
Rattlesnake Ridge: Pinnacle Mountain’s Quiet Neighbor
Arkansas Highlights
Spotlight posts on cool places to see in Arkansas.
If you’ve been following my blog, you probably know how much I love obscure Arkansas locations with rich history! Tall Peak Fire Tower (or Lookout) in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas definitely fits the bill. After wanting to shoot the Milky Way there all summer, the timing just hadn’t worked out yet– until now! I saw clear skies in the forecast over Labor Day weekend, and knew this was my chance.
I live in central Arkansas, so I know firsthand how brutal summer can be. This past week we had temperatures in the high 90’s with near-100% humidity. In that kind of weather, there’s not a lot you can do outdoors. Luckily, I have a remedy– Blanchard Springs. I can’t think of any other nearby destination that has so much to offer in the hottest months.
For so long I had seen photos of this very distinctive tree here in central Arkansas called the “Atkins Bottom tree”… I figured this was as good a time as any to go check it out! Using SunsetWX.com (a pretty cool sunrise/sunset “predictor”) I saw that Friday night had a good chance of yielding a nice sunset, so I headed up to Blackwell (the tree is called the Atkins Bottom tree, but is really closer to Blackwell than Atkins). The sky was just getting darker and darker, looking pretty ominous by the time I arrived at the tree. Check it out:
As someone who is native to the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas but now living in mostly-flat central Arkansas, I often miss the expansive overlooks atop towering bluffs of the Buffalo River. Luckily there is another place to enjoy some clifftop views that’s a lot closer to where I live now– Emerald Park in North Little Rock.