Dora Brach of Lowell remembers a picnic enjoyed beside a splashing waterfall along a hiking trail at Devil's Den State Park. Memories of lofty forest views from other hikes in the park stay with her to this day.
Experiences in nature offered at the park and work by its staff are reasons why Devil's Den State Park was named Region 1 Park of the Year for 2015. Arkansas State Park officials presented the award to Devil's Den staff on Nov. 2. The award is proudly displayed at the front counter of the visitor center.
Visit Devil’s Den
Devil’s Den State Park is located about 10 miles west of Winslow on Arkansas 74, or 17 miles southwest of West Fork on Arkansas 170. Amenities include campsites, cabins and hiking trails.
Information: 479-761-3325, or www.arkanasstatepar….
Devil's Den is situated over 2,200 acres in a deep valley about 10 miles west of Winslow.
Brach is president of the Hill 'N Dale Hikers group and is one of about 500,000 visitors who come to Devil's Den each year. Visitor comments are among the criteria that state park chiefs in Little Rock consider for a regional award, said Greg Butts, director of Arkansas State Parks.
"There are 10 categories we look at," he said. "Things like visitor comments, how they maintain and operate the park, keeping things in good repair, interpretive programs and how they manage their budget."
Region 1 is basically the northwest quarter of Arkansas, plus some territory to the south. There are nine state parks in Region 1.
Each park presents its annual report to state park administrators, Butts said. A park's accomplishments and challenges of the past year are considered. State park administrators and staff from the individual parks vote on park of the year for the five state regions.
From those five parks, one park is chosen as Arkansas State Park of the Year. The 2015 honor is bestowed on Powhatan Historic State Park in northeast Arkansas, west of Walnut Ridge.
Devil's Den State Park is an outdoor activities park, with trail hiking being the No. 1 interest of visitors, said Monte Fuller, superintendent at Devil's Den. Trails range from easy walks of less than a mile to the Butterfield Trail 15-mile backpacking route. There is mountain biking on the 5.5-mile Fossil Flats Trail.
Campers will find basic tent sites to campsites for trailers and motor homes with water and electric hookups. Picturesque cabins with fireplaces are nestled in the woods for weekend or longer getaways.
Park of the Year "is something we're always working toward, kind of a goal we set," Fuller said. "The award shows you're the very best, and it gives you internal bragging rights among the other parks."
Devil's Den State Park is rich in nature and history. Civilian Conservation Workers built the park in the 1930s. The most abundant material on the landscape is rock, and CCC workers turned stone into buildings and trails that are seen in the park today.
One trail the CCC men built is the three-mile Yellow Rock Trail. It's the most popular trail in the park, said Tim Scott, assistant superintendent. He pointed out features of the path during a hike Nov. 19.
Yellow Rock hasn't always been the park's most popular hike, he said. Used to be more people hiked the 1.5-mile Devil's Den Trail to see the waterfall where Brach enjoyed that picnic lunch and to go inside Devil's Den Cave. The cave is now closed because of White Nose Syndrome that is killing bats, mainly in the eastern United States.
Scott said social media is the real reason for Yellow Rock's popularity. Hikers step out to a long, beautiful overlook about a mile into the hike. They take pictures at the overlook with their phones and post them on Facebook or email them to friends right from the promontory. That has brought people to Yellow Rock in droves.
"On a real nice weekend we might have 1,000 people come up here," Scott said when he reached the overlook.
Many of those hikers are campers. Scott has watched the camping scene evolve at Devil's Den.
"Camping has really changed. People camp all year now, and not just in camping trailers," he said. "We get a lot of tent campers in the winter."
Devil's Den is the birthplace of mountain biking in Arkansas, Scott noted. The park hosted the state's first mountain bike festival in the mid-1980s and it's still an annual event. The Ozark Mountain Bike Festival, held each April, features guided rides, seminars, clinics and a cookout.
The Northwest Arkansas Mountain Bike Championships are held for racers each September at Devil's Den.
If the park seems lacking in any area, it is the absence of a new and spacious visitor center. New visitor centers have been built in recent years at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area near Rogers and at Bull Shoals-White River State Park near Flippin. Compared to those, one may say the visitor center at Devil's Den is tiny.
Butts said a new facility is "being talked about. It's on the wish list for down the road."
Flip Putthoff may be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 12/01/2015