horse trails of devil's den state parkuserfiles/pdfs/denhorsetrl...the gorley king trail is...

Horse Trails of Devil's Den State ParkHorse Trails of Devil's Den State Park

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Vista PointOverlook

Mt. Olive

Holt RidgeOverlook

HorseDay Use

YellowRockOverlook

GORLEY KING TRAIL(RED) 7 MILES, 4 HOURS

The Gorley King Trail is named as amemorial to Mr. Gorley King fromSpringdale, Arkansas and follows theridge on which Benjamin Holt settled inthe late 1800’s. Mr. King was one of thefirst to ride these trails and blaze routes toHolt Ridge. The trail begins on the eastside of the horse camp. As it makes itsway down to Lee Creek, it passes througha limestone glade and beside a naturalbridge - one of three along this trail.After crossing the creek, the Gorley KingTrail forks and joins the ButterfieldHiking Trail, (BHT—blue blazes).

Traveling to the left, or north, theGorley King, Vista Point, and ButterfieldTrails are one and the same. The trailsgradually ascend to a level bench some 50feet above the creek. Camping Area E isacross the creek. Just past the mainte-nance complex, the Butterfield turns tothe left, while the two horse trails con-tinue up the hill. From here the trail ascends nearly 350feet in one half mile. About half way up,it comes within view of Highway 74. Thetrail then turns to the southwest and levelsout for another half mile. Eventually thetrail leads to the Holt Ridge Overlook, anatural cedar and grass clearing, or glade.Looking below, you will see Camping

Area E and the CCC Dam and lake.Looking north, you will see about fivemiles up Lee Creek Valley. Looking west,you will see the Ellis Creek hollow. One quarter mile past the overlook, thetrail again intersects with the ButterfieldHiking Trail, and the two coincide for thenext 1.5 miles. The Butterfield then forksleft (east), and the horse trail heads right(west) where it descends the ridge nearly350 feet to Lee Creek. From there itfollows an old logging road, crosses thecreek, and heads north through a cedargrove. It crosses the creek again in lessthan half a mile and then runs along thebase of the ridge, occasionally comingwithin sight of the creek.

About a mile from the lastcreek crossing, the horse trailagain intersects the ButterfieldHiking Trail. From this pointon, the trails coincide. Thetrail finishes its loop just pastthe natural bridges. Toreturn to camp, simply turnleft, cross the creek, andfollow the blazes to thehorse camp.

VISTA POINTTRAIL

(GREEN) 9 MILES, 5 HOURS

The Vista Point Trail isnamed after the Vista PointOverlook above BlackburnCreek. The Vista Point andGorley King Trails are thesame for the first 1.5 miles.See the description of theGorley King Trail for thissection. When the trail forks,follow the trail to the left, oreast. The Vista Point Trailgradually ascends the ridge,crosses Holt Road, runs eastand then quickly crossesanother road which leads tothe upper rock quarry usedby the Civilian ConservationCorps. The Vista Point Trailthen climbs Mt. Olive,crosses the ButterfieldHiking Trail and levels off tothe east of the knob. As it descends, the trailpasses within feet of a hand-dug well and a late 19thcentury homesite. Shortlythereafter it intersects withan old road. Highway 74 isimmediately to the left ofthis intersection; the horsetrail follows the road to theright. This intersection isnear the site of the old Mt.Olive school and churchwhich served the homestead-ers of this remote area fromthe late 1880’s until 1937. The horse trail follows theold road for a mile and thenturns left down another oldroad.

HORSE TRAILSof Devil's Den

State Park

ARKANSAS

HORSE TRAILS

elcome to the horse trails ofDevil’s Den State Park. The

park has about 20 miles of desig-nated horse trails. They will leadyou through the Lee Creek Valley,on top of the surrounding ridges,to historical sites, scenic vistas andwaterfalls.

There are three different horsetrails, all of which begin and endat the horse camp. Each trail ismarked with a colored platebearing a horse shoe symbol.The Old Road Trail is marked withyellow plates. The Gorley KingTrail is marked with red platesand the Vista Point Trail is markedwith green plates. Both theGorley King and the Vista PointTrail begin near the bathhouse inthe horse camp. Several portions ofthese two trails coincide. Bothred and green plates mark thesesections of trail.

