Congratulations to 2016's Iron Rangers! Get ready for 2017!

This is a guest post by John Chamberlin (3 Johns have now contributed material to this blog!). It details how he and his grandchildren completed the 2016 Iron Ranger Challenge. Did you attempt the challenge? Think you'll try in 2017? Read on for ideas on park and trail types you might not have considered like underground trails or walking around famous high schools!

2016 Iron Ranger - By John G Chamberlin

At the end of 2015 I became aware that the National Park Service in Arkansas was doing something special to celebrate the 100th year of NPS. If you hiked, paddled or biked 100 miles in the public lands of Arkansas, and submitted monthly email reports on your efforts, you would get an Iron Ranger award. That did not sound too hard. We have a place in Gilbert on the Buffalo National River and get up there most weeks. I could float Tyler to Gilbert 17 times, or hike the Railroad Trail each week. Or maybe do a three day, 30 mile float. 

 "2016 would be my 70th year and since I did a 50 mile trek at Philmont my 50th year, the Iron Ranger seemed like a great thing to do".

Winter

For the first trip to Gilbert in January, I hiked The Old Railroad Trail. The view of the river was great, that special green of flowing water visible from most of the trail because the leaves were off. I hiked past the site of the missing trestle and came back, 3 miles down in under two hours.

Next trip to the Buffalo I thought I would hike some of the Tyler Bend trails. The temperature was in the teens and I did not dress for that. I parked by the Collier Homestead and headed out on the Buffalo River Trail toward the highway. Lots of amazing frost and ice configurations in the dirt and leaves of the trail. Very cold body. I made it a little over a mile that day before freezing out. Lots of days left in the year.

February it mostly rained. The Buffalo River came up over the park toilet at Gilbert and flooded the start of the trail. No time to be paddling or hiking. I did roam around by car and took short walks to see the river almost reach the highway 65 bridge and see the fields at Shine Eye as a lake with a current.

Spring

On to March and Spring Break spent at Gilbert with my wife Shannon, our daughter Katharyn and our grandchildren, Lorelai and Griffin. I had gotten a small raft for Christmas and on Wednesday the 23rd we tried it out, floating from Tyler to Gilbert. The water was cold, but clear, and we saw our usual herons and other birds. On Thursday, Lorelai and Griffin hiked with me on the Horse Trail north of the Buffalo. The trail runs along the bluffs across from Tyler Bend and we had new views of the river and campsites from above. We turned around when the trail dipped down toward Mill Creek. Lorelai thought a meadow we crossed would be a great camping place. Two days later, on Saturday the 26th, we got the raft out again and floated Baker’s Ford to Tyler, wonderful water, and some of the early flowering plants made a show.

Somewhere on that trip I mentioned I now had 17 miles of my 100 for the Iron Ranger. Lorelai and Griffin said “How many do we have?”, well, they had 13 down, so 87 to go!

In early April we went to Gilbert with some friends. We got out the kayaks and floated Baker’s to Gilbert, another ten miles.

May was pretty busy with mentoring an Innovation Corps team and the first 20 days of June my daughter Mary and I were in Australia. I hiked some park miles there but they didn’t count! I brought back my niece Sarah from California on the return trip and we took her to Gilbert. Sarah had never floated a river, so we got out the raft and Katharyn, Lorelai, Griffin, Sarah and I did a short float, Tyler Bend to Shine Eye. Now the turtles were out on the logs and people were out on the gravel bars and in canoes. The real adventure was hauling the gear up the sand hill at Shine Eye.

 "Halfway through the year and 69 miles to go for me, 79 for Griffin and Lorelai...if they were serious".

Summer

Somewhere about that time they decided they were going for the 100 miles. Their mother, Katharyn, helped with that endeavor. They gained a couple miles on me with a river trail walk in July, and we three floated in kayaks from Grinder’s to Gilbert in late July. Somehow August got past us with no new miles.
Editor's Note: Summer is a tough time to hike (too hot, lots of poison ivy, & too many ticks and chiggers) or float (often not much water) across lots of Arkansas. Biking and swimming are great options though!

Fall

In September, Lorelai, Griffin and I did a full foliage walk on the Railroad trail at Gilbert, still late flowers – like asters – and berries on the bushes and vines. A week later we tried out the trails at Pinnacle Mountain State Park for a couple of miles.

