🥾 ActiveLong weekend · from Memphis, TN
Petit Jean, Mount Magazine & the Arkansas Highlands
Three days into the Arkansas Ozark and Ouachita highlands — two of the state's crown-jewel state parks on back-to-back mountain summits with completely different characters. Petit Jean Mountain rises above the Arkansas River Valley with a 95-foot waterfall at its core and a 1930s CCC lodge on its rim. Mount Magazine is 600 feet higher, the tallest mountain between the Rockies and the Appalachians east of the 100th meridian, with a ridge-top lodge and hang-glider launch sites above the valley.
Day 1 — Petit Jean State Park, ArkansasDay 2 — Mount Magazine State ParkDay 3 — Lake Dardanelle & Arkansas River Valley
Day 1 — Petit Jean State Park
Day 1 — Petit Jean State Park
🚗 2 hr 10 min driving📍 4 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Memphis, TN → Petit Jean State Park, AR
2 hr 10 min8:00 AM → 10:10 AM
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Cedar Falls Trail
Hike the 2.2-mile round trip to Cedar Falls — a 95-foot curtain waterfall plunging into a sandstone grotto at the head of Cedar Creek Canyon, consistently ranked the most photographed natural feature in Arkansas. The trail descends through old-growth cedar and hardwood before opening onto the falls and a wide plunge pool; the canyon walls rise 150 feet on either side, and the sound of the falls reaches you before you can see them.
10:10 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
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Mather Lodge Restaurant
Lunch at the rustic 1930s stone and timber CCC lodge perched on the rim of Petit Jean Mountain — the dining room looks straight down into the Fourche LaFave River Valley, 1,100 feet below. The menu runs to Arkansas comfort food: catfish, chicken, country ham biscuits, and cobbler. The lodge itself is one of the finest surviving examples of CCC craftsmanship in the country.
11:10 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
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Petit Jean Canyon Rim Trail
Walk the canyon rim above Cedar Creek — the trail follows the sandstone bluff edge with overlook points into the canyon that drop 400 feet to the creek below, with the Arkansas River Valley spreading flat beyond. The rock formations along the rim include natural bridges, balanced rocks, and the Seven Hollows geological complex where slot canyon-like passages cut through the sandstone.
12:10 PM📍 See location
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Evening
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Mather Lodge & Cabins
Sleep in the original 1930s CCC lodge on the canyon rim — stone-and-timber construction, fireplaces, and a porch with the valley view that closes out each evening with the lights of Morrilton visible far below. The cabins scattered along the rim offer more privacy; both put you on the mountain at first light for the drive to Magazine.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Day 2 — Mount Magazine State Park
Day 2 — Mount Magazine State Park
🚗 1 hr 30 min driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Petit Jean State Park → Mount Magazine State Park
1 hr 30 min8:00 AM → 9:30 AM
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Signal Hill Trail — Mount Magazine Summit
Hike the short ridge trail to Signal Hill — the 2,753-foot summit of Mount Magazine, the highest point in Arkansas and the tallest mountain between the Rockies and the Appalachians east of 100° longitude. The summit plateau is open heath with wind-flagged trees and views in every direction: the Arkansas River Valley to the north, the Ouachita Mountains layering south toward Oklahoma, and on clear days the Boston Mountains of the Ozarks to the northeast.
9:30 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
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Mount Magazine Lodge Restaurant
Lunch at the dramatic lodge restaurant perched on the south cliff edge of Mount Magazine — floor-to-ceiling windows look straight down the 800-foot escarpment into the Petit Jean River Valley below, while the menu offers Arkansas-sourced cooking. The lodge is the highest-elevation state park lodge in the central US; the view from the dining room is better than anything served at it.
10:30 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
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Cameron Bluff Overlook Trail
Walk the north rim trail to Cameron Bluff — a sandstone overhang above the Arkansas River Valley that is the launch point for hang gliders and paragliders drawn to Magazine's consistent thermals. The trail winds through an unusual summit ecosystem of stunted oaks, Arkansas bluebell wildflowers (endemic to Magazine and found nowhere else on Earth), and exposed Atoka sandstone before reaching the overlook above the river plain.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
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Mount Magazine Lodge
Sleep at the ridge-top lodge with the cliff-edge rooms that look south over the Ouachita Mountains — the highest lodging in Arkansas, with sunrise views the next morning that make the early wake-up obligatory. The lodge was designed to integrate with the mountain's natural sandstone, and the evening is quiet enough to hear the wind working the tree line on the escarpment below.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Day 3 — Lake Dardanelle & Arkansas River Valley
Day 3 — Lake Dardanelle & Arkansas River Valley
🚗 2 hr 40 min driving📍 3 stops
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Morning
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Drive
Mount Magazine Lodge → East Rim Overlook
5 min8:00 AM → 8:05 AM
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Mount Magazine East Rim Morning Walk
A short morning walk along the east rim before descending — the sunrise over the Boston Mountains to the northeast is the payoff, and the wildflower meadows on the summit plateau are at their best in early morning light when the dew is still on the Arkansas bluebells and the hawks are beginning to ride the thermals off the escarpment.
8:05 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
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Mount Magazine Lodge Restaurant
Final breakfast at the cliff-edge lodge restaurant before the descent — the view south over the Ouachita Mountains one last time, with the Arkansas River Valley beginning to wake up below.
9:05 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
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Drive
Mount Magazine → Lake Dardanelle State Park
45 min12:00 PM → 12:45 PM
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Lake Dardanelle State Park
A flat, easy afternoon on the Arkansas River impoundment at Russellville — the state park's riverbank trail follows the shoreline of Lake Dardanelle with views back toward Mount Magazine rising above the south bank. Osprey and bald eagles work the water year-round; the transition from two days of summit hiking to a riverside walk is an easy decompression before the drive east.
12:45 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Russellville, AR → Memphis, TN
1 hr 50 min5:00 PM → 6:50 PM
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