I have been remiss in my blogging and have been admonished for my digression.  Indeed, there was a hike last weekend, but I did not manage to get anything written until today.  We have had an incredible amount of snowfall in the last week. In fact today, we are snowed in once again, but Mother Nature allowed us a brief reprieve over the weekend, and we scooted down the road to Tanyard Creek Nature Trail here in Bella Vista.

The Tanyard Creek Nature Trail in Bella Vista is inside the city limits and was built and is maintained by volunteers.  It’s one of my favorite places to go because of the great scenery and all of the informational signs posted. I can spend hours wandering around.

The trail is about a mile west of Highway 71 on Lancashire Boulevard/Highway 340.  Doggies are welcome.

The trail goes over a bridge and to a limestone bluff with some interesting notes about the bluff and the history of the area. It follows the stream for a way then crosses another bridge.  There are really interesting bluffs along this walk and the ice formations on them were awesome.  There were tons of birds out during our hike, which were even easier to spot because it was so snowy.  A Blue Heron flew right in front of us, successfully evading the great hunter, Buster.

We spotted him again later on our hike and it is such a big bird and so graceful that it’s really a site to see.  I only wish I could have snapped a picture of him, but someday I will be ready and in the right place at the right time.  We also saw lots of bluebirds, sparrows, cardinals and the other usual suspects.

Eventually, you head up a hill and to the Tanyard Creek Falls, which is a sight to see.  It is not a huge waterfall, but worth the trip up the hill. There is an overlook where you can see the waterfall and get some good pictures.  Down from the waterfall, there is another bridge crossing that has a nice view of the stream cascading down the stones. There is a little side path that we took that has a bench and overlooks the rapids.

After our trip to view the creek, we went up through the more historical part of the park.  The trail follows an old road bed and passes by the foundation of two homes that long ago have succumbed to the forest.

We decided to hike further on to the bluff that was once an Indian shelter.  The remains of a rock fence remains.  Looking down at the creek, we saw a beaver dam.  We also figured out where the sounds we had heard were coming from.  Since there were no leaves on the trees, we could see past the treeline to the neighboring golf course, and there were lots of sledders out taking advantage of the warm(er) day and the snowy hillside.  Buster and Katie were far too interested in running out to meet the kids and join the fun, so we had to convince them to turn around.

Back down the trail, we crossed a suspension bridge. (The cautionary signs warns that there should be no excessive jumping on the bridge…which leads me to wonder, how much jumping do you have to do on a suspension bridge for it to be considered excessive?).  The trail meanders back to the trail head from here, following along the river and offering some good views of rock formations on the hillside.

We also saw a flock of ducks take off from the creek while we were walking back (if it quacks like a duck, it must be!).  Several times we saw Canadian Geese flying overhead which is not a rare sight in Bella Vista given the huge population of them. The ducks were a nice surprise.

The post Bella Vista: Tanyard Creek Nature Trail appeared first on Arklahoma Hiker.

After the last hiking attempt, we opted to head out on a dog-free backpacking trip which means enjoying the wonders of the Buffalo National River.  The weather was perfect, no chance of rain…70’s during the day, 50’s at night.

The hike – Centerpoint Trailhead to Big Bluff, camp by the river, see Granny’s cabin and head back the next day.

The hikers – Shelley, Stuart, and Craig

This particular route is about 4 miles out and back.  The crown jewel is the awesome view from Big Bluff.  There is a trail about 300 feet above the river that hugs the side of the bluff leading to a natural rock shelter that overlooks the Buffalo River.  The view is astounding and the acoustics are amazing.  The only trick is overcoming the elevation change, which is approximately 1,200 feet down and then back up.

It was not too bad heading down into the river valley.  The grade was steep, but the trail is really an old county road, so there wasn’t much of a chance of getting lost.   We met with several other small groups in the area who were all out to enjoy the beautiful weather.

The trail out to BigBluff is the ‘Goat Trail’.  I don’t believe it’s maintained by the park, but it’s certainly well-used.  It gets a little sketchy in some spots, but I managed to not slide down the bluff.  Since I was minus my little buddy Buster, I was able to stop and get some amazing shots of the river.  The spot where we were is 300 feet above Buffalo River and looks across to Fisher Point.  We could hear horses somewhere, but when they finally appeared, they were tiny dots by the river.

