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Arkansas Mountain Hiker LbNA #66187

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Nov 5, 2013
Location:
City:Morilton
County:Conway
State:Arkansas
Boxes:1
Planted by:Viewfinder
Found by: Silver Eagle
Last found:Nov 11, 2020
Status:FFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Nov 5, 2013
Arkansas Mountain Hiker
Petit Jean SP, Morrilton, AR. Placed Nov. 5, 2013
Stamp hand-carved by Viewfinder

One of the most scenic locations in the beautiful west-central area of Arkansas is Petit Jean State Park, located atop Petit Jean mountain between the Ozark and Ouachita ranges. Views from this mountain are amazing: the Cedar Creek Valley, Arkansas and Petit Jean rivers, all especially beautiful in all their glorious fall foliage. This was the first state park in Arkansas, with 21 miles of hiking trails across varying terrain, up and down Cedar Creek canyon and along Cedar Creek to a beautiful waterfall; through enormous rocks at Bear Cave; into an ancient rock shelter. History is everywhere here: ancient pictographs just barely discernible in the Rock Cave Shelter (note: see clues also for my PJSP Pictograph mystery box on the Boy Scout Trail near the Rock Cave Shelter trail); the gravesite of the legendary Petit Jean, dating to the time of French exploration for the whom the mountain is named; and CCC-built stone steps, trails, and buildings and other constructions dating from the 1930’s. Every part of this park is an attraction, including the spacious picnic and camping areas, playground, and park near a small lake, and CCC-built cabins and Mather Lodge overlooking the valley. Among all this, one of the most interesting features is the lodge water tower, a tall stone structure built to resemble a castle tower, and it is here you can find the Arkansas Mountain Hiker letterboxer.

To find the box: Locate Petit Jean SP and find the stone CCC Water Tower near the Mather Lodge (pretty hard to miss it!). You can park here, or easily walk from the lodge parking lot. Explore this structure – go ahead, go inside, you know you really want to – and look up through the open top. Walk around the tower on the outside, and notice near the back left corner of the tower a short path leading away to a concrete pad. Just off this path, not far from the left rear corner of the tower itself, look for a tall Y-shaped tree (not sure what it is, had some bright yellow leaves in November, but too tall to see them clearly for identification). The letterbox is behind this tree, under a flat rock and hidden under leaf debris. PLEASE, PLEASE reseal all the bags and box carefully to protect the logbook, and recover it well with leaf debris and replace the rock as a marker for future finders! And please contact me to let me know the status of this box. Thanks! Now go enjoy all of the rest of the park – don’t miss that hike down Cedar Falls Trail to the falls, but be careful – remember, you also have to climb back up!