Intro
When I departed Belzoni, Mississippi I continued westward on SR 12 and then, mistakenly ended up on old US 61 which was a teeny-tiny road. I knew I had made a wrong turn when I ended up at a crossroads in Arcola. I still have no idea how I ended up there.
From Arcola I continued the short distance west to SR 1 which is the " The Great River Road" and follows the Mississippi River. In 2010 I drove another section of this up to the north near Bobo.
In a few short miles I saw a turn-off sign for the "River Bridge". In 2010 I crossed the Mighty Muddy via the old steel truss bridge. At that time the new bridge was still under construction.
The $110,826,530.00 bridge project is now complete. (Photo: WikiPedia)
A look at the old bridge when it was new:
As I crossed the new span I looked to the north and could still see one remaining section of the old bridge standing and a section of it sitting on a river barge. Hopefully these bridge sections will be back in service on a Greenway somewhere.
After crossing into Arkansas I stopped at the Welcome Center for some much needed relief. I also wanted to stop and think about where I would be spending the night. It was now 4:20 and I would need to hole up somewhere soon. I checked the map. El Dorado was about 90 miles to the west. This meant some night time driving which I was reluctant to do. But, having been to El Dorado before I knew I could find lodging there with no problem. In fact, the Flamingo Hotel, where I stayed in 2010 might just still be open.
When I was in El Dorado in 2010 I had a lot of fun exploring the downtown area. If you have not seen the photos you might want to take a look.
After I got settled into the Flamingo I took a look at the map hoping to find someplace for a much needed Thanksgiving day stroll in the woods. Luckily, White Oak State Park was not to far to the north. A look at the State Parks web site turned up the Fern Hollow Trail, a 10 mile hike and bike trail. It was a loop trail so it sounded perfect! And, it would also be a great way to spend Thanksgiving.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
Here we are at the trail head. Pretty fancy! It looked very inviting after making my way through the campground which was jammed full of RVs, ATVs and barking dogs. My idea of hell.
This woods was full of big, beautiful Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) and lots of other goodies. The tree shown here was about 30" diameter at breast height (DBH).
Nice bark! Certainly much better than the bark which I encountered in the campground.
This tricked me at first. From distance I could not tell what I was seeing. There were pine needles hanging everywhere and of course the ground was covered as well. This is a branch and leaves of the American Beech (Fagus grandifolia).
I like to hike. And I like to know where I am going and when I am still on the trail. So, I appreciate it when a trail is well blazed. But, someone went overboard on this trail. From this line of sight I could see no less than 5 trail markers. Considering the size, shape and color of them this turned them into a blot on the landscape and a visual distraction/detraction. Why they were so heavy handed with the markers, I do not know.
Nice signage. This was about a 1/2 mile from the trail head. The Beech trail can be turned in to a short loop trail of about 2 miles. And there is a bonus - no pesky mountain bikes!
The road bed led to beginning/end of the Fern Hollow loop which was a nice, winding path through the rolling woods.
This is the first time I have seen county markers on a trail. The other county through which the trail went is Nevada County.
The word Ouachita is composed of two Choctaw words: ouac, a buffalo, and chito, large. It means the country of large buffaloes, numerous herds of those animals having formerly covered the prairies of Ouachita. - WikiPedia
The woods was full of American Holly (Ilex opaca), both large and small. This shows the mottled bark.
This far south it was still Autumn. Some of the trees and shrubs still had some nice color like the leaves of the Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) shown here. Gotta love that Latin binomial!
Along with the distinctively shaped leaves the Sweetgum has a couple of other distinguishing characteristics, like the winged stems shown here. The "wings" are sometimes referred to as "corky protuberances".
And then there are the so called "Gum Balls" which bear the seeds. How this structure evolved and why I would like to know. Very odd.
A closer look at the Gum Ball.
This is one of about a half dozen excellent interpretive signs along the trail. The mottled appearance is from mildew.
This is the first time I have seen this shrub in the wild. These are the fruits of Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). I have a plant of this at home where it is marginally hearty and often it is killed back to the ground during the winter. The birds love the fruits and at home they don't last long.
Out of focus, but you get the idea.
WOW! How did I get so lucky? This is the caterpillar, or larva of the Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus). I have not seen one of the larva for many years although I see the moths every summer.
Quite the fancy rear-end, don't ya think? I wonder what that purplish structure is for? Beautiful.
The Polyphemus Moth uses defence mechanisms to protect itself from predators. One of its most distinctive mechanisms is a distraction pattern that serves to confuse, or simply distract, predators. This involves the large eyespots on its hindwings, which give the Polyphemus its name (from the Cyclops Polyphemus in Greek mythology).
Eyespots are also startle patterns, a subform of distraction patterns, used for camouflage via deceptive and blending coloration. Most startle patterns are brightly colored areas on the outer body of already camouflaged animals. (Another example of the use of startle patterns is the gray tree frog, with its bright yellow leggings. When it leaps, a flash of bright yellow appears on its hindlegs, usually startling the predator away from its prey.) It is believed that distraction patterns are a form of mimicry, meant to misdirect predators by markings on the moths' wings.
Text and photo source: WikiPedia
When we were kids all us Breiding boys had butterfly and moth collections. We would collect the moths and butterflies, kill them and mount them.
We would also collect the caterpillars and
cage them. Once finding out what the food plant for the particular species was we would then feed then until they
spun cocoons and pupated. Then when the they emerged from the pupa we would kill them and mount them. This was the best way to get a perfect and unblemished specimen for ones' collection.
We got good enough at this we would sell them to our classmates for science projects. I can remember doing this at the tender age of 9 or 10 years old.
This is one of the ferns for which the trail is named - the Resurrection Fern or Little Grey Polypody (Pleopeltis polypodioides). We have it at home in West Virginia but it is rare. And, in WV, it grows on rocks, not on trees.
The common name "Resurrection Fern" is a good one. When the weather is dry the fern fronds or "leaves" will curl up to the point where it looks like it is dead. But, with not much rainfall it will "resurrect" and spring back to life.
Talk about weird! I have no idea what caused these strange growths to occur on this American Beech. (Fagus grandifolia)
Nice cleavage!
The
soil here is almost pure sand.
The folks at the Vardelle Parham Geology Center tell us more:
The sand dunes generally consist of homogeneous, massive, well-sorted, tan or buff to grayish- or reddish-brown, fine sands. Cross-stratification and bedding features are lacking in the interval, apparently due to extensive weathering and biogenic reworking.
These sands are thought to be derived from glacial outwash originally deposited along major drainages during the initial stages of interglacial times. The dunes are best developed on the east sides of the White, Current, and Black Rivers. The dune sand fines with distance from these rivers. Dunes are present on all terrace levels, but not on present-day alluvium. No significant fossils have been discovered associated with these sands. The lower contact seems to be unconformable in most places.Source: Vardelle Parham Geology Center
When I think of cactus, I think of sand. This is probably
Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa), the same species we have in West Virginia.
I was surprised to see it growing in such a shady environment.
A dark look at White Oak Lake towards the end of the loop trail.
The original Thanksgiving forecast for the area was sunny and in the 70s. That didn't happen. But the cool, cloudy weather made for nice hiking and snapshots.
I neither saw nor heard one person on this hike. Perfect.
When I got back I had a Thanksgiving dinner of beer, burgers and fries.
"Life is good".
~ FINIS ~