Today the weather forecasters are calling this 'the pick
day’ of the week for outdoor activities with highs near 70° before more snow arrives later in the week. I’ll head up
to Drury Mincy and do some nearby hiking
while I have the chance (for more at Mincy C.A. see: 111 Bee Creek & Cornell Road). Off Gunnison Road, I head up the steep
gravel road into Mincy Conservation Area, about half a mile to the parking/trailhead area on the south side of the road. This is ‘Bear Mountain
Trailhead’ with parking for four or five vehicles.
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Bear Mountain Trail with white blaze
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Bear Mountain Trail heads out south the woods then downhill pretty quick,
the trail is easy to follow with white blazes stating,
‘hiking trail’. The steep trail has lots
of small loose rock, soon arriving at what I’m assuming is Bear Cave shown
on the very ‘basic’ Conservation Area map. From here standing on the trail it doesn’t look like
much, just a small sinkhole with a little pitch-black
opening at the
bottom. To get inside you need to
get down and crawl in, and since it’s a little muddy today, I'll pass. |
little bathtub falls
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From here the trail gets steeper
before levelling out some along a little side drainage and some flowing
water. Before crossing this creek there's a small waterfall with a nice deep bathtub sized pool underneath, then
right after the crossing a bigger
waterfall. This one is 6-7 feet tall and
maybe 4 feet wide, surely this tiny creek dries up fast so these falls will be
at their best right after a good rain. |
small waterfall
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After the two little waterfalls the trail enters an old field and angles
away from the creek, and very soon starts heading uphill. Down to my right I can see where the little
creek converges with another small creek coming down from the west. This uphill trail gets steeper and once
again is covered with small loose rock along with quite a bit of larger solid
bedrock.
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below a small waterfall
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Soon the trail enters a boulder field where it passes between and around some
perfect sized boulders for taking a break. I keep going up the hill and around
to the east, the trail soon levels out and maybe a quarter mile from the boulder
field Bear Mountain Trail ends at Gunnison Road Trailhead. Another trail continues east (across the
road) but I’ll save that for another day, returning instead the way I came. |
low boulder along trail
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Back down Bear Mountain Trail if I go back up to the trailhead re-tracing my route this won’t be much of a hike. I
decide to check out that other creek heading off to the northwest at the bottom of
this hill. Down the trail
it’s less than a quarter mile to the
bottom where I cross the creek and head around the bottom of the ridge between
these two small drainages. Along this second creek
the hillside on my right
has a series of low solid rock ledges for the next quarter mile.
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Bear Mtn. Trail below Gunnison Trailhead
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The creek has apparently dried
up or more likely gone underground, I walk upstream in the dry
creek bed. But soon it has water flowing
once again and I follow upstream on the south bank along what appears to be a
game trail. A little side drainage
on my left has a noisy little cascade tumbling down to the main creek, and just
20 feet upstream is a small waterfall with a little pool below it. This fall is similar to the first one found
on the other creek below Bear Cave. |
low ledges near creek confluence
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Past the little falls the creek dries up again as the little
valley opens up some and I enter an area with some noticeably bigger
trees. I think I recognize some beech
and hickory that are at least 24” diameter, until now I hadn’t seen anything
larger than about 12” diameter. Here the
valley is broad as I approach the top of the drainage, suddenly up ahead I see
something move and assume I have surprised a deer, but this is no deer.
 |
the road on the ridge (11/2022)
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It’s a red
fox who stops to watch me from a safe distance up a small arroyo on the north
side of the valley. I continue a
short way and another fox emerges from a big hollow log on the valley floor
near the dry creek. This fox goes maybe 50 feet west to another downed log
that it mounts for a good vantage point. I’m less than 100 feet from her, we have
a stare down for a minute then I start to talk to her,
she decides
it’s time to move on down to the dry creek then north up the arroyo where her mate is waiting. |
boulders on top at road
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I keep going up the valley and soon arrive on top
of the ridge at a road which I follow to the north soon coming to some big
boulders right next to the road at a nice campsite. Past the boulders I see a gate up ahead
and just before the gate an intersection with a less used road off to the
northwest, the road I’m on turns here to the east and goes through the locked gate. Now on the main 'Mincy Road' about a
quarter mile I spot my truck parked at the trailhead. The end of the hike, and a great little hike too, the trail in real good shape did have a couple steep sections
but nothing too steep, the
bushwhack up the creek was wide open woods a clean easy hike all the
way. With very little undergrowth, this
really is a nice place for hiking, which was a total of 2.4 miles with just
over 400 feet of elevation gain.
Bear Mountain Loop: Statistics Chart 112 To get here from Arkansas to the south is pretty easy. Stonington Road (BC 212) is about 5 miles east on Highway 14 from the intersection with Old Highway 65 in Omaha, or about 6.3 miles west of Highway 281 South (to Bergman) on Highway 14. Take Stonington Road (paved) just over 3 miles, turn left (north) on Gunnison Road (J-40) also paved goes north passing the Bee Creek access road on the right (3 miles), then Cornell Road (4 miles), Gunnison Road Trailhead (4.75 miles) and then gravel Mincy Road at just over 5 miles. Mincy Road goes up the hill then around to the west for just under half a mile to the Bear Mountain Trailhead parking on the left.
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