This afternoon on our way back from Rogers we took a ‘shortcut’ through
Hobbs State Park and Conservation Area.
Hobbs, the largest of the state parks in Arkansas consists of wooded
rolling hills along the banks of Beaver Lake and includes over fifty miles of
well-maintained hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.
Although still in the grips of one of
the hottest and driest summers on record, it has ‘cooled’ off in early August. Today’s high is ‘only’ predicted to reach
89°, even so that is still too hot for any serious hiking, we’re going to
check out the very short and easy trail through the Van Winkle Historic
District. Parking at the trailhead on
Scenic Highway 12 is pretty impressive, with its paved parking lot, sidewalks,
restrooms and a picnic area.
 |
at Highway 12 tunnel
|
We park at the west end of the lot right next to the trailhead sign, The
Van Winkle Trail is ADA compliant (handicap accessible) and begins as an easy
grade downhill on the concrete sidewalk to a tunnel under Highway 12. Just through the tunnel on the north side of
the highway is the first of many interpretive trailside displays each
having a trail map and a ‘you are here’ red dot along with interesting
historical information about the Van Winkle family, the sawmill and day to day
life in the middle of the nineteenth century. |
modern bridge
|
Down the hill still on the nice
wide concrete sidewalk. Reaching
bottom, the concrete ends, the trail now about eight feet wide consists of fine hard
packed gravel basically a ‘road’ which it once was. We turn left on a short side road back to
what’s referred to as ‘living quarters’ more accurately
these were slave quarters. The only remains of nineteenth century structures in the
historic district consist solely of quarried blocks of foundation stone. But even so these are interesting and
provide a footprint making it easier to imagine and visualize what was here
along West Fork Little Clifty Creek back in the days of the Van Winkle
Mill.
 |
downstream from bridge
|
Continuing the tour we soon cross Little Clifty Creek on a
modern stone bridge with steel culverts beneath, followed by the next display
describing the big ‘main’ house. A
little farther north and west of the big house are stone steps which led up to
Mrs. Van Winkle’s raised flower garden area, and beyond that also on the left
are the stone block remains of the blacksmith shop. |
West Fork Little Clifty Creek
|
Here the ‘trail’ curves around to the right
leaving the old road that once continued north to the Pea Ridge Confederate
encampment about ten to twelve miles away, much of the old road north of here is now
submerged below Beaver Lake. Where
the trail circles back to the south we briefly leave the Van Winkle Loop and
continue north along Little Clifty Creek. We don’t go far, it’s only
about 100 yards to where Little Clifty pours into Beaver Lake, where we see a
couple deer crossing the creek.
Back on Van Winkle Trail just ahead are the remains of the two mills,
first the grist mill followed by the sawmill.
Both are wedged between road and creek, the sawmill was steam
powered and many of the large steel bolts used to anchor the boiler to the huge
stone blocks are still visible. Here also are
benches under the trees for a short rest, these aren’t the first
benches we have passed, there are many all along the trail.
 |
scenic Little Clifty
|
Continuing south, now on the east side of the
‘big house’ we come to the spring house perched across and at the edge of
Little Clifty Creek. The spring house
functioned as the nineteenth century equivalent of a ‘refrigerator’ keeping
perishables cool and fresh, the spring
also supplied all the household water.
Soon the trail curves back around to the west and past the front of the
house before re-joining the road then left back over the bridge. |
at Van Winkle Mill
|
From here we retrace our path back up the concrete sidewalk through
the tunnel under the highway to the parking lot. Yes
this was a short and very easy hike, even
today in the dog days of summer. Our
total distance including the short side trip down West Fork Little Clifty
Creek almost to Beaver Lake was just under a mile with about 75 feet of
elevation gain, it felt great to get out and do some hiking. We vow to come back in the fall and do some real hiking in Hobbs State Park sometime. |
near the Spring House
|
Van Winkle Mill Historic District is easy to find, the trailhead/parking facilities are 1.45 miles west of the impressive Hobbs State Park Visitor Center on the south side of Scenic Highway 12, or about 1.35 miles east of the Highway 12/303 intersection.
Comments