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I went leafing this weekend. Here's what I saw
Published: 11/5/2012 10:46 AM
Last Modified: 11/5/2012 12:41 PM


Bright yellow leaves shine on top of Mount Magazine in Arkansas.

I followed my own advice this weekend and headed south. I was not disappointed.

At all.

Sunday morning, aided by the time change, two of my three brothers and I headed to the highest point in Arkansas for an early morning hike around the top. As I said in my blog post last week, the southern part of Arkansas and Oklahoma were not quite at peak foliage while northern parts of the states had already seen peak come and go. But between, along the Arkansas River Valley where we were, we found the peak.

And I took way, way too many photos. I’ll now share those with you, because I’m just that generous.

First, we went to Mount Magazine State Park, about an hour south and east from the family homestead in western Arkansas and about 2 and a half hours southeast of Tulsa. The yellow, red and orange leaves were vibrant in the bright morning sun and even more vibrant against the deep blue sky.



A lodge was just built at the top of Mount Magazine that faces south across a long valley to the Ouachita Mountains. It’s a long way down and a long way across.



After taking that in, and finding this little guy:



We took to the North Rim Trail, which went along the edge of the cliff facing the Arkansas River and Ozark Mountains. Here is where we found this. Words escape me, so I’ll just leave these here.





And you absolutely must click through to see this, a panorama I took from this lookout point along the trail.

Incredible. We sat there on the cold rocks looking over the vast expanse, taking in all the color nearly as long as it took to hike the 4-ish miles.

Here is another point along the trail. On top of the mountain there is a hill. That high point right there is Signal Hill, the highest point in Arkansas at 2,753 feet.



Those were by far the best views of the trip. The rest of the hike was through the fallen leaves, bare trees and my brothers’ silliness.



As you can see there, the trees at the top of the mountain were nearly bare already and there were spots through the forest where the gray limbs stuck through the bright colors. So, it’s fading fast.

But you still have time! Head to the Ouachitas this weekend! Send me you photos! And follow me on the Twitters @jerrywofford to see more of my adventures!

--Jerry Wofford


Reader Comments 2 Total
DomoArrigato (3 months ago)
My neighbor has a beautiful RED maple in his front yard...about 80% to full color. I stop and marvel at it each morning as I go to get the paper. Truly a magnificent tree!
223926 (3 months ago)
The pictures r wonderful, but they would b much better if right side up:)
2 comments displayed


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Almanac
View 2012
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
TemperaturePrecipitation
DateHigh TempLow TempTotalMonth to dateHistorical average
1 44° 16° 0 0.00 0.05
2 59° 24° 0 0.00 0.11
3 57° 33° 0 0.00 0.16
4 68° 37° Trace 0.00 0.21
5 69° 29° 0 0.00 0.26
6 66° 33° 0 0.00 0.32
7 59° 38° 0.05 0.05 0.38
8 51° 34° 0 0.05 0.44
9 44° 36° 0.01 0.06 0.51
10 62° 37° 0.07 0.13 0.57
11 54° 28° 0 0.13 0.64
12 44° 30° 0.25 0.38 0.70
13 55° 40° 0.01 0.39 0.76
14 ° ° 0.83
15 ° ° 0.89
16 ° ° 0.95
17 ° ° 1.02
18 ° ° 1.09
19 ° ° 1.16
20 ° ° 1.23
21 ° ° 1.31
22 ° ° 1.38
23 ° ° 1.46
24 ° ° 1.53
25 ° ° 1.61
26 ° ° 1.69
27 ° ° 1.77
28 ° ° 1.85

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

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Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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