Entering October we still had many miles to go 59 for me and 69 for Lorelai and Griffin. Could we make it? The grandkids gained two miles on me with a visit to the Central High National Historic site on Oct. 1.
Editor's Note: The best high school in the world! Class of '99 in particular was an impressive group

Little Rock Central High School. Photo by ‎Katharyn Chamberlin Daniel‎ 

We all went to Gilbert and the grandkids and I floated the 6 miles from upper Tyler to Gilbert on the 2nd, a trio in kayaks. For the first time I was the last one to get to Gilbert. The leaves were changing color and the river was gorgeous.

Starting the Float. Buffalo National River. Photo by ‎Katharyn Chamberlin Daniel‎ 

Katharyn organized some outings and Griffin and Lorelai logged 3 miles on the Trail of Tears in North Little Rock on Oct. 8th and another 3 at Central High NHS the same day. They did two more miles on the 9th on the Heritage Trail around Mount Holly Cemetery.

"Wow, they were catching up to me!"

We had a long weekend in mid-October. It rained before we went and the river was up enough we got the raft out and on the 15th Katharyn, Joe, Griffin, Lorelai and I floated the 12 miles from Woolum to Baker’s Ford. We paddled over the Bend Creek bar where I camped on the dry river almost exactly a year before. We had the river mostly to ourselves, had some fast riffles but we had to get out and push the raft over a few low spots. It was a long day and lots of hard boiled eggs were consumed. The next day Griffin, Lorelai and I floated from Grinders Ferry to Gilbert and then hiked two miles on the Railroad trail. The kids now had 69 miles and somehow I was lagging with 66 miles!

That night a couple from Wisconsin came to our door after dark. They had rented a cabin and had arrived after the store was closed. We helped them track down the guy with their key. They wanted to float but the man was not sure he could handle a kayak or canoe. His wife was an active paddler. So the next morning I got out the raft and floated with them from Grinders to Gilbert. The grandkids stayed at the house and now I was ahead with 71 miles. The remaining 29 and 31 miles seemed possible, especially if the river stayed up! As Griffin said “Miles paddling are faster and easier than hiking.”

I did not stay in the lead in miles long. On Oct. 30 we had Johnnie in town and we did a short but symbolic hike up Flatside Pinnacle. Griffin and Lorelai did an extra mile on the Ouachita Trail. This is where we did our first hike with Katharyn, when she was two, and where we had many outings in the '70s and '80s, including my encounter with the two bear cubs, that figure in the name of our house in Gilbert, “Saw Two Bears Den”. Katharyn, Griffin and Lorelai went to Toltec Mounds State Park and hiked four miles to retake the mileage lead for good. I picked up two miles at Gilbert on Nov. 13th.

The Team on Flatside Pinnacle

Flatside Pinnacle. Photo by ‎Katharyn Chamberlin Daniel‎ 

Thanksgiving week saw us back in Gilbert, with too little water for floating and some of the trails out of play due to deer season. Before Shannon and I went up, Katharyn, Griffin and Lorelai put in 4 miles of hiking at the Ozark Folk Center State Park and Blanchard Springs in the Ozark National Forest.

Some of these miles were hundreds of feet underground by the light of headlamps as part of a new type of tour Blanchard Springs Caverns is offering!

Here are some additional details on the cave miles provided by Lorelai and Griffin:

"Because there were no lights in there, we got to see a bunch of animals that lived there. We saw cave crickets, a big spider, and a lot of bats. Some even flew over our heads! I also liked seeing the ghost room. The calcite ghosts looked really cool". - Griffin

"We got to do a special cave tour with headlights. This meant we got to experience a less crowded, more personal tour that showed more of an original cave, without modern spotlights, and steel stairs everywhere. Having headlights instead of spotlights also meant we could go to places where the wildlife was not used to spotlights, and avoided, so we got to see a lot of wildlife. There were two tunnels where there were a lot of bats. One, we stood right at the entrance, and they flew really close to us! We also saw cave salamanders and crickets and other cave insects". - Lorelai

Salamander. Photo by ‎Katharyn Chamberlin Daniel‎ 

Then it was time for serious hikes around the Tyler Bend area, with Katharyn, Joe, Lorelai, Griffin and me. On the 20th we parked near the Highway 65 bridge, hiked across it, found our way down to the stream that the Buffalo River Trail follows, and hiked up past beautiful pools with limestone and green-tinted water. The trail went up the hill and we turned onto the Rockwall Trail, following it down to the visitor center at Tyler Bend. We encountered seven deer along the way, and no hikers. After a stop at the Visitor’s Center we hiked back – total 5 miles.

