♪ >> IT'S ONE OF THE MORE UNIQUE ROCK LANDMARKS IN THE ENTIRE STATE, STACK ROCK NEAR WITTS SPRING.

A SPECIAL INTEREST AREA WITH THE U.S. NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE AND IT'S WHERE WE START THIS WEEK'S EXPLORATION.

THEN WE'LL TAKE YOU TO WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE IN EAST ARKANSAS NEAR MEMPHIS, A PRIMO SPOT FOR MIGRATE WATER FOWL AND THEN CLOSE IT ALL OUT AT ARKANSAS'S LARGEST STATE PARK, HOBBS STATE PARK AND CONSERVATION AREA NEAR ROGERS.

LET'S EXPLORE THE STACK ROCK AREA.

THE STACK ROCK AREA IS ACTUALLY WEST OF SNOWBALL AND NORTH OF WITTS SPRING AND THE RICHLAND CREEK IN THE OZARK NATIONAL FOREST.

THE HIKE ITSELF UP TO STACK ROCK IS ABOUT A HALF MILE.

THERE YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF TAKING A PATH WHICH FOLLOWS THE BLUFF LINE AT A DISTANCE OR YOU CAN HIKE RIGHT UP AGAINST THE BLUFF LINE WHICH IS WHAT WE DECIDED TO DO.

BY HIKING RIGHT NEXT TO THE BLUFF LINE, YOU'LL EXPERIENCE STACK ROCK THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE EXPERIENCED, JUST YOU AND THE ROCK AND ALL THE UNIQUE FEATURES THAT GO WITH IT.

>> 2/3 OF THE WAY AROUND STACK ROCK, ALONG THE EAST SIDE, THROES A NARROW PATHWAY WHICH WILL TAKE YOU TO THE TOP.

THERE, IF YOU LIKE TO THE NORTHERNMOST POINT YOU COME TO A MAGNIFICENT VISTA OF THE OZARKS AND THE OTHER SMALLER STACK ROCK.

STACK ROCK ITSELF IS A SPECIAL INTEREST AREA AND SPECIAL INTEREST AREAS ARE IDENTIFIED FROM A GEOLOGICAL, SCENIC AND OTHER CULTURAL FEATURES THAT ARE UNIQUE TO THE OVERALL OZARK NATURAL FOREST.

THERE MAY BE OTHER OUTCOPINGZ OF ROCKS OUT THERE IN THE FOREST, BUT THIS IS A PREMIERE OF WHAT YOU CAN FIND SO THAT'S WHY THEY IDENTIFIED IT FOR THE UNIQUENESS.

ANOTHER NICE ASPECT OF STACK ROCK ITSELF IS IT'S 10 TO 15 ACRES IN SIZE, THERE IS A WATER SOURCE, A PERCH WATER TABLE OR SOMETHING THAT ALLOWS IT TO BE FARMED ON TOP OF THE ROCK BLUFF.

SO THERE IS THIS OUTCROPPING OF ROCK THAT STICKS UP ABOUT 80 FEET TO -- 25 TO 80 FEET UP IN THE AIR, AND THEY ACTUALLY ROW-CROPPED IT BACK IN THE EARLY 1900s.

WE ACQUIRED THE LAND BACK IN 1942 AND THE RECORDS SHOW THAT IT WAS HARVESTED, TIMBER WAS CUT OFF OF THIS BACK IN THE MID 30S, AROUND 1935 TO 1937 AND THE LAST HOMESTEAD WAS DOWN BELOW ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE ROCKS AND IT WAS ABANDONED ABOUT 1927.

THERE WAS CROPS THAT THEY GREW UP HERE WAS CORN AND THEY ACTUALLY RAISED THE CORN AND WHEN THEY GATHERED IT, THERE WAS A LOG CHUTE OR FUNNEL THEY WOULD SLIDE INTO A CORN CRIB THAT WAS AT THE BASE OF THE BLUFF.

THAT WAS FROM THE OLD HISTORY FROM THE LADY WHOSE FATHER USED TO OWN THE PROPERTY YEARS AGO.

THAT'S ONE OF THE UNIQUE THINGS OF THE CULTURAL FEATURES IS WE DO HAVE A LITTLE ORAL HISTORY ON IT.

>> ALSO A GRAVE UP HERE?

