembling our old lives. When that day arrives, Arkansas will be one of the first places outside of my own state that I'll visit.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas visitors' center offer a wealth of free material about all parts of the state. I don't have a link to their website, but am sure you could request materials ahead of your visit, to help you plan.
Last edited by CraigCreek; 01-08-2021 at 04:27 PM..
Relatively central in the state are two of the best state parks, Pettit Jean and Mount Magazine. They both have excellent cabins and lodges (recently redeveloped in the past ten years or so). Magazine is taller (tallest point in the state), but Pettit Jean arguable has better hiking trails and falls even on top of the mountain, in addition to the vistas FROM the mountain.
Thank you! One of our friends here have mentioned Mount Magazine. I will do some research about it. Appreciate the input!
In addition to the wonders cited above, Petit Jean has turtle rocks, great for kids to explore and climb. There are also petroglyphs in a huge rock house "shelter-cave", with the short trail from the parking area winding through a turtle rock "field".
Mather Lodge and many other park structures were constructed by the CCC back in the day. The lodge was very carefully expanded with a new dining room several years ago - be sure to ask for a table beside the windows, where there's a wonderful view of Cedar Creek Canyon below. Guests traditionally gather on the rocks and terrace behind the lodge to watch the sunset.
A couple of miles from the lodge is the Bear Cave - a natural labyrinth of huge boulders with narrow passages through them. Kids love this place, even if it's not really a cave and it was a very long time since the last bear (then) in Arkansas met his demise there. - bears are back in NWA, not sure they've made their way to PJ yet. Inquire locally.
While the lodge is lovely, the rooms are small, and you'll enjoy a cabin a lot more. The newer cabins closest to the lodge are housekeeping cabins, with modern, completely equipped kitchens, wood burning fireplaces, screened porches with porch swings, plus decks with picnic tables in many cases. There are also historic CCC cabins adjacent to the newer duplex cabins, and while they may lack screened porches and/or decks, they do have fireplaces and very rustic architecture, having been constructed from wood and stone native to the mountain. If you bring groceries, you can save money and have more room for your family than if you stayed in the lodge (don't skip at least one meal at the lodge, however!)
I stayed in Cabin 8 a few years ago - it's a historic cabin, and has a high log-beamed ceiling in the pine-paneled living room plus a stone wall with a fireplace at the far end. No porch, but a patio with a porch swing was out back.
More recently, I stayed in a newer duplex cabin, which also had a fireplace, plus a large eat-in kitchen-dining room area, and the screened porch with swing plus the deck with picnic table overlooking Cedar Creek Canyon below. It was a great place to star gaze after my visiting local cousins departed one evening.
Also on PJ mountain is a museum of historic autos, plus a very scenic overlook high above the Arkansas River, at the far end of the anvil-shaped mountain from most of the state park.
When I've visited Arkansas on recent trips, Petit Jean has served as a great place for me to meet up with my Arkansas relatives, before heading down the mountain to Highway 7 (rightfully known as "Scenic Seven") and heading south through the mountainous, wooded, Ouachita National Forest to Hot Springs Village, which has a pleasant motel ( two queen bed rooms have fridges and microwaves, and there are restaurants in the same shopping area that houses the motel, whose name I can't recall - maybe the Village Inn??)).
This is a good convenient base for digging beautiful quartz crystals at the nearby Ron Coleman's Crystal Mine, just up the road near Jessieville. Crystals of all sizes can be found there, and you get to keep whatever you find. There's also a small campground there which has gotten rave reviews online, but I'm not a camper so can't add much.
Farther down the road is Hot Springs itself, very much a tourist site, with all manner of attractions and accommodations. It's been a while since I've been there, so I'll leave Hot Springs for someone else to describe. Ditto Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock, though I have been to LR within the last 18 months - there are historic areas, museums, and Pinnacle Mountain to check out, but if I described them all, this already lengthy post would be way too long.
In addition to crystal digging, Ron Coleman's is very popular with families and normally with visiting elementary school field trip groups. There's a well supplied rock shop and tours of the open-air mine - visitors ride down in the outfitted back of an old army truck, after visiting a private rock and crystal gallery. Tour guides were well-informed, well-spoken and intelligent, and enthusiastic (as have been all of the Ron Coleman employees I've encountered, including little dog Bella, the official greeter). There's also a zip line across the mine, for visitors more daring than I.
Also nearby is the Home Plate Restaurant (located next to a baseball field) which offers good traditional Southern dishes at reasonable prices, along with the usual burgers, salads, and fries. Not at all fancy, but locally popular and a good place for families to enjoy dinner.
If you dig for crystals, wear old clothes, rubber boots or sturdy hiking shoes that you don't mind getting muddy. Bring small hand tools for digging with you, or buy them locally. If it's hot or sunny, a lightweight hat with a brim can make digging more comfortable. The best time to find crystals is right after rainfall, though it's muddier then. Nonetheless, the rain helps wash out crystals from the mudpiles. So if it should be lightly drizzling, go crystal digging!
The crystals are found in red clay and anything you wear is likely to get stained while you go through the spoil piles, which are regularly "refreshed" via dump truck from the mine below. Bring bottled water, a snack, and buckets or cloth bags for your finds. You might want to put some old towels or newspapers on the car seats when you leave. Newspaper works well for wrapping fragile crystals, too.
There's a lot online about Ron Coleman's, particularly on YouTube, which will give you an idea what to expect.
Other places your family would enjoy would include Mountain Home, near another state park which focusses on Arkansas's traditional music, dance, and crafts - there is a small crafter's village, a great restaurant where you can usually see local wildlife (just outside the windows) each evening, and a hotel plus cabins which are comfortable but basically one big room, very different from the Petit Jean cabins. Also nearby is Blanchard Springs Cavern, which is the most visually spectacular cave I've ever visited. It's operated by the National Forest Service and has a variety of tours, including one very easy to walk trail that take you through two heavily "decorated" huge cave chambers which are quite breathtaking.
All of these places may be affected by Covid-19 closings and regulations, so check before you head out. Ron Coleman's has managed to stay open pretty much as normal, since everyone who digs is outside and easily able to socially distance. I cannot vouch for the other places, however.
Haste the day when most will be inoculated, so we can start to cautiously resume something resembling our old lives. When that day arrives, Arkansas will be one of the first places outside of my own state that I'll visit.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas visitors' center offer a wealth of free material about all parts of the state. I don't have a link to their website, but am sure you could request materials ahead of your visit, to help you plan.
Wow I really appreciate this wealth of information. In fact, I am going to print it out for my husband to read. Thank you so much for all the detailed descriptions and outlining each points of interest.
Wow I really appreciate this wealth of information. In fact, I am going to print it out for my husband to read. Thank you so much for all the detailed descriptions and outlining each points of interest.
You're welcome - Arkansas is beautiful in the spring - perhaps you'll be at Petit Jean (pronounced "petty gene", btw) in dogwood and violet season!
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