16 May 2023 (backdated)
Morrilton, AR
mid-70s with partly cloudy skies and light breezes
For my 52 AR State Parks: 52 Poems project, I chose to visit Petit Jean State Park first because it is the reason the Arkansas State Parks system exists at all. After the area was turned down as a potential national park, Dr. T.W. Hardison, a country doctor who lived on the mountain, lobbied the Arkansas legislature to create a state park system and to designate Petit Jean as the first of its kind in the state. In 1923, with 80 acres around Cedar Falls, the park became a reality, growing through the years to its current 3,471 acres. Much of the park’s infrastructure was created by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s, and while most CCC camps were populated by men ages 18 – 25, Petit Jean’s Company V-1781 was made up of WWI veterans (the V in their company designation stands for veterans). As park signage notes, “Due to this mountain’s challenging terrain, the veterans’ experience was especially valuable.”
Visiting Petit Jean I went in with the barest idea of a plan on how to approach the fieldwork of immersing myself in the land and learning about its specific history and how that fit in with what I had already researched. I started at the Visitor Center, which has an impressive educational display, and talked with the staff there about potential hikes and what I shouldn’t miss. This proved quite fruitful and I’ve followed this approach since. At Petit Jean, I quickly realized I could write 52 poems about this park alone, and narrowing down my content will be difficult.
Over the course of my day, I started at the Cedar Falls overlook, as this is perhaps the most iconic image / place associated with the park. From there, I hiked down to Cedar Creek using part of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Boy Scout Trail. Because I knew I wanted to see a bit of everything (and this is an immense place), I didn’t complete any one trail on this visit.
After getting my fill of the creek views, I headed back to the car and over to the “turtle rocks” and Rock House Cave. Park signage has taught me that the turtle rocks are most likely the result of groundwater working its way through the natural dips and divots of the rocks, “causing oxidation of iron and other heavy minerals in the sandstone.” The rocks are reshaped and discolored by this weathering to produce boulders that look as if they are the backs of turtles. As with the waterfall, my amateur photographic skills do not do this landscape justice.
Pictured here is another of my “stunning” finds, or what I find stunning anyway (natural world nerd here!). This is elegant sunburst lichen growing on one of the turtle rocks. The bright, brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows of this tiny living organism pack a powerful visual punch, and so I find myself diving into research on lichen on my way to learning more about this place that I plan to write a poem both of and for.
Just past the turtle rocks, I walked down to Rock House Cave, which isn’t a true cave, but is a natural bluff shelter. This beautiful stone retains pictographs made by indigenous peoples sometime in the last 2,000 years. After studying the park signage, I was thrilled when I was able to find and identify one pictograph, which is at the center of the stone pictured here. As yet, I haven’t been able to capture in words how it felt to be standing in front of a text written here so long ago–humbling doesn’t even begin to cover it.
My final stop of the day was at Stout’s Point and the site of Petit Jean’s Grave overlooking the Arkansas River. The legend of Petit Jean, a young French woman who disguised herself as a cabin boy in order to follow her lover into the New World (unbeknownst to him until the day she died on this mountain) is well known around here. I’m finding plenty to unpack from her story as well as the stories being told by the land, the plants, and the people I met during my day at Petit Jean.
This park is the fourth largest, and I know I’ll need a return visit to see the Seven Hollows area as well as to spend more time hiking the trails around Cedar Creek. As my first official site visit, I came away overwhelmed with information and over 180 images, which are crucial to my process as they are powerful reminders. After struggling to draft the beginnings of a poem, I’ve settled on the idea of writing a long poem in parts, including Dr. Hardison & the CCC, Cedar Falls & the Cedar Creek trails, Rock House Cave & the turtle rocks, the legend of Petit Jean, and whatever I find when I visit Seven Hollows. This one is going to be a whopper, but as I think it will also introduce all the other poems, that seems fitting.
Next up: Woolly Hollow State Park!
