The trail at Alum Cove is in a 220 acre area of the Ozark - St. Francis National Forest. You can easily get to there by following the signs on Highway 16, which is near Scenic 7 Highway, south of Jasper. Deer is the nearest town.

A bathroom and picnic ground are near the parking area, no camping is allowed at Alum Cove. Water is available after April; you NEED to take water on this trail. The trail descends downward at an angle, easy going down, but steep on your way out. You will need the water for drinking on your way out.

We have been there in three seasons, have not been there in the winter. After a rain or heavy fog, the tree roots and stones on the trail can be very slippery. In the fall the leaves are beautiful, but can also be slippery underfoot. There are benches along the trail where you can rest or sit and listen to the sounds of the woods. There are also boulders under the bridge where you can sit and enjoy the scenery.

The Natural Bridge is a large arch, the Park Ranger in Jasper told us that the bridge was 130 feet long, twenty feet wide and 12 feet thick. Our tape measure was not long enough to measure the bridge, so we recorded the measurements that the Ranger told us. It IS very big. He also told us that many many years ago, wagons with loads of logs would use the bridge to cross the water when the streambed was flowing high. Our great grandpa worked in the timber and hauled logs out of the woods; we wondered if he had ever used the bridge. We like to set on top of the bridge and use the binoculars to look down into the draw below.

There are soft, cushiony patches of moss along the edge of the bridge. Several conditions are needed for moss to grow, two are shade and moisture; it is always shady and damp on the bridge. Little puddles of water stand on the bridge, if you sit still, birds come down and drink and take baths there. We always hear woodpeckers when we are at Alum Cove. Have seen owls and hawks everytime that we have been there. There are many song birds to be heard along the trail. When there has been good rainfall, several waterfalls can be seen. In warm weather and when rainfall has been good, the creek is fun to wade across. Along the creek there are many bluffs and you can also walk in and climb inside of cave rooms.

On the drive to Alum Cove in March, the Redbud were in bloom. There were not as many on the mountain as there were down in the valley. The White Pine were very pretty and other trees were starting to bud. The valleys were beautiful, all of the pastures were real green. The Redbud were also blooming in the woods along the trail at Alum Cove. The water was only a trickle coming down the hillside, the falls were not very big at all. The creek was low and dry in many spots. Their were a variety of small wildflowers, in shades of pink and purple, peeping out from under the leaves from last fall. We identified and recorded the following wild flowers and plants:

Trillium (Toad Sap), identified the leaves, no flowers; Spring Beauty, narrow leaves with five petal flowers. Flowers were white or pink. Used a magnifying glass and saw dark pink veins on the petals; Hepatica, with fuzzy stems. The flowers were lavendar and pink; Blue-eyed Grass, were about 6 inches tall. Flowers were tiny bright blue; Dutchman's Britches, saw their green fern leaves, saw none in bloom; May Apple, their leaves were out and formed the umbrella, saw no flowers; Also identified Toothwart, Bitter Cress, Wild Geranium, Phlox, and Sweet William. Some of them were ready to bloom, but no color showing.

We saw raccoon and possum tracks along the creek. And saw a couple of Cricket Frogs in a patch of Reindeer Moss. We found two specimens of scat...both were warm and appeared to be from one small and one medium sized animal; both showed evidence of grasses and vegetation in their diet. All that were left of the many hickory nuts and acorns that we saw last fall were their shells. We saw only a few that had not been eaten. We saw alot of Mud Dobber nests on the underside of the bridge, but they were too high for us to measure. There were alot of moths and butterflies flying around, but they were not sitting still so we could not identify them.

We watch for flocks of Red Winged Black Birds, because alot of times they are eating on Poke berries. We went to where we saw the birds and measured last years poke canes, the tallest we found was five feet four inches. One year we found one in Alum Cove that was one inch short of six feet.

We counted 17 gray squirrels. We always like to see and watch them. The squirrels where we live are fox and red squirrels. They have yellowish faces and underparts, their backs are reddish-brown fur. And they are bigger than the gray squirrels in Newton County. The red squirrels and the gray squirrels both have eyes on the side of their head, like all vegetable eaters do. They move their tails the same way, but their calls and chatter are different. It is really neat to watch squirrels and we always look forward to seeing the gray squirrels in Newton County. They have light gray faces and underparts and have darker gray fur on their backs.

Alum Cove is a very nice place. The bridge is awesome and it is fun to climb in the cave rooms. The Ranger told us that many years ago goats lived in those cave rooms and some people call them goat houses. We have never seen goats there, so we call them cave rooms. If you get a chance, you should go to the Alum Cove area and see the neat things there.

Click on the following to see pictures taken at Alum Cove, March, 2000

The arch, underside of Natural Bridge

This is us, under the Natural Bridge

Us with our mom, bench on Alum Cove Trail

Us with our dad, bench on Alum Cove Trail

Note, for additional information:
Buffalo Ranger District
P.O. Box 427
Jasper, Arkansas 72641
870-446-5122