<\/p>\n
Arkansas is certainly deserving of the title of \u201cThe Natural State.\u201d It is home to some of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes and landmarks in America, ideal for hiking, fishing, hunting, rock climbing, and virtually any other outdoor activity one can think of. And yet ironically, it\u2019s often hard for the residents of centrally located Little Rock to find places to do the outdoors activities they love without driving tens or hundreds of miles to get there. While well-known locations like Pinnacle and Shinnall Mountain are great nearby locales, many outdoorsmen argue that the greatest way to experience nature is in relative peace and quiet, away from areas frequented by hundreds of people each week.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt can be really hard to find places that aren\u2019t already teeming with people near the city,\u201d said junior Ben Orfanos. But to Orfanos, some of the best places to be alone with nature are hidden in plain sight. \u201cNone of the places I go really have names, but there is an area between Pinnacle and Star Farms that is a really beautiful place to hike,\u201d said Orfanos. \u201cThere are offshoots of the Arkansas River on the Maumelle side that are really great to go to,\u201d he said. \u201cThe water in those parts is only about three feet deep, so I take my kayak out and go fishing for bass. Offshoots and oxbows of the river also usually make great bow-fishing spots too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere are tons of places if you know where to look,\u201d said junior and experienced angler Anderson Hambuchen. \u201cI go fishing everywhere from Lake Willastein in Maumelle, to little ponds in neighborhoods in that area. I once caught an eight-pound bass on a neighborhood pond in Maumelle,\u201d said Hambuchen. \u201cOne of the great areas for bass and crappie fishing is Lake Conway. Bow-fishing at the spillway there is also usually really good,\u201d said Hambuchen. \u201cI like to kayak, and people usually overlook the Arkansas River for obvious reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cBut most people don\u2019t know you can actually kayak all the way from pinnacle to Two Rivers Park on an offshoot of the Arkansas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For junior Ben Sorrels, simply finding places to go is half the adventure. \u201cI like to hop in my car and just start driving, looking for places,\u201d he said. \u201cYou find things you\u2019d never known existed by exploring like that. There are so many parks and things people don\u2019t know about out west, down Highway 10 and past Pinnacle for instance,\u201d said Sorrels. \u201cLake Sylvia and the Lake Maumelle spillway trails are fantastic places to hike, fish, hammock or camp and both are less than an hour from west Little Rock. Places like that are all over that area too,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cIf you want some direction, plan out where you want to go on a map. If you want to find something new, the best way is to start looking for it yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think people forget pretty often how close some things really are,\u201d said Hambuchen. \u201cIf you want hiking, Petit Jean is a great place to go on day trips,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Little Red River and even the Buffalo are awesome for fishing and it takes less than an hour to get to both. If you want to fish even closer than that, there are so many waterways like Palarm creek near Maumelle and Conway. I obviously don\u2019t want to give up my favorite fishing spots, all I can do is point you in the right direction and you\u2019ll just have to find it for yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Arkansas is certainly deserving of the title of \u201cThe Natural State.\u201d It is home to some of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes and landmarks in America, ideal for hiking, fishing, hunting, rock climbing, and virtually any other outdoor activity one can think of. And yet ironically, it\u2019s often hard for the residents of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":7435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[196,1],"tags":[184,143],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liftoffnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_1288-3.jpg?fit=800%2C479&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xfZw-1VI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7441,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions\/7441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}