Sandy Longhorn poetry

26
Dec
2024

Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological

Date of Visit: 19 Dec 2024

Scott, AR

55º ~ thankful for partly sunny skies that turned mostly to sun

Another park on my much-anticipated list, Plum Bayou Mounds (formerly Toltec Mounds) proved to be a solid choice for a December visit, checking off park #36. Only a 10-minute drive down the road from Plantation Agriculture Museum, the two make for a great day-trip pair. Why a December park? After reading up about the history and archaeology in the visitor center, the bulk of the visit takes place as a mile-and-a-half walk around the mound site. Knowing how this flat delta land heats up from May to October, walking the path in December was a delight.

For years, everyone called this place Toltec Mounds because the Knapp family who owned the site in the 19th century attributed the immense mounds to the Toltec people of Mexico. By 1883, archeologists disproved the theory but the name stuck. Only recently did the site receive a name to more accurately reflect its origin. The people who built these mounds were prehistoric Native Americans, not tied to any modern tribe. The site’s inhabitation record spans from AD 650 – AD 1050, although one display in the museum states AD 950 as an endpoint. (These discrepancies often send me down the research rabbit hole!) In the end, no one can say why this culture either left the area or died out.

Archeologists now name the people who built the mounds after a modern waterway nearby, Plum Bayou. The Plum Bayou people would have lived scattered in villages and on small farms throughout the area, coming together several times a year at the mounds to hold religious and social ceremonies. Alas, their culture pre-dates any written record.

It is believed…. Archeologists speculate…. Scholars are unsure….

While walking the land, I kept coming back to these phrases in all of the park information. This vast area once held 18 mounds, with only 3 natural mounds remaining (and 1 recreation). My heart wrenched to learn that large-scale farming destroyed the other 15 mounds. Old hand-drawn maps and modern technology, including drilling soil cores, show us where the absent mounds once stood. The park marks them with large alphabetical red and white signs, providing a haunting vision of what we’ve lost.

I walked and I ruminated on the human urge to know. Put a puzzle such as this in front of us and we are driven to try and figure it out. Who were these people? What did they do here? What were the sounds of their language, their songs? Piecing together information gathered on site and at other sites of a similar date in the region only offers so much information. I can’t stop fixating on the large gaps of what we cannot know.

Posted by Sandy Longhorn, 0 comments
21
Dec
2024

Plantation Agriculture Museum

Date of Visit: 19 Dec 2024

Scott, AR

50º partly sunny, cold wind

When looking at the parks I hadn’t visited yet, I confess that Plantation Agriculture Museum State Park did not excite me, not because it focuses on agriculture (I come from farmers!) but because of the word “plantation.” I knew that the museum would not address slavery and I wasn’t looking forward to another whitewashing of history. I overcame my dread and made the visit, in conjunction with a visit to Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park just down the road (next entry).

Touring the museum, I found 5 small placards referring to slave labor, including the fact that in 1860 the state census counted 111,115 enslaved people, making up nearly 1/4 of the state’s entire population. A few placards down, the exhibit shifts to sharecropping and tenant farming, the proclaimed focus of the museum when you read the fine print.

As a museum, this one showcases exhibits on cotton farming in the delta from the late 1800s through WWII, around the time that sharecroppers were “tractored off the land” by the onset of mechanized farming. I got a good chuckle out of some of the farming information that I already knew, such as what types of meat come from a hog and how corn is harvested, dried, shelled, and ground. However, I did learn a lot about cotton farming and the pestilence of the boll weevil. I got to hold raw cotton, so lightweight! I got to stand next to a 500-pound cotton bale (the standard) and marvel at how much hand picking went into that product. And I got to learn that the expression “fair to middlin'” comes from grading cotton.

