Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

       Here it is the end of May and hiking season is rapidly coming to an end, for a couple weeks now with temps in the high 80’s it’s just been too hot to even think about hiking.   Day before yesterday a big storm went through dumping over 2 inches of rain and plummeting the temperatures 20 degrees.   So of course, today we’re going hiking, it might be our last until fall. trailside peaches      After some thought I decided to try an old road that heads north off Parker Ridge Road down to some waterfalls on Rock Creek.   My theory being; since Rock Creek is popular with ATV's these old roads should be fairly clear of the undergrowth that gets pretty thick this time of year.   Another reason for choosing this particular route is because since today is Saturday and a holiday weekend, a relatively unknown old road should  be a safe bet to avoid the crowds. little creek near crossing      Maybe I should  have put two and two together; an old road overrun with ATVs on a Saturday

     Tyler Bend on the Buffalo River is the largest development at Buffalo National River built after becoming a National Park.  Buffalo Point has even more development but pre-dates National Park by over thirty years.  The design team did a good job of spreading out the facilities of Tyler Bend which helps provide campers with  the illusion of some privacy. the Collier place (1/2014)      Many nice trails were also built around the campgrounds, and that’s what brings us back, again and again.  Today we park up on top at the signed Collier Homestead Trailhead for the Buffalo River Trail, this is the first parking area encountered after turning west at the signed Tyler Bend entrance off Highway 65 in Silver Hill. Collier Homestead      The Homestead is close to the trailhead on the BRT, the Collier home is a double-pen log house with enclosed dogtrot between, making it a three-room  house.  In the front yard is a cistern that collected rainwater from the roof of the house, the smaller

     We’re headed up to Owens and Ricketts Mountains again,  f or past adventures on these two mountains in the Ozark National Forest, see: ( 71 Owens and Ricketts Mountains),  and ( 89 Owens Point ) .  W e park just off Ricketts Mountain Road at the west end of Ricketts Mountain, calling this a ‘parking spot’ isn’t fair as it's so much more.   A  special place, besides parking it’s also a camping, picnic, rock climbing and scenic area.   For us though, today it’s just a parking spot, we cross the road for Ricketts Knob. special parking area on Ricketts Mt.      Right across the road is a desperation campsite, out the back a good trail goes about 150 feet to the grave of Margaret Nichols, who  was in a wagon on her way up the mountain to Ricketts Mountain Cemetery for burial.  A blizzard hit making it impossible to continue further, so  members of the funeral party dug a grave and buried Margaret here at the side of the road, where she remains to this day.   Although her husband