>> YES, THERE IS A GRAVE, EVANLEY IS THE NAME ON THE GRAVE AND IT'S UNKNOWN WHETHER IT'S A FAVORITE SPOT THAT LOOKED OVER THE VALLEY OR WHAT, WE HAVE NO CLUE AT THIS POINT IN TIME THE HISTORY OF HER RELATIONSHIP TO THIS AREA.

SINCE THIS AREA IS A ROCK MECCA, ALONG WITH HIKE, IT ALSO ATTRACTS ANOTHER POPULAR ACTIVITY.

>> ALONG WITH THE ROCKS THEMSELVES THEY ATTRACT CLIMBERS TO THIS GENERAL AREA.

SO IT'S A POPULAR PLACE FOR ROCK CLIMBINGING IN THE AREA AND IT IS THE PART OF THE ATTRACTION FOR THE ROCK CLIMBERS IS THEY CAN CLIMB NUMEROUS ROUTES ALL IN ONE DAY AND PRACTICE CLIMBINGING A DIFFICULT PART OF THE CLIMB INSTEAD OF SPENDING THE WHOLE DAY TO GET TO A CERTAIN AREA THAT THEY -- CALLED A CREST AND THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THE CLIMB LIKE THEY DO OUT IN THE WESTERN STATES.

>> AS WE WERE WALKING ALONG THE BLUFF LINE YOU COULD SEE IT COULD RAIN NL ANYWHERE FROM BEGINNING, INTERIMEDIATE TO EXPERT?

>> YEAH, THAT'S ANOTHER REASON WHY IT'S SO GREAT.

FOR FAMILIES, FROM THE BEGINNERS TO -- WE HAVE 40 TO 50-YEAR-OLD ROCK CLIMBERS THAT BRING THEIR FAMILIES SO THERE'S A WHOLE LINE OF GENERATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR CLIMBINGING OUT HERE.

SO WHETHER IT'S SCALING THE ROCKS, TAKING PICTURES OF THEM OR JUST WALKING ALONG AND ENJOYING WHAT CENTURIES UPON CENTURIES HAVE FORMED, THE STACK ROCK AREA NEAR WITTS SPRING IS A UNIQUE AREA, A SPECIAL ONE AT THAT, AND ANOTHER GEM THAT MAKES THE NATURAL STATE WHAT IT IS.

IT'S BEEN CALLED A WETLAND PARADISE IN A SEA OF AGRICULTURE IN EAST ARKANSAS.

WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.

THE BEST WAY TO EXPLORE IT IS BY TAKING THE SIX-MILE-LONG NATURE DRIVE.

LET'S GO CHECK IT OUT.

WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1961 TO PROVIDE WINTERING HABITAT FOR CANADA GEESE.

PRIOR TO THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REFUGE, EARLY OCCUPANTS WERE INDIANS.

VERY RICH AREA FOR INDIANS TO EXPLOIT AND UTILIZE THE AREA FOR FOOD, USED TO BE CONNECTED TO THE MISSISSIPPIS RIVER.

IT WAS AN OBJECTION BOW TO THE RIVER, BEEN CUT OFF YEARS AND YEARS AGO, AFTER THE INDIANS LEFT THE SCENE, HEAVILY UTILIZED BY PROMINENT WATER FOWL ENTHUSIASTS, MOSTLY FROM THE MEMPHIS AREA, THEY HAD ESTABLISHED A -- ONE OF THE OLDEST OUTGOING CLUBS FOR DUCK HUNTINGING IN NORTHEAST ARKANSAS.

VERY RICH WATER FOWL HISTORY.

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS OUTDOOR RIDERS, NASH BUCKINGHAM WAS A MEMBER OF THE CLUB.

THEY HD A CLUB LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE AREA.

AS THEY GOT OLDER THEY REALLY WANTED TO SEE THE AREA PROTECTED BECAUSE IT WAS SUCH AN IMPORTANT FEATURE AND LANDSCAPE.

EVERYTHING AROUND WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE HAS BEEN CLEARED AND IT'S AGRICULTURE SO THIS IS A VERY UNIQUE SPOT IN A SEA OF AGRICULTURE FOR MIGRATORY BIRDS TO STOP AND SPEND THEIR WINTER MONTHS.

>> I GUESS YOU CAN FIND PRETTY MUCH ALL SORTS OF BIRDS OUT HERE.

>> YES, WATER FOWL WAS THE BIG TICKET ITEM HISTORICALLY BUT WE HAVE REALLY SEEN IT'S IMPORTANT FOR SPRING MIGRATION OF VARIOUS OTHER SPECIES THAT COME THROUGH.