Horses are welcome on Arkan-sas State Highways 220, 170 and74 but are not permitted on otherpark roads or in use areas otherthan the horse camp. In addition,horses are not permitted on anyof the hiking trails other thanthose places where the horse trail

of Devil's Den State Park

Notice: To preserve scenic beautyand ecology, fences and warningsigns have not been installed insome park locations. Caution andsupervision of your children arerequired while visiting these areas.

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and hiking trail (as in the case of a portionof the Butterfield) is one and the same.Hikers and mountain bikers are permittedon horse trails but must yield to horses.

OLD ROAD TRAIL(YELLOW) 4.5 MILES, 2 HOURS

The Old Road Trail is named for the dirtroad (old Highway 170) built by theCivilian Conservation Corps in 1933.The horse trail occasionally follows thisroad. This trail is the only horse trailentirely within the park boundary. The trail begins in the staging areaacross Ark. Hwy 220 from the horse campentrance. The trail immediately crosses anabandoned road which was the main roadthrough the Lee Creek Valley nearly onehundred years ago. As the trail makes itsway up the hill, it passes by discardedautomobile parts from a bygone era. The trail passes through a cedar groveand then forks. Although you may ridethis loop trail in either direction, thisbrochure is written as if you were riding itclockwise. Going left at the fork, the trailgradually ascends the hill and comeswithin a few yards of the 15 mph curveon Highway 170. Eventually the trailintersects the old CCC road which is stillwell defined. The trail then turns left(northwest) up the hill. There is a small,concrete structure on the left side of thisstretch of trail. This small structure wasused as an explosives bunker duringconstruction of the old CCC road. Even-tually the horse trail rejoins the old CCC

road and continues to the right headingnorth. It then continues through thewoods until it crosses Highway 170.Please use caution when crossing thehighway. After crossing the highway, the traildescends 400 feet in less than a mile. Asthe trail levels off, it crosses the YellowRock Hiking Trail. Horses are notpermitted on most sections of this trail.However at this point you may wish toturn left and travel about 200 yards downthe trail to a hitching post where you maytie your horse. From there you may walkabout 100 yards to Yellow Rock, a spec-tacular bluff that towers 250 feet abovethe valley floor. Horses are not permittedat Yellow Rock Bluff. From the Yellow Rock intersection, thehorse trail is fairly level for the next mileas it follows a bench on the mountainside.The trail works its way along the south-west side of the mountain, nestled be-tween a shelter bluff above and a cliffridge below. This half mile is especiallyscenic and offers excellent views of thepark and the valley. The trail passes justbelow the CCC Overlook, and thendescends 130 feet where it again inter-sects Highway 170. After crossing thehighway, the trail turns to thewest and completes the loop. Thetrailhead is just down the hill and to theleft from this intersection.

The horse trail leaves the roadand gradually descends to the bluffedge of Vista Point. The VistaPoint Overlook offers one of thefinest views into the rugged wilder-ness of the Boston Mountains andBlackburn water shed. About 100yards past the overlook the horsetrail joins the Butterfield HikingTrail (blue blazes) for a shortdistance. The Butterfield forks leftand down the hill into Quaill Valleywhile the horse trail continues upalong the bluff. Quaill Valley is aunique geologic area, and it is wellworth the time to dismount andexplore its bluff shelters, crevicesand waterfalls. After leaving the bluff edge, thetrail passes through the lowerrock quarry where in the 1930’s,the CCC removed sandstoneboulders to build the cabins,restaurant, Visitor Center andother park structures. From thequarry, the horse trail crosses theridge and the Holt Road and thenrejoins the Butterfield and GorleyKing Trails. Follow the blazes tothe right, or northeast, to reach theHolt Ridge Overlook and completethe loop. At the loops junction,follow the blazesto the left downthe ridge,across thecreek, andback tothe horsecamp.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

DEVIL'S DEN STATE PARK

11333 WEST ARK. HIGHWAY 74WEST FORK, AR 72774

PHONE: (479) 761-3325

SEE OUR WEBSITE:WWW.ARKANSASSTATEPARKS.COM

WWW.ADVENTURESTATEPARKS.COM