Friday, January 2, 2009

I Highly Recommend Devil's Den to You

As a little reward for staying happy, productive, and composed through the Christmas holidays, our little gang of girls+Matt spent December 30-31 at Devil's Den State Park. It's only an hour from Ft. Smith, high up in the Ozark Mountains. There are all the usual hike-y, scenic, mountain spring-y, forest in winter sights, but the big draws for me are two-fold: (1) an extensive cave system, ranging from cakewalk to not fully mapped; and (2) a cozy, tiny cabin with a big stone fireplace.

Did we love it?

We loved it.
And now we are home, and the pleasure of that is immense, as well.

8 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2009 at 1:11 PM

    That looks utterly amazing! I love the little cabin. It is so cute. I also love that your girls got to tromp around in the woods and through the caves.

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  2. cakeJanuary 3, 2009 at 8:47 PM

    i love caves. i spent my formative years near the ozarks, and really fell in love with spelunking. i am so happy that you guys had the where-with-all to go and do that.

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  3. julieJanuary 4, 2009 at 1:19 PM

    Spelunking is one of my favorite things, ever--all that climbing around, clambering over stuff, exploring awesomeness--and I really like the Devil's Den caves because they aren't touristy at all. No grafitti, no pee smell, no real extra care taken to provide ease of access, no litter, etc., and they aren't all clearly marked on the trail maps, either, so you really can do a lot of exploring for yourself.

    I'm thinking we might need to do an overnight there every time we tough out a visit to my family.

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2009 at 2:04 PM

    We are jealous you saw (and photographed) a bat! Dh would love to visit this place, as much as I'd like to avoid Arkansas (oh wait, Wyoming was a lot scarier).

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  5. AbbyJanuary 5, 2009 at 8:34 PM

    i love caves!!!!!!!

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  6. julieJanuary 6, 2009 at 8:11 AM

    You guys should totally go to Devil's Den--there are always like a hundred bats in the Devil's Den cave, and my wussy little girl family wouldn't even let me do all the climbing around stuff and exploring that I wanted to.

    Suckiest vacation spot I ever visited? Tombstone, Arizona, by a long shot. That place blew on so many levels, it ALMOST managed to cycle back around to good again. But it didn't.

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  7. cakeJanuary 6, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    that sound so perfect! i don't liket the touristy ones (as much as what you described)because they light them! one of the great joys of being in a cave is that when you turn off the flashlights, you can put your hand right up to your face, and you CANNOT see it! i don't know why that thrills me so much, total darkness...maybe too scary for little ones, but i think everyone should have a chance to experience it at some point in their lives.

    i could go on and on about all the other reasons i like caving, but i'll spare you.

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  8. julieJanuary 7, 2009 at 9:38 PM

    Oh, yeah--spare me the lights and motorized vehicles and widened entrances.

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