After touring the main museum exhibits and taking a cursory glance at the small room devoted to rice farming, I headed outside. The Cotton Belt Railroad (the St. Louis Southwestern Railway) had a spur on the park site and you can still see the raised bed where the tracks once stood. The park has a pavilion exhibiting antique tractors and farm equipment, but the wind got to me, so I headed to the next enclosed option. Inside a gigantic building, I toured the workings of a steam-powered cotton gin. It was chilly inside and while the machinery’s scale impressed me, it didn’t beg me to linger. Past the gin, a seed warehouse makes up the last part of the park exhibit. The inside of this building offered a few more exhibits about early 20th century farming.

All in all, I appreciated the thoroughness of the information on farming in this area, as it filled in more specifics about cotton farming for me. Biggest takeaway: cotton is a row crow, but you have to harvest and then re-harvest the same land up to 4 times a season. The bolls don’t all mature at the same rate. I can’t imagine the psychology of getting done with an acre and then having to go back and do it again!

Next up: Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park

Posted by Sandy Longhorn, 0 comments
27
Oct
2024

DeGray Lake Resort

Date of Visit: 20-21 Sept 2024

Bismarck, AR

95º feels like 106º

I arrived at DeGray Lake Resort State Park (#34) mid-afternoon after kayaking at Daisy State Park that morning. The unseasonable excessive heat warning meant that I kept my activities to a minimum, and I hope to return to the park in cooler times when I’ve finished all my other visits. Knowing the forecast in advance, I booked a ticket for the sunset cruise on the lake and made a reservation to stay in the wonderfully air conditioned lodge. Before my visit, many people told me about the beauty of this large park and I pulled onto the property with high hopes for getting at least some exploring in. The park centers around another huge human-made lake, this one created by damming the Caddo River for all the usual reasons: flood control, hydroelectric power, water source, and recreation.

After checking into the lodge and cooling off in my lovely room, I still had about 90 minutes to wait for the sunset cruise. I decided to check out the 1-mile Island Trail that loops around next to the resort. Staying in the shade and cutting my hiking speed in half and then in half again while drinking a full 24-ounce bottle of water in the 40 minutes I spent in the trees made for an enjoyable walk in the woods. I got to see my second armadillo of the day (though no picture this time), watch an itty bitty lizard scamper up a tree, and identify a white slant line moth resting on a pile of pine needles. And, of course, I got to spend time with some of my favorite beings: the trees.

Finally, it was time to drive over to the marina for the cruise. At the dock, Scott, our park interpreter, met us and got us settled on the large pontoon boat. In all, 16 of us enjoyed a little bit of respite from the heat as we motored out of the “dead slow no wake” zone. When we sped up event more, all of us grinned as the wind whipped the sweat from our faces. Suddenly, Scott cut the motor and called out “bald eagle! pointing to our left. That was our first sighting of several of the majestic birds soaring around the shoreline. At one point, Scott stopped us beside this gorgeous “island.” With the setting sun lighting up the variations of color in the sandstone I fell a lit bit in love with this “tip of a Ouachita mountain” jutting up in the aftermath of the lake creation. Here, you can skip the hike to the top of a mountain and just sail over to enjoy the view.

Now, without further adieu, the sun began its slow dip into the western waters of the lake. We’d been headed into the path of the red ball our whole trip and the show did not disappoint. The heat and humidity, plus all the dust in the air from our recent drought, meant yellow, red, orange on full blast.

Next Up: Plantation Agriculture Museum

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
19
Oct
2024

Daisy

Date of Visit: 20 Sept 2024

Kirby, AR

85º feels like 97º ~ enough said

I set out for Daisy State Park, park #33, knowing that the everlasting summer heat was not giving up this year. Nevertheless, I persevered and got in a good morning’s kayak on Lake Greeson. This park, like so many of the “lake” parks, draws mostly campers and folx intent on fishing or boating. I paddled in the shade near the shoreline (I do not kayak out in the depths when alone) and watched people in bass boats cast their chances into the clear water. As a beginner kayaker, the fact that the state parks rent kayaks, including the life jacket, has opened up a whole new way for me to interact with the landscape on these trips. Seeing the lake & shore at nearly eye-level and slowing down to a paddle pace means I see what I might miss when hiking a lakeside trail.

