Ozark Hiking Life

Lee Creek early in the Morning, Devil's Den State Park Devil's Den offers a number of trails, hike-in camping and great places to explore. For me, it's Lee Creek. If you are an amateur geologist there are amazing features. Like fossils? There are areas along the creek that are treasure droves for various fossil types. Caves? Yep. Plant life and wild flowers line the creek, and because of the rock formations causing all day shade in some spots while other areas may be in full sun there is quite a diversity. And regarding animals I've seen deer on every trip, and the creek holds a number of sunfish and bass, frogs, crayfish and of course the occasional snake.  Cave upstream on Lee Creek, strong spring runs from this cave To get to Lee Creek trail it's best to start in the Primitive or Hike-In Camping area at Devil's Den State Park. If you aren't staying overnight you can park at the trailhead that is located in the Primitive Camping (A) area. It's located ...

Looking Out From Tea Kettle Falls This trail east of Beaver Lake is a hidden gem....lightly hiked and beautiful views around each bend. There is a trail that runs along and near the creek, but most hikers, including myself, simply walk the wide creek bed. It's so wide that I ran into just a few spiderwebs early in the morning...it's just too wide for the spiders to go across with their webs!  The trail is part of the Madison Wildlife Management lands. There is a stone/dirt road that comes off Route 23, and you'll take that road about a mile to new parking. Any car can make it down this road, albeit it is a little rough at times. A slow go but you'll make it. The new parking is at the top of the hill, about 1/4 mi hike to the creek. You used to be able to drive down the hill, but too many people did so in cars that could not get back up the hill....so they created a parking area and blocked the road from vehicles.  Parking Area at Tea Falls Trail The walk to the creek is...

Rock Formations from Erosion, Bear Cave Trail Bear Cave Trail located within Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas, is a short trail (. 5 mile loop) down to a cave and some awesome rocks/boulders/formations to climb and explore. Legend has it that in this cave the last Black Bear to be killed in the park was shot here. The cave itself is about 8 feet deep, 10 feet wide....would have been a great hibernation den for a bear. I found the cave to be cool to see....but it was the rock formations created by erosion that was most interesting.  Bear Cave on the Trail The rock formations provide ample and mostly safe climbing to the top to see across a valley. There are numerous passageways between these large formations, most 20-30 feet in height, some of the cliff area higher and impassable for climbing.  Rock Formations, Bear Cave Trail Although a short hike, this is a great place to climb early in the morning and sit on a formation and eat breakfast while taking in the valley and sight...

Natural Bridge, Seven Hollows Trail, Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas Visited Petit Jean State Park last weekend, what an absolutely beautiful park...well-kept throughout, very friendly and helpful rangers....and the trails, wow! One could easily spend a week here and not have the time to take in all of the Ozark's finest splendor. Primitive camping is frowned upon here so I camped at site #98, a very wooded site that is very deep and secluded if you are a hammock camper as I. Water and Electricity are available at all camp sites at Petit Jean.  The first trail I'll review is Seven Hollows Trail. One must drive to it from the campgrounds and ample parking is provided. The trail is listed at 4.5 miles, but with side trips and spurs you'll easily get over 5 miles in. It's not an easy trail with many elevation climbs (my AllTrails recording showed 636 ft of Elevation Gain) and rocks, I'd say moderate rating. There are two points of interest that most people hike for, th...