RAF415: Devil's Den State Park Arkansas - Devil's Den Trail

If you're watching on YouTube, you can see just how beautiful the view is right from my cabin that I just walked out of. Nice people. When I woke up this morning, I wasn't planning to go hiking today. The story of that goes back a few days, when I got here, and even before I got here. It looked like the weather was going to be bad. I had only Tuesday and Wednesday morning to hike, and it was going to turn bad Wednesday night. Then, there was going to be rain on Thursday and Friday mornings. I usually like to go hiking in the morning. It's currently afternoon. I'm going to try to go out for an hour, and then come back for an hour. There's a nice little stream here. The first two days were as they said, overcast. And if you've seen or listened to the last two episodes, you know that I went on the Bench Trail.  Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/420  

Bench Road Trail today, again. Welcome to Running: A FEVER. Here we are, it's the last day of April 2025, and we're southbound on the Bench Road Trail from the parking area. I don't know what they call the parking area. But it's a parking area just south of the Bench Overlook, which is beautiful. I got some good shots of that yesterday and texted them out to a few people. So today we're going south. I suppose the Bench Road Trail, with its continuous trail, technically goes across the road there, because the only thing between the two points is a road. And this is actually on the other side of the road. Which makes sense, at some point the access road, which is highway 155, has to cross the Bench Road Trail if it's a continuous trail, and that's where it does. So we're on the other side of the road on the Bench Road Trail. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/419  

It's about 7:40 in the morning. Tuesday, I believe it is April 9th, 2025. It's a beautiful day here at Mt. Nebo State Park. I got in here yesterday between three and four as I usually do. They have a check-in time at four. So I've already encountered my first person on the trail. I didn't expect it to be as quiet as it usually is in the winter when I'm here. But they let me in as they usually do when the cabin has already been prepared which it usually has. Not so when I went to Mt. Magazine last time. I got in, settled down, just looked around. Didn't do any hiking yesterday. I was going to do an episode from the cabin. And last episode you heard about what that was going to be. It actually turned out that I did a long tour of the cabin. But I didn't record myself because I forgot my tripod. So I couldn't do that like I did with cabin 13 at Mt. Magazine last time. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/418  

I have just arrived at Mt. Nebo. This is my first day of my first trip to this state park in Arkansas for 2025, and possibly my last. I don't know if I'll be coming back this year. I will likely return at some point in the future. I thought this time, since I haven't done it before, I would give you a tour of what has been my favorite cabin to stay in here, because it is the most isolated. Now there is a cabin off to the left, or the north side of this cabin, but on the other side is just woods. This yard area is where, in the past, I have seen, because they usually come in the wintertime, lots of deer. As many as I think nine, maybe even twelve. I've seen a lot of deer at once. There you see the other cabin off on the north side. This late in the year, I'm not sure if I'll see any deer or not. It's the last week of April, the first week of May. The first time I came here, it was in a different cabin, in April, but I think it was earlier in the month. 2019 was my first visit to Mt. Nebo, six years ago. And I think this is my seventh time here. I've enjoyed it. I've stayed in several cabins here; this is my favorite. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/417  

Sometimes it seems like I just have to have dessert with every meal. I immediately want something sweet after I finish my main course. I wonder if it's habit, but it seems to happen even when I haven't done it in a while. It seems to be just a part of eating. Now, if I'm able to wait a little while, the craving usually passes. We've all heard that it takes a long time for the stomach to tell our brains that it is satisfied. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/416  

It's been a while since I last visited Devil's Den. This state park is probably one of the closest, if not the closest to where I live. I'm here with my friend Robert, who has lived here all his life, so I feel comfortable that he'll guide me through this okay. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/415  

Here we are at Davidsonville Historic State Park, near Pocahontas, Arkansas. I am here on my "daycation," which is like a vacation with day trips. And I decided to come all the way out to Davidsonville. It's a historic town, what used to be a town. It was donated back in 1957 by a man named Davis, and there was another person who owned part of the town, but Davis owned most of it. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/414  

On June 4, 2021, the FDA approved Wegovy for the treatment of chronic obesity and overweight individuals. Dr. John Sharretts, deputy director of the Division of Diabetes, Lipid Disorders, and Obesity in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said, "Today's approval offers adults with obesity or overweight a beneficial new treatment option to incorporate into a weight management program. FDA remains committed to facilitating the development and approval of additional safe and effective therapies for adults with obesity or overweight." Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/413 Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-mesh-crop-top-and-pink-bra-7653700/

Have you heard the hype about plant-based diets? I'm not sure when the word vegetarian went out of style. But now it's plant-based, so I guess I'd better get used to it. There are a number of reasons people go to a plant-based diet. But I think what's on all our minds is the health benefits. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/412 Photo by Polina Tankilevitch: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-red-pepper-beside-pickles-3872406/  

Well, I recently got an email from my employer about a discount membership to AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons. It's actually just AARP now. About a third of their members are not actually retired. We get employee discounts on a lot of things, and I get these emails on a regular basis. By the way, I've also been getting AARP invitations in the mail for years, probably since I turned 50. Although there is no minimum age for membership, they are "Dedicated to people over 50." Well I was offered a 43% discount, along with a free trunk organizer and a $10 Starbucks gift card. Wow! Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/411 Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-couple-with-happy-faces-7224933/