Tag Archives: state parks

Day 3~Mount Magazine State Park, Paris, AR

06/17/2014 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

On the last day of our stay in Arkansas we packed up and headed to Mount Magazine State Park on the way home.

It was very foggy and raining.

We decided to go ahead and stop at the visitors center though and see if we wanted to do a hike while it was not thundering.

I love the woods like this.

So beautiful.

Usually it is easier to see animals also.

We decided on doing the Signal Hill hike since it was short and went to the highest point in Arkansas.

I only took pictures of the hike with my phone since my camera was tucked away.

The top three are from my phone.

It was raining pretty good at the start but then started pouring!

It was nice to at least have a bug free hike.

We all like hiking in the rain.

Nick said they needed a picture with the plaque that says it is the highest point.

I did not do this.

There was only one other person on the trail but he took a picture for us!

I did take my camera out for these shots at the top.

It got a little wet but dried out just fine.

I would like to visit this place again when we can see more of the views.

We had a great trip though and I am so glad we went!

Hiking

Day 1~Mount Nebo State Park, Dardanelle, AR

06/10/2014 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

Mt. Nebo State Park, Dardanelle, Arkansas.

To celebrate our 10yr anniversary, I rented a Cabin in Mt. Nebo State Park last weekend!

The road to get to the park is steep and very winding.

They do not recommend big trailers.

My boys thought it was a lot of fun, of course.

I had been wanting to visit this NW section of Arkansas for a while now and jumped at the chance to stay there.

I will do a separate post about the cabin but we were really happy with it!

We unloaded our stuff into the cabin so we could get a hike in before the sunset on Friday night.

We chose the Rim Trail as our first hike since you could access it from our cabin via the Summit Park Trail.

This is still on the Summit Park trail.

Lovers Leap and the start of the Rim Trail.

We went down about halfway on the waterfall trail.

On the way back up Nick saw another path so he went on it.

It ended up being a CCC path that met back up with the Rim Trail.

CCC Trail

It was a little rugged but lots of fun!

This was definitely my favorite hike in the park!

Springs

This trail had so many beautiful views!

The boys do better when a trail is a little challenging so they really liked this one as well!

After Sunset Point we hopped back on the Summit Park trail to get back to our cabin.

The loop we did ended up being 3.87 miles.

We hung out at the Cabin for a bit, ate dinner, and headed back to Sunset Point.

I am glad he brought his camera for some sunset pics.

I brought their nature journals with us so they would have something to do while waiting for the sun to set.

So beautiful!

On the way back to our cabin it was pretty dark.

We saw a deer walking around below us!

The boys also got their first taste of catching Fireflies!

I will share some more of our trip soon!

Camping, Hiking, Parks, Running

Our Weekend

04/07/2014 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

I decided last minute to do the DanMan Challenge this past weekend.

I had some complaining from my husband and son about my choice of the 10K, apparently they are above that.

I am not.

I would have choosen the 5K if they had one.

Since it was 3hrs away we camped at Lake Texoma Resort State Park the night before.

Dinner.

I really like these type of stoves, they make heating up water so much easier!

This is not a park we would usually travel to go to because it does not have much hiking but it was a beautiful place to spend an evening.

It even had a hiking trail.

It was an under 3 mile out and back.

Such a beautiful way to spend an evening.

I really like having a little photographer with me.

We started laughing when he just kept clicking away.

Walking along a lake, holding hands at sunset.

A memory I want to cherish forever.

This was me forcing my husband to turn around and my son to take our picture because the light was so pretty.

I decided to leave the air mattress at home, I thought surely the foam pads and an extra sleeping bag would be enough.

I am wimp.

It was not enough.

Reading a bedtime story on my kindle.

The next morning we ran the 10K at the DanMan Challenge!

My oldest and husband ran together and my little man and I ran together.

His thoughts on the privilege of running with his mom, “I am not the slowest in this family so why do I have to run with you?”

Yep, I am slow.

I am pretty sure I was fast enough for his first 10K though.

He did point out that a 10K is very short.

That poor child thinks 6.2 miles is nothing.

It was a fun run on dirt roads and trails.

It is so amazing that someone opens their ranch up and invites all of these strangers to come enjoy it!

It was a great first run for my boy and I!

Since this post already has a lot in it, I will share what we did after the Challenge tomorrow!

There just happened to be a fun history event going on in the area of the Challenge!