On this trip, I pulled my kayak down from the wooden storage structure with a huge thunk. Park staff stored the solo kayaks above the doubles, perhaps because of the weight of the doubles, but for someone traveling alone who is “height challenged” I was glad no one was around to watch my folly. Once on the water, though, I settled in and let the kayak glide into the shadows. For the first half of my outing, glass calm water meant easy going and the ability to peer down at the silt-covered rocky bottom. The occasional wake from the fishing boats rippled beneath me and meant a few extra dips of the paddle to keep me off shore. From the trees above me, I listened to Carolina chickadees and crows. I startled up one great blue heron and it spread those gorgeous wings (I always imagine them so disgruntled by my interruption) to sail across the lake.

As I moved along, I took my time, poking into each cove and stopping to snap pictures of countless trees, exposed roots, and tumbles of sandstone. On one such stop near the end of my route, nose of the kayak wedged between two rocks to hold me there while I took pictures, I heard a snuffling among the dry leaves. A closer look revealed an armadillo! Say what you will of the small armored creatures, if you ever get the chance to see one up close and study the delicate features of its face, I dare you not to be charmed. When the squat creature waddled off into the brambles, I pushed off and headed back to the dock.

Lake Greeson, like nearly all the lakes in Arkansas, was created by the Army Corps of Engineers. The need for flood control and hydroelectric power helped shape Arkansas into “the natural state” as it stands today. Given our ever erratic weather, I’m grateful for the flood control, but whenever I’m on one of these human-created lakes, I tend to drift into wondering about what rests beneath me. What remnants of the pre-flooded world would remain could I walk the bottom and dig?

Up Next: DeGray Lake Resort

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
28
Jul
2024

Logoly

Date of Visit: 18 April 2024

Magnolia, AR

78º cloudy with high humidity

Just outside of Magnolia, Logoly, my 32nd park, charmed me. First things first, though, let’s tackle the pronunciation. Of all the parks, this one had me stumped. Before arriving, I kept saying log-ollie. Nope. It’s low-go-lie. Three families shared ownership of the land now comprising the park: the Longinos, Goodes, and Lyles. In the 1940s they sold the land to the Boy Scouts of America, and the BSA christened it Camp Logoly, slightly tweaking the pronunciation of the syllables derived from the family names. In the late 60s, the BSA left and sold the land to the Nature Conservancy, and in 1973, the State Parks system acquired it for the purpose of establishing an environmental education park. A half century later, I’m here to say they’ve done a wonderful job!

The forest rules this park. While not virgin timber, the woodlands on the parks acreage comprise some of the last old-growth forest in Arkansas. In fact, I learned the difference while at the park. In the past, I might have used the two descriptions interchangeably. Virgin remains obvious, never cut. Old growth means it might have been cut some way back in the day, but the forest has evaded massive cuts and re-growth for the timber industry. The park provides three trails as entry points to experiencing the magnificent trees and all the supporting cast members.

If you have any questions about the forest ecosystem, or you have kids interested, this is the park for you. The visitor center provides great displays and interactive models. At other parks in timber country, I found many displays championing the timber industry in Arkansas. As I read about the conservation of this land, I felt relieved. It turns out that we can thank Magnesia Springs (also located in the park) as early tourism to the site meant the land received protection from before the turn of the 20th century. The park also takes environmentalism seriously as shown by the “green building” status of the visitor center. Then, out on the Crane’s Fly Trail, I found one of my favorite spots, the “dead tree at work” stop. Park staff built a wooden bridge over a dead tree going about the business of decomposing. There is even a big “do not disturb” sign which made me smile.

