On Tuesday, 11/02/2010, we took an overnight trip to Mt. Magazine State Park, in southwest Arkansas, about 150 miles from our house. The purpose was primarily to visit with our friends, John and Alice Davis, from Colorado who now live in Texarkana, TX, but also to see the highest point in AR.The first thing we did was stop at the park visitor center to get maps and make use of their facilities. There were lots of interesting displays and lots of bird feeders, with comfortable chairs to make bird watching easier. Below the feeders was a man made pond that caught my attention. I'm thinking that one like this could be adapted to our property where we have a mostly dry pond. Something like this might work to hold the water better.
At the visitor center we both bought new zip up thermal sweatshirts because it was much colder than we had anticipated. Our first afternoon we hiked up to the summit of Mt. Magazine and were glad we had our warmer clothing. After living in Colorado it seems funny to get excited about a 'hill' that is only 2,753 feet, but we were.
This picture was taken from inside the lobby of the lodge, looking out at their man made water feature. It sounded as pretty as it looked.
We had a room with a king size bed, a balcony, a mini-frig, coffee pot, and a very nice jacuzzi tub right in the room. On the lower level of the lodge was a huge swimming pool, supposedly heated but not warm enough for me. We opted to get in the nearby hot tub instead. When we came back to the room I got into this tub for another soak.
We ate in the lodge restaurant and it was good, which we appreciated since the nearest town was 17 miles away. These are chandeliers in the dining room and they are huge, as are the beams and logs used as support columns. It was a beautiful place to eat.
We were hoping for sunshine when we woke up on Wednesday but it was raining. Nothing to do but have a leisurely breakfast and wait for it to stop. Actually the cloudy skies and fog over the valley made for some interesting pictures.
I was standing on the porch of the lodge to take this picture. The sidewalk leads to the start of a trail along the bluff.
The rain stopped so we went out to walk a short trail along the bluff, just behind the lodge. Alice is having some challenges with her back so she was not able to walk the trail with us. I was remiss in not taking a picture of her inside the lodge. Maybe John did and will send us one for our scrapbook.
It was an easy trail, very well maintained, and not much of a hike at all. It is there mainly to provide access to the scenery and we were appreciative of that.
Because it has apparently been wetter there than in our area, the leaves have better fall color and it was a real treat to see and photograph them.
There are several very nice cabins available, in addition to the lodge rooms and you can see them in the distance from the trail.
As the morning wore on, the sky continued to clear and we could more plainly see some of the rock outcroppings.
I like these old windblown trees that seem to stand guard over the mountain.
I was happy to stay back from the edge to take my pictures, unlike our friend John and Denis. I'm sure he got better pictures but I felt safer staying back further. I was glad we didn't have the grandkids with us.

We were so excited when the blue sky started to appear and the sun peeked out. 



The glassed in room is where the pools and hot tub are located.
Our room was the one on the lower left.
This old rock wall is still standing from when the original lodge was built in the 1930's by the WPA. It burned it 1971. The new lodge was just built 5 years ago. The accommodations are definitely first class.
In the main lobby and in the restaurant there are giant fire places.
It was very welcome after our trek outside in the damp cold weather. My very slim husband gets chilled easily now without all the insulating fat.
We didn't sit there long though. It was a really hot fire.
As the day cleared even more, we could finally see into the valley below. The view is of the Petit Jean River.
I didn't take the following picture. It's one from their website. I wanted to use this aerial view to show the whole lodge and it's location on the bluff. The brochure describes Mt. Magazine as "majestic" and I would certainly agree.