It's November now and the temperature is still hanging in the mid to high 60's, so I don't feel like summer is technically over, but I guess it's time to get ready for the bite of winter. To reflect a little , I'm going to blow this blog up with some pictures of summer 2009; possibly the best 6 months of my life...
I managed somehow to squeeze out of work for an entire week in March, and with the company of my lovely lady, Shannon, we set out to explore the state of Arkansas. I have lived here for quite some time and I felt a bit motivated to see what was outside of the areas I had spent all these years. We had taken a few trips to the Ozarks mountains a few times before, but neve
r really got to spend much time digging deep to find some great spots, so we just let our wanderlust take the wheel... add a case of good brew and some spontaneity, and this is what we got.
We took 40 out of the city and hit highway 7 north of Russelville.
Soon the air felt clear and the road was wide open stretched out in front of us. Luckily, spring
is rainy season and all the rivers were full and flowing, the limestone in the riverbeds makes the water a surreal looking teal color ; a stellar contrast between the blue sky and blooming green foliage.
We decided to make it as far north as we could and then work our way down back towards Little Rock throughout the week. Our first stop was the small artists community of Eureka Springs.
Many amazing galleries and eclectic folk stores filled the little valley town of Eureka. We had made it there just before the spring rush, and all was pleasantly quiet here.
The people that live here are truly
the most kind you will ever meet, the
food is tasty, and the atmosphere
is one of a kind in it's simplicity.
Before we knew it, the sun was setting under the hills and what was left of the winter chill lingered through the night. We pulled onto the shoulder of hwy. 23 and found a place to throw a tent and get some sleep. Sometimes it's just easier to forget you have to pay a sum of money to sleep outside, hike a little ways into the woods, and call it home for the night.
The next few days were spent camping along the Buffalo National River around Ponca, Arkansas. This was America's first river to be inducted as a
National River. This just means that they hire annoying park rangers to buzz around, making sure there is no fun being had on the river. Well, that's only part of the biz; there are some conservation laws put into affect to keep this river protected. The Buffalo River flows 132 miles through the Ozarks and into the White River. The upper parts have the most action and usually sees a lot more people.
From there we weaved our way south through the hills into Jasper, where we stopped to talk to some locals who knew the area a little better than we did. We met a short friendly man with a weathered face and an inviting smile who called himself
Ozark Dave. He told us of a road from Houston that used to be only gravel he would take just to find work here. He also informed us of a pretty amazing place that was dubbed
Sam's Throne. This area was so large we decided to stop and camp on the ridge in order to see as much as we could.
Last winter, a heavy ice-storm devastated a lot of northern Arkansas/Southern Missouri. The damage was really evident looking down on this valley. Some of the rock formations here were really unique for the area, the crags and knobbed looking bluffs seemingly beg to be climbed.
After spending some time perusing Sam's Throne, we cut back a little further west to a place near Boxley, Arkansas called The Lost Valley. This was a favorite of the trip and we spent the most time here enjoying the majestic scenery.
In this valley, Clark Creek cuts through
a series of caves and tumbles down to
converge with the Buffalo River. The caves
are just big enough to squeeze into
and there's some insanely
wicked scenery through out this entire area.
There is a fairly short trail that follows the creek all the way to a massive open cave that used to be inhabited by early native americans which is called Cobb Cave. Right next to Cobb Cave is a waterfall aptly named Eden Falls.
Our last stop for the week was the highest point in Arkansas: Mt. Magazine. Good views, and good times were had, though we were a bit tired by this point and just drove to the top instead of hiking it as we planned.
Traversing this state in one week will take a lot out of you...
Familiarizing myself with Arkansas was a great way to start the warm season, and we found some killer spots to come back to later on... If you get a chance, check out some of these areas that were mentioned, you won't regret the trip!
