Devil’s Walking Stick
We spent Saturday morning of our late autumn camping trip just lazing around the camper. Having spent somewhere around 90 nights in various campgrounds around the country in the last year, sometimes it’s nice to just have a lazy morning.
After lunch we decided to try a trail that we hadn’t hiked since the late 80s or early 90s. Seven Hollows Trail is 4 1/2 miles long loop trail that is rated moderate to hard. Despite its name, it actually only goes through 4 of the 7 hollows.
At this time of year, streams along the trail and in the hollows are normally either dry or just a small trickle. In the spring, though, water flows through at a pretty good rate at times. If it is raining, some parts of the trail could be a bit treacherous.
One of the things we both were looking for — though neither of us realized the other was looking for it — was a plant called the devil’s walking stick. It’s a woody plant that grows very straight — straight enough to make a good walking stick — and has very devilishly sharp thorns on it. We found quite a few. There are more images in the flikr set gallery for this trip.
A sign at the beginning of the trail warns not to take the trail during periods of high wind due to the potential of falling trees — dead trees killed years ago in a forest fire that burned through the Seven Hollows.
The summer of 2000 was hot with minimal rainfall. Just before Labor Day, a trash fire on private land outside the park got out of control and spread up the south side of Petit Jean Mountain towards Seven Hollows. As it burned in the hollows area, it primarily burned downed leaves and undergrowth. Along the ridges, though, strong winds pushed the fire along into a crown fire — where the fire moves at the top of the trees from crown to crown — a rarity in Arkansas fires. Trees along the ridges were decimated, while trees in the hollows for the most part survived.
On the trail, we saw several instances of trees having fallen across the trail. Several times we had to go over trees and in other instances, we had to go under — a couple of times we actually had to crawl under the dead trunks. The worst area was a place where the trail goes through a notch in the rocks about ten feet deep and several feet wide for a couple of hundred feet. Several trees had toppled across and into the crevice. To get past them we had to climb over and under the fallen timber. (See image below)
We were worn out by the end of the trail and, even though it was a cool day, probably should have taken more water with us. We had originally not planned to do the whole trail, so, though we were tired, it was a good feeling to have completed the whole thing.
All of the photos from this trip to Petit Jean are posted in my Petit Jean 2007 flikr set for those who may want to view them.
