Actually, Pinnacle Mountain…
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After making our early exit from the Buffalo, a heartwarming tragi-comedy already told here [in] [three] [parts], we made it back to Little Rock Saturday evening. Hot showers, cold air conditioning, pizza from [Vino’s] and early to bed filled out the rest of Saturday.
Sunday morning was pancakes and an delicious vegetable frittata made by the lovely wife. I should be posting a picture of the frittata, it was that good. The original plan was to exit the river Sunday mid to late morning, meaning the river group had plenty of time to burn in the morning. In keeping with the Natural State theme, I took the guys to [Pinnacle Mountain state park].
We stopped by the visitor center, where Jake innocently asked if there was a trail map available. The nice lady in the visitor center promptly obliged with a 10 pound goody bag filled with maps and guides of not just Pinnacle, but the entire state of Arkansas. In retrospect, the visitor center was quite nice. Access to a few trails are there, one of them the start of the 222 mile Ouachita National Hiking Trail, along with a scenic overlook and even a quarry pond with paddle boats:
With a relatively quick 20 – 30 minute drive, we were at the mountain. The top of Pinnacle is just over 1000ft. at the peak. The peak is accessible via the East or West Summit trails. The East trail makes for the more difficult ascent, requiring a relatively strenuous climb up boulder fields to reach the top. If you look to the middle left of the picture and squint a little, you can see Marc wearing the drunkard’s hat. To paraphrase Jake’s later comment “he sure did get up the mountain fast for a drunk fat guy”. In all seriousness, I was moving at a fairly quick clip and never really caught up to Marc once he got in his stride.
The upside of this climb is that there are plenty of trees to provide some shade and the views are excellent:
Here’s Jake, pretty close to the peak if I am not mistaken:
Jake and Marc enjoying the breeze at top of Pinnacle:
Marc is scouting the Arkansas river while I’m catching my breath for the descent down the West Summit trail:
Another clear view from the top:
The trek down the West Summit trail and the necessary half of the Base trail to get back to the East Summit trail head and parking lot was pleasant but increasingly hot just the same. We retreated back to Little Rock to the hot showers and cold beers of the house to find the lovely wife already doing her best grill master impression with steaks and chicken in the mix, not too mention a delicious pasta salad with fresh-from-our-garden herbs. As Gabe would say: Mmmmm! Tasty! Deelishus!
Here’s a parting shot of all of us, looking none the worse for wear. I think a great time was had by all. We might float the Buffalo again, but I am going to guess the next trip will be earlier in the spring.
For the guys that made the trip: Thanks for coming out, I had a great time and it was good to see everyone together.