Tuesday, September 03, 2019
Seven Hollows Trail at Petit Jean SP Arkansas
Seven Hollows, the trail the marked the beginning of Petit Jean State Park's existence in 1923, takes you through a multitude of different ecosystems, hardwood, pine, brush grass and rock, massive rocks. Follow the white trimmed blue diamond blazes on this 5-mile loop trail (officially 4.5-miles plus 0.5-mile to the Grotto. Principle features are a natural stone arch, a grotto with waterfall, and turtle rocks.
Hiking clockwise, the well marked trail starts deceivingly as a flat sandy path but soon turns to an extremely rocky and root infested zig-zag
The first noticeable feature, a natural stone arch, is just before the 1.5 mile-marker, on the left side of the trail. Take time to walk through the arch and explore the rear side of the structure.
Though the hike has limited elevation change (a little over 500-ft), the hike's difficulty stems from the root and rock strewn terrain.
At the apex of the loop trail there is a side spur of approximately a quarter-mile requiring a little scramble over rocks and logs to a nice grotto fed by a nice little waterfall during spring and rainy weather.
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| Right-side of Grotto |
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| Dry fall at left-side of grotto. |
Much of the last half of the hike is over solid rock surfaces with the blue blaze arrows painted directly onto the rock. Large cliffs on both sides of the trail form a canyon with 100-ft ledges of either side. At some points on the trail you are in the canyon and the next minute you are on the top of the cliff.
There is much to see and explore on the hike. I would recommend you allocate about 4-hours to give you time to explore. The trail is hard on the feet; be sure to wear good boots, not sneakers.
There is much to see and explore on the hike. I would recommend you allocate about 4-hours to give you time to explore. The trail is hard on the feet; be sure to wear good boots, not sneakers.