On the 21st we were back at Tyler Bend to hike the Riverview and Spring Hollow trails as a loop. We got great views of the Buffalo going up the Riverview Trail (duh!) and the kids found a big cedar to climb that grew out of the bluff. It was fairly scary to watch them. Coming into the park that day we passed a van labeled “Texas A&M Galveston”, the only other vehicle we saw en route to the trailhead. As we came from the Riverview Trail past the Collier Homestead, we saw people leaving the homestead. They all had pants with muddy seats and we caught up to them as they were reentering that van – bio-speleologists doing inventories in the cave in the park. Lorelai led the way down the BRT to the Spring Hollow junction. The trails were covered with leaves and difficult to follow. We saw interesting moss and lichen on stones and dead limbs on the ground.

On the 22nd we finished up most of the remaining Tyler Bend Trails, repeating a bit on the BRT and then following the Buckridge trail down to the Spring Hollow, where we split and Joe, Lorelai and Griffin headed to the Visitor Center while Katharyn and I climbed the trail back to the car. Again, we were the only people on the trail – holiday weekend, great weather and really nice trails all to ourselves. Twelve miles of hiking over three days and I had 14 left and the grandkids were ahead of me with only 11 left!

Winter

T’was the week before Christmas and we hit the trails at Two Rivers Park (county property) and the Arkansas River Trail. On the 21st of December, we crossed the bridge to Two Rivers and the grandkids did 4 miles each and played on trees at either end of the hike to let me do an extra mile. Lorelai picked up a stick and pushed it ahead of her on the paved trail. She managed to collect a mound of pine needles three feet wide and a foot high. After we returned to the car, I had 9 miles left and they had 7 to go. We came back the next day with Katharyn and hiked from Two Rivers Bridge to the Big Dam Bridge, back to the Two Rivers Bridge and across it to the climbing trees. Lorelai and I did extra distance over the Big Dam Bridge and Griffin and I did a loop at Two Rivers so he could get even with Lorelai. He swept a mile of trail clear of pine needles with his pushing stick and made several piles beside the trail. I went home and the kids went back over the bridge again and looped for an extra mile, so we all did six that day. Three more for me and one more for Lorelai and Griffin to get to that 100 miles mark.

Iron Ranger Challenge completed!

100 miles down! Photo by ‎Katharyn Chamberlin Daniel‎ 

Bonus Points:

On Dec. 29th we loaded the dogs in the car with Shannon, Griffin, Lorelai and me and headed to Gilbert to finish where we began. Gracie and Shelby accompanied us on the Railroad trail and we were joined by one of the Gilbert dogs, Toots (alias Indiana S’mores for his attitude and coloring). We did two miles out and back and I went on for another mile with Shelby while they went down to the Gilbert gravel bar. Technically we were done but the kids wanted a real finale. So we went back to the river and they laid out a circular path in the gravel and ran around it. Lorelai kept on until she had run a mile in celebration. Griffin took Gracie back to the house a bit earlier.

Final mileage totals: Lorelai 103, Griffin 102 and PopPop 101 on public lands in Arkansas in 2016. So we are all Iron Rangers and should get our patches in January! And now they say there will be another go at Iron Ranger in 2017! Katharyn says we need to get the miles in earlier in the year.

Little Rock Trail Network Expansions

I've written previously here and in my books about the need for Little Rock to work on trail connectivity and the potential of trails along Coleman Creek, Rose Creek, Rock Creek, and Fourche Creek. Tonight they are voting to add many of these ideas to the master plan! Please contact your director or attend the meeting to show your support for these projects.

These trails would greatly expand the walkability and bikeability of Little Rock. The Rose Creek Trail (it may have another name now) would connect the River Trail to Fourche Bottoms and would also make it easier for a lot more people to bike to work downtown by connecting major residential areas to the River Trail.