After spending some time enjoying the view (which included a huge bird making great lazy circles…maybe a hawk?), we headed back up the goat trail and took a right to head down into the river.  The river was extremely low.  We found a great campsite next to a pool of water next to a beautiful bluff.  Normally, I think this spot would be underwater, but it was a good place to set up a tent and check things out.

Camp was pretty uneventful, the most outstanding (and strange event) happened after the sun finally set, when only the campfire and the moonlight lit the bluff across the river.  No sooner were the words, “I wonder if we’ll see any critters tonight” were uttered when arose a ruckus in the brush behind the tents.  A few tense moments later, a pig walked into camp.  I thought it was an armadillo, encouraged by the frequent suggestion that it must be an armadillo.  Turns out, it was a pig.  Which, after I squealed, “It’s a pig!” and jumped up, it squealed and ran off.  Now, I’ve seen the hog hunter show on t.v., but this pig looked like Babe, not a razorback.  No doubt, one can imagine the excitement that ensued by this unwanted visitor, however I’m happy to report that the pig nor his mother returned to harry us that evening.

The next day, we ate breakfast (twice), and headed back up the hill.  We stopped on our way out to visit Granny Henderson’s cabin then began the long trudge back up the hill.  We met lots of groups going back up.  We finally made it in a few hours (give or take 45 minutes) and made it home before dark.

See the rest of the pictures here.

[You can read about Brent’s hike to Big Bluff in this post.]

The post Big Bluff Trail (Buffalo River) appeared first on Arklahoma Hiker.

Richland Creek Wilderness in the Boston Mountains is managed by the USDA Forest Service.  There is a nearby campground called Richland Creek Campground. The directions on the USDA Forest Service site are the clearest.   I wouldn’t recommend directions from Google Maps.  Our goal on this backpacking trip was to see Richland Falls, Twin Falls, and maybe the Sandcastles.  Alas, it was not meant to be.

Tim Ernst mentions the Richland Creek Wilderness in both the Arkansas Hiking Trails and Ozark Highlands Trail books, which are excellent resources for planning a hike.  We decided to start at Hill Cemetery and hike south to Twin Falls.

This is not an easy spot to find.  The USDA Forestry site mentions the road is not recommended for passenger vehicles.  I wouldn’t recommend it at all, the road is very rough at two spots and appears to be washed out, at the end, there is very limited parking.  After a scouting mission by Stuart and Dan, the decision was made to back the CRV up and head toward Richland Creek Campgrounds.

Although the universe tried to persuade us on a different course, our dogged determination culminated in a start time of 1:45 p.m, about 3 hours behind schedule. Undaunted, we forged ahead into a real wilderness experience.

The backpacking team was composed of myself, my husband Stuart, our friend Dan, and the doggies, Buster and Katie. There isn’t an official trail in the wilderness area, but we were going to be hiking along an old logging road, and I thought the worst thing we would encounter would be a couple of downed trees or brushy areas. I was not prepared for the landslides of house-sized boulders and absence of the trail entirely.

Despite the ruggedness, the area is undeniably beautiful.  The geography reflects the evidence of swiftly eroded V-shaped valleys with a crystal clear creek moving swiftly between boulders. Our visit is after a long, hot, dry summer, so the creek was very low.  When the water is running, folks go kayaking down the creek.

We started from the trailhead at the end of the lower loop at Richland Creek Campground. There is a registration box, then you cross Falling Water Creek to get to the old logging road.

Falling Water Creek was completely dry when we were there, leading to some wandering about on my part.  After we crossed the creek, I went up a hill to confirm there was actually a creek on both sides of us. (Falling Water was on one side of us, and Richland Creek was on the other.)  All we really  needed to do to get close to our Twin Falls goal was follow Richland Creek.

The trail was pretty good in some spots, but then it would entirely disappear.  Some of the landslide damage looked fairly recent.  We tried to stay out of the creek area and on the logging road, but inevitably we would end up at the creek, as the natural inclination is to go downhill.  There were several great spots to stop and view the scenery or take a quick swim in the creek to cool off.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, but it can still get warm when you are carrying a pack.

Around 4 p.m., we came to an old camp site that would do and decided to stop. We were at the point where Richland Creek turns and not far from Richland Falls and Twin Falls. It was at this point we found one of our team was down.

Once Buster made it to camp, he wouldn’t move and started whining. After an exhaustive examination, we were stumped as to what the cause could be and started feeling very guilty about bringing our dogs so far out into the woods.  In fact, the “happy to be at camp” picture features turned out to be me getting “the foot.”  It was a long night.

