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.
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the Collier place (1/2014)
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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
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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 log
structure is a smoke house. The picket fence out front was built recently by park
employees to replace the original. Out back past where Collier’s vegetable garden was is a shed in
pretty sad shape, this is where we head northwest on the River View Trail, a
nice wide groomed trail that's handicap accessible. |
shed in the backyard
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First through a cleared
field, at
the end of which are three large overgrown rock piles then we enter open woods
and soon arrive at the viewing platform built atop Collier Bluff. Here is a wonderful view of the Buffalo River
along with bluffs and fields in the valley, also the confluence of Calf Creek
and the Buffalo over 200 feet directly below us (for the best views visit in
the winter). At the viewing platform is
where the ADA compliant trail ends. |
viewing platform on top Collier Bluff
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Continuing on River View Trail we head northeast and downhill, soon
arriving at another vista location on a rock outcrop, no wooden platform
here, watch your step. About
150 feet further is another vista, this one with a big pedestal rock right in
front of the view. Still going downhill,
we come to a hairpin curve where the trail descends into a side
drainage, just past the hairpin one last rocky overlook of the
Buffalo below. Down in the little
drainage at the crossing is a pretty little cascading waterfall. |
Collier Bluff Vista (1/2014)
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On the other side heading back northeast
and still downhill there is a tree-cam next to the trail (be sure to smile as you pass)
and just past the end of this little stream is a
wooden bridge over a deep gully. A
little over 100 yards from the bridge at the south end of a large field is a
faint trail heading to the north and I assume the Buffalo River.
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the dog-trot an open breezeway
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We know we’re getting close to civilization,
now we can hear someone cutting the grass in the big picnic area just
north of us about a quarter mile. We
pass the base of the tall rock retaining wall for the parking lot above, then up the steps arriving at the front doors and nice patio of the
Visitor Center. |
along the trail above the Buffalo
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This parking lot could just as easily have been our
starting point for this loop hike, we parked on top to avoid possible crowds at
the Visitor Center, which today is closed. Now in the heart of the Tyler Bend development
the ‘trail’ continues east of the Visitor Center on the paved road with a white
painted line separating trail from traffic, then a tiny sign designates where
the trail leaves the road on the mowed grass path. Soon a crosswalk and a little further
we
enter the main campground area.
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Red Buckeye
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This is
the Drive-In Camping area, two other camping areas nearby are the Group Camping
and the Walk-In Tent Camping with river access and swimming locations, and up near the actual ‘Tyler Bend’ is
a very nice large Picnic Area and Canoe Launch, with great views of towering Tyler Bluff. Walking through
the campground we head southeast to the lowest point ahead, here just across the
road on a stone bridge is the trailhead sign for the Rock Wall Trail. |
below the Visitors Center
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Now back on a regular trail,
down in the flood plain of the Buffalo are wet and very lush conditions. The trail is in good shape
although it doesn’t appear to get much use, we soon arrive alongside a short
but long rock wall, the namesake of the trail.
Rock Wall Trail follows this wall for about a third
of a mile before heading up a small side drainage at a corner in the wall, which
keeps going who knows how far to the east.
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at the bottom of a small drainage
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Definitely uphill but not too steep we cross the little creek once on
our way to the top, the trail curves around to the east through an area with
lots of downed timber. Near the top Rock Wall Trail ends at the Buffalo River Trail, a left turn here takes you to Highway 65
and Grinders Ferry we turn right to Collier Trailhead.
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Tyler Bluff viewed from picnic area
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The BRT here winds its way through
the woods near the ridge but not quite on top, we pass by trail intersections first
for Buck Ridge Trail then Spring Hollow Trail, all the junctions are clearly
marked. From the end of Rock Wall Trail
at the BRT to the Collier Homestead parking area is over a mile and a half but
goes by quickly on this good trail with just minor slopes along the way.
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May flowers
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Back at the car and the end of our hike we
realize we didn’t see anyone on the trail today, this surprises
me, Tyler Bend is a popular destination on the Buffalo River but today is
almost empty. This unexpected
solitude was just the icing on some already great cake, today’s hike was 4.7 miles with 618 feet of
altitude gain. |
Tyler Bluff from boat launch
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On the way out we decide to stop at Grinders Ferry just to see if
anything’s going on and to check out something I’ve been wondering about all day. Sure enough, there are people crawling all
over the place, Grinders is a popular canoe landing and, in the summer,
boasts a very nice swimming hole, the parking area is full of cars, many from out of state, and the canoe outfitters
are doing a brisk business down at the river. |
along Rock Wall Trail
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What I’ve been wondering about is the BRT, maps always show the trail crossing the Buffalo on the Highway 65
bridge and ending in Gilbert, even the ‘billboard’ at Collier Homestead
Trailhead indicates a ‘river crossing’. But it isn’t so, I just want to confirm that the BRT truly
does continue down the southside of the river past Hwy. 65 to Grinders Ferry. Yes, it does just before the Grinders Ferry
parking area we spot white blazes nailed to trees on both sides of the road, the BRT heads in both directions from here. |
'hidden' bridge near Grinders
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We take the BRT upstream towards Highway 65,
today the trail is wet, overgrown and doesn’t look to get much use, probably
because no maps even show this trail.
It’s not very far from the parking area to the highway, this is a short
hike, we soon cross a nice hidden wooden bridge over a gully then follow a
little creek upstream to the tall highway embankment. |
BRT 'tunnel' under Hwy. 65
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Here we are at a culvert with a little stream
flowing out from under the highway, but not your typical culvert this one is 8
feet wide by 8 feet tall and around 150 feet long. A concrete tunnel
connecting the BRT, east meets west under Highway 65, (who knew) mystery solved,
slippery when wet and impassable during high water. We head back to the car, excited about new
possibilities for future hikes with Grinders Ferry as a starting point. From the parking lot to the tunnel is 979
feet one-way.
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out front at Sod and Ida Mae Collier's place
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Tyler Bend Loop: Statistics Chart 94 Parking at Collier Homestead Trailhead (T2) is a small loop parking lot about 1.4 miles on the left from Highway 65 at the Tyler Bend entrance, all the way down to the Visitors Center parking (T1) is just over a mile further. Tyler Bend Road entrance off Highway 65 is about one mile south of the highway bridge over the Buffalo River, and the entrance into Grinders Ferry just over two tenths of a mile south of the bridge. |
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