Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

       We must have been impressed with the Buffalo River Trail. Just three days ago we hiked the BRT for the first time and here we are back already, for my description of that hike see: ( 36 Pruitt to Ozark ) .  Today we begin at the Ozark Campground and continue upriver. boulder in the Buffalo      The trailhead is at the bottom of the hill as you enter the campground, and this is where we park.  We have the Ozark Campground all to ourselves, not a soul in sight, I had thought that with this gorgeous weather for late December, hikers would be here taking advantage of their time off work for Christmas. rock steps      We start hiking to the south from the edge of the campground and are soon in the woods down in the floodplain not far from the Buffalo.  Over left of the trail are interesting rocks, crevices and low bluffs.  Soon we come to the trail intersection with the Old River Trail (ORT), which joins the BRT for a short way before leaving uphill to the east. slick rocks      From

    For a hike today we're looking for something short and easy without a long drive time, and since we have never hiked any of the Buffalo River Trail (BRT), we thought 'let's try it out'.  I really don’t know why we hadn't tried the BRT sooner, maybe I thought it’s just too long for day hikes. bluffs at Pruitt (early fall)      Or maybe it was that the Buffalo River is a very popular place, the trails will probably be over-run with hikers...  Well, whatever I thought, I sure was wrong.  With a good map and a little planning, I now realize the Buffalo River Trail can very easily be broken up into day hike sections, and today at least, the trail seems deserted.  trailside view of the Buffalo River      W e begin in the Pruitt Day Use/Picnic Area, which is at the east end of the upper river section of the BRT, with the west end at South Boxley Trailhead.  Pruitt Trailhead in the back of the picnic area is accessed just west of the old steel Buffalo River bridge over

    Two months ago, we hiked the Seven Shelters below Kings Bluff Loop Trail, see: ( 29 Seven Shelters ) .  Today we’re going to check out the Wonders Downunder which is below the Pedestal Rocks Loop Trail.  The Pedestal Rocks Kings Bluff SIA is pretty big and with so much to see, what I would like to see is a campground built here someday.  Because there is no way you can see it all in a day, a camping area would be nice, with so much to explore I could easily spend a week here. Famous Pedestal     Only one other car in the parking area/trailhead when we arrive, okay by me.  We start over the wooden bridge heading south on the main Pedestal Rocks Loop Trail.  This trail is mostly on an old road that follows the top of a ridge.   Very soon we come to a 4-way intersection that I call the ‘main intersection’ to our right (west) is the Kings Bluff Loop Trail, left (east) is the other end of the Pedestal Rocks Loop Trail. many small caves     We go straight ahead on Pedestal Rocks Loop Tra

     We’ve been going to the Richland Creek Wilderness for years and had never heard of ‘Sandstone Castles’. It must have been sometime back in 2016, in the back of Ken Smith’s Buffalo River Handbook I stumbled on the address for the Ozark Society’s website.  I decided to check it out and found that their next scheduled hike was going to someplace called ‘The Sandstone Castles in Richland Creek Wilderness’. above the Castles      That got my curiosity up, I 'googled' Sandstone Castles, not much came up other than a blog post on a site called ‘Ricks Hiking Blog’.  In that blog post Rick guides  Chuck Dovish (Exploring Arkansas on PBS) to the 'Castles' and since then I have become an avid follower of Rick Henry’s blog.  I credit him for pointing me towards many others whom I frequently rely on for hiking information, including John Moore, Patrick Caple, Brian Emfinger, Danny Hale, and others. above Sandstone Castles     Today we’re finally going to Sandstone Castles.  I d

    Ok, let’s try this again.  It has been ten months since our first visit into Bowers Hollow (see: 3 Hedges Pouroff & Bowers Hollow )  and hopefully this time we’ll get farther.  We stay focused on the drive in, no unnecessary stops, and we get an earlier start. small spring     We hit the trail around 10:00 and make reasonably good time to the major intersection.   This is where one old road (trail) continues straight down to Hawk Hollow and the many waterfalls down there.  Or turn left to Bowers Hollow Falls.   And it’s where the hiking conditions start to deteriorate, w e turn left on the old road to the east. fireplace      The road soon becomes just a trail before it fizzles out altogether.   Now we’re bushwhacking to the northeast using the GPS and homing in on an old homesite,  progress towards the homesite is pretty slow going, we pass an old 'trash dump' along the way.   A couple times we have to back up and go around briar patches, it also gets quite steep. stac