ALSO IMPORTANT FOR BALANCED AGENCY ALSO AS WELL AS NESTING BALANCED EAGLES.

WE HAVE A PAIR THAT ACTIVELY IN ANY EVENT ON THE AREA AS WELL.

LOCATED ONLY 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF MEMPHIS OFF INTERSTATE 55 NEAR TURLE, WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MORE POP HAR NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGEES IN ARKANSAS >> WE GET A LOT OF PUBLIC USE COMING OUT OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA, AFTER ALL, THIS IS A WILD PLACE, CLOSE TO AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT, SO IT GIVES PEOPLE AN OPPORTUNITY 0 COME OUT AND SEE WILD THINGS, BIRDS, VARIOUS TYPES OF BIRDS.

THEY COME OUT AND A LOT OF THEM FROM JUST THE CAR WINDOW CAN SEE ALL TYPES OF BIRD SPECIES.

WE HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT ENJOY NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY, ESPECIALLY WITH DIGITAL CAMERAS COMING ON BOARD, LOT OF NEW PHOTOGRAPHERS OUT THERE, THEY CAN COME OUT AND THEY LOVE TO SEE THE BIRDS THAT COME THROUGH, THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER AND WINTER MONTHS.

>> THAT'S THE THING WITH THE DRIVING TOUR, YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE.

>> THAT'S RIGHT.

YOU CAN SEE AND DO AS MUCH AS YOU WANT OR AS LITTLE AS YOU WANT.

IF MOBILITY IS ANISSUE, THE MOBILE TOUR IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO DRIVE AND STOP.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING NEAT LIKE A WADING BLUE HERON TRYING TO 8 A FISH OR GET A FROG, YOU CAN STOP AND TAKE A PICTURE.

SEE RED TAIL HAWKS, YOU CAN SEE THEM SOARING OVER THOSE AREAS, YOU CAN STOP, TAKE A PICTURES AND DRIVE ON TO THE NEXT POINT OF INTEREST.

IT'S VERY CONVENIENT FOR PEOPLE TO COME OUT AND SEE WILDLIFE IN THE COMFORT OF THEIR VEHICLE AND IF THEY WANT THEY CAN STOP AND IF THEY FEEL LIKE IT, THEY CAN WALK THESE AREAS AND GET A LITTLE CLOSER TO NATURE IF THE WEATHER ALLOWS IT.

AT THE LAKE OBSERVATION AREA, A LARGE VIEWING AND FISHING PIER MAKES 0 A GREAT VANTAGE POINT TO EXPERIENCE 600 ACRE LAKE WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO GET OUT ON IT.

THE LAKE IS SURROUNDED BY A CYPRESS WILLOW SWAMP AND THE FOREST THAT FANS OUT FROM THE LAKE IS SEASONLY FLOODED WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE EXCELLENT WINTERING WATER FOWL HABITAT.

DECEMBER AND JANUARY ARE USUALLY PEAK PERIODS FOR VIEWING LARGE NUMBERS OF WATER FOWL.

WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE'S UNIQUE COMBINATION OF WOOD LANDS, CROP LANDS, SWAMPS AND LAKES MAKES THIS AN ATTRACTIVE PLACE FOR WILDLIFE THAT LIVES HERE YEAR ROUND AND ALSO THE WILDLIFE THAT STAYS FOR JUST A LITTLE WHILE.

WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, ALONG WITH THE OTHER MORE THAN 540 NATIONAL WILDLIFE AREAS DO CONTAIN A PRICELESS GIFT, THE HERITAGE OF A WILD AMERICA THAT WAS AND STILL IS.

>> GOOD PLACE FOR WILDLIFE AND A LOT OF REASONS FOR THAT IS THEY ARESECLUDED.

ALL THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS LOVE IT, SO WE ARE UNIQUE IN THAT WE PROVIDE WONDERFUL AND LARGE AMOUNTS OF HABITAT THAT HAVE BEEN LOST THROUGHOUT ARKANSAS AND YET YOU CAN STILL VIEW IT FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR VEHICLE.

>> AMERICA'S BEST-KEPT SECRET.

>> THAT'S RIGHT.

>> STEVE, IT'S NOT EVERY TRAIL THAT STARTS OFF WITH A TUNNEL AT THE TRAIL AHEAD.

