Lost in Arkansas

We visited Arkansas this weekend, mostly to see our son at college. However, the real adventure of the weekend happened at Petit Jean State Park. We decided that since we traveled all this way might as well take in some hiking and see the natural side of Arkansas. We planned a 2-mile hike down to Cedar Falls and back up to the Mather Lodge where we parked our truck. We figure that we had plenty of time to do this and eat before dusk. The trail was beautiful with smooth rocks, ledges, winding paths, and creek water flowing down the mountain. We walked along the creek until we reached the area of the falls. There was layered rock all around forming a canyon around the falls. Hikers were climbing behind the falling water and resting on huge boulders throughout the area and in the water.... very picturesque. We left and decided rather than doubling back we would take the trail that leads to Blue Hole. This is a long deep calm area of the creek. We crossed over it using stones arranged in the water for hikers. Once on the other side we followed the blue trail back to the lodge or so we thought. The map we were using was not really to scale if you know what I mean. Let's just say our 2-mile hike ended up being a 7-mile hike and we barely made it to a main road before sundown. We were actually lost for about an hour and our cell phones had no signal. I thought we might end up spending the night under some of those overshadowing ledges. Before we realized that we might be lost, we were having a wonderful time enjoying the scenery, listening to our iPhone music, enjoying the sunset and stealing a kiss near the Turtle Rocks. Another look at the map and we started double-time back tracking to a main road. Good thing we brought water and a light jacket. Once back to the main road, we contacted the lodge with our iPhone and they pointed us in the right direction which was another mile uphill in the dark. By midnight we were in Texarkana and enjoying a hot shower. I learned that... Arkansas has some beautiful and adventurous state parks.