Denisa was a little disappointed that we had missed dogwood season this spring. We saw evidence that those signature white petals had already fallen to the ground on hikes in east Texas. But it looks like we have finally traveled far enough north to see these lovely white trees at their peak bloom here in Arkansas!
We visited Hobbs State Park, just outside Rogers, Arkansas, on Scenic route 12. After a stop at the visitor's center, we had maps and information for several different hikes. We were glad to see that each of them showed us beautiful examples of these iconic spring-blooming trees.
On our ranger-guided hike to the site of the Winkler Mill, Ranger Steve explained the placement of the Winkler's long-gone mill and homestead. Steve kept apologizing that he couldn't walk far or fast. But then he explained that he was going to St. Louis for open-heart surgery in four days. We hope he will be walking the Arkansas hills at a quicker pace soon!
It was nice to stroll with an expert on the local history and flora. Denisa got to ask Steve all her plant questions. For example, she now knows that this green plant with the interesting purple tops is called deadnettle.
She also asked about these umbrella-like green leaves that we have often seen in the forest. He explained that the single-leafed plants were the males. But a double-leafed plant was a female, and it would form a single bud in the junction of the two leaves. If you look carefully, you can see a single green bulb on a stem between the leaves in the picture below.
That bud will form a single flower, and we found this one blooming on our trail. The plant is called a "Mayapple" because of this blossom that appears in May. The single fruit will ripen in the summer. We'd never noticed this flower before, and we learned that early settlers used the little fruit to make jellies.
When she asked him about the small yellow flowers on tall stems, Steve rubbed his chin and replied, "Those are called small yellow flowers on tall stems." See how much we learn from hanging out with rangers?!?
Steve also gave us great information about the best place to launch our kayak onto Beaver Lake. He told us to drive down this little-known gravel road. Bonus! It's also lined with more dogwood trees!
The road ended in the lake, and we launched our inflatable kayak there. Denisa will point out that a row of white-blooming dogwoods can be seen on the shore line behind her.
We've heard of Beaver Lake often, and it lives up to its good reviews. The water is so clear that we can see our oars and all the way to the rocky bottom of the lake.
Rock walls surround the lake--topped with dogwood trees.
It's a popular lake for fishing, and we also found out that skiers love it. Even though the water was only 63 degrees today, this hardy skier was wearing a wet suit to get in her first slalom of the year. This cove had colored buoys designed to ski around, and she was having a great time jumping the wakes to cross between the floating buoys of the ski course.
We love kayaking down the narrow inlets and surprising critters that don't often see visitors. We found a large group of turtles poking their heads above the water to check out their kayaking visitors.
Birds also love Beaver Lake, as we saw ducks and Canadian geese congregating on the water.
It's a great kayaking lake, with narrow inlets to explore. On this natural side of the lake bordered by Hobbs State Park, there were no private docks or houses--just nature. We ended up kayaking all the way from our put-in spot on road 604 all the way to the tip of Rambo cove.
We were having such a good time that we lost track of how low the sun was in the sky. We certainly had to pick up our pace and explore fewer coves on the way home.
But we did have to make a detour to the other side of the lake when we spotted this bald eagle keeping watch from the branches of a dead tree.
During the course of our stay, we hiked the 4.4-mile Dutton Hollow, and the 1.8-mile Shaddox Hollow trails in Hobbs State Park. It certainly is good to feel well on this trip to Beaver Lake, and get to wander among more of God's wonders like the beautiful dogwood trees!
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