While I didn’t choose the longer, 2-mile Spring Branch Trail, I enjoyed every moment I spent poking around Crane’s Fly and the offshoot to Magnesia Springs and Salt Springs. Being on the trails in April meant I saw some pretty spring colors in the flowers. Some that I noted: Carolina vetch, pacific pea, and prairie phlox, along with blooming red buckeye (a new favorite). Here’s a picture of the phlox with a photobombing inchworm for the joy of it. On the trail to Salt Springs, I stopped short at the sight of an all black dragonfly which turned out to be, in fact, an ebony jewelwing damselfly. I couldn’t get a good pic of that one, so you’ll have to click the link to see an image.

Next up: ??? I’ll be taking a break from posting as I reorganize my park plans. With 20 parks left to visit, the majority in northeast Arkansas, and a scattering left in the Ouachitas, I am reading and planning. We’ve got a massive heatwave headed our way, so I’ll be keeping to the air conditioning for the time being, working on writing and revising. Until then, thanks for reading!

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
25
Jul
2024

Conway Cemetery State Park

Date of Visit: 18 April 24

Bradley, AR

78º cloudy skies

Park #31, Conway Cemetery earns the distinction of “most obscure” in my list so far. So obscure, in fact, that there is no traditional state park greeting sign.

Oh, that I wish the park name referenced Conway the city. Nope. This park consists of the family cemetery of Arkansas’ first governor, James Sevier Conway. To find it, you drive nearly as far southwest in the state as you can, down highway 29 to Bradley and hook west on 160. When you reach the township of Walnut Hill, you turn south again for a couple of miles until you see the familiar brown state sign for parks, wildlife management areas, and such. Turn left there and enter a tunnel of green as the trees dome over the cracked asphalt of the drive into the cemetery. In .25 miles, you arrive at your destination and the cemetery opens up before you, nestled in a nook of a large open pasture.

In terms of sights and activities, the park is simple. Several placards offer information on the governor and his family. The tombstones show how hand chiseled marble and granite age over nearly two centuries. And the black metal fence enclosing graves and trees makes for a picturesque moment. I did walk among the graves, but the number of ant hills that ran rampant through the grass meant I kept my eyes on my feet most of the time until I found a safe spot to stop. Overall, the place gave off the air of being seldom visited, which left me sad.

While I’ve read about Arkansas achieving statehood and its early governance, I didn’t have any real knowledge of Governor Conway beyond his name before my visit. Nothing I learned surprised me, but again, I was struck by how the state park system handles issues of slavery. In this case, the Conway family lived on a plantation (now long gone, no buildings remain). Conway came to Arkansas from Tennessee as a land surveyor and “began acquiring what would become a large cotton plantation” in Lafayette County in 1823. Eventually President Andrew Jackson commissioned him to survey Arkansas’ southern boundary. When Arkansas became a state in 1836 he was elected governor and served one, 4-year term. He then returned to southwest Arkansas and established the plantation called Walnut Hill. The township still carries the name.

In all of the information, I read the words “cotton” and “plantation” and of course I understood that meant slavery. However, the only mention made of the people who were actually enslaved by the governor occurs in the paragraph about his death. “His will … divided his estate (including the estate’s enslaved population) among his wife and six living children.” There is no mention of a cemetery for those slaves who died on the plantation. I couldn’t help but wonder where their remains might be resting (in unrest?).

In 1994, the last extended Conway family members to be buried here were interred and the cemetery no longer operates. Visiting the park took little time, but the information of the Conway family mirrored by the silence of the families of slaves left a definite impression.

Next Up: Logoly

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
23
Jul
2024

Arkansas Post Museum

Date of Visit: 13 April 2024

Gillett, AR

82º bright sun & breezy

Visiting park #30, Arkansas Post Museum, turned out to be quite an interesting couple of hours. Prior to my visit, I learned that this park marks the time when the French first established trading posts near the Mississippi River in the late 17th century (marking the beginning of European colonization of Arkansas). It was my understanding that the state park would be at the location of the first trading post, and that turned out to be only somewhat accurate. Fascinating history unfolded before my eyes.

