Fieldwork Friday: Stone Bridge

Ah, but I'm going to disappoint you, because I didn't actually draw the bridge. I wanted to draw the bridge, but somehow today I just couldn't find a vantage point that interested me.

Looking across the Arkansas to a private ranch.
Pencil on Stonehenge paper.

Stone Bridge is a popular "put-in" point for rafts on the Arkansas River. (I suppose people come off the river there, too.) The bridge itself is actually quite dreary, a chipped and crumbling 1908 concrete-and-rebar construction sporting a plaque that proclaims "State Bridge." Whether that's its name or just a label (as in "This is a state bridge.") I don't know. There are a lot of things I don't know. (Like why the area is called Stone Bridge when the bridge itself is concrete.) I should fix that.

These days the bridge separates the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area from a private ranch across the river. It's an idyllic-looking spot, but I imagine that during peak season they are inundated with noise from the boat ramp, picnic area, and parking lot. "My" side of the river.

Was it a homestead? Are the current occupants descendants of the original owners? More things I don't know... but I do wonder about them as I draw.

Luckily it was quiet today, both for ranch occupants and for me.  I saw one fisherman, one picnicker, and in the parking lot one lonely boat trailer, waiting for its cargo to arrive.  Peak rafting season is past, sunflowers and rabbitbrush are blooming. Hey! There's something I do know! Autumn is just around the corner.