Little Rock Audubon Center Wildlife Observation Trail - Audubon Arkansas

Located on land that was formerly Gillam Park and public housing, the 400+ ac. Little Rock Audubon Center encompasses several different habitat types including bottomland hardwood forest, cypress-lined oxbow, upland white oak/hickory, post oak savannah, and ultra-rare nepheline syenite glades.

My book, Trails of Central Arkansas, contains maps of the older trails around the center, but it doesn't have the newest trails that were recently completed.  These trails loop around through the post oak savannah on the hillside behind the nature center building.  Some of the trails are "Barrier Free", while others are paved but too steep to meet the definition.

The trails have educational signage and great views of downtown Little Rock and the airport runways.  The best way to access them is to park at the Audubon Arkansas office on Springer Blvd.

Hopefully this trail will soon head west through the unique glades and down to the trails around the oxbow and the rest of the center.

More information can be found at: http://ar.audubon.org/
To learn more about how the nature center property could one day be part of a much larger public greenspace full of trails and floating opportunities, read my post on Fourche Bottoms Park.

Levy Trail - North Little Rock

While at the 2014 Bike/Walk Summit, I learned about the Levy Trail in North Little Rock.  While it is currently only partly paved, the trail stretches over 4 miles from I-40 to Camp Robinson roughly paralleling Camp Robinson Rd. on an old rail bed.

I was told the southern part is paved from under I-40 to about 52nd St.  The rest is being worked on and is walkable, but not good for road bikes.  When finished, this trail will improve active transportation options in North Little Rock greatly, especially if connected to the River Trail or Argenta.

I haven't been on the trail, so no pictures yet.  If you have some good photos and wouldn't mind me using them, let me know!

View Levy Trail in a larger map

Little Rock Trail Updates - 4/2014

I have lived in Fayetteville for three years now, so I'm always excited when I get to cover updates on Little Rock trails.  I made the trip down to speak at the Little Rock Sustainability Summit last week and heard lots of great news.  After speaking on Little Rock's natural environment, the costs of sprawl, and ways to improve the local trail network; I learned about lots of interesting projects the city has underway:

While Little Rock has so far failed to "Close the Loop" on the River Trail, work is underway on the Rose Creek Trail and creating a master trail plan that will improve connectivity and expand resident's abilities to use the trails for commuting and errands in addition to pure recreational use.

A new section of the Coleman Creek Greenway was just officially opened.  Hopefully this trail will one day run from War Memorial Park all the way to Fourche Bottoms, where it could connect to trails from Hindman Park, Boyle Park, and Fourche Bottoms.

South Main St. has been transformed from a 4-lane car dominated thoroughfare into a 3-lane, more bike-friendly route.  Seeing bikes and pedestrians put on a more equal priority level is great and is fantastic news for residents and visitors to this amazing part of town.

I also got the impression that the City is getting serious about plans for The Southwest Trail and ways to connect it to downtown and the Arkansas River Trail.  For those of you who are familiar with Little Rock's "City in a Park" plan, this would complete two sides of the proposed triangle of trails around the city.

Finally, it also sounded like things were moving forward with trails in Hindman Park and across the creek in the former Western Hills Golf Course.  This area has great potential for outdoor recreation right in the heart of the city.

People in Little Rock, help me out here.  Did I miss anything?

Central Arkansas Trail Alliance

If you haven't heard about the Central Arkansas Trail Alliance, I encourage you to visit their website or their Facebook page.  This relatively new group really seems to be getting things done in Central Arkansas.  Their mission is "to establish and maintain multi-use trails in Central Arkansas that are open for mountain biking and to link all trail user groups for this purpose".  They've organized multiple trail construction/maintenance days in Burns Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Western Hills/Hindman Park, and probably many others.

Check them out and then help them out:
http://www.centralartrail.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CentralARTrail

The Southwest Trail

Plans are being developed for a trail between Little Rock and Hot Springs.  This 50-mile trail would follow the old Rock Island Railroad track and would be one of the longest Rails-to-Trails projects in the country.  One of the great things about using old railroad beds is that much of the earth-moving and grading work is already done and you are guaranteed a trail with no steep slopes (which is no easy task when passing through the Ouachitas).
Many local officials from counties and cities along the path have expressed interest, so now the big question is where the ~$20 million will come from.  Funds for these types of projects often come from a variety of sources including federal transportation dollars, as well as state, county, and city funds.  Arkansas gets roughly $10 million a year in federal Transportation Alternatives funds, but these don't go just to trails.  It should be noted that funds for trails via this program and from more local sources are under constant threat these days by political parties and groups that think all transportation dollars should go towards expanding highways and repaving roads as part of an unbalanced "cars only" approach to transportation policy.  If we want more funding for trails, we need to encourage our lawmakers to protect existing funding sources and pass local initiatives similar to the statewide 1/8th cent conservation sales tax and the sales tax increase that Little Rock recently passed in part to fund parks and trails.
This trail would help complete the second side of the "city-in-a-park" trail triangle that is part of the Little Rock Parks Master Plan.