But, first, this park is a small complex of 5 buildings, only open Wednesday – Sunday. When I visited, I did not meet any park interpreters, although there was one woman doing what looked like office work in a small administrative building (not park of the exhibit). She pointed me to the first building (where I self-inked my park passport stamp), a replica of a house from the 18th/19th centuries, filled with artifacts and displays. From there, I read placards and followed a brick path through the property.

The museum displays provided quite a bit of information about living on the frontier with limited resources. I wound through the house and looked at furniture, clothing, and household goods; however, some of the items in the first building were also from the early 20th century, so I got a little confused. Outside the house, a separate kitchen stands. The displays teach about the necessity of a separate kitchen for 1) fire safety and 2) temperature control of the main house during the blazing hot summers. Looking at the wood-fired stove and the cast-iron cooking tools reaffirmed what I already knew about myself: I was born in the right time. There is no way I would have survived on the frontier. (My eyesight alone would have meant the end of me at an early age!)

Just past the kitchen building I got my next surprise at the park. I saw a tall structure with stairs leading up to a platform. The silhouette looked vaguely familiar, but it took reading the signage to realize the park features a replica gallows. I confess that I found this a bit incongruous with the rest of the displays.

I continued past the daunting example of “frontier justice” and spent more time looking through the Refeld-Hinman Log Cabin, a “two-pen dogtrot cabin built from square-hewn oak logs 4 to 9 inches thick.” (pens = rooms, both off the central breezeway). The park showcases one of the few remaining original dogtrot cabins in southeast Arkansas, although it had to be moved from its original location.

Following the path onward, I found a giant metal building that contained all kinds of displays from early European settlement periods to the 20th century. While I couldn’t find a clear reason some of the displays were housed in this particular park, they were all interesting. The whole time I meandered through the park buildings I kept puzzling over one thing: why wasn’t the park closer to the Mississippi River, or the Arkansas River for that matter? From my previous reading, I understood that the first trading post was established near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Arkansas Rivers.

Finally, I found my answer in a park sign. Here’s the reality. In 1686, Frenchman Henri de Tonti established the first European trading and military post at the confluence of the two rivers. Over the next 133 years, the post moved around due to flooding. By 1819 it had relocated a bit farther up the Arkansas River. When the state parks system got its start in the 1920s, the legislature established Arkansas Post (on its 1819 location on the banks of the Arkansas River) as the 3rd official state park. This made perfect sense to me, but the 1819 location is several miles east of the current state park. It turns out that in 1960 the US Congress authorized the National Park Service to take over the 1819 site, dissolving the site’s identity as a state park. The Arkansas Post National Memorial now commemorates the “original” post. The citizens of Arkansas County bought land 2 miles down the road from the national memorial and established a museum there. In 1997, the “new” site became Arkansas’ 50th state park. So tangled and fascinating!

And yes, I did go visit the national memorial, but since that’s not park of the poem project, I’ll end my tale here.

Next up: Conway Cemetery

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
15
Jul
2024

Cane Creek

Dates of Visit: 12-14 April 2024

Star City, AR

75º – 85º and sunny, in other words, perfection

Many things went into making my visit to Cane Creek, park 29, special, but the one that leapt out at me from the visitor center on my arrival was the fact that the park straddles two of Arkansas’ six geological divisions: the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The ancient shores of the Gulf of Mexico once stretched into what is now southern Arkansas, creating the sandy loam which is home to pine trees for miles and miles. In the eastern portion of the state, the repeated course changes of the Mississippi River, and several major tributaries, cut through the sand over geologic time and deposited the fertile soil of the delta. The park land sits on the far eastern edge of the coastal plain, while Cane Creek Lake occupies the alluvial plain. This thrilled the landform geek inside me to no end.

On this visit, I tried out a new accommodation. I chose the Rent-an-RV for my two-night stay. While I did rattle around inside by myself (the permanent RV sleeps six), I also had access to an awesome wooden deck with a table and chairs. Given how beautiful the weather remained for my entire visit, I ate out there for every meal.