The next morning, we decided to turn around and begin the emergency evacuation.  After going about 10 feet, Buster refused to move, so we had to come up with a Plan B.  Dan and I split the load Stuart was carrying and then we put Buster in Stuart’s backpack.  It was a bit harrowing at times because the trail is so narrow and the drop-off so steep, but Stuart managed to carry all 45 pounds of Buster through the wilderness and almost all the way back to the car. The only time Buster made a sound was when we would stop to take a break, then he would start whining, and we would shortly be on our way again.

It turns out Buster had a tick disease that made his joints ache. Now, after a week and many pills, Buster is starting to get around again.

The next time we attempt this, I believe a doggy spa weekend may be in order.  I also think we could camp at Richland Creek Campgrounds and get around a lot better.

Check out the rest of the photos here.

VITAL INFO
Trail Name and Location	No official trail. Near Pelsor, AR
County/State	Newton County, Arkansas
Date Hiked	2011-09-08 2011-09-09
Weather/Conditions	70's and sunny
Directions	From Richland Campground
Length/Type	1.7 mile semi-loop
Other permitted usage?	none
Difficulty (1=Easy; 5=Most Difficult)	5
ATT Cell Coverage?	No
Official Info - Phone/Links	Ozark-St. Francis National Forests 605 West Main Russellville, AR 72801 (479) 964-7200 Official Website.

The post Richland Creek Wilderness Hike (Ozark Forest) 2012 appeared first on Arklahoma Hiker.

So our first summit attempt has failed, but we will be back!

Shores Lake is in the Ozark National Forest, northeast of Fort Smith. A friend had mentioned that we should check out the Lake Fort Smith State Park visitor center if we were going to be in the area, and although we had a late start on Saturday, I had convinced hubby this was a good idea.

Unplanned Side Trip

In hindsight, this is noted as mistake #1. The new visitor center opened in 2008, but our GPS hasn’t been updated since 2007. Despite my assurances that we were not lost and we were almost there, the constant “make a U Turn” flashing on the GPS was too much, and hubby turned around. (I know we were almost there, but wisely, I did not argue the point. There are always more weekends, and this is where the Ozark Highlands Trail starts, so I’m sure we’ll be back.)

Finding the Trailhead

We headed back down 540 to 40 East and took exit #24 to get to Shores Lake. It’s about 13 miles north from 540, then down County Road 75 to get to the campgrounds. The trailhead is tucked in on the back side of the campground.

The place was packed because of the long weekend, but the trail did not seem to be busy. We unloaded the dogs and leashed them up with their brand new retractable leashes and were headed up through the lush forest.

Not long after the trailhead, the trail forks into the West Side Loop and the East Side Loop. We headed to the left, up the West Side loop through the woods. It only took a few minutes for the campground festivities to fade into the distance, and we were soon trekking through on our own.

There are lots of rock gardens along the way, and the vegetation was thick. It was a really hot day. By this time it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, unseasonably warm, and really humid. At least the bugs weren’t too bad.

About a half-mile in, the trail crosses a gravel road (the road you would end up on if you kept going past the campground — an important item to note for later in the trip).

This first little section was pretty easy and flat. We covered it really quickly. The dogs were doing really well with their new leashes, but they have to be at the front of the pack. I stopped to snap a picture of the great hikers making their way to the other side.

The trail headed across some benches and was relatively flat. There were some good views across the valley that are undoubtedly better during leaf off.

Because the day was so much hotter than we were used to, and we were carrying our backpacks, we stopped fairly frequently for breaks. At mile 1, there was a creek which I think was Hurricane Creek. We stopped for a break and to cool off for a bit.

The trail climbed up from this drainage for about 40 yards, then leveled off for quite a while. There were impressive bluffs along the way and a nicely forested area that provided lots of shade.

The trail dipped down toward White Rock Creek, and we took the dogs off of the trail for a drink before the trail swung back up the hill and started a fairly steep ascent.

The trail leveled out again, and I could smell honeysuckle. As we walked, the trail went through a really neat area that was completely overgrown with it creeping up and down the hill on both sides.

I was pretty happy to be on flat trail in the shade with something good to smell, but it didn’t last for long. After following close to White Rock Creek and traveling through another smaller honeysuckle thicket, the trail began to climb up.

We met a gentleman who had been to the Falls who warned us to be careful on the steep, washed-out trail ahead. He also mentioned the creek was pretty high. By this point, I was already rethinking our plan since we hadn’t yet managed 2 miles, and I felt like I had walked 200.