THIS IS QUITE INTERESTING SDM NOT ONLY THAT, WE REALLY NEEDED TO DO THIS FOR SAFETY REASONS.

AS YOU CAN HEAR, WE HAVE TRAFFIC COME ON HIGHWAY 12 THAT GETS PRETTY BUSY AND WE NEEDED A SAFEWAY TO GET KIDS AND OTHER FOLKS ACROSS THE ROAD OR, WELL, NOT ACROSS THE ROAD, GET THEM UNDER THE ROAD.

THIS IS THE SAFE WAY TO DO IT.

CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE WITH A BUS LOOD OF FOURTH GRADERS?

>> HELLO!

>> YOU GET QUITE AN ECHO IN HERE.

>> NOW WE'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TUNNEL AND THIS IS THE HOLLOW, WHERE IT ALL HAPPENS.

THIS IS WHERE PETER VAN WINGLE ADD HIS HOME, BUSINESS, SLAVES, AND THIS WAS THE COMMUNITY AND THIS IS WHERE THE FOLKS THAT HE HAD WITH HIM PLUS THE FOLKS, OTHERS JUST OVER THE HILLS WHERE EVERYBODY WOULD COME ON THE WEEKENDS AND IT WAS LIKE A SMALL MALL AND THEY'D TRADE WITH ONE ANOTHER AND BARTTER, I DON'T ASSUME YOU TOO MANY OF THEM ACTUALLY HAD HARD MONEY, THEY WOULD TRADE CHICKENS AND LIVESTOCK AND NOW WE HAVE TO THINK IT'S 1858, WE ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TUNNEL.

WITH NEARLY 12,000 ACRES, HOBBS STATE PARK AND CONSERVATION AREA LOCATED ALONG THE SOUTHERN SHORES OF BEAVER LAKE EAST OF ROGERS IS ARKANSAS'S LARGEST STATE PARK.

WE ACTUALLY HAVE FOUR TRAILS HERE AT HOBBS AND MULTIUSE TRAIL AND THREE HIKING TRAILS AND THIS ONE IS OUR BARRIER-FREE TRAIL, A HALF MILE AND OF ALL THE TRAILS, ALTHOUGH THIS IS THE SHORTEST, IT'S THE ONE THAT IS USED THE MOST.

A LOT OF FOLKS OF ALL AGES COME ON OUT FOR THIS ONE.

HOBBS STATE PARK IS NAMED AFTER LOCAL BUSINESSMAN AND CONSERVATIONIST ROSCOE HOBBS WHO OWNED THE LAND FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND TOURISM ACQUIRED IT IN 1979.

THE PARK'S HISTORY IS CENTERED AROUND HISTORIC VAN WING KEL HOLLOW WHICH CONTAINS SEVERAL FACETS TO ITS INTERESTING PAST DURING THE 19th CENTURY.

THIS LOCATION WAS THE OLD HOMESTEAD.

>> IT SURE WAS, YOU HAVE 0 REMEMBER, 1858, THAT WAS THE ORIGINAL HOUSE BURNED DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND REBUILT AND UP AND GOING IN THE -- ABOUT 1870.

TWO-STORE STRUCTURE, WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

ROGERS WASN'T A CITY UNTIL 1881.

OUT HERE WAS WHERE THE FOOTPRINT OF THE BUILDING WAS AND OF COURSE YOU HAVE THE WALL WHICH IS OUTSIDE OF HIS YARD THERE, THIS HAD 18 FOOT SQUARE ROOMS, 11 OF THEM, 3 BIG CHIMNEYS, HAD A KITCHEN KIND OF ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE, VERY TYPICAL OF THE TIME AND THEN QUARTERS FOR HELP ABOVE THAT AND FOR THE TIMES, THIS WAS QUITE A STRUCTURE.

OVER HERE, OF COURSE, WE HAVE OUR PRECIVIL WAR ROAD, THIS WAS DESIGNATED THE VAN WINKLE MILL ROAD, STILL ON THE BOOKS AS A PRECIVIL WAR ROAD.

IT WENT RIGHT IN FRONT OF PETER'S HOUSE AND THIS IS WHERE -- THIS WAS THE CENTER OF THE WHOLE HOLLOW.

PETER WAS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE.

HE HAD QUITE A PLACE.

>> ACROSS FROM THE HOUSE WAS A SPECIAL ANTEBELLUM GARDEN.

>> WE'RE MAKING AN ASSUMPTION HERE IN THIS GARDEN, THIS WAS NOT A VEGETABLE GARDEN.

