White Rock Mountain
The hubby got a new Subaru Outback and wanted to drive on some dirt roads this weekend so we decided to check out White Rock Mountain. The dirt roads leading up to White Rock Mountain and surrounding points of interest are better suited for a rugged vehicle. Our AWD Subaru handled them amazingly but a vehicle with low ground clearance might not make it based on the route you take. There are some routes that offer okay roads…we did see a Toyota Prius at the trailhead. There are well marked signs at forks in the road (much appreciated). On the way we saw several animals including: turkeys, rabbits, a raccoon, deer, a snake, squirrels, and even a black bear. Seeing the black bear was kind of amazing – it just crossed the road right in front of our car. We have seen black bears before at the zoo but this was the first bear we had seen out in nature. We also saw several areas marked off for turkey hunting for those of you who might be interested in that. The park has many lookout points and trails. It is open for visitors sunrise to sunset daily. There are also a few cabins/campsites available within the park. We will plan to camp here at a later date and post an update about it. One of the cool features in the park is the rock wall at the main lookout. It is marked with mile distances to surrounding towns….pretty cool.
The black bear wasn’t our only surprise on this mini adventure haha….let me explain: we decided to drive out a different way that we drove into the White Rock area. Our way in we took Hwy 16 to Crosses then right on 295 until it T’d on county road 4035. Then we went south and took a bunch of backroads. On the way home we took Hwy 23 to I49. This is the problem we ran into when we tried to go home which prompted an alternate route for us:
“State Highway 23 in Franklin County
Detours have been established for routing traffic around a hill slide on State Highway 23, approximately 5.5 miles north of Cass. Approximately 700 linear feet of roadway is impacted. Large cracks have formed in the travel lanes, rendering both impassable. This closure includes 3.2 miles of State Highway 23 between the Mulberry Mountain Lodge (south end) and Fly Gap Road (north end). This section will remain closed until repairs can be made, which may be several weeks.” Info. provided via http://www.idrivearkansas.com/alternate-routes
All in all it was a great day trip and if you like bluffs and scenic views then it would be worth your while to check it out. White Rock Mountain is a beautiful place.
A few websites to check out:
