Petit Jean State Park – Best Arkansas State Park

ByChristine Updated on

Petit Jean State Park is a real gem. We would recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in this region of Arkansas. Petit Jean was Arkansas’ first state park. It reminds us a bit of Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio.

The RV park is nice and spacious, surrounded by pine trees, and near Lake Bailey. During the week we haven’t run across too many people on the trails, and the campgrounds were relatively empty.

As the weekend hit, that changed; this place is really popular! But there is plenty of room for everyone and plenty of hiking to go around.

We checked out Rock House Cave and Bear Cave areas, which are two of the shortest trails. We’ll give you the details on this and other things to do at Petit Jean State Park below in this post.

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Rock House Cave

A woman jumps into the air under Rock House Cave in Petit Jean State Park which highlights the expansive cave roof of this park highlight.

We had this large rock shelter cave all to ourselves. The scale is impressive and the height of the roof above you surprised us. We felt small under the tall arching roof.

Bear Cave

This area was especially fun to explore. Some areas felt a bit like a labyrinth with the way the walls closed in.

Overlooks

There are some nice overlooks in the park with views for miles. We happened to visit the overlooks during the golden hour and it made the views especially beautiful. I’d recommend doing the same, because after a day of hiking this is a more low key way to see a bit more.

M.A Richter Memorial Overlook

There was a stone viewing platform here from which to checkout the views of the rolling hills beyond.

CCC Overlook

We found a large flat rock here to take a seat on and enjoy the overlook.

Hiking Trails

The hikes we did included the Seven Hollows Trail where there is a Natural Bridge, a Grotto with a waterfall, and “Turtle Rocks.”

We also did the Cedar Falls Trail to the base of the 95 foot tall Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls Trail is the park’s most popular hike. Cedar Falls was mentioned in the park Trails Map pamphlet as “one of the state’s most spectacular sights”. We agree!

We added the Canyon Trail, out and back, onto this hike to get a little more distance in.

Seven Hollows Trail

Cedar Falls Trail

Things To Know

If visiting for more than a day trip, you can get a room in Mather Lodge, a cabin, yurt, or campsite.

You can also rent kayaks, pedal boats, or fishing boats.

There are pools, a picnic area, and a playground for more options to things to do when you visit!

Visiting Petit Jean State Park With Kids

Kids will love this state park as there is a lot to explore and rocks to climb on. If they’re like our kids, the waterfall will impress them but they’ll enjoy throwing stones into the pool even more.

There were lots of rocks to hike up and over and climb on. Our kids will forget how far they’ve hiked or if they’re tired if they can climb on rocks so this is a fun and motivating feature to keep them going!

Where To Go Next

In Arkansas we also enjoyed Devil’s Den State Park. You’re also only an hour outside of Little Rock where there is plenty more to do for the whole family!

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!