44 Twin Falls

    Twin Falls in Richland Creek Wilderness has been at the top of my ‘must see’ list for a very long time, pretty much since the first time I saw pictures of the falls ten years ago.  There are a bunch of different routes to get to Twin Falls, none are considered ‘easy’.  Our plan for today is to park and start our hike at Hill Cemetery south of Iceledo Gap, as this route has less elevation change than the other ‘dry’ routes.

creek down below trailhead

    The Richland Campground route has even less elevation change but involves crossing both Falling Water Creek and Richland Creek.  Knowing the road down to Hill Cemetery is notoriously bad, our ‘back up’ plan is to drive around the top of the wilderness past Dickey Junction to the parking spot for what Rick Henry describes as the ‘Lower 1205 Route’.  And this is where we end up, after one quick failed attempt down Hill Cemetery Road.

Stairstep Falls

    This parking area on both sides of the road, today has a few fluorescent ribbons hanging in the trees, and can probably accommodate five or six cars ‘snuggly’.  We begin hiking down the steep hill on a good, easy to follow trail.  We hit bottom at the confluence of two small creeks, with a stair-step waterfall on the smaller of the two creeks.

May Apple

    Stairstep Falls is a nice little waterfall maybe eight feet tall, but the bigger picture here is this gorgeous little valley that’s really beautiful with today’s early spring colors.  After crossing the creek, we head up the other side which is just as steep as coming down was.  This first part of the hike, down to the creek then back up the other side is the steepest climbing of the day.  And we really feel it later on the way back after visiting Twin Falls.

at creek crossing

    At the top, the trail joins an old road trace and levels out for about 0.3 miles where we leave the old road and follow the trail gradually downhill in a southwest direction.  This ‘horse’ trail takes us all the way down to the confluence of Devil’s Fork and Richland Creek, a distance of almost a mile.

red blazed 'horse trail'

    The trail through this section is pretty good most of the way, it has a few red blazes at a couple confusing places and even enters another old road for a while.  There is also a ‘rough’ stretch where winds have toppled some trees and we have to detour around quite a few of them.  At Richland Creek we carefully make our way down the slick bank right at Devil’s Fork.  Here the trail ends, apparently this is where the horse trail crosses Devil’s Fork.

Devil's Fork confluence at Richland Creek

    I don’t think we'll be crossing though, Devil’s Fork looks way too treacherous for a safe crossing, so we begin a treacherous bushwhack up Devil’s Fork on the north bank instead.  Right away we notice a lot of debris up in the trees above our heads from recent flood waters.  Obviously, this route was impassable a week ago.

Devil's Fork

    The creek is still pretty high and at times we find ourselves clinging to the narrow ledge of loose shale just inches from the raging waters of Devil’s Fork.  And of course, everything is slippery, I would have to call this section a difficult bushwhack.  About halfway up Devil’s Fork we get our first glimpse of Twin Falls and renewed determination results.  We can do this!

Twin Falls 'up ahead'

    The rewards for our efforts are staggering, Twin Falls are fantastic.  It’s no wonder Twin Falls are considered by many to be the premier waterfalls of Arkansas.  Since I have seen lots of pictures of the falls, from almost completely dry to flood stage with kayaks shooting off the top, I wasn’t really sure what to expect today, but we obviously picked a good day to visit.  Not even close to flood stage but plenty of water to make the falls look great.

backside of Twin Falls

    And the sound…no picture can prepare you for the powerful roar of these two waterfalls.  We sit on some big flat rocks and stare in awe, partly because we’re at a loss for words and also, it’s just too loud to have a conversation without yelling.  I soon find myself mesmerized by the falls and enter into a trance like feeling of serenity.  This is what I think they’re talking about when people say things like ‘an earthly paradise’ or ‘heaven on earth’.  I soon snap out of it when we spot two young hikers approaching the falls on the south bank.

Twin Falls

     Go figure, we haven’t seen anyone all day…but of course ‘paradise’ is going to get its share of visitors.  We wave, they wave back, then a few minutes later they come over for a visit.  They don’t cross Devil’s Fork, they come around behind the falls over to the north bank.  Come to find out, these guys live in Missouri and drove down in the dark to hike to Sandstone Castle then down the mountain here to Twin Falls.

pool below Twin Falls

    I’m impressed, that’s over an eight-mile hike roundtrip, but they’re young, I’m sure they will make it back just fine.  They ask if I know where anymore nearby falls are.  I tell them about Hamilton Falls and point at the top of the right Twin saying it’s just upstream on Big Devil’s Fork.  They head off, up the steep trail going north.

Twin Falls

    Now Kat decides we need to go behind the falls too, over to the south side, that sounds good to me.  Behind the falls is nothing but loose, slippery wet shale and a slip here means you’re going swimming.  We make our way through carefully.  The falls are loud out in front, behind them the roar is deafening.

soakin' in the solitude

    I honestly believe I have permanently damaged my hearing from this ‘excursion’ behind Twin Falls.  No, it couldn’t have been the hundreds of rock concerts I attended when I was young, it was definitely Twin Falls.  But I’d do it again, actually that’s just what we do.  After taking a few pictures from the south side perspective we cross back behind the falls to begin our hike back to the car.

behind the falls

    The hike out is uneventful and mostly uphill, by the time we get back to Stairstep Falls we are really ‘feelin it’.  One last steep push up to the parking spot, our knees and thighs are on fire, a feeling of worn-out satisfaction.   Twin Falls is well worth the effort, this route, I’ll call the ‘modified Lower 1205 route’ is the shortest route I know of.   Of course, I will have to hike all the other routes before I can say which is best.  (I can’t wait).  Today we hiked 4.5 miles with just under 700 feet of elevation gain.

sign at trailhead parking (12/2023)

Twin Falls: Statistics Chart 44     The lower 1205 parking area is approximately 3.1 miles south of Dickey Junction, or 1.8 miles north of the entrance to Richland Creek Campground.  ‘Lower 1205’ is in reference to Forest Road 1205 aka Falling Water Road.

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