Hobbs State Park / Conservation Management Area, Northwest Arkansas

Camassia scilloides

Back in April of this year Brian and I spent a week in the Eureka Springs area of northwestern Arkansas. We're planning a relocation there the first half of next year some time. This is prime Ozarks territory and the countryside is verdant, lush and green.

I picked up a hiking book at the local megabookstore during our day trip to Fayetteville and thumbed through it for a day or so. There were a couple hikes that were close to Eureka Springs: Lake Leatherwood and Shaddox Hollow Loop in the Hobbs State Park / Conservation Management Area. I've already blogged about Lake Leatherwood.

Camassia scilloides

The drive from Eureka Springs over to Shaddox Hollow took me through rolling green hills dotted with houses, farms, and the occasional light industry. I see a flash of pale blue go by to my right, on the north side of the road. A few u-turns later on the sleepy road I find a safe place to pull over. I get out of the car and walk back a dozen yards or so to find a spectacular mass bloom of Camassia scilloides. This is only the second species of Camassia I've seen, but I really love them. The pale blue heads of flowers evoke blue fireworks going off over the grass. An added bonus - the hillside is in the shadow of the morning sun and dew droplets are everywhere.

Trillium viridescens

I was very pleasantly surprised to find a robust and healthy colony of Trillium viridescens in the ditch itself! They were a little wind and insect damaged but were otherwise in great shape, with almost all plants in bloom.

Once I enter Hobbs State Park, the farms and houses disappear and the forest comes almost up to the side of the road. Along the shoulder were miles of Viola pedata, one of the showiest Viola I've ever seen! Upon reaching Shaddox Hollow I check in on the clipboard at the trailhead and head out. I didn't stay long - the entire area had undergone a controlled burn 4 weeks earlier. Burns of this nature are an integral part of maintaining a healthy forest but you have to visit them the next season, not 4 weeks, to see what a positive effect they have. After about 20 minutes and realizing the burn covered the entire area I headed back to the car.

Viola pedata

Arisaema atrorubens

On the drive in, I'd noticed a few other trailheads so I stopped at one of them on the way back: Van Winkle Hollow. The main attraction here is a restored lumber mill and attendant examples of life in the area during the mid-19th century. More interesting to me was a short wildflower trail right off the parking area. The trail was a short loop around the creek in the hollow. I noticed a controlled burn had happened here, too, but stopped short about 15 yards from the water's edge. A full crop of wildflowers was in bloom!
 I was greeted by a bright yellow clump of Senecio aureus along the water's edge at the start of the trail. Drifts of Polemonium reptans and Collinsia verna were along both sides of the trail. Then I spot Arisaema atrorubens. It was stunning! A surprisingly large flower, almost 2 feet tall, it really lives up to the Jack-in-the-Pulpit common name. This was quickly followed by another spectacular find, the miniature crested iris, Iris cristata.

Collinsia verna

As I continued down the trail, there were Vitis vines here and there, surprisingly little Japanese honeysuckle, but it was present. The American Dogwood, Cornus florida, were almost finished blooming but every so often one would be in perfect condition. I started seeing large patches of Podophyllum peltatum along with Phlox divaricata.

Iris cristata

Taking a detour up to the edge of the floodplain and up the gently sloping hillside i find a huge colony of Adiantum pedatum. The newly emerging fronds were captivating. Other species I noticed were Ribes missouriense, Viola pubescens, Hydrophyllum virginianum, and lots of Delphinium. One of the last things on the trail was a large Platanus occidentalis with a hole in the base of the trunk. The tree was leaning a bit but otherwise seemed perfectly fine. Nature!

Here are some additional shots from the day:

Adiantum pedatum

Polemonium reptans

Podophyllum peltatum

Ribes missouriense

Cornus florida

Lake Leatherwood

Lake Leatherwood Dam, Eureka Springs

Lake Leatherwood is a spring fed montane lake in the Ozarks of northwestern Arkansas. It's right outside the 19th century 'healing waters' health resort of Eureka Springs. The entire area is still relatively wild, with several national forests and state parks within easy driving distance.

