Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

     It has been a year since our last visit to Big Creek, that’s probably too long for such an awesome place.  So far, this spring has seen a lot of rain so we come anticipating beautiful scenery and lots of water.  With our ‘creek waders’ in tow we drive south for Big Creek.   Today we’ll start our hike at the ‘old homesite gate’.  A metal gate next to the road and the remains of an old home, namely a root cellar and foundation stones.  This is also the main parking area with room for maybe four cars, please don’t block the gate.   Right Fork near crossing      We head out on the old road, past the gate and the homesite then down the hill.     After a good quarter mile, we come to Right Fork Big Creek, to our right is an old barn and garage which we poke around a little before crossing the creek.   Last year when we crossed here, we were easily able to skip across on top of dry rocks.   Today though the Right Fork is swollen and running fast, we don our creek waders and hope for th

     Eleven months ago, while out driving around and exploring Big Piney Creek, we decided to drive up Parker Ridge Road and found the amazing Parker Ridge full of bluffs, pedestals and caves.  To read about that adventure see: ( 12 Big Piney Exploration ) .  We promised that we would return for some hiking, today we make good on that promise. Parker Ridge Road      The drive from Deer down Parker Ridge Road takes forever due to a lot of storm damage and the county road crews that are out trying to get the road back in shape.  We finally arrive at a parking spot at the last hairpin curve before the road descends towards Big Piney Creek, I think this is about halfway down the mountain. Parker Ridge Road Falls      We hike across the road from our parking spot, and up a little gully then uphill some more to the base of Parker Ridge Road Falls.  This waterfall is easily over 20 feet tall but is buried in a crevice, so it will take a lot more water than we have today to make Parker Ridge

     Spring is in the air, as the saying goes, and winter didn’t amount to much.  I can only remember once that we got any snow, and that was melted and gone within a day.  Not that I’m a big fan of cold and snow, but I'm told we need a good snowfall that sticks to the ground for about a week to help kill the bugs.  If that’s true, we’ll see a lot of bugs this summer. on the banks of the Buffalo      Anyway, it feels like spring and we’re going hiking on the Buffalo River Trail.  This section of the BRT will take us from Cedar Glade Picnic Area to Adair Cemetery.   The Cedar Glade parking area is at a curve to the left in the Erbie Campground Road (there is a small sign).  From the parking spot it’s a short walk on the spur trail back to Cedar Glade Picnic Area, the overlook and BRT.  For a little more on Cedar Glade see: ( 37 Ozark to Cedar Glade ...) . above the Buffalo      We go north on the BRT down into a little side drainage, with a nice wet weather waterfall below and a cas