Yesterday a big storm swept through the Ozarks dumping almost four
inches of rain, we decided to go find some waterfalls. But where to go, we want a bunch of
falls in a relatively small area and without a huge elevation
gain. We drive up Hudson Mountain
to check out Macedonia
School Falls, The Hood Falls, Hood Pouroff and Hudson Mountain Falls. These are
all impressive waterfalls after a big rain but since they’re high up in
their drainages, they tend to dry up quick, they’re also pretty close together.
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misty mountain magic
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We arrive on Hudson Mountain Road pretty early (by our standards) not
yet ten o’clock, the road itself is in real good shape considering all the rain
yesterday. The shoulder of the road
however is a different story, very wet and muddy many areas with standing
water. Not wanting to get stuck on the
side of the road we end up parking in a turn-around area just before a dirt
berm across the road about a half mile east of our intended parking spot. |
falling water everywhere
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Oh well, the ‘plan’ just went out the window,
instead of a short hike to the falls, we commit to hiking the entire loop which on the map doesn’t look bad as far as elevation change goes so, we think nothing of it, now doing the 'loop' counterclockwise, we’ll have all the nice waterfalls at the end of
the hike. This
traffic circle/parking area has a fire ring in the
middle and a Forest Service gate stating ‘Road Closed’ which we hike around
then head north on the old road. |
first falls with grotto
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The road is easy enough to follow even though it’s getting pretty overgrown, a couple downed trees have to be detoured around. We leave the road when it starts to swing
around to the west, now off trail we make our way downhill into
a small drainage. There is a lot of
undergrowth in these woods but all in all not too bad, we soon arrive at the top
of the bluff at a noisy cascading waterfall. |
rugged eastside bluffline
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It takes a few minutes to find a reasonably safe way down to
the base of the falls. Climbing down off a narrow ledge we
use a stout little tree while stepping through some grape
vines. At the bottom we head back south to the waterfall with a neat little
grotto alongside, that a few minutes ago we were standing on top
of. From here we turn back north
following the bluffline, with yesterday’s rain the bluffs have water running almost everywhere, there's quite a bit of
mud along the base. |
pillars of stone
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But out away
from the bluffs the ‘jungle’ becomes the issue. It’s like
‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ definitely slow going here on the
east side of the mountain, we occasionally stumble onto short pieces of ‘trail’
but none last long. We stop at one
tall pouroff with a beautiful little rainbow at its bottom created by all the
splashing mist of the water crashing on the rocks. Under half a mile that seems to take forever, we come to a good size but shallow shelter and take a break. |
faint rainbow in a wide bear crack
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Right next to the shelter a tree has fallen
against the bluff shattering the tree, resulting in a mess along
the bluff. Fallen trees will
continue to be obstacles all day, this one our second encountered, there will be many more to come. Another
quarter mile is a shallow shelter, this one smaller, past that a wide bear crack although pretty steep to the top. This is the first of what I call ‘bailout exits’ all of them are a little steep but doable, at this point we’re almost to the north point, why bailout now? |
for hiking beauty, just add water
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We trudge on towards the north point going up and down little ridges as we weave our way
through rocks and undergrowth. Past a small cave up a steep but short hill are two huge pillars of stone perched
out away from the bluffline. We make our
way up between the upper boulder and the bluff, once around the giant rock
it appears to be an easier route if we had stayed between the
two boulders. This too will become a
reoccurring spot decision with every
huge boulder we come to. |
another gorgeous scene
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By now we’re getting close to the north end and have a fine view across
Dry Creek valley to the south facing bluffs on Ricketts Mountain and Ricketts
Knob. Past a small shelter and another
giant boulder we are now headed south, here on the west side of the
mountain everything is a little dryer with a lot less underbrush, the hiking
conditions are noticeably improved. Around
another large boulder we come to a rather confusing yet beautiful rocky area
with bear cracks and crevices. |
wet mossy bluff
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Which way to go, Kat
takes a break on a nice flat rock while I scout the way up a wide bear crack in close
to the bluff. On top is a great
vista on the flat rocks but the bear crack going down the other side is too
steep to attempt without a rope, so it’s back down the way I came. A little past where Kat is waiting, the giant boulder has a gap or crack, not very wide I walk through to
the downhill side where there’s a smooth rounded ledge that I slide off to the ground, Kat takes
the long way around and we continue south. |
at Hudson Mountain Falls
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Under a quarter mile farther are two tall falls about a hundred
feet apart, both are gorgeous, we catch glimpses of rainbows at
both. Another 200 yards we
pass under a big low rock overhang then just ahead another overhang far
above. With more giant boulders to
maneuver around and a few more big trees fallen across our path before we get
to Hudson Mountain Falls. This beautiful
waterfall may be the tallest fall we’ve seen so far today, although they all have
been quite tall other than the very first. |
climbing area with Hudson Mt. Falls beyond
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I think I’m pretty good at estimating the height of shorter waterfalls
but for tall falls my estimate is nothing more than a guess, using the picture above with me next to the falls, I would say
Hudson Mountain Falls is 40-50 feet tall, these are all tall falls, (by Arkansas standards).
I climb up some big slippery rocks to the base of Hudson Mtn. Falls and
cross behind the falls, Kat takes the safer and easier route across some dry
rocks below the falls. |
Hood Pouroff
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Maybe 100 yards
south of Hudson Mountain Falls is evidence of rock climbing. I’ve been looking for bolts in the bluffs all day but until now have seen none, we spot about ten routes up the bluffs marked by bolts anchored in the rock. A little farther we arrive at the next waterfalls, Hood Pouroff and 100
feet away The Hood Falls. Both these
falls are quite tall and beautiful, I believe the name ‘The Hood’ comes
from rock climbers who have dubbed
this excellent climbing area The Hood. |
The Hood Falls
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We press on, one last waterfall before we climb out back up to
Hudson Mtn. Road. Around a corner headed west we pass a rather large thong tree then turn back
south along a steep rocky little canyon. This is rough going, undergrowth and large sharp
rocks everywhere, we see Macedonia School Falls ahead at the end of a
little box canyon, close enough we stop here. Macedonia School Falls is gorgeous wider and shorter than most of the falls we’ve seen today, maybe 25 feet tall although from our vantage point I can’t see the bottom. |
Macedonia School Falls
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A fitting finale to some fabulous waterfall chasing, we head back to an easy climb up the rocks to the top. On top we can’t find any sign of a trail we head southeast through the woods back to the
road. From here on Hudson Mountain Road, it’s about a half mile back to our parking spot and the end to our waterfall
adventure for today. This hike was
4 miles with 692 feet of elevation gain, it took us
over seven hours to complete, we still had a great time.
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Hood Falls
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Macedonia Loop: Statistics Chart 115 To get up on Hudson Mountain you could continue south from Owens Mountain on Cowell Road (NC 6560), see: (71 Owens Ricketts Mountains). The easiest way here though is north from Cowell, at the intersection of Scenic Highway 7 and Cowell Road (NC 6560) go north on Cowell Road about 4.2 miles and turn right (east) on Hudson Mountain Road (FR1204B) and continue 1.9 miles to the parking area, at the traffic circle and dirt berm.
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base map before fair use alterations is property of USFS Forest Service-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License
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