The lake and dam were part of the Works Progress Association stimulus efforts to get people working during and immediately after the Great Depression of the early 20th century. The lake is surrounded by a beautiful second growth forest with pockets of cedar glades and still retains a fairly diverse flora.

Mixed Broadleaf Forest

This region of Arkansas is the western edge of the Southeastern coniferous and broadleaf forest ecoregion, an ecoregion with almost 200 tree species, over 35 of which are endemic. This particular ecoregion has more than 3500 species of herbs and shrubs, the highest species count of any bioregion in North America.

Glandularia canadensis

Brian and I took a 3-4 hour walk around the perimeter trail surrounding the lake. I was optimistic we would see some nice flowers and wasn't disappointed. We parked at an open clearing with picnic tables and a view of the lake water through some trees and then headed towards the start of the trail, which resembled what we call in California a fire road. We saw lots of Glandularia canadensis, a lovely spring flower in the Verbenaceae, growing in a large clump at the start of the trail. A good sign!

Once on the trail the dominant floral feature was incredible diversity of trees and shrubs. The trees had just finished leafing out and many were still a pale, bright green, in contrast to the darker rich green they attain after full leaf out. Looking up over our heads we found mid-sized shrubs and small trees glowing green in the dappled morning light, with species such as Celtis laevigata, Quercus muehlenbergii, and Cornus florida providing rich textures.

Lithospermum canescens

Wandering up a short spur trail higher along the ridge we found our first cedar glades where ferns, Lithospermum canescens and Hypoxis hirsuta were abundant. The Hypoxis in particular seemed to be an indicator species for the presence of a glade. Additional flowering herbs along this side trail included Enemion biternatum, Phlox divaricata, Oxalis violacea, and Cynoglossum virginianum. Two of the more impressive flowering shrubs were Viburnum rufidulum and Vaccinium stamineum.

Camassia scilloides

I was excited to encounter my first geophyte, Camassia scilloides. This spring bulb has pale blue flowers with bright yellow stamens. As we continued walking we saw Ranunculus recurvatus, Senecio aureus, Aesculus glabra, and our second geophyte, Trillium viridescens.

We'd reached the approximately halfway point by this time. The trail so far was too far inland from the lake shore for us to really see the lake but now we had to cross the dam to reach the other side. Good things come to those who wait! We were literally speechless at the sight of the dam and then the lake itself as we crossed. The lake is surrounded on both sides by gentle rolling hills, carpeted in dozens of shades of green with a heavy popcorn cloud cover overhead. The area has had a wet winter and spring so the spillway to the dam was in full operation, adding another beautiful component to the walk.

Lake Leatherwood Dam

Delphinium tricorne

Once we reached the opposite shore we quickly found ourselves walking through an old limestone quarry. Our guide book told us this was the quarry where the WPA quarried the limestone facing blocks for the dam! The resulting return to nature more closely resembled a cedar glade than a forest. Juniperus virginiana were growing in stunted forms from the cracks in the granite and there were large patches of Minuartia patula here and there. But what we enjoyed most about the quarry were the thousands and thousands of tadpoles! I'd never seen so many tadpoles in one place. That really spoke to the high quality of the local ecosystem.

Tadpoles!

As we continued hiking we crossed several more tranquil cedar glades. We were also much closer to the shore and enjoyed the varying views as the lake came into view from time to time.

Towards the three quarters mark we hit Leatherwood Creek, which feeds into the lake, and the plant communities changed dramatically. We encountered large populations of Podophyllum peltatum, Pedicularis canadensis, Polemonium reptans, Asarum canadense, Tradescantia species, Trillium viridescens, and my favorite flower from the whole day, Delphinium tricorne.

More flowers and scenery from the hike:

Brian walking in the forest

Podophyllum peltatum

Lake Leatherwood Dam spillway

Hypoxis hirsuta

Viburnum rufidulum

Asarum canadense