The Prezi below, by Mason Ellis, has more details on the project.

River Trail Updates

On a recent trip to the bridge at Two Rivers Park, I noticed the large scale sculpture/model of the Arkansas River showing major points of interest along the trail.  The concept of the River Trail has recently been extended to Pinnacle Mountain State Park on the south side of the river and to Palarm Park on the north.  In fact, plans are in place for a "Grand Loop" (shown below) that would reach Conway.   Much of the existing River Trail and the Grand Loop follow roads.  As long as the speed limits on these roads are 20-25 mph, that is pretty safe, but hopefully a separate trail will be built for the stretches on larger roads with faster moving traffic.

Key Points:

• The trail follows Crystal Hill Rd. in Maumelle for a while.  This allows it to be closer to the river and gets bikers off of busy, fast moving, Maumelle Blvd.
• It looks like they are making a real trail along the edge of parts of Maumelle Blvd.
• Maumelle has a great network of existing trails that will either form part of the River Trail or make for interesting, scenic detours.  This will also make it easier and safer for residents of Maumelle to commute by bike to work in North Little Rock and Little Rock.
• On the south side, the trail extends to Two Rivers Park via the new bridge, and then to Maumelle Park.  I believe the separate trail ends there and the River Trail follows Pinnacle Valley Rd., AR-300, AR-113, AR-60, and AR-89 for most of the Grand Loop.

The original map and up-to-date info can be found at: http://arkansasrivertrail.org/maps/

View River Trail Expanded in a larger map

Coleman Creek Greenway UPDATE

A new stretch of the Coleman Creek Greenway will open soon on the UALR campus.  The new section, running between 28th and 20th St. will double the length of the existing trail and increase the trail's connection to the community.  This new section travels through a forested part of campus and should feel a bit more natural than the southern half which closely parallels roads and parking lots for much of its length.  One day, this trail may run from Markham, south through War Memorial Park, through UALR, and down to Fourche Creek, where it will hopefully connect to other trails following Rock Creek and Fourche Creek coming in from Hindman Park, Boyle Park, and Fourche Bottoms.

Nuttall Trail - Maumelle Park

This trail should have been in my last book, but when I visited briefly two summers ago after my dad told me there were trails here, I failed to spot it.  My excuse for this is that the trail is hidden away near the entrance to the park and far from the main attraction, the Arkansas River.

The Nuttall Trail, named either for the explorer/botanist Thomas Nuttall or the Nuttall Oak which is native to Arkansas and itself named after Thomas Nuttall, is a short (0.4 mi) asphalt trail that loops through a wooded section of the park.  While multiple paved and unpaved spurs provide access to the trail from several parts of the park, the main trailhead is located at the parking lot immediately to your right at the entrance station.

The trail is pretty short and not that scenic compared to those at nearby Pinnacle Mountain State Park and Two Rivers Park, but it is a nice place to take kids or a dog on a stroll if you are camping or picnicking at Maumelle Park.  

View Maumelle Park in a larger map

Coleman Creek Updates

On my way to Hindman Park yesterday, I drove through UALR to check on the Coleman Creek Greenway progress.  Having served on the greenway committee and spent lots of time helping grade and plant the Trail of Tears section at the southern end of campus, I was interested to see if the trail had been expanded.  It turns out that a lot of progress has been made since I last visited. Students can now walk along a nice, wide, tree-lined pedestrian path from 28th St. to Asher Ave. or in other words the full length of the main part of campus; which is an important milestone in terms of the utilitarian value of the trail to students.

