Village Creek State Park

Located on Crowley's Ridge, Village Creek State Park, has numerous trails for hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders.  The park, the second largest in the state, also offers swimming, golf, fishing, boat rentals, and camping.  I also saw basketball and tennis courts, but am not sure if they are still used frequently.

While the origins of Crowley's Ridge are debated, the ridge's unique soils and high elevation compared to surrounding floodplains and deltas allow it to support species not commonly found elsewhere in the state.  Having lived in Indiana for awhile, it was interesting to find a forest full of tulip trees, sugar maples, and beeches here in Arkansas.

We camped in the park on our way from Fayetteville to Birmingham.  The site was fine (a little too developed and designed for RVs for my taste) and we saw deer and several raccoons up-close.

I've included a map of the trails in the park below, though we only did the short, Ben Ben Nature Trail which has a great brochure with lots of information on plants and the local ecosystem.

Buffalo River - Gilbert Railroad Trail

The Old Railroad Trail in Gilbert, is a great hike to do with kids.  At less than 4 miles in-and-out, this mostly flat trail has interesting rock walls, views of the Buffalo River, and large remnants of its not-too-distant railroad past.  I usually get my kicks by checking out the cacti and other amazing plants along this trail and skipping rocks at the river, but when I went with friends in Feb. 2013, we were directed by a friendly gentleman on horseback to a bobcat hiding in a tight crevice in one of the rock walls!

Crinoids!!! (right?)

Unhappy Bobcat

If anyone ever climbs to the top they will find the rocks we threw

View Railroad Trail - Gilbert, AR in a larger map

Two Rivers Park Updates

On my quick trip to Little Rock this weekend, I visited Two Rivers Park which, with the recent completion of the new bridge, has become very, very, popular.  If you don't know, Two Rivers Park is a large city/county park in West Little Rock bounded by the Arkansas River and the Little Maumelle.  In addition to being a great place to paddle, hike, bike, bird, and ride horses, the park also has a massive community garden where you can rent plots.

The park has miles of paved and unpaved trails that travel through a variety of habitats.  The Garden of Trees in the southern half of the park will one day be a formally landscaped setting where "rooms" of different tree species turn different colors in the fall.  I helped plant a lot of the trees out there many years ago, and know first-hand that the huge deer population in the park is severely stunting the growth of the trees in this garden.

The two updates I have to share on the park are:
1)  Be mindful of locking your car and what you leave in your vehicles when parking at the Two Rivers Bridge or the Big Dam Bridge.  Break-ins are more common at those parking areas than they should be.
2)  There is a new bike lane/bike trail from Two Rivers to Maumelle Park.  I believe the idea is for this to one day continue all the way to Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  The bike lane runs along County Farm Rd. from the park entrance to Pinnacle Valley Rd.  From there, there are 5-6' wide asphalt paths along both sides of Pinnacle Valley Rd. all the way to Maumelle Park.  As I wrote earlier, these are much safer than bike lanes.

Detailed maps and descriptions of Two Rivers Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, the Little Maumelle River, and lots of other great places in Central Arkansas can be found in Trails of Central Arkansas.