Conway County High Point Trip Report

Petit Jean Mtn (1,207 ft)

Date: June 26, 2000
Author: Fred Lobdell

Conway County's high point lies on Petit Jean Mountain, which in this area is a bluff that rises very steeply more than 900 from the Arkansas River.

From the I-40 exit for AR 9 at Morrilton, go south on 9 several miles to AR 154. (There will be brown signs for Petit Jean State Park at the I-40 exit and at the state highway junction.) Turn right (west) on 154 and follow it for perhaps 10 or 12 miles to the visitor center for the park, which will be on the right (north) side of 154. A short distance past the visitor center will be a road going right (north) and signed for the airport. Turn right and take this road for several miles to where it ends at a "T" intersection. On the road going left will be two stone pillars and a gate that was open when I was there. Turn left (west) and go a half mile to a road going right (north). This road is signed "No Trespassing" and "No Thru Traffic", but how do you ask permission if you don't go up to the front door and knock? I turned right up this road and found a small colony of houses and a couple of other structures. At the end of this road (about 0.3 miles in) there is an abandoned house on the right and an overgrown woods road going northeast parallel to the edge of the bluff. I drove back down to where there was a large barn-like structure on the west side and spoke with a man who was working there. After I explained what I was doing and showed him my map and told him I wanted to leave my car by the abandoned house and walk up the grassy road, he told me to go ahead, and if anyone asked me, he said with a grin, "Tell them the Mountain Man said it was okay." So if you want to do this one by this route, look for Steve, a man probably in his early 50s with gray hair and a neatly trimmed gray beard.

After parking at the old house I walked up the old road. The road passed over one small rise, dropped, and rose to the high point. A few feet left of the trail, only a couple of feet from the drop-off, I found bench mark "Petit Jean", dated 1940. The highest area seemed to be a large flat boulder a few feet southwest of the BM. This is an easy round trip hike of about 1.5 miles with a total elevation gain of about 130 feet on gentle slopes.