The original concept for this trail wasn't just to provide an improved experience for students walking to class from Lot 13 or the dorms.  When complete, the trail will stretch over three miles from Markham at the north end of War Memorial Park down to Fourche Creek near Mabelvale Pike where it could connect to other trails in the area coming in from Hindman Park, Fourche Bottoms, or the former BFI landfill.  Running along both sides of the creek in some sections, the trail will connect areas of residential, recreational, academic, and commercial uses and provide a scenic and healthy alternative transportation route for people looking to avoid driving on University Ave.

More articles on Coleman Creek.

 

Current Coleman Creek Greenway

View Coleman Current in a larger map

Future Coleman Creek Greenway

View Coleman Creek Greenway in a larger map

Hindman Park Trails

Today I visited Hindman Park to see how the trails there are coming along.  From the parking lot at the north end of the park, we hiked northeast along the unpaved trail that parallels Fourche Creek.  That trail is a bit over a mile long and ends at University Ave.  Coming back, we took a side trail to look at the rocky outcrop  that some people climb on.  A nice gravel trail with switchbacks has been completed leading up to the rock.

Hindman Park is part of a massive area of contiguous greenspace in the heart of Little Rock.  It is my hope that the Hindman Park trails will be improved and connected to the old Western Hills Country Club, BFI landfill (it is closed and should soon become a park), Fourche Bottoms, Coleman Creek Greenway, Interstate Park, and the Audubon Nature Center.  A map and description of what this would look like can be seen here.

A more detailed map and description of the trails in this area can be found in Trails of Central Arkansas.

View Hindman Park Trails in a larger map

Emerald Park and River Trail News

Update 2/3/15: Big News on Emerald Park and Big Rock Quarry can be found here.
http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2015/01/emerald-park-big-rock-quarry-burns-park.html


Emerald Park and the River Trail both receive lots of coverage on this blog and in Trails of Central Arkansas.  Emerald Park has some great trails and some of the most incredible scenery Arkansas has to offer, which is why its waterfalls are included on the cover of my book.  The River Trail is one of the best and smartest things the governments of central Arkansas have ever done.  It helps attract businesses and people back into our urban core and improves residents' quality of life.

For these reasons it is shocking that the city of North Little Rock would consider marring this priceless view and recreational resource by selling greenspace to a private developer.  Parkland is rarely recovered from developed land, so cities should be careful about selling their openspace to developers.  Anyone who has biked the entire River Trail knows that the North Little Rock side is vastly superior to the Little Rock side due to the large parks and natural areas on that side as well as the fact that you have to compete with traffic for a large section of the Little Rock side.  This plan would hurt the North Little Rock section of the trail in both these categories by removing greenspace from a section of the trail and increasing vehicular traffic to River Road and the park area.

If you live in North Little Rock, let your elected officials know how you feel about selling greenspace to private developers or attend the City Council meeting this Monday (August 13, 2012) where the sale and development plans will be discussed.

Here are some other sites with information on the proposed sale:
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/222056/2/At-6-New-proposed-development-along-River-Trail-
http://jbarcycling.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-quarry-land-saledevelopment-proposal.html

And a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/savebigrockquarry/

UPDATE:
The development proposal has been pulled from the agenda for the next city council meeting.  I don't know if that means the plan is dead or just in hibernation.  If you live in North Little Rock you should push to have that area officially zoned as parkland so this type of plan won't pop-up again.

Do we really want to ruin this?

Rock Creek Trail Erratum

The Rock Creek Trail in West Little Rock is a flat, shaded, scenic trail that makes for a good summertime stroll.  In both Trails of Little Rock and Trails of Central Arkansas I describe the trail as paved.  The western section of the trail is asphalt, but much of the eastern section is a packed crushed gravel trail.  I got some great feedback recently that made it sound like the gravel section was a little rougher for the wear than when I last visited a few years ago.

Hopefully one day this section of trail will expand much farther in both directions since there is no better use for a floodway/floodplain.  Other parts of Rock Creek's floodway are paved (Boyle Park) and much of the creek runs through city parks (Weedman, Kanis, Boyle).  This trail could one day connect to the Coleman Creek Greenway and to Fourche Bottoms trails allowing residents of West Little Rock to commute to Midtown and Downtown by bicycle through scenic wooded areas instead of along congested concrete highways.

If you find an update or error (no typos please) in Trails of Central Arkansas please let me know and I will post it!

The map below shows existing (blue) and potential (red) trails along Rock Creek.

