Yesterday, we took the opportunity to spend the afternoon hiking one of the many hiking loops at Pea Ridge National Military Park in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. It was a nice day for a hike with temperatures reaching close to 40 degrees.

There was still some snow on the ground from the recent snowfall, but by the time we made it back to our car, it was really beginning to melt off.

The battle of Pea Ridge was in March of 1862 and was a pivotal battle in the Civil War, keeping Missouri in the Union. The park covers 4,330 acres and has a tour road with 10 stops along the way. Each stop has a parking area and historical information about the battle of Pea Ridge. We skipped a lot of the tour and headed straight for stop 7, which is the East Overlook.

The East Overlook has a great view of the battlefields. It also looks down into rocky outcroppings that are interesting although, as the information indicated, not very good hiding places in a battle. In the picture above, you can see the battlefields and the Boston Mountains in the distance.

Leaving the East Overlook, we hiked east toward the Elkhorn Tavern. The trail followed along the bluff line, and there were great views down into the outcroppings below. There were also a lot of deer tracks in the snow and muddy places.

As the trail came down off of the bluff, it circled around and traveled underneath the area we had just walked, giving an entirely different perspective. One of my favorite parts of the trail was the passage through two of the rocky outcroppings. Water erosion had bored small holes through the rocks and made them very interesting. I thought it was neat to travel through the big outcropping like that, and I could certainly understand why getting caught in the middle of them during a battle would be a bad thing.

Just past this point, there were some really interesting sandstone features. We had hiked along the top of this ridge earlier, and I had no idea this was what was underneath. The ground was littered with large chunks of rock that had fallen off. The sandstone was marked with erosion patterns that were very interesting. It was certainly worth looking around the corner, and I am glad we saw it on the way down the trail.

One thing that struck me as we hiked down the trail was the abundance of wildlife. There were several different kinds of birds flying about.

Also, because of the wet ground and remaining snow, there was evidence of all types of critters making their way around the park. I was hoping we would spot some deer, as it seems that there were several deer tracks that we came across. But we were not the stealthiest group to ever hike a trail.

After about a half mile, we came to the reconstructed Elkhorn Tavern. The tavern served travelers on the Telegraph Road before the war came to Arkansas. It changed hands between the Union and the Confederates several times, serving as a supply base, a hospital, and a military telegraph station until Confederate guerrillas burned it in 1863. This was where we realized we had lost the map, but decided to carry on and try to figure out where we were going next using only our wits. (This time, it was not me who lost the map, but it very easily could have been.)

We hiked on and shortly made the decision to turn back to the right, which took us past the Confederate Sunset site. This was not the way we originally intended to go, but it was a nice trip anyway. The trail was fairly level and went through the woods along one of the battlefields. The trail made a circle back to the Elkhorn Tavern.

The only disappointment was that about a third of the trail followed close enough to Highway 62 for the sound of the vehicles to carry to us. A couple of times, the cars traveling the highway were visible.

We wandered around the trails and uncovered a neat spot that had a cave and a spring nearby. The cave was fairly good-sized, and there was a crevice that led further back. Since we did not have our flashlight with us, we declined to investigate further. Next time, I’m going back to the back of the cave.

By this time, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and the park closes at 5. We headed back to the car, dried off the dogs, and set off down the tour road back towards home. On our way, we got to see a lot of the area we had hiked.

Then we were surprised by a large group of deer just to the side of the car. We stopped to take a few pictures and watch the deer, about 10 in all, before leaving for the day.

[This post was originally published on January 23, 2011 on “A Hiking We Will Go.”]

VITAL INFO
Trail Name and Location	Pea Ridge National Military Park - Williams Hollow Trail
County, State	Benton County, Arkansas
Date Hiked	2011-01-22
Weather/Conditions	Upper 30's and sunny
Directions	I started at the Overlook. To get there, Take US 71 south until the Pea Ridge Exit and then go left on AR 72. At the town of Pea Ridge follow 72 to US 62. Turn left on US 62 to the Park.
Hike Length/Type	4 miles
Other Permitted Usage
Difficulty (1=Easy; 5=Most Difficult)	1
ATT Cell Coverage?	Partially (About 40%)
Official Info - Phone/Links	479-451-8122 Website. Park map (pdf).

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April 16-24, 2011 is National Parks Week, and in celebration, the fees at Pea Ridge National Military Park in Pea Ridge, Arkansas are waived. We took advantage of the freebie and the absolutely beautiful day to check out a little more of the hiking trails in the park.

