The Lodge at Mount Magazine - Paris, Arkansas - Lodge

The Lodge at Mount Magazine is located at Mount Magazine State Park on Highway 309 South near Paris, Arkansas. From Danville visitors should travel nine miles west on Ark. 10 to Havana, then go 10 miles north on Scenic Highway 309. Mount Magazine is Arkansas' highest mountain at 2,753 feet and it rises above the valleys of the Petit Jean River and the Arkansas River.

The lodge offers various amenities as well as facilities for business meetings and weddings, which can only be enhanced by the magnificent views provide at Mount Magazine. The view of the Petit Jean River Valley is captured nicely in a big room with large windows as guests arrive at the lodge. There are also two meeting rooms that offer seating for up to 112 people, a gift shop, registration desk and the lodge's administrative offices.

The lodge offers 60 guest rooms consisting of 24 standard queen rooms, 19 double queen rooms, 13 single king rooms and four suites. Forty of these guest rooms have balconies and 17 of them include spa tubs. Each guest room also provides a wonderful view of the Petit Jean River Valley and Blue Mountain Lake to the south.

The lodge also has a 1,325-square-foot indoor swimming pool with a small area for children to safely play as well as a lap lane and hot tub, while adjacent to the pool is the fitness center and locker rooms. Meetings, weddings and other special events can be held at the lodge too with a 35,678-square-foot conference and meeting area featuring a 3,772-square-foot meeting space. This can be divided in to three separate meeting spaces or opened up to facilitate banquet seating for up to 192 guests with 24 tables for eight people on each.

The lodge also features a 175 seat restaurant with a massive stone fireplace and windows overlooking the Petit Jean River Valley and Blue Mountain Lake. The restaurant can also be used for special functions with advanced notice provided to the lodge. It should be noted that there are not many other dining options within close proximity to the park.

The park offers visitors the chance to hike and take in more of the wonderful scenery with over 14 miles of trails here. The trails vary in difficulty with two of the easier ones being Will Apple's Road Trail at 1.6 miles and Benfield Loop Trails around two miles. Some of the trails like the North Rim and Cove Lake Trails are strenuous excursions but provide wonderful scenic views, whilst the Huckleberry Mountain Horse Trail is the only multi use trail here and is 34 miles long.

The 8,000 square foot Visitor Center is the starting point for many of the guided walks, special workshops and wildlife and history programs offered at the park. Visitors can watch audiovisual programs presented daily, and there is a large wildlife observation area overlooking a native plant garden. Black bear, deer and wild turkey are quite common here and visitors may also see the Rufous-crowned sparrow, which is rarely seen anywhere else in Arkansas.