(upbeat music) Well, it's October finally.

And you know what that means here in Arkansas.

Cooler weather.

Finally.

Well, the elk are bugling and the ducks are thinking about heading south.

The deer on the move, and it won't be long til those leaves start changing colors.

Yep.

It's time to get outside and enjoy Arkansas's great outdoors.

My name is Steve Wildman Wilson.

I'm your host here on the show each week.

And let me introduce you to my guests this evening.

First of all right here is Joe Larson, and Joe is a interpreter for the Petit Jean State Park.

And on his right is Kirsten Bartlow.

And she has got a new title since I met you.

I do.

Used to be the watchable wildlife coordinator, but she is now the conservation recreation coordinator.

You got it.

Do you have to say that every time you answer the phone?

I do not.

I do not.

Well, thank you all so much for being here.

We got a great show lined up for you tonight.

We're going to be talking about outdoors in Arkansas during the fall.

It finally came.

I mean, we finally got some cooler weather.

October just sounds cooler, doesn't it?

It does.

Hey, before we get started.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

So I'm a park interpreter at Petit Jean State Park.

And I do programing, and I'm the state parks climbing guy.

A climbing guide?

Guy.

I'm a climbing guy.

Very well.

And so I, you know, I help us organize our climbing that we're recently allowing at Petit Jean.

We're going to talk about that a little bit later in the show and show you some new things at Petit Jean.

Where are you from now?

You ain't you're not old enough to have been around very long to do many things but where you from?

I'm from, I'm from Greenbrier.

I grew up in Greenbrier.

Went to Greenbrier High School, and then went off and went to school and then wound up back here in Arkansas.

And you have a family history of working in wildlife and conservation.

I do.

My mom, my mom taught here at UCA, actually, and she was a biology professor.

And then my sister now works for the Nature Conservancy.

Great.

Yeah.

And he shared with me before we went on the air that he used to watch my show here when he was a kid.

Yeah.

And he also said he's not real young now either.

So.

But thank you for watching.

I appreciate that.

Kirsten, a little bit about you.

Well, you know, I grew up loving the outdoors, from hunting and fishing to hiking and camping and lucky me to have a career where my job is getting folks out on our public lands and learning about wildlife conservation through outdoor recreation.

So paddling trails, nature trails, wildlife viewing.

Yeah.

How long?

How long have you been with gaming fish?

26 years.

26.

They hired me, you know, when I was a baby.

Yeah, I remember that.

I was there, I've been there a long time, but we got to work together.

We've done some TV and radio together, so.

We sure did.

Great to have you.

How have you been staying cool during this hot weather?

I know you're a big camper, floater.

You've been floating any?

Well, I have, I've been on a tail water.

I'm looking at some of the images behind you.

Some nice cool water on the Little Red, some wade fishing, some paddling on Lake Ouachita where I can swim and snorkel.

So that's how I beat the heat, is find water somewhere.

What about you, Joe?

I have to agree with the water 100%.

We've been going swimming at the Buffalo River a lot.

My daughter is three, so she's been, she's been just learning how to put her head underwater.

And she's having a blast with the swimming, so.

That's good.

But it's been hot.

But I'm so happy we're getting some cooler weather.

And I'll tell you what, when October gets here, like I said in the open, the first thing I think about in Arkansas usually is the elk in Arkansas.

So we're going to be sharing some some places to go see wildlife this time of year because they're starting to move now on the move a little bit.

If you get a chance, go up there to Ponca, Arkansas.

Kirsten, won't you tell a little bit.

I know you would go up there quite a bit and do some guiding.

Yeah.

Ponca is a neat little spot near the Buffalo River where we have a herd of elk.

And Boxley Valley has some elk that really don't seem to mind showing off sometimes.

Yeah.

This is when the males are bugling and attracting females, so they'll put on a show, you know, thrashing antlers and making that eerie, eerie sound.

It's one of my favorites in the world of wildlife.

