The SHTTT has claimed a third state highpoint in their quest to shoot tequila at the highest point of every state by climbing to the top of Mount Magazine in Arkansas.
The entire trip was accomplished on fairly short notice when my school was cancelled for the rest of the week due to swine flu, and Nate found out he was not going to be working on Friday. This sudden emergence of free time prompted our trip to bag the last highpoint within easy striking distance of the DFW area.
We departed shortly after lunch time from Nate's apartment in Dallas with our first objective being to find somewhere to eat. We figured with the north Dallas area lying ahead of us this would not be any problem. However, we soon found ourselves clear of the metroplex having not eaten yet. This was building into a crisis. That was when I spotted a crude, homemade sign along the freeway in Van Alstyne TX, "Smoky G's BBQ - Exit Now." We did exactly that and began to search for a promising looking BBQ joint. In the parking lot of a gas station we found this small shack on a trailer:
We didn't let outward appearances put us off and were soon consuming the Big Boy Sandwich. A double-decker sandwich with chopped brisket and hot link sausage slathered in BBQ sauce; no veggies, no nonsense. It was both daunting and delicious as we ate at the single picnic table next to the trailer:
Our hunger sated, we were ready to deal with the windshield time between us and our overnight stop in Coweta, OK. Soon we had crossed the bridge over the Red River that indicates the beginning of Oklahoma. Though our goal was in Arkansas we spent the majority of our time in Oklahoma due to pesky geographical concerns. I can't honestly say that Oklahoma held much that struck me as pleasant. It was generally uninteresting though we did pass a mysterious castle in Muskogee, OK; overgrown with weeds and seemingly abandoned. But soon, billboards were everywhere advertising the Renaissance Festival held each weekend in May in that very castle. Their website makes the same claim. Having been by this castle, something doesn't add up and I think it is some kind of sinister Oklahoma plot, beware. We were soon in Coweta for our overnight stop with friends of Nate. We are truly indebted for the hospitality we received including not one but two home-cooked meals. The evening was spent playing a board game Nate brought along, Settlers of Catan. I would recommend it; easy to learn and fun to play.
The next morning we were headed into Arkansas to make our climb. After some more driving and paying to drive on the only good roads in Oklahoma (they are all toll roads), we had soon crossed the border into Fort Smith, AR.
I immediately took a liking to Fort Smith and wish we had time to hang around. It seemed like the sort of interesting frontier town that would be full of interesting places. Perusing its history on Wikipedia brings forth this tidbit: "Fort Smith was a bustling community full of brothels, saloons and outlaws across the river from Indian Territory." How charming. Unfortunately Fort Smith was not on our itinerary save for refueling. As we continued into Arkansas we began to see signs of some mountainish formations.
Soon we were on the Mount Magazine scenic byway which seemed to stretch the definition of scenic slightly as it was only mildly so. There were some overlooks which we took advantage of.
We soon arrived at the Mount Magazine State Park Visitor Center. Being visitors ourselves we decided to pop in and pick up a trail map. After some examination, we discovered that the hike could be as little as 1.4 miles round trip. We decided that after coming so far with all of our equipment that we needed a bit more challenge. Of course weather reports indicated a 60% chance of rain all day, but it looked fairly harmless as we set out on the hike we created with the trail map. The resulting trek would be 5-6 miles round trip with quite a bit more elevation gain. We made excellent time as we tore down the trail and its many creek crossings.
The trail was rather muddy but otherwise easy to follow. I took my traditional pose along the way.
A little further and we were at the top. We took some photos and shot some tequila. The tequila photo was taken with the camera on a timer as the only people around had many small children and we didn't want to corrupt any young minds. By this time rain was almost certain and nobody came up after they left forcing us to engineer our own photographer. Fortunately, it worked pretty well.
You may have noticed Nate's eyepatch in the first photo. I am not going to go into detail about it, but do know there is an explanation which hopefully he will mention. The return hike was uneventful though it rained moderately for a good piece of it, making the mud that much worse. Fortunately the weekend prior we had practiced our rain hiking in Grapevine in drenching fashion and were fairly well prepared. Our equipment was the envy of many fellow adventurers and was honestly a little overkill for this feat, but do remember we are training for Epic Road Trip 2009.
We had to eat after our climb and found ourselves in Paris, AR to do so. There was nowhere to eat on Klan St.
We did eventually find the Grapevine Cafe in Paris. Great sandwiches and Newcastle Brown Ale to wash them down with. If you are ever in Paris, Arkansas (and if you are you're probably lost) try it out. The drive back was uneventful and there were times when I wished we had some way to play the music on my iPod, but that was not to be after a miscommunication that was entirely Nate's fault. That mistake will not be duplicated.
We have now climbed 3 states worth 12,037 of 308,105 feet or 3.91%.
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