Today is Super Bowl Sunday and such a nice day I feel the need to get out and do a little hiking. Last Sunday I went down Parker Ridge Road
with the intention of hiking up Rock Creek to Johnny Trail Falls, but never
made it to the bottom. Parker Ridge Road
was littered with downed trees everywhere,
the result of the recent ice storms that took out power for over 10,000 Entergy
customers. Our power was out up in
northern Boone County for 72 hours, some areas the outage was even longer.
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castle turret
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Back on Parker Ridge Road, I gave up weaving around obstacles (downed trees) and pulled into a large
campsite on the north side of the road that could easily be four or five
campsites. This is at the top of the
large south fork of Rock Creek. Thinking
that the streams should be flowing well after the recent storms I decided to
try and find a way down into the hollow. |
damp, rocky north slope
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In the back of this huge campsite is an obvious trail which I can’t pass
up, it starts down the slope but in less than 100 yards fizzles out to nothing
and I’m left bushwhacking down a steep rocky little side stream. To make a long story short, this area is the
very definition of a difficult bushwhack:
steep and rocky with undergrowth everywhere consisting of loads of briars and
small thickets of saplings. I didn’t
make it to the creek, after about a mile I gave up and looped back around and
up to the campsite. |
distant bluffline pedestal
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Anyway, that was last week, I thought by now all the storm debris would
be cleaned up, I sure was wrong it’s not even close. Heading north on Falling Water Road not far
after passing Falling Water Horse Camp the slalom-course begins with downed
trees everywhere. Lots of people are out
today, most seem happy to just drive around in amazement of all the storm
damage. |
Rick Henry Falls
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One car is parked at Falling Water Falls which looks great today with
the high water, I continue north and in about a mile and a half further is
Falling Water Road Falls. On the west
side of the road about 100 feet up in the woods this wet weather falls looks
pretty impressive today as well. Not
much further I cross Falling Water Creek on the narrow concrete bridge with tons of washed down deadwood pinned
against the upstream side of the bridge. |
Boomer Falls
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Onward I drive past parking spots for Intersection Falls, Keefe Falls,
Hidden Falls and then just before the huge landslide area that occurred over
ten years ago the road crosses a new (smaller) landslide with some obvious road
damage. Just under a mile past the
parking spot for Landslide Falls I pull off Falling Water Road at a nice little
campsite on the right. |
Rick Henry Falls (top portion)
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I park here in the campsite maybe thirty feet off the road which is in a
small saddle with gentle slopes off both sides.
This campsite is the trailhead for Rick Henry Falls only about half a
mile to the east, but there is no trail, this is a bushwhack all the way. I head out uphill to the east directly toward
the point of the bluff up ahead, and in less than 100 feet cross the Ozark
Highlands Trail. |
Rick Henry Falls
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Heading uphill to the base of the bluff turns out to be a mistake that I
won’t repeat on my way back out, the base of the north facing bluff is covered
in big mossy rocks many of which are loose and slippery. I stumble along here less than 100 feet
before slowly angling down off the slope to some easier terrain, a little easier anyway it’s still pretty rough. |
Boomer Falls
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The bluffline gradually curves around to the south and I make my way
back up to the base, now this is more like it.
With lots of broken shale along the flat and level base of the bluff and
no undergrowth, this is easy hiking the last 100 yards or so to the falls. Well mostly
easy, I have to be careful crossing the many places with ice covering the loose
shale underfoot. |
icy area along bluff
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At Rick Henry Falls I’m pleasantly surprised, there are actually two
waterfalls! Both falls look fabulous
today with a good volume of water flow.
I’m assuming the taller fall on the right (west) is Rick Henry Falls, at
around 40 to 50 feet tall. The top
portion is a very steep cascading fall of about 15 feet before plunging off a small
ledge the remaining 30 feet or so. |
loose shale too
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Just to the left (east) is a shorter waterfall, 25 to 30 feet I’m
guessing, and apparently has no name, well we can’t have that. Anyone who reads Rick Henry’s blog (Rick’s Hiking Blog) knows Rick was a
tall man, 6’3” to be exact, and they also know Rick’s best friend and frequent
hiking partner was quite a bit shorter. |
green crevice
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Of course, I’m talking about Boomer the magnificent mountain dog, I
believe Boomer Falls is a perfectly
appropriate name for this powerful waterfall right next to Rick Henry Falls
with a beautiful deep little pool right at its base. I’ll bet Boomer would love to swim around in
this spot. |
down in the hollow
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I came here today with very little information, basically all I had to
go on was coordinates for Rick Henry Falls and the parking spot, so a high sense of discovery was inevitable,
and I certainly am not disappointed. And if someone has already given the falls
east of Rick Henry Falls a name, well, I regress I certainly don’t want to step
on anyone’s toes. |
scenic hollow
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After paying my respects and
taking a few pictures I backtrack along the bluff across the loose shale, and
soon come to a wet crevice covered in green moss. From here I can hear splashing water down
below, so I zigzag my way down the steep slope to the creek. Here finding waterfall after waterfall, all
small in the three to five foot range. |
and rugged
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The whole area is very pretty and rugged with large, jagged rocks in and
around the creek. I get a few more pics
before abandoning the creek and heading west, purposely staying at this lower
elevation to avoid the mess up near the bluff that I battled on my way in. This works out great, the woods are wide open
without undergrowth and I’m back to my parking spot in the little campsite in
no time.
This hike is short and easy (as long as you don’t get up along the
bluffline too soon), my entire hike including two magnificent waterfalls and
many other smaller water features was only 1.1 miles with only 177 feet of
altitude gain. Another short yet great
hike to add to the list of many short hikes to waterfalls east of Falling Water
Road.
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Falling Water Creek @ Intersection Falls
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Driving back south on Falling Water Road I decide to avoid the worst of
the storm damage which is between the Falling Water Creek bridge and the horse
camp by taking Richland Creek Road (FR 1219) up to Witts Spring and see if it
is in better shape. But before the turn
off I park along the side of the road just south of the little rock cairn
marking the Intersection Falls trail. |
Intersection Falls
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It’s a very short hike, only about 800 feet to the falls and the trail
is in great shape. I haven’t been to
Intersection Falls for almost ten years, and I remember the falls only had a
trickle of flow that warm day in May.
Today it looks great with plenty of water and is the perfect finale to
a wonderful time along Falling Water Road.
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base map before fair use alterations is property of USFS Forest Service-
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