Game and Fish Commission has a nature center there where you can stop in and have folks help direct you where you might be able to see an elk.

If you don't just happen to get lucky finding one as you're traveling through Boxley Valley.

Yeah.

Now, if you're wondering where Ponca is or Boxley Valley, they're not very big towns.

They have more elk than they have people there, to be honest with you.

Good point.

But there are about 30 miles south of Harrison, about 15 miles west of Jasper, up in there.

So yeah, that's a great outing for the whole family to do.

You don't even have to get out of your car.

You know, we're going to be talking about some tours here to see fall colors.

You can do it all right there.

In fact, you can see elk and fall colors because you're right there on the banks of the Buffalo River.

Right.

So it's a great spot to go for a hike or take, you know, your little three year old throwing rocks in the river is one of the best things you can do with a kid.

And check out the elk.

So it's really neat, if you've not done it, put it on your Arkansas bucket list.

A lot of people still don't know we have elk.

We brought them back in the 1980s, early 80s and got about 5 or 600 elk.

That's right.

That's right.

So yeah, it's neat opportunity.

The other thing that's getting ready to be active here in Arkansas is waterfowl.

We're known as the duck capital of the world and some good places, good times.

If you could send somebody to go see some ducks, where would you send them to see waterfowl, Kirsten, in Arkansas?

You know, our WMAs, wildlife management areas, over in the eastern part of the state are great places to go see duck.

So think Stuttgart.

Yeah, yeah.

And we've got a wonderful book called River to Ridge that you can find at the Game and Fish Commission website that highlights all of these wildlife management areas like Bayou Meto and Hurricane Lake and Wattensaw where, you know, we draw ducks in.

So this is the time.

We're duck capital of the world still.

We are duck capital of the world This time of year, those little blue winged teal, they're the first off the starting block.

There some of the first that we'll see whipping, whipping through.

They're fast little fliers.

I sometimes see him on on the Buffalo River when I'm up there paddling.

So I've been teal hunting before, and the only way I can kill a teal is if I shoot at the front one.

And I usually hit the back one.

Boy, they are quick.

They are quick.

And I always, another sign of fall for me is the, no matter where I am, if I'm outside working whatever, I start hearing geese start flying, the snow geese.

So that's another good sign of fall as well.

It is.

It is.

Deer on the move.

Be careful if you're driving down the road this time of year.

But I know there's some state parks that have a lot of, you got a lot deer up there on Petit Jean.

Yeah, we have a ton of them on Petit Jean.

We've been watching a mom with two baby fawns.

Isn't that cool?

Oh, it's so cute.

The fawns will will come up and kick each other in the head and run away.

And they play with each other.

It's pretty cute, actually.

You got 53 state parks now, I think so.

53 I think that sounds right.

Yeah.

We had some new additions this year.

Yeah, yeah.

Blanchard Caverns.

Blanchard Caverns, we talked about that on my second show.

Some other parts that, you know, might be good see deer in?

The one that I always have people recommend for seeing tons of deer is Mount Nebo.

I'm sure Queen Wilhelmina is probably really good as well.

Yeah, several of those come to mind.

And both of those would be great to see fall colors, which were going to be talking about in a few minutes.

Yeah.

I took my little camper up on Mount Nebo last year, and there were definitely deer for sure, and some really neat trails.

And like you said, you know, going around that mountain where you would get wonderful fall foliage.

But deer may not be the only thing you see up there for wildlife.

Aren't there some bears up there?

Well, sure.

Yeah.

Watchable wildlife.

It's a time of year, isn't it?

Yeah.

Bears aren't the usual that we see, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

They see you, but you don't see them sometimes.

That's right.

They're sneaky.

Birds.

I mean, obviously waterfowl is coming down, but a lot of songbirds are coming through the natural state this time of year.

Yeah, some songbirds are leaving, but some of, some songbirds from up north and other types of birds are coming to Arkansas.

