Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

       When looking at any map of the Buffalo River the distinctive ‘duck head’ is easy to spot, naturally I’ve been drawn to this area, and have wanted to explore the region for quite some time.   I know, ‘you never know until you go’ but I had heard the road to the trailhead was pretty bad.   Then a month ago I drove up Cozahome Road about halfway , on my way to Big Creek Trail, (see: 149 Big Creek Trail )   and the road was in pretty good shape.   So today I’m back and going all the way to the end of the road at the Buffalo National River boundary. beautiful view from Devils Tea Table      I believe ‘Duck Head’ is a nickname given by river floaters back in the 60’s for ‘7-Mile Bend’ and the trailhead for trails on the Duck Head is officially known as Jackson Ridge Trailhead, located just west of the parking area with an old billboard to mark the spot.   I won’t be hiking from here though, I’m going south to Devil’s Tea Table and the ‘trailhead’ for what I’ll call Devil’s Tea Table

       We hiked to Hedges Homestead almost five years ago, starting and ending at the South Boxley Trailhead (see: 6 Hedges Homestead ) .  Today I’ll be retracing part of that hike, but this is a ‘different’ hike altogether, with extended exploration into the Upper Buffalo Wilderness.  And I’m trying out the ‘alternative’ Hedges Trailhead parking spot further south. Low Hole      Pulling in off Highway 21 this unmarked road looks more like a driveway and it isn’t very long, only about 200 yards.  I drive up all the way to the end at the NPS gate assuming there will be a parking area and room to turn around, nope just a sign on the gate stating, ‘No Parking’.  I slowly back out on the narrow road to the lone driveway where I’m able to turn around.  Back towards the highway is a wide spot where you might squeeze in two small cars, roomy enough for my truck I park here. Old house at park boundary      I hike back up the road and step over the cable gate at the Buffalo National River boun

Falling Water Creek       Two days later and I’m back on Falling Water Road to complete the section of the Ozark Highlands Trail started Friday.   On that hike I started at the campground at Richland Creek and eventually made it to the little no-name creek that contains Hidden Falls, there I left the OHT returning to Richland Campground on Falling Water Road (see: 150 Richland Trailhead to Hidden Hollow) . Falling Water Creek & Falling Water Road      What I call a ' section of the OHT' is simply the segment of trail between two trailheads, this ‘ section 19’ is the trail segment from Falling Water Creek Trailhead to Richland Campground Trailhead.   The total distance of Section 19 according to my GPS track is 5.4 miles, I hiked 3.1 of that on Friday and plan to do the rest today. fall day on Falling Water Creek      Today I’m parking right at the east end of the Falling Water Creek bridge on the south side of the road, and again there are other parking options nearby.

       We were reminiscing the other day about the Richland Creek area which seems to get a lot of our attention compared to other wilderness areas in the Ozarks.   It was eleven years ago this past May, the first time we drove into the area to see some of the ‘roadside’ waterfalls, namely Falling Water Falls, Intersection Falls and Six Finger Falls.   Besides the waterfalls, another enduring memory from that drive down Falling Water Road was the large area of devastation from the big landslide that took out the road. 2008 landslide area      Big landslides seem to happen all the time in the Ozarks but this one was significant since it wiped-out the road.   I learned from the internet, the slide happened in 2008 and four years later the road was finally re-opened.   The re-opening must have occurred not long before our May 2012 visit as heavy equipment was still on-site.      Today my plan is to hike a short segment of the Ozark Highlands Trail that will take me above the landslide