Chuck’s Blog- “Trails Less Traveled: Round Top Mountain”
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- Chuck Dovish
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Round Top Mountain, like Pinnacle Mountain near Little Rock, is one of those types of mountains that just juts out at you amidst the surrounding countryside.
Located two miles south of Jasper, off State Scenic Byway 7, the trails at Round Top offer a variety of hiking choices — thus, making your trek as short or as long as you prefer— up to 3.5 miles actually.
The trails consist of a lower loop about halfway up the mountain, called the Loop Trail and, then, a semi-loop at the top that’s made up of two separate connecting trails: the Ridge Top Trail and the West Trail. So, needless to say, the hiking experience here can range from scenic vistas to picturesque bluff lines, a bluff shelter, rock formations, even caves. (Along with plenty of wildflowers, ferns and mosses in the spring and summer.)
But, there’s also something different and tragic about what you’ll find here: this mountain also happens to be where a B-52 bomber crashed on February 6, 1948, during inclement weather. Some of the fragments of that plane are still scattered along a section of the trail, where a historic memorial marker has been placed.
Round Top Mountain will premiere during our “Trails Less Traveled” digital series on Arkansas PBS and Exploring Arkansas social media platforms Wednesday, July 22, at 2 p.m., including Facebook, YouTube and on the Engage Arkansas PBS App, available for free in the App Store and Google Play Store. Want to see it — or share it — on a bigger screen? Watch AR PBS -1 in primetime Thursday evening after “Doc Martin” to see the full segment on broadcast!
Getting ready to make your own trek on one of these great trails? (Or maybe all of them!) Don’t miss a chance to enter to win an Arkansas PBS prize pack! From now to Aug. 12, whenever you watch a segment and, then, share a photo on the Engage Arkansas PBS app, you’ll be entered to in a random drawing for an exciting collection of Arkansas PBS and “Exploring Arkansas” swag and/or experiences. Check out details and rules at myarkansaspbs.org/exploringarkansas.