They like our prairies and our wetlands and our woods.

This time of year is a great time to see shorebirds, which people don't realize.

And when we drain some of our hatchery ponds and make mudflats, you can see shorebirds.

We get an uptick in some kind of hawks, northern kestrels, red tailed hawks.

You're going to see more of them along the highways when you're driving.

Those are northern species that have, coming down and joining our resident birds.

So it won't be long before the eagles start.

Eagles.

You're going to get more eagles this time of year.

One of my favorites is loons.

You know we get loons from Canada and Minnesota.

So I love getting loons this time of year.

We get a funky little woodpecker called the yellow bellied sapsucker that comes down.

So can you say that again?

Yellow belly sapsucker.

I think I've been called that before.

Probably.

Probably.

There's just so much to see that, I mean, it's this time of year and things are starting to move.

It's getting cooler.

Like we said, the temperatures.

It's time to get outside to enjoy these things.

It is time.

It is time.

We're ready for the changing of the seasons for sure.

And for the changing of the weather.

Yes, yes, cooler weather is on the way.

Well, another popular thing to do while you're seeing a lot of wildlife like Queen Wilhelmina and some of those, Mount Nebo, you're going to get to see a lot of fall colors.

So we're going to kind of turn the corner here and talk about some good places and different ways to see the fall colors in Arkansas.

But before we do that, a lot of people come from long distances to Arkansas to see our fall colors.

They have no idea what they're looking at, what kind of tree it is, why it's that color, why it's turning that color now.

So we caught up with a good friend of ours from the Game and Fish Commission, Randy Zellers.

He's going to explain that to us.

Watch this.

(pleasant music) When you're going out there and you're looking, you're leaf peeping, and you're looking for the color change, you want to see those vibrant yellows, those vibrant oranges and then those reds.

Most of your yellows in Arkansas are actually going to come from your hickory species and your river birch species.

And then your other one that's going to be coming from is yellow poplar.

Yellow poplar is found in uplands and bottomlands, mostly in uplands.

And then river birch is obviously around rivers.

And it's going to be, you know, more of a bottomland species.

And then your hickories can be in both as well.

Those hickories are usually those first ones of the year that you're going to see that that make that change to that really vibrant gold.

Reds are a little bit different.

That red color actually comes from a little bit different pigment.

And that's actually in most of your species that have a lot of sugar content in the leaves.

That's going to be your sweet gum, hence the name sweetgum.

It's got a lot of sugar in those leaves.

You're going to have sumac, which you'll see a lot of really bright reds in sumacs that stay on the ground quite a bit.

And then you're actually going to see your maples.

You know, when people think about maples, they think about maple syrup and you have sugar maple and things like that.

But in Arkansas, most popular maple is going to be the red maple, hence the name red maple.

It has red leaves in the fall.

Those pigments that you're seeing in fall, they're actually always there in the case of those yellows and oranges.

You know, when everybody thinks about leaves and trees and they think about chlorophyl.

Okay.

Chlorophyl is that green.

Right.

And that's what the tree uses to grab a specific wavelength of light that it needs to produce sugar.

As we get a little bit in the fall, the tree starts saying, okay, it's time for me to slow down and shut down so it doesn't produce that chlorophyl as much.

When the chlorophyl fades away, these other pigments start to show up.

When you have drought conditions in summer, all summer long, and especially in late summer, those trees are going to start signaling, hey, this is about all we're going to get.

I need to go preservation mode.

I'm going to shut down, not speed those leaves anymore.

And you're actually not going to see very much of a color change.

Those yellows, golds, oranges.

You're not going to see much of those, and especially not going to see many of those reds.

You're going to all of a sudden get to those browns.

It's not really a panic situation.

It's just that's that trees way of making sure that it comes back the next year.

We have very beautiful leaf color change right here in Arkansas.

And probably your best chances to see it are going to be in the Ozarks, in the northern part of the state and in the Ouachitas in the western part of the state.

