Seven Hollows Flora and Fauna

The fall color wasn't the only natural reason to enjoy a hike at Seven Hollows.  The fall berries and flowers were out too. The purple beautyberries really lived up to their name. Such lovely clusters of bright purple berries.

The sumac is another striking plant to see as you walk along - furry, rusty red. I imagine the birds and other little critters enjoy it throughout the winter too.

In among the hollows are rock overhangs with damp places that shelter ferns and moss. There probably would have been even more ferns, but this year has been so dry that all the little creeks and drips and seeps had dried up.

If you are lucky while hiking, you may see a feral poodle.  And you thought poodles were only those pampered, primped frou-frou dogs from dog shows! No siree - they like to get down and dirty in the mud and leaves like any dog. Doesn't she look happy?

And there are rocks, lots of 'em - little ones and big ones.  If you look closely, you can see Vincent's head in the left bottom corner. He is over 6'5", so you know that is one big rock

Seven Hollows hike, part 1

On Sunday we went hiking at Petit Jean State Park with Amber, Vincent, Collette and Brook.  This was the first trail we hiked after we moved to Arkansas, back in August 2008. I didn't post many pictures that time, so I am going to make up for it with at least two days worth this time.The four of us have been wanting to go hiking together for a while, but since we all have busy schedules, it has taken us a while to get to it. I'd say it was worth the wait - it was humid, very humid, but not too hot, and the threatened rain held off for us.

Collette and Brook, charging down the trail.

The dogs all had a great time. Miikka was more focused on hiking than on the girls, and actually kept up a better pace at the end (of course, the girls got to go off-leash and started out the hike running ahead, then back to us, then ahead again, so they probably did double the distance). It had rained overnight, so there were many, many good smells.

The mighty hiker is ready to go.

Although the color this year is not as brilliant as it can be, autumn was in full force. There were yellow, red, brown and orange leaves all in view.

Blazing yellow.

In the hollows.

Rain clouds in the distance. But not on us.

The neat thing about the Seven Hollows trail is that it takes you down into the hollows, then leads you up to the tops of the bluffs, so you can look up at fascinating rock formations, then down into the hollows and over the tree tops.

Taking a quick break.

Tomorrow, more dogs, more flora.