Backpacking Trip to Magazine Mountain
Zhen Zhen and Tucker at the Trailhead
We went down to Arkansas for Thanksgiving week. Tucker has been wanting to climb Arkansas’ tallest mountain for a while now so I decided it would be a good opportunity for Zhen Zhen’s first backpacking trip. Since it was Zhen Zhen’s first backpacking trip, and for that matter her first camping trip, we just did an overnighter (instead of the near expedition level trips Tucker usually wants to take). We found a camping spot on the trail at the northern foot of the mountain. Zhen Zhen loved cooking outside and spending the night in the tent. We had nice sunny weather the afternoon we hit the trail, but a cold front came in that night and brought with it over cast skies and temperatures down into the lower 40s the next morning.
Zhen Zhen has a fear of bears (I guess too much Discovery Channel), and was always worried about one eating us. Luckily she did not notice the rather large Bear Country sign at the summit trailhead.
At any rate, we had no contact with bears at all, and saw no signs of them. The trail to the top of Mount Magazine is about 3 miles long and gains about 1800 feet in altitude. The footing on the trail was very precarious at times, so it took us a little more than two hours to make it to the top. Zhen Zhen had a hard time keeping her balance in a few places and really could have used a good pair of hiking boots instead of just the running shoes she had on. She was a trooper just the same – despite the fact that we had no way of really conveying to her where we were going or what we were doing walking out in the middle of the woods. We encountered lots of cool rock formations on the way up, and a couple of small waterfalls.
Zhen Zhen posing in front of a small trailside waterfall.
Zhen Zhen had a hard time with the last leg of the hike up due of the steepness of it. Because of the thick woods all the way up its kind of hard to know when you are close to the top, and you are basically there by the time you realize it.
Zhen Zhen and Tucker hiking up the final ascent.
We encountered dense fog and much colder temperatures at the summit (2753 feet), so unfortunately there were no big views to be had. There is a state park on top of the mountain so we did explore it a little bit and then hiked up to a campground to warm up in shower room.
Tucker and Zhen Zhen on top of Mount Magazine at a campground.
After we warmed up we made the hike back down the mountain, broke down our camp, and drove back up the visiter center so the kids could get a souvenir. The fog lifted by the time we drove back up, so we stopped at one of the overlooks so Tucker and Zhen Zhen could see how high they had climbed earlier.
Zhen Zhen and Tucker at an overlook.
Even with the less than perfect weather we had, it still was a nice trip. I am not sure if Zhen Zhen liked it that much or not. She says she did, but that could just be because she thinks it is what Tucker likes doing (which it is). It ended up being a tougher hike than I thought it would be, and was definitely harder than what I would have liked her first backpacking trip to be. Just the same, she climbed the tallest mountain in Arkansas for her first backpacking trip, so only 49 more state high points to go.