It's more a matter of being able to see more landscape and being able to see the variety of different species at different elevations.

In different elevations, you'll have a little bit drier soils up top that have a much different type of family of tree than those ones down at the bottom of the mountains.

So as you can see the whole thing, you get to see a lot more variety in the color.

Now you know why we call this the educational channel, right?

Arkansas TV.

Wasn't that great information?

Did you know all that stuff already?

A lot of it.

But I think I learned a little bit.

Yeah, Randy knows his stuff there.

You know, he was talking about drought and it may change things this year.

And we've had a pretty rough drought, so it might not be as vibrant as it has been in the past.

You got to have some water.

It may not, but one little tip, go check out over in the Delta on some of our water trails, Bayou DeView, Wattensaw Bayou.

You know the tupelo and the bald cypress trees are gorgeous in the fall, and those that are right on those bodies of water are probably still going to be pretty vibrant.

Yeah, you're a little passionate about that because you developed some of those trails.

The Game and Fish Commission has, you know, there's float trails all over Buffalo River and whitewater trails, but you've got Bayou DeView, and I guess that's a good park.

You've got water over there where you might not have up in the mountains right now.

We do.

Some of those Delta waterways are rain dependent as well, but many times you can at least paddle in for a while and paddle back to your your vehicle.

It's flat water.

And again it's really pretty in the fall.

It's really nice.

And you see a lot of different wildlife over there than you'd see anywhere.

Isn't that where the big woodpecker, what was it?

That was where the ivory billed woodpecker started happening in 2005.

You may not see one of those, but you quite likely will see a slew of other woodpeckers.

They love those big woods over there.

You know the beautiful thing about those water trails over there too, like you said, you don't have to have a shuttle service.

You can park your car, launch your canoe, your tackle, flat bottom, whatever, go and then come back.

Just don't get lost because those woods do look.

Yeah.

And if you want to learn more about those at agfc.com, search water trails and we have geo reference maps which I also, you know, tip you want to download one of those because they are a really good place to get turned around.

So yeah.

So there's a good way to see some new trees that you might, you will not see in different parts of the state, but probably the most popular are auto tours.

I mean, there are some highway circuits that you can take and some highways, 16, I know up around Boxley Valley.

Highway 7 is real good.

Where?

21 and 7.

21 and 7 out by your place.

Just go to a road through the mountains.

And just be careful, though, where you are.

There's some pull over vistas as well, though.

There are.

There are great spots to pull over.

And you get those beautiful scenic views and leaves.

And if you want to get off the road, some hiking trails.

Look at the one right behind you.

See this folks?

That's Hawksbill Craig.

Yes.

It's formerly known as Whitaker's Point?

Whitaker, have you been there?

You've been there?

Yeah.

Of course.

And I hear you have too.

So not only have I been, you expect me to be there.

My wife went there.

Oh, Gail.

If you know my wife, that's an accomplishment right there.

But that's an iconic spot in Arkansas.

It really is.

If you're up in that area seeing the elk and the Buffalo River, it's nearby.

So definitely want to try and check that.

Out just right up the mountain.

Right up the road from Ponca where those elk were.

Yeah.

So you can, you can do it all right there.

You can do your hike.

It's about, what, half a mile hike out there?

Yeah.

Maybe a little bit further than that.

But it's not a not real long out and back hike.

But you can get your hike in.

You can get your elk in down there and you can get your colors in.

There you go.

You know, you just need to go one place is all you got to do.

And driving up there.

Yeah, yeah.

Float, float strings.

We talked about that a little bit.

Have you guys, have you ever done a hot air balloon?

I thought that would be a cool way.

Have you done it?

No, I haven't, but I wish.

I don't know if anybody still does them, but I just thought what a neat way, a neat view, different view about going over those mountains and those rivers up there.

Be great.

And I think they just had a hot air balloon festival in Harrison just a few weeks ago.