THIS WAS AN ORNAMENTAL GARDEN AND OF COURSE RIGHT ACROSS THE STAIRS HERE WAS THE ENTRANCE TO PETER'S HOUSE.

TWO-STORY STRUCTURE, HE COULD COME OUT ON THAT BALCONY AND LOOK OVER HERE AND WE THINK THERE MIGHT BE TWO GRAVES IN THE BACK.

HE HAD TWO CHILDREN THAT DIED VERY YOUNG AND WE BELIEVE THIS WAS A MEMORIAL TO THEM AND THAT'S WHY WE BELIEVE THIS WAS BUILT BECAUSE AN ANTEBELLUM GARDEN, ANTEBELLUM THINGS WERE IN ODD NUMBERS, THERE WOULD BE ONE TYPE OF PLANT, THREE TYPES OF PLANT, FIVE TYPES, SEVEN STAIRS, SO PETER REALLY STUCK TO THAT.

>> THIS AREA, OF COURSE, STEVE, IS THE SAW SAW MILL WAS THE LARGEST STEAM HAD-POWERED MILL IN THIS AREA OR THE STATE.

>> THIS IS WHERE IT ALL HAPPENED RIGHT HERE.

PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR IT WAS NOT BUT AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, WHEN THIS MILL WAS REBUT IN THE 18 70s YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT, THE LARGE GUEST SAW MILL IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF ARKANSAS, THE MAJORITY OF THE LUMBER THAT CAME OUT OF THIS MILL WAS BUILT IN THE VICTORIAN TYPE YOU SEE IN FAYETTEVILLE, PETER WAS ALWAYS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME AND WHEN YREKA SPRINGS WAS JUST STARTING HE SET UP HIS SON IN A LUMBERYARD AND THEN YREKA GREW FROM ZERO TO 12,000 IN LESS THAN A YEAR, TALK ABOUT BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL HAPPENED.

LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THESE BOLTS.

HE HAD 150 HORSEPOWER STEAM ENGINE AND HERE HERE WAS THIS GREAT BIG 10,000 POUND FLY WHEEL RIGHT IN HERE.

OVER HERE WE HAD A 3-STORY STRUCTURE AND HE HAD EVERYTHING -- ALL THE TOOLS HE NEEDED TO MAKE EVERYTHING YOU WANTED FOR A HOUSE EXCEPT FOR THAT THAT WAS METAL.

HE HAD A CISTERN RIGHT HERE AND IT WOULD PUMP THE WATER OUT OF THE CISTERN AND IT WOULD GO TO THE BOILERS.

THREE BOIL HERS ON THE SIDES RIGHT HERE AND HE COULD FIRE UP ONE, TWO OR THREE, DEPENDING HOW MANY PIECES OF TIMBER HE HAD TO CUT UP THAT DAY.

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL HAPPENED AND HE RAN THIS MILL, PETER DIED IN 1882 AND HIS SON-IN-LAW RAN THE MILL UNTIL 1890 WHEN IT RAN OUT OF MARKETABLE TIMBER IN THE AREA AND THEY STARTED TO BRING TIMBER UP FROM THE SOUTH.

>> THE ENTIRE VAN WINKLE HOLLOW SETTLEMENT AND OPERATION IS ONE OF THE PRIMARY EXAMPLES OF WHAT LED TO THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.

EXPERIENCE FOR YOURSELVES THE SPIRIT OF THE EARLY SETTLERS AND THE BEAUTY THAT LURED THEM TO THE OZARKS.

SO EXPLORE FOR YOURSELF, ARKANSAS'S LARGEST STATE PARK, HOBBS STATE PARK AND CONSERVATION AREA ALONG THE SHORES OF BEAVER LAKE OR TAKE THAT NATURE DRIVE AT WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE IN EAST ARKANSAS NEAR MEMPHIS AND IF YOU ARE UP FOR IT, TAKE A LOOK AND EXPLORE THE STACK ROCK AREA NEAR WITTS SPRING IN THE OZARK NATIONAL FOREST AND FOR MORE ON THESE AND OTHER DESTINATIONS, AND TO VIEW OUR MAPS, OR TO ORDER A COPY OF AN EPISODE, VISIT OUR WEB SITE, AND WE'LL SEE AGAIN THE NEXT TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING ADVENTURE ON "EX-EXPLORING ARKANSAS."

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