Pinnacle Mountain Updates II

After visiting the park this past Saturday, I've got two updates for the Pinnacle Mountain State Park section of Trails of Central Arkansas today:

1.  The half-mile Kingfisher Trail now connects to the overflow parking area on the west side of Hwy. 300.  Taking this detour and walking around the overflow parking area road (on a day when it isn't flooded with cars) adds some diversity of scenery and roughly doubles the length of just doing the Kingfisher.  Notice that the trail also has a spur to the large field by the picnic areas and playground.

2.  The park would like me to clarify that they refer to the Quarry Trail as a spur off of the Rocky Valley trail, while I've combined the two in my description of the area.  You can see their maps at this link.

Little Rock Parks Master Plan

It has been more than a month since my last post and, due to papers, tests, and presentations on isotopic fractionation and water quality in Arkansas (it isn't great and doesn't seem to be getting much better), I still don't have anything prepared to blog about.  While I hope to improve on my blogging frequency once the semester ends and summer begins, here are a few interesting items to tide you over:

First, I want to thank everyone who came to my talk at the Arkansas Literary Festival.  The festival was a great success and I recommend checking it out next year.  My talk went well (at least in my opinion!) and we had a great discussion afterwards on parks and trails policy and how to move forward.

I've written a few pieces on master plans, planning, and ideas for future trails in Arkansas, but Mason Ellis over at Life in the Rock, recently wrote a much better and incredibly interesting piece on Little Rock's current and historical parks master plans.  I encourage you to check it out.  It has great maps and some images from John Nolen's 100 year-old master plan for the city, which I frequently cited in my presentations on Fourche Creek as evidence that the city has repeatedly missed opportunities to preserve, and utilize as greenspace, Fourche Bottoms and the rest of the city's creeks and associated floodplains despite being told to do so a hundred years ago.  Roughly five years ago, Little Rock assembled a committee to draft an Open Space Policy Initiative.  The draft and comment area are now gone as far as I can tell, but you can still see what the city was thinking about at the time at: http://www.littlerock.org/ParksRecreation/blogInformation.aspx
As far as I know (please leave a comment or let me know if I'm wrong!) this draft never got its day in front of the board of directors and never was voted on.

Chenal Trails - Guest Post By Griffin (And My Dad)

This past weekend, while I was backpacking and floating the Buffalo, my young nephew Griffin was doing some field research for me back in Little Rock.  Having noticed what appeared to be a dirt trail when dropping off the recycling with my dad, Griffin decided to investigate.  The map below shows what he found.  A nice 1-mile stretch of dirt, gravel, and paved trail through a forested area that connects to a few different parts of Chenal Valley.  According to my field team, this trail is easy for adults and has lots of interesting features for kids to explore.  The trail can be accessed from Chenal Valley Dr. and, I believe, also from Marcella Dr. and Courts Dr.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park Updates

While at Devil's Den State Park today, I ran into Joe Jacobs of Arkansas Outside and he told me about some newish mountain biking trails at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  I hope to visit them soon and will post maps here when I do, but the map below shows where the trailheads are.  The Rabbit Ridge Trail is a fairly short and easy trail for beginners, while I'm told the Jack Fork Trail is more technical and much longer at ~7 miles.  Both are located along Pinnacle Mountain State Park Rd. on the way to the Visitors Center.  The Quarry Trail and the Ouachita Trail have trailheads nearby.  A detailed map of the trails can be viewed here.

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.

Rose Creek Trail

Update 5/11/2014: Paving work has begun. A short stretch between Thayer and Dennison near Capitol Ave. is now paved.

Residents of Capitol View/Stift Station are working with city officials on a trail that would connect the neighborhood to the River Trail.  The proposed Rose Creek Trail would roughly follow Rose Creek and a railroad right-of-way up from Cantrell Rd. to 7th St.  Some supporters envision it continuing along the railroad all the way to Roosevelt Rd., the State Fairgrounds, and even connecting up to a proposed Fourche Bottoms Trail.   In addition to the fairgrounds, this trail would pass by Whitewater Tavern, Little Rock Central High School, and some scenic cemeteries.

Some people have discussed using part or all of this trail as a scenic, yet lengthy work-around to the Dillards/Episcopal RiverTrail problem.

View Rose Creek Trail in a larger map