The Natural State

October 19, 2013

Little Rock, Arkansas:

I've been wanting to do a bike ride in "The Natural State", the official state nickname for Arkansas, for a long time now, just never gotten around to it yet ...... until now. I have a friend that lives near Little Rock and she agreed to accompany me on a bike ride in and around Little Rock. So ....we made plans, and I made reservations, poured over things I wanted to see and do, and then we made it happen. The weather turned a little cooler, but still a very pleasant 60 with a little breeze, certainly not bad at all for a bike ride. Little Rock has an excellent system of bike lanes and pathways, and I wanted to get a good sampling. So, we started out on the Riverfront bike path and headed east toward the Clinton Presidential Park bridge. This one they built a really nice ramp up to the lift span section, and it made it a pleasure to ride up and over.

This bridge is just sooo much better alternative than the Junction Bridge, just a little bit upstream. Instead of a ramp, I'd have had to carry my heavy ol' touring bike up all those flights of stairs, and back down on the other side of the lift span. I had one over on Cheryl, as she told me that she had never gone across the Clinton bridge before..... see .... sometimes it takes a newcomer to show the natives around.

Just to the left of the Clinton Bridge is the Clinton Presidential Library, a very impressive building.

Looking downstream from the Clinton Bridge.

After we crossed over the river, we were headed downtown to find a place to eat lunch and headed for the River Market Square. I was a bit apprehensive about traffic and worried about leaving the bikes while we went in somewhere to eat. I've never been there, so I had no idea. We followed the bike path around on the river side of the "district" and I found the "Market Pig" .... to let me know I'd found the farmers market. We were standing outside the door looking for a place to lock the bikes where they'd be safe, and this nice young man walks up and says .... "Just take your bikes inside, and you can lean them up against my counter" ...... He ran a bike rental place, and took all the worries away. We rode enough downtown to show me that traffic would be NO problem. Not only was car traffic very light in "The District", but the pedestrians we ran across were very polite and friendly.

Our bikes were parked way in the back where the wood counters were, and were perfectly safe. Such a nice young man, and he is sitting at his desk in the back there all the time we were in eating. Had a great Philly Cheesesteak sandwich .... a bit more than I wanted, but I was hungry. Cheryl is looking awfully pretty donning her helmet as we were getting ready to leave.

On the way out of the Market District, we spied this statue of a Halloween Ghoul on the sidewalk.....

Or was it!!! Kids were scared out of their wits......

And then, there were these two "street minstrels" serenading anybody who happened by....

The Little Rock Downtown area from the north side of the river.

The riverfront bike path, it was so pretty, all the way along the river.

Most of it was like this as it meandered along the river banks. We did have one detour because of a construction project, but it was well marked and we had no problem finding our way. Before long, we spied our first glimpse of The Big Dam Bridge ...... I was impressed! Not only is it long .... 3473 feet long, it was built by taxpayer dollars exclusively for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge. In fact, it is the longest such structure in North America.

The bridge goes across over the top of a dam, (hence the name), and on the other side is the lock ...

So towboats and barges like this one, can negotiate on past the dam.

Headed across the Big Dam Bridge. The name, by the way, is official, and not just a local term.

After negotiating the sweeping ramp coming off the bridge, we continued heading upstream toward the Two Rivers Bridge. Two Rivers Bridge is only about a mile upstream from this one, and is also a dedicated bicycle bridge. I didn't have a picture of Two Rivers Bridge, so a friend took this one for me.

 It amazes me how many taxpayer dollars that went into the construction of the bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure in this area. I found it well used, however. The old adage, "Build it and they will come" ... certainly applies here.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the Two Rivers Bridge, not as large as the Big Dam Bridge, but impressive none-the-less. On the other side, is Two Rivers Park, at the confluence of the Arkansas and Maumelle rivers. What a beautiful trail through this park. Mostly Loblolly pines, and what a smell! I could have ridden through this all day. But .... onward, and upward, as we were headed for Pinnacle Mountain. Which .....we found....

But only after a whole bunch of this ......

But the view of where we'd been was so very much worth it.

And the two hill conquerors overlooking the view....

Also up at the visitors center of the park was this stunning green pool. The color comes not from algae, but from minerals in the rock. This was once a rock quarry, and it was in itself a worthwhile reason to ride up there. Such a pretty area.

The mountain scenery was beautiful...

We took a little time to rest a bit at the top before swooping down the hills ..... no brakes were harmed in the descent of this hill.....

Back down, and along the riverside again, I had noticed this big smokestack earlier .....right in the middle of the road, with the road built around it. I thought maybe there'd be a sign explaining why .... but I didn't see one.

Obviously, a good reason for a roundabout!

Winding down our Natural State tour, I was constantly reminded how lucky I was to have friends who live in areas like this, as I can ride and enjoy an area much better than if I was just doing it on my own. We continued on toward our starting place, and stopped at the Nautical Museum for a couple of pictures. One of an early riverboat.....

And one ..... a WW2 submarine. They offered guided in-boat tours, but I really didn't want to think about climbing up and down runged ladders and walking steel gratings with cleated cycling shoes, so we settle for an outside view.

 AND .....Now....... the one I promised you .....ME....... in The Natural State!!!!

And, so ended our ride, but not our day. We went back to the hotel, showered, changed and headed out for dinner. We had both worked up a powerful thirst and hunger. Creegans Pub, authentically Irish, was just a walking distance away. So quaint and atmospheric, it was really quite the place to go. The food was good, and for drink, they had genuine Guinness Draft .... not the bottled variety, but real draft ...... with a thick, creamy foam head that was unbelievable. Appetite suppressed, and thirst assuaged, we relaxed a bit and watched some of the Arkansas Razorbacks losing decisively to Alabama ..... and then called it a day. And what a day it had been!!!