Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

       On our last two trips to Owens and Ricketts Mountains we noticed a couple more places that looked interesting, first on our way back from Owens Point (see: 89 Owens Point ) we found a bluff top view not far off the road and what looked like hiking opportunities down below.   The other was a rock cairn at the south side of the road as we were driving up to Ricketts Mountain Cemetery (see: 93 Ricketts Knob and Owens Rock) . looking down into Grand Grotto      Today I want to check out both these areas, first I head up Owens Mountain Road off Cowell Road, up the hill to the parking area at the top which is also a great camping area.   I park here on the big slab of bedrock just off the road and head south to the nice vista just 100 yards away.   Right at the top of the small drainage, to my left the bluffline heads due south and right is to the west. near bottom of bluffline break      Hiking west along the top I only go about a hundred yards before finding a bluffline break that

     Thunderstorms rolled through most of Arkansas last night and we got almost two inches at the house, I’m thinking today will be a good day to see some waterfalls.   Not far from where I went hiking on New Year’s Day, upstream about two miles on the Buffalo is a bluff with a wet weather waterfall pouring out the mouth of a cave about sixty feet up on the bluff, this bluff is named Falls Bluff. highwater at Carver      We drive south, back to Gene Rush WMA and after crossing a swollen Buffalo River we turn left into the Wildlife Management Area.   As we cross the Big Creek bridge,  I see how much difference a couple inches of rain make.   Two days ago,  Big Creek was almost dry, just small pools of still water with barely a trickle moving downstream ten feet or more below the bridge.   Today the brownish water with whitecaps is rushing under the bridge with only about a foot of headspace. roadside falls in Lime Kiln Hollow      Just around the corner and up the hill from Big Creek i

      Happy New Year!   I haven’t been out hiking in a while and today the weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so a short hike seems like the perfect way to break in the new year.   A couple years ago we drove through this part of the Gene Rush WMA and noticed an old road to the right (northeast) near the boundary to Buffalo National River.   It looked to be a good parking spot and possibly an access to the river, today I’ll find out.      On that hot day in July two and a half years ago we were on our way down to the Buffalo to cool off in the river at Mt. Hersey Hole (see:  59 Mt. Hersey Hole ) .   This old road was barely noticeable through the thick Arkansas jungle of summer, but today is easy to find in the wide-open  woods.   I pull in and get turned around in a parking spot off the road, if the ground is dry there’s probably enough room here for maybe five cars. Buffalo River      Following the old road is mostly downhill all the way to the river, at the start heading northeast