Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

      Lately on my hiking excursions I have put a lot of miles on the truck getting to and from my chosen destinations, and in the process have passed by loads of good hiking areas.   On my last three hiking adventures I have driven over 100 miles round-trip to each location.    So today I’m going down to Hiner Hole, one of our favorite swimming holes, to hike a short section of the Old River Trail, which should cut my travel time and mileage in half. overhang bluff at Leypoldt Hole      The road from Scenic Highway 7 to Hiner Hole is NC 2890 and it always seems to be in poor condition this morning is no different, just over an inch of rain in the last 24 hours doesn’t help.   All eight of the creek crossings have flowing water, one is a little muddy all the rest are across solid bedrock so no problem.   A couple areas have water flowing down the road and there’s lots of tree debris on the road too, all this makes for an enjoyable 4X4 drive of around 3.5 miles. high water at Hiner Ho

       Recently I started going back to some of the places we have visited before I started documenting our hikes on Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks.   Fern Falls and Alum Cove are ( see: 174Fern Falls  and  177 Alum Cove ) the first two with many more to come.  Today’s choice is another short hike: Hudson Shelter, first visited way back at the end of March ’15. Hudson Bluff     Over nine years ago I probably won’t remember much from that previous visit, but as soon as I pull into the parking area on an old logging road everything looks vaguely familiar.  Except the Wag-Bag ammo-can mounted on a wood post looks pretty new although empty, it serves as a trailhead marker.  And the trail south is in great shape obviously getting lots of use, all downhill to a rocky creek with little water then down some more following the creek. trail right from old logging road @ 'trailhead' above Hudson Shelter Falls     A fter about a quarter mile the bottom drops out , where this little stre

       A few days ago a long slow moving storm front swept across the mid-section of the country, as a result Arkansas is out of the drought and the ‘burn bans’ have been lifted.   Many areas received over a foot of rainfall in the three days it took the storm to pass through the state.   Flash-floods were widespread all over the Ozarks but now just a couple days later all is back to ‘normal’. Falling Water Falls (always impressive)      This morning not really knowing what to expect, I drive south to ‘ole reliable’ Richland Creek Wilderness.   North on Falling Water Road, I’m not seeing much storm debris on the road in fact FR1205 is in great shape.   I stop at Falling Water Falls, although I’ve been here many times the falls are always worth a quick look.   With the upgrades complete there are now two sets of stone steps, first to the top and second to the base of the falls. on top of Falling Water Falls      With all the recent rain I thought Falling Water Falls would have much more

     Getting into a designated wilderness area in the Ozark Nat. Forest or Buffalo Nat. River can be a challenge, especially since there aren’t supposed to be any maintained roads or even trails.  Ponca and Hurricane Creek seem to be the exceptions, Ponca has maintained trails crisscrossing the entire wilderness and Hurricane Creek even allows vehicular travel right through the middle of the wilderness. jagged bluffs      Even though it has legal vehicle access and the OHT, Hurricane Creek Wilderness remains one of the least visited wildernesses for me.  I’ve only  been in the ‘official’ wilderness area twice (see: 84 Sexton Cemetery and 90 Hurricane Knob ).  I have decided today to explore Hurricane Creek Wilderness some more, after all access is pretty easy. trailhead next to road      Down in the southwest corner of Hurricane Creek Wilderness is Sugar Creek with a drainage just over three miles long emptying into Big Piney Creek.  Danny Hale documented some of the bluffs above Sug