Okay.

Well, I don't know if I'd ever do that, but that might be a way you could.

Have you ever zip lined?

Not on my list.

Oh, it's not on your bucket list?

It's not on my list.

What about you, Joe?

I've been on the zip line there at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch.

Up by Jasper.

Okay, okay.

Actually, yeah.

I've never been on one, but are you going slow enough to where you could actually see the fall colors or probably my eyes would be closed.

It goes pretty fast though.

Yeah.

That may be the case.

Keep your eyes open, huh?

I think some other popular ways though.

Obviously they've got back trails for biking trails.

I mean, we're huge mountain biking here in Arkansas.

And you got mountain bike trails on Petit Jean.

Yeah, we're just going to be, we're going to be opening up some new ones.

Really?

Coming up soon.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah.

So those are just some ways, different ways you might want to see, horseback riding.

I love riding horses.

And they have some horseback trails up through those mountains.

And, and now's really the time to start planning those things because, I mean, you've got a few weeks.

It may be a little bit later this year like Randy was talking about, but now's the time if you want to have guides.

I know state parks have a lot of guide services that take you on hikes or camping and things like that.

Just get outside and do something.

I mean, this is the time to be outside in the natural state, isn't it?

It is.

Yeah.

Make some reservations at one of those state parks.

They have such wonderful campgrounds and yeah, lots of, you know, led things led by park interpreters in the fall here.

So yeah.

Speaking of that, I want to spend the rest of the show talking about a new thing at a Petit Jean.

That's where Joe works.

And first of all, before we introduce what that is, tell us a little bit about Petit Jean itself.

Is it the oldest?

It's the very first.

I thought it was.

First state park.

So it was, really the Arkansas state park system began because of Petit Jean.

So it's our first state park.

There's lots of historic stuff there.

There's the lodge, there's a, we have historic cabins.

We have tons of hiking trails, mountain biking, all kinds of things to do at Petit Jean.

It's really, I think that's one of the unique things about Petit Jean as a park is that it kind of has a little bit of everything.

So yeah.

The beauty about that, I remember that going up there as a kid are those big rock ledges and bluffs, if you will, that Mom and Dad would say, don't get too close to the edge, because, I mean, it's pretty high up there, but I know y'all have taken that to another level.

We have.

A new thing that I'd never heard this term, and I've been practicing pronouncing this, it's called a via ferrata.

Is that right?

That's correct.

Yeah.

Via ferrata.

Tell me what a via ferrata is.

So via ferrata started out as a, they started in the Alps as a way for, for soldiers to be able to cross these difficult mountainous areas and to be able to move large numbers of troops and supplies across these big mountainous areas.

So essentially what it is, is it's think about it's kind of like rock climbing, but you've got a cable, steel cable that you clip yourself to.

So if you fall off, the steel cable is there.

It's anchored into the rocks.

And, and then you have the occasional, a lot of times they'll try to use the natural features.

So you do get kind of a rock climbing feel, but you're going to have, whenever it gets, when they're aren't features to grab, you're going to have these metal rungs that you can grab onto or put your foot on.

That's a bluff there at Petit Jean?

Yes, that's the Palisades overlook.

Yeah.

Wow.

Right there, and I understand that this is the first one ever in a state park anywhere in the United States.

Anywhere in the country.

Yeah.

Wow.

Do we have any of these in Arkansas anywhere else?

I've never heard of them.

So there's one, a small one at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch.

Okay.

But it's a, I would say it's not quite up to the same.

Well, look at that.

That's huge.

Yeah.

Now, how long is this one?

If you go up there, you make a reservation to do this.

Families can do it.

Yes.

You make a reservation and it's open now.

Yeah.

They're open.

They're guiding people actively probably today.

But now he's attached to that cable?

Yeah.

So he's got a harness and he's got two lanyards that have a locking carabiner on them.

So you clip both to it.