We managed to navigate the steep parts of the trail. It was pretty narrow, but it was still mostly intact. It was a pretty good climb though. There were some nice views into the creek below which was running really fast.

Mile 2 (or 200)

We paused for a second to catch our breath, and I noticed the two-mile marker lying against a boulder. I remember thinking that surely we had made it farther than 2 miles and the marker had been washed away in a flood of some sort.

We came to another stream crossing where a large tree had fallen across the path just across the stream. It was a good-sized tree, and there was certainly no hope of the dogs jumping over it.

After some hunting around, we negotiated a small spot where Buster could just manage to wriggle underneath it. Katie wasn’t so sure about the whole thing and was tempted to turn around and go back to the car, but Buster came back and showed her the spot and encouraged her on through.

Stuart and the dogs started up the trail assuming I would be able to navigate the tree. But it came up almost to my chest, so I had to call for support to manage to clamber over the trunk. It was not one of my most graceful moments, but I managed to overcome the obstacle. We were on our way.

The Falls

We were planning to camp by the falls, which were 2.8 miles in and could not possibly be much farther. Soon we heard the sound of the water and were faced with a fairly challenging water crossing. I dumped the backpack and scampered toward the falls to get some pictures before we tried to figure out how to get us and the dogs to the other side.

Crossing the River

We picked a spot close to the falls to cross which wasn’t too deep. It came up to my thighs, so there was no question about the dogs being able to cross. Stuart had negotiated his way farther down river, so I switched to the water socks and slogged across the creek with my pack.

When I got to the other side, I dropped off the pack and headed back across to begin the dog ferrying.

After a lot of cajoling, promises of cookies, and a pretty good chase, I managed to catch the dogs and get them across the river. Neither was very happy about it, and we were all pretty wet and muddy. Fortunately, there were campsites just up the falls where we could set up for the night. It was pretty overgrown, but it looked like heaven to me.

Ill-Fated Water Mission

Having proven my worth as a water gatherer on our hike from Boxely to Ponca, I volunteered to go back to the creek and filter water for the campsite. I kind of wanted to jump in that pool underneath the falls and cool off anyway.

The creek was colder than I thought it would be. I decided to forgo getting completely wet and headed down to try to find a nice pool to filter water from. I filled up both 1-liter Nalgene bottles and the 2 liter water bag and was fiddling with the water filter putting it back in the bag.

The noise of the falls drowned out anything else, and I was thinking that maybe I was hasty in my desire to turn back. I packed up the filter and picked up the two water bottles, then started hunting around for the 2-liter water bag. I looked where I thought I had set it. I turned around in a complete circle, and looked under the rock I was sitting on. No water bottle. This was not good.

Not wanting to lose my prestige as a reliable water retriever, I began to hastily traverse the creek looking for the water bottle. (Mark this as mistake #2). The bottle was gone, and the creek was slippery. I managed to fall, hitting my elbow, and twisting my knee, but fortunately, not hitting my head.

Admitting defeat, I started the trek back to the camp with “defeat” written on my face. I met Stuart and the dogs on the trail who were worried because I had been gone for so long. (This was kind of nice. At least I wouldn’t have lain alone for very long if I hadn’t been able to move.)

After making sure I would live, Stuart handed me the dog leashes and went to look for the lost water bottle. (Good luck with that one.)

Get Me Out of Here

After a very long and tick-infested night, I was ready to go. My knee was really hurting, and I could barely walk. We made the decision to turn back and go to the car.

It was a slow hike back for me. Remembering the road, I requested Stuart go get the car and come pick me up a half-mile before the end of the trail. Buster and Katie waited with me along with a butterfly that found a nice resting place on Stuart’s pack.

It only took him about 20 minutes to make the quick trip to the car which was just enough time for a group of hikers with their dog to walk by and send Buster into an over-protective frenzy (and he was being such a good dog until then!).

Lessons Learned

I was pretty glad to see the car and to have air conditioning again. On our next drive, we planned out our next summit attempt and vowed to return to conquer White Rock Mountain soon. We also reviewed what we had learned:

1 – Two people should go get water so one can hold onto the water bag

2 – Don’t treat the dogs with Frontline right before you spend the night in a tent in the woods with them.

[This post was originally published on June 5, 2011 on “A Hiking We Will Go.“]

Last revised (formatting): 5-24-2021.

The post Shores Lake/White Rock Loop Adventure (Ozark Forest) appeared first on Arklahoma Hiker.