Talimena Scenic Drive Trip

A few years ago I saw pictures a friend posted of their trip on the Talimena Scenic Drive. The pictures were gorgeous but she said it took them 2 hours to get to the start of the drive and then about 2 hours to take the drive so I figured it would not be a trip to take with young children. This year I decided maybe the kids were old enough for the trip. They had the first week of November off school for the end of quarter intercession, something they did when adjusting the school calendar to include more breaks in the school year for the schools to be cleaned and prepped for a return to in-person learning. Ty took Friday off work and we used the day to travel out to Talimena State Park which is at the start of the drive. We poked around a bit there but it was one of the smallest state parks we've been to. Then we headed on to our campsite we reserved at Big Cedar RV and Camping. The entire area was so gorgeous. There was a little creek down the hill from our campsite and the kids had a blast playing and exploring in it. My parents got me a dutch oven and some other cooking gear for camping. That evening we cooked skillet lasagna over the campfire and it was delicious! We have only camped in the spring, summer, or early fall so this was the first time for the kids that it got dark so soon after dinner. They both got pretty spooked and wanted to go to bed. Starting at 6pm they were constantly asking if it was bedtime yet, the opposite of what we experience at home! We went to bed at 8:00 and Ty was snoring pretty much right away. The kids each made up a story to tell me. Then I hid under my sleeping bag and read with a flashlight until I was tired and went to sleep around 9:30. I ended up waking up at 5:30 since we went to bed so early!

Bringing the firewood we bought down to our campsite.

Cooking the skillet lasagna. I had swim shoes on because I got my shoes wet in the creek and was drying them out.

Carter ended up eating 3 helpings of the lasagna. Elise wanted to eat a hot dog instead.

The creek by our campsite.

Elise was so sweet, when she saw me crossing the creek, she came running and held out her hand to help me across.

We were up early Saturday morning and had breakfast over the campfire before heading out a little after 8:00 to start on the Talimena Scenic Drive. We drove up to the start at Talimena State Park and stopped at almost every vista to get out and look around. We even took short hikes at a couple of the spots. One was on Horse Thief Springs trail which led down to a little spring that came up out of the ground. We started chatting with a guy down at the spring who turned out to also be from Tulsa. He was out running the trail and sleeping along the trail. He had a survival straw to filter his water and the kids enjoyed watching him use it. We took along binoculars my grandparents sent for the kids and they enjoyed using them at a few spots along the way. At one vista we stopped for a snack and then took a short hike. While we were hiking we got the notification that Biden/Harris won the election. It was weird to be disconnected from things but still connected at the same time. We had a picnic lunch at one of the vistas and it was so nice to just sit and stare out at the view. 

Checking out the view at the first vista we stopped at.

Using the binoculars to check out the view.

Hiking on Horse Thief Springs trail.

Snack time at one of the vistas.

Picnic lunch with a view!

When we made it to the end of the Talimena Scenic Drive in Arkansas, we headed up to Heavenver to see the Heavener Runestone at Heavener State Park. We did the little hike around there, checked out the Runestone, and played on the playground. I was tempted to go from there to Poteau so I could run up Cavanal Hill, the "highest hill in the world" but there wouldn't be anything for Ty and the kids to do while I did that. So another time. That evening when we returned we had some nearby campers. The night before we were the only tent campers. The kids were thrilled that there were 2 boys at one of the campsites and they played with them rolling down the hill and exploring the creek. I went to a nearby trailhead to get a run in and the trail was no joke! I would have incorporated some walking or have run slower had I realized it was 2.5 miles of switchbacks up the side of a hill. Finally at 2 miles when I realized things were never going to level out, I decided to walk most of the way to my turn around. The run back down wasn't bad at all, haha! But the leaves did make it tricky going down hill because they would slip out from under me.

Sunday morning we broke camp and took our time getting around. We stopped off at Lake Wister State Park to check it out since it's in the passport book. Inside the gift shop the kids each picked something out to buy with their own money. The park employee heard Carter say snakes were his favorite animal so he took the kids in the back to see a couple snakes they have. He told the kids they could pet the snake but only Elise did. We saw they were decorating the main drive with Christmas lights and found out the light display would open the following weekend. That would be something fun to go see at some point. The kids were super tired so we didn't do any hiking. We played miniture golf which was only $3 per person! Then the kids played on the playground for a bit and we walked down to look at the lake. We made lunch and ate it in the car on the way home. We were all tired but it was an awesome and perfect trip! I had planned to run an 11 mile trail run for my long run on Sunday morning but after experiencing 1,200 feet of elevation gain in just 2.5 miles of my run the day before I decided to run my long run on the flats when we got home!  

Elise was so tired she kept just laying down! If you know her, you know it is rare for her to ever slow down!

Down by the lake at Lake Wister State Park.

We timed our trip perfectly in the season. It was late enough that most the trees had changed color but not late enough that there were any completely bare trees. It was a wonderful trip and I'm once again looking forward to our next camping trip. Ty and I have talked about celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary with a backpacking trip just the two of us for a couple years now. During this trip we decided we want to do it out in this area through the Ouachita National Forest. And how perfect is it that we picked something to celebrate our anniversary so we don't have to worry about Covid messing up our plans? We can go backpacking regardless of what the situation looks like as the time rolls around! Hopefully the situation is better by then, but who the heck knows with how things are going now!