And what that means is that when you get to one of those, one of those transition points where the cables pointed attached to the wall, you can see him doing it there actually.

He's unclipping and clipping to the next thing.

But essentially that means that you, you don't unclip both at the same time.

Unclip one and then you do the next one.

And so you stay clipped in the entire time.

And how long will it take you to go the entire thing?

The entire thing I think takes maybe three hours if you include getting set up and the guides showing you how to do it.

So you need to allow for.

It's definitely a little chunk of time, though they do smaller, they'll also do just a small section of it, so you could do a shorter.

Now my question is is there more than one cable trail?

In other words, if you get behind somebody slow on there, you have to wait till they get through?

Do you have different options?

The guides try to, it's one kind of cable trail though.

We divide them into pitches.

So, so there's one section and then you take a little break and then another section and you take another break.

So you can unhook and let people pass you.

Yeah.

If you want to do and, or and the guides generally try to keep it to one group at a time.

So they'll try to stage people out so that they're going in one at a time.

And these are all guided tours.

You don't get to go on your own.

Yeah.

So this is a guided tour.

If you did want to go on your own, we do have rock climbing that you can do on your own, but that takes a little bit more skill and techniques.

So yeah.

No, I don't think I'm going to do any rock climbing.

I might, We're going to have to get you out there.

Kirsten, have you ever done one of these?

Have you ever seen one?

Yeah, no, I have not done one.

My nephew, we're going to, I'm going to get you hooked up.

My nephew wants to come down from Kansas City who's done indoor rock climbing, and he's super excited to come try this, so I will, maybe I might do it with him.

Okay.

The via ferrata.

Not the, I wouldn't count out the rock climbing.

We have some really good beginner rock climbing as well that you guys would, you wouldn't struggle.

You would be able to do.

Okay.

My question is if you, if you come up there to do rock climbing, I mean, it takes equipment and stuff.

Do you have all that there, like this, this ferrata thing, it's all there.

You just click on.

That's all, the guides provide all the equipment for the via ferrata.

They also do gear rentals for rock climbing gear.

So like for example, we, at Petit Jean, we have some of the best bouldering anywhere.

What's bouldering?

And so bouldering, it's exactly what it sounds like, climbing on boulders.

I figured that.

In general, it's you know, it takes a lot less gear because you're not going as high off the ground.

You don't need the ropes and harnesses and all that stuff.

You're staying closer to the ground.

And frontier rents climbing shoes, and they rent crash pads.

Wait a minute.

Crash pads?

(laughter) Yeah.

So bouldering, you take, essentially it's like a, it's like a gymnastics floor mat except it's got backpack straps on it.

And so you carry them out and you can put them underneath the boulder.

You can do that.

Yeah.

Yeah I'll video.

We'll watch from afar if you will.

If folks want to make reservations or want more information about what we've been talking about now, what's the best way to do that other than come and visit you this fall?

I know you got websites, brochures available, whatever.

You know, if they're interested in the via ferrata, I would go straight to Frontier Climbing Companies.

Frontier.

It's called Frontier Climbing Company.

And that's that's the guide service that does the via ferrata.

So a go to their website.

They're pretty, if you look up Frontier Climbing Company, you should be able to find their website.

In terms of other, you know, obviously, if you're hiking you just have to come to the park.

If you're going rock climbing, we have people check in.

Okay.

And so they, you have to go to the visitor center or the lodge and you have to check in and sign a waiver.

It's easy enough.

Easy enough.

Bring your own crash helmet.

Sign the waiver and get your crash pad.

Well, that's what I. Hey, thank you all so much.

What a great way, different way to see the fall colors here in Arkansas.

Hey, we really don't care where you go, how you go.

Just go.

Get outside and enjoy Arkansas's great outdoors.

And I'll see you next week right here on Naturally Wild.

This program was made possible by Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry, East Harding Construction Company, David's Burgers, Greenway Equipment, Arkansas Farm Bureau, and the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.

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