Pea Ridge has an 8.7 mile hiking trail, but there are several loops that can be taken to make a shorter hike.

We got there about 11 and weren’t really prepared for a hike quite that long, so we opted to hike a loop that starts at Elk Horn Tavern and passes the Clemens House site and the Williams Hollow Hospital site.

. Since our last visit to Pea Ridge, I had read the book, Elkhorn Tavern, by Douglas C. Jones. It was a good read and brought some reality to the battle that happened in this area during the Civil War.

We started this trip at Elkhorn Tavern and headed east along Huntsville Road toward the Clemens House site. The day was bright and sunny and in the low 70’s. It was extremely windy when we started, but other than that, it was a perfect day.

The trail is wide and well maintained, and since it’s mid-April, there were some really beautiful dogwood trees along the way. They are very mature and covered with blooms, it was hard not to stop and take a picture of every one! Once we got further down the trail into the woods, and out of the open, the wind seemed more like a nice breeze.

A little less than half a mile along, we came to the Clemens House. The foundation of the home site was found in 2007 and the park protected the foundation to illustrate the size and position of the house where it originally stood. Around 140 farms were caught in the between the two forces in the two-day battle.The trail continues down the old road through the woods and is very level and well maintained. There are several interesting views down into hollows along the way. After about another half mile, we turned left to head toward Williams Hollow.

There was only one spot in the trail that was impassable because of a fallen tree. That is really a rarity around here! It was easy to skirt around, and we continued along a level bench, close to a ridge area.

Closer to Williams Hollow, the trail goes down hill for about a fourth of a mile. It isn’t too steep, and it doesn’t last very long. As we traveled down, the vegetation became more dense and lush, and the wind died down to practically nothing. The blooming dogwood trees made the walk down a very pretty sight to behold!

Williams Hollow has a small stream running at the bottom of it. The old Telegraph Road is visible on the other side of the stream. I was glad I was not walking up it, as it looked more steep. Of course, anytime you hike down into something, at some point you have to hike back up, so I was preparing for the worst.

We had the dogs, Buster and Katie, with us, and they were starting to get really thirsty. They were convinced that water was just at the bottom of the hill, but they ended up in a dry creek bed. I clambered down the hill and helped them find a nice drink of water. Katie did not miss the opportunity to pop down in the creek and cool off her belly while we were there.

We traveled along the stream for a way, then stopped to have a snack to give some hikers that were behind us some time to get ahead of us. (It’s just easier if Buster doesn’t have too many new things to contend with at one time.) Katie took another opportunity to cool off in a mud puddle, until a branch fell in the puddle next to her.

Not far from the turnaround point at Willams Hollow was the Tanyard site, where the remnants of a tannery were located. We poked around for a bit, checking out the stream and the site before tackling the hill heading out of the hollow.

The hill was just long and steep enough to really make you want to stop and catch your breath, but after that, it was all level trail and smooth hiking back to Elkhorn Tavern. Along the way, there was a sign marking the spot of a battle along with some canons. I’m not sure how they hit anything with the canons, as they seemed to be pointing straight into trees now.

We came out of the woods heading toward Elkhorn Tavern from the north. We took a few minutes to take the trail behind the cavern that goes toward the spring and the little cave we found last time. This time I had a headlamp, and I wanted to see what was in the crevice in that cave. It turns out, there wasn’t much in there, but at least my curiosity was satisfied.

We were back at the car and headed home just a short two hours after arriving. Even though we didn’t stay long, it was a great day and a very nice hike!

Pea Ridge: Williams Hollow Trail
Location	Pea Ridge National Military Park, Benton County, Arkansas
Hike Length/Type	2 mile loop
Difficulty	Easy (1 of 5)
Directions	I hiked it west to east. I started at Elkhorn Tavern. To get there, Take US 71 south until the Pea Ridge Exit and then go left on AR 72. At the town of Pea Ridge follow 72 to US 62. Turn left on US 62 to the Park.
Other Permitted Usage	none
ATT Cell Coverage?	Partially (About 40%)
Official Info - Phone/Links	(479) 451-8122 Website.
Weather/Conditions	Low 70's and sunny
Date Hiked	April 17, 2011

[This post was originally published on April 17, 2011 on “A Hiking We Will Go.” ]

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