Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

     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

     I have probably driven by Roundtop Mountain hundreds of times.  Scenic Hwy. 7 is the direct route between Harrison and Russellville.  Before I retired, I drove this route weekly for years.  And I always would say to myself “someday we’ll go hiking here”.  A few years back, there was a big landslide that closed the highway and the trails. near South Point      The highway department got the road back up and running pretty quick.  It seems though that this stretch of highway has become an ongoing construction zone ever since.  The trail was repaired at a much slower pace, it seemed for a while it would never re-open.  But it eventually did, and today we’re finally going to get a chance to hike Roundtop Mountain. Roundtop Mountain Trailhead      At the parking area and trailhead is a small visitor center (rarely open), and just up a short path are restrooms (also rarely open).  From the trailhead we hike up toward the mountain, this is uphill all the way but nothing very steep.  Thi

    Today we’re going back to the McIlroy Madison County WMA.  And it's a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the 60’s.  This time we are at the north end of the Wildlife Management Area and will be hiking to Tea Kettle Falls.    You could say Tea Kettle Falls is the crown jewel of the McIlroy Madison County WMA. at Tea Kettle Falls grotto      It isn't the tallest waterfall in the area, but it is definitely the most unique.  The creek enters the waterfall through a hole in the rock slab at the top, similar to the Glory Hole.  But it doesn’t drop straight through like Glory Hole.  Instead, the water has bored out the front of the slab and exits there.  Just picture the spout of a little porcelain tea pot.  It is unique, that’s for sure. off-trail above creek      First though we need to find it.   Coming in off Highway 23 it’s pretty easy to drive right past Road 447-8.   This I know from experience since  I’ve done it a couple times.   But this trip we’re coming in From Be

    These days Chancel is just a name on the map, but back in the day it was a small town with a store/post office and who knows what else.  Not much remains other than a few old home sites down near Hurricane Creek.  One thing that is still there is the fantastic bluffline with cliffs, caves, shelters and more.  It isn’t hard to get to Chancel, and only two miles down a dirt road to the parking spot.  pedestal near top      In a hairpin downhill curve, we pull onto an old road, more of an ATV trail now, and find a spot to park off the road.   As we’re hiking down the old road headed south, we both agree that we could have driven the car this far.  I do this often; we’ll be walking down one of these old roads saying to ourselves “this could be drivable”. a little rugged      But always scout it out first, the big problem I have found is getting to a point where you can’t go any further and there’s nowhere to turn around.  Today we did find at least two places where we could park off th