geocaches

A couple of good geocaches with long hikes in.

This one was a really good one, about two miles in, only 8 people have done it in a few years, but the ones who did give great reviews on it. Two waterfalls with pools. We may go back this summer. Big ammo box which Luke loves.

Dad went with us on this one, outside of Mena going up toward Queen Wilhelmina SP. Another ammo can at an old CCC dam that you walk across.

View of the old lake that use to supply Mena with water.

misc

trampoline amy's friend gave us. I thought it would be a nightmare to put together but it only took about twenty minutes.

Amy's (really Ross and Luke's) new Ipad she got from her school. Pretty cool device.

Avery in her raincoat. Record flooding in East Arkansas and all the way down the Mississippi this year. Our duck camp got water under it but think we are still dry for now.

Brought Rocky in one afternoon. He never gets to come in, but he just laid there calmly the whole time. Avery was a different story. She is scared to death of him, so she went outside. In other news, she got kicked out of day care as a two year old. seriously. ha

fishing

I haven't done as much fishing this spring as I normally do.

Gary was camping on the Cossatot, so Luke and I took the canoe and met him for a float trip. We put in at the visitor center and floated down to white mines a couple of miles down. Seeing as how Gary wore jeans, i was the designated pusher when we'd get hung up on rocks. The river was still up some, so we went through some pretty good rapids. I had to get out a couple of times and went swimming by accident. The water is still cold.

Luke didn't mind the cold water, he did some swimming.

Gillham Lake

Farm pond. Avery liked the fish and wanted to touch them. Surprising for her.

Mark and Paula's. Luke caught a bunch of big bream by himself, had a great time.

Tall Peak and Bard Springs

Tall Peak and Bard Springs are only a few miles from Amy's Grandmother's house (also near Albert Pike). We took cousins Brycen and Brenna to see these places on mother's day.

Bard Springs is a neat little place in the mountains. It has old documentation posted from the 30s where water samples were sent off to a scientist to determine how pure the water was. The study said that although not as clean as Mena's water supply, the water straight out of the the spring was cleaner and safer than the majority of city water in the state of Arkansas.

This was a little hidden waterfall running due to the recent rains. It goes up as far as you can see in the top of the photo.

Luke and cousins playing with a dead frog.

This is the old fire tower on top of Tall Peak. It was misty that day so we couldn't see much, but you usually have a great view.

Stopped at Shady Lake on the way out, this is over the dam.

Part 3- Cedar Falls Hike

We got up in the morning and started the Cedar Falls hike--a little over 2 mile hike round trip down into the canyon to the 95 foot waterfall. Amy and I had done this a few years ago, so she stayed behind and kept Avery while I took Luke and Lindy. We started at around 7:30 am and had the whole thing to ourselves...we actually finished the hike before any other hikers even started.

Bridge on the way to the falls:

Found another cache close to the falls:

These photos just don't do it justice, it looks so much bigger when you are down inside the bowl at the falls:

The main trail stops at the pool, but there is a small, difficult trail up around the pool where you can get back behind the falls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzEnHaUcVlA

Luke loved this, and of course he had to get soaked in the falls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbgFTKt9ijU

You can see Lindy off in the distance in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMmZDGQycGQ

Avery got restless while we were gone and wanted to "hike" (another new word she learned this weekend). Amy decided to get her out of the cabin and take her part of the way down the trail while she was waiting on us. There was a wet spot where a spring had crossed the trail, and Amy slipped down and fell backwards onto a rock, hurting her back. She is doing a little better tonight but still has some sharp pains when she moves wrong.

Spring Break Part 2- Petit Jean State Park

Lindy is also on spring break this week, but she had to stay a few days and work, so we decided to go visit her and take her to Petit Jean, which is only about 30 minutes from where she goes to school (Arkansas Tech).

This is the first overlook on the way into the park:

This is the swing on the front porch of the cabin we rented. The cabin was really nice; it had a big fireplace, front porch with swing, and a good place behind it for rock climbing and exploring. You could walk right out of the door and start hiking the Cedar Falls trail.

Luke playing behind the cabin:

This is the Bear Cave hike, a short hike that we all went on.

videos from the bear cave hike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMsJXDhhsT4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lukpbbw9bw

Amy took Avery back to the car and Lindy, Luke and I took a different trail that went back to the lodge.

Next we went to main overlook of Cedar Falls.

videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAtV_TAiw7w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLj9Keb6Z2E

Rock House Cave:

We also hit some more geocaches in the park, one that was in a birdhouse and one that was way up in a tree that you had to let down with a pulley system.

We did all of the short hikes and overlooks, played on the playground, went to the lake, and then Luke and I played catch before dark.

We saved the Cedar Falls hike for this morning, and it was awesome. Details and pics in the next post.

Ok after an hour working on these posts, I hope I get some comments. I promise I will start leaving comments on your blogs! This thing is not very fast or user friendly.