While the park mainly focuses on the lake, with fishing being a primary draw, the first night there, I walked out to the Delta View Trail (2.5 miles), which shares the first mile of the 15.5 mile multi-use Cane Creek trail. As with most of the parks I visited this past spring, a recent rain left the trail a bit muddy, but that didn’t deter me from stretching my legs. Along the way, I took in the swaths of red buckeye in bloom. The night ended with an interpreter-led frog call outing. We only heard one of the dozen-plus species that night, but when the green frog (lithobates clamitans) echo back the call the interpreter broadcasted, all of us jumped and shouted.

On day two, I got brave. I rented a kayak and took to the lake. I do have some limited experience kayaking, but I had never gone solo before. Cane Creek Lake proved to be a great place for this beginner. There was a slight wind, but nothing too strenuous, and I just made sure I paddled into the wind for the first hour I was out so that I’d get a little push headed home. I also hugged the shoreline and made sure I had my life jacket on. Really, with the number of people out fishing from their boats, even if I tipped, I’d have gotten help in no time. It took about 30 minutes of holding myself far too tensely before I relaxed and let the kayak and the water do their jobs. Once I did that, I had a blast. The view, so close to the water’s surface, can’t be beat!

While kayaking along the shore, I enjoyed skirting tons and tons of lily pads. Sadly, none were in bloom and many of them were pretty beat up by what looked like either paddles or trolling motors, but if thriving lily pads are any sign of good water, then Cane Creek Lake has nothing to fear. The one other kayaker I encountered, a man from Ohio, even commented on their numbers, swearing he’d never seen so many. When I wasn’t examining vegetation in the water, I was checking out birds and other winged things. The dragonflies showed up to escort me from time to time, and there was a group of coots bobbing on the water ahead of me. No matter how much I paddled, I couldn’t get close enough to get good photos with my cell phone, darn it. They kept swimming away from me. Imagine that!

I ended my paddle by cutting out to a stand of dead trees populated by cormorants. Again, I couldn’t get photographs that would do the sight justice so I just floated there and took it all in. Heading back to the boat launch, I did take no fewer than 35 pics of the shoreline, taking advantage of the change in perspective. Also, I know I’ll be kayaking more in the future!

Next up: Arkansas Post Museum

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
30
May
2024

Moro Bay

Dates of Visit: 22-23 March 2024

Jersey, AR

54º~rain first day, full sun second, light wind

Moro Bay State Park (#28) completed my trifecta of parks all located in or near El Dorado. Given the disappointment of the Natural Resources park, I was glad this was the way my trip ended and not the other way around. On the park sign you see the juncture where Moro Bay and Raymond Lake meet the Ouachita River (the standout geologic feature of this park). Also in the picture, the orange ferry, no longer in use but once the only way to cross before the highway 63 bridge was built in 1992 (yes, 1992!). Like many of the lake parks, this one calls to the fishing folx and features some super cool cabins built to withstand the periodic flooding. Only caveat for anyone with kids: there’s no beach. They do rent kayaks if you want to get up close and personal with the shorelines. Alas, March had turned back into February when I was there so I stuck with the group tour on the big pontoon boat.

I planned my trip around two park-sponsored events. First, a Friday afternoon gathering in the visitor center called “Meet the Alligator.” I mean, come on? Who doesn’t want the chance to get up close and personal with an American alligator. While it rained outside, I joined a handful of families with small kids to learn more about gators. And, we all got a chance to pet Maurice (funnily, named after the lemur in the Madagascar movie). For those concerned with animal treatment, Maurice has a great big aquarium. The park never traps or uses wild alligators, as that is definitely against the law. They purchase a baby from an alligator farm in Louisiana and keep it until it is about 3, as alligators grow about 1 foot per year and at 3 feet they become unmanageable as an educational specimen.

