I have probably driven by Roundtop Mountain hundreds of times. Scenic Hwy. 7 is the direct route between
Harrison and Russellville. Before I
retired, I drove this route weekly for years.
And I always would say to myself “someday we’ll go hiking here”. A few years back, there was a big landslide
that closed the highway and the trails.
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near South Point
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The highway department got the road back up and running pretty
quick. It seems though that this stretch
of highway has become an ongoing construction zone ever since. The trail was repaired at a much slower pace,
it seemed for a while it would never re-open.
But it eventually did, and today we’re finally going to get a chance to
hike Roundtop Mountain. |
Roundtop Mountain Trailhead
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At the
parking area and trailhead is a small visitor center (rarely open),
and just up a short path are restrooms (also rarely open).
From the trailhead we hike up toward the mountain, this is uphill all
the way but nothing very steep. This
first section of the trail has three or four switchbacks to keep the
slope manageable, and some huge boulders alongside the trail to keep it
interesting.
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trail intersection
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We soon come to an
intersection at the Loop Trail and go left, south so we’ll be doing the loop in
a clockwise direction. This section of
the hike is along the base of the bluffline, I’d estimate this is about halfway to the top from the trailhead.
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at North Vista
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After
maybe half a mile along the bluff is the next intersection with the trail to the
top. We turn right, back to the north
and head up this steep trail to the top.
Most of the trails here at Roundtop Mountain are well maintained making
for easy hiking, even these steeper parts are still pretty easy going. |
on the Loop Trail
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Once on top we come to a 4-way intersection and keep going sort of
straight on what’s called the West Trail.
This west side has some fabulous views down to the Little Buffalo River
and rolling farmland below.
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Little Buffalo River
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We are also
impressed with the quiet up here on the mountain top, the west side of
Roundtop Mountain is a great place to find complete solitude. By contrast the constant traffic on Highway 7 distracts from this somewhat, when you’re on the east side of the
mountain.
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below South Point
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The half mile or so to the north
point goes quickly and we soon find ourselves at the railings on the
North Bluff. The view from here is
spectacular, with the Newton County Fairgrounds and then down into Jasper far
below. We stay here for some time taking
pictures and pointing out landmarks that we can identify. |
from the North Vista
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Eventually we continue on around the loop,
now on the east side of the mountain top.
First thing we notice here in the woods on the eastside is that it’s
much cooler here in the shade compared to the sunny west side. Back at the 4-way we keep straight (south)
for the South Scenic Point. Point being
the key descriptor here, a narrow needle of solid rock extends out beyond the
split-rail fence 50 feet or more becoming narrower as it goes.
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wet weather falls?
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I can’t resist and walk out on the narrow
rocks as far as I dare. I’m not really
afraid of heights but the ‘turning around’ part takes my breath away for a moment causing a little vertigo. I quickly and carefully make my way back to the safety of the trail over the railing. All the while I’m out (being stupid) Kat is
taking pictures of the fantastic views.
Time to head back to the 4-way and down to the main Loop Trail.
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out on South Point
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Down on the Loop Trail we continue our clockwise hike along the
bluffline. Once around the south point, we are now in the woods on the west side with lots of large boulders along the
way. In fact, this westside of the Loop Trail is the roughest area of the entire hike. We notice a couple places along the
bluffs that are stained from falling water and vow to come back someday after a
big rainstorm to hopefully see some waterfalls.
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jagged rock action
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We eventually come around the north point and into the area of the
infamous B-25 crash. On February 6, 1948, a cold damp evening the bomber
crashed into the bluff killing everyone onboard.
When the B-25 hit Roundtop Mountain a basketball game was in progress at
Jasper High School, spectators hearing the explosion just over a mile away
rushed to the scene.
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Crash site Memorial
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There was little
they could do. For years one of the planes’
engines laid on the hillside near the present trailhead but now that has been
removed and all that remains of the bomber are some small pieces of rusty metal
and black rubber tubing. A memorial has
recently been installed next to the trail to commemorate the event. And of course, the bluffs at the point of impact have been completely 'healed' by time, erasing any evidence of the once horrific scene.
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two small caves
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Continuing south now, we soon come to a little volunteer trail going
uphill on our right. We climb this short
steep unmaintained trail to a couple
small caves. These caves are quite nice
and include some good-sized rocks to sit down and take a break.
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inside small cave
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Back down to the Loop Trail and soon to the
intersection down to the parking lot. Around
the switchbacks and back at the car before we know it. Today we logged in just over 3 miles with an
elevation gain a little over 400 feet.
Most of it on good easy to follow trails, we had a great time, and hopefully
we won’t wait so long to visit Roundtop Mountain again. |
plenty of signs
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Roundtop Mountain: Statistics Chart 32 Easy to get to, from the front of the courthouse in Jasper go south up the mountain about 2.5 miles on Highway 7 to the signed Roundtop Mountain entrance on the right.
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base map before fair use alterations is property of ArcGIS--licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License |
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