Paul, our park ranger, talked for about 30 minutes and I learned so much. Example: Moro Bay is about as far north as alligators get in AR and their range matches that of mayhaw bushes. So, if local people are making mayhaw jelly, there’s bound to be a gator around. Biggest fact: alligators win the contest for strongest jaws in the animal kingdom, far outstripping even lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! The only problem is that their jaws only go up and down, not side to side. They can’t chew! That’s why they roll their prey; they’re trying to wrench off a manageable piece to swallow whole, oh my! Final takeaway, it is illegal to feed or harass an American alligator. Just don’t.

The second event I signed up for brought me back on Saturday morning, with the sun in full swing. Too bad the temperatures didn’t respond in kind. They stayed in the low 50s as a small group of us boarded the park’s pontoon boat for a water tour with Paul. A bit bulkier than normal, my park wear (long workout pants, a heavy sweatshirt over a T, a medium snuggly jacket, and gloves) got weighed down a bit more with my life jacket and binoculars, but the layers definitely helped me stay comfy as the cold wind came up off the water. We cruised around the bay, down into the lake a bit, and checked out the river by sight (the water was running high and fast). As we meandered on the water, I took a zillion pics of the bald cypress trees living the high life in the high water. I don’t think my fascination with them will ever end. Again, Paul taught us a lot, this time about the history of river traffic in the area, the state’s response to flooding (a topic covered at many of the parks near rivers & lakes), and where to find the best fishing spots.

I ended my time at the park with a picnic and then walked a bit on one of the lakeside trails, although recent heavy rain meant I couldn’t complete either of the official trail hikes. Even with not ideal weather, I enjoyed the visit and left with a lot of imagery floating around in my head for the future poem.

Next up: Cane Creek

Posted by Sandy Longhorn
27
May
2024

South Arkansas Arboretum

Date of Visit: 22 March 2024

El Dorado, AR

53º cloudy to drizzling rain

I fell off the blog updates because of making park visits and writing, writing, writing. Glad to get back to sharing my trips with y’all. My 27th park, the South Arkansas Arboretum State Park stands out for being 12 acres tucked inside the city of El Dorado. As a former community college instructor, I love that South Arkansas Community College manages this site. Asphalt trails intersperse the preserved native woodland and the beds of both native and non-native flower species curated by area master gardeners. The walking experience proved an interesting juxtaposition as I wended under the canopy of tall pines and oaks all the while accompanied by the swishing of car tires rolling through the nearby neighborhood. (Aside: I like the rough and tumble feel of the park sign but missed the continuity of the traditional entrance signage at the other parks.)

I visited the arboretum early in the morning trying to beat some spring showers. I got about 10 minutes into my walk when the drizzle began and I had to run back to the car for my umbrella. In my notebook, I recorded the sounds accompanying me on my walk: pine warblers (ubiquitous on my travels in south Arkansas), an adamant male cardinal, my ever favorite Carolina wren, and the scattered rhythm of raindrops on my umbrella. Strolling along (I hesitate to even call it a walk b/c I kept stopping to take pictures), I also admired the spring green green green of the moss running along much of the paving. Being there right at the advent of spring meant getting to see many of the hardwood trees just leafing out. I fell a bit in love with this yellow poplar (the softest of the hardwoods, fyi). I mean, just look at the character in those leaf-shapes, the sublime new-life green, and the way it all sort of explodes off the end of that branch. Yum yum for the eye.

However, far and away the title of winner, grand champion, and wowza wowza for this trip goes to the overwhelming number of various azaleas in full and perfect bloom. Not all of these were native, but I stopped and admired them all. The rain only heightened their beauty. Trust that I filled up my iPhone with images, but my self-imposed rules for these posts mean I had to choose just one to share. I selected this white variety because of the drama of the water droplets and the delicacy of the stamens. To give all of nature its due, I also have a slew of photos from the parking lot where pollen fell in multi-colored layers atop the runoff water and formed delightful abstract whorls and swirls. I love it all.

I’m thankful to all who help keep the arboretum in shape, providing sanctuary for plants and humans alike!

Next up: Moro Bay

Posted by Sandy Longhorn