180 Sugar Creek Bluffs

    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 Sugar Creek in his fourth book ‘TAKAHIK Bluffs of the Arkansas Ozarks’ and I’ve decided to drive down and check it out.

small creek crossing right away

    ‘On the map’ this appears to be a short easy hike with a little bit of everything, about half the route is on the Ozark Highlands Trail, the other half all bushwhack.  I pull in the small parking area at the side of the road next to Big Piney Creek.  It isn’t very big, room for maybe three cars.  I walk north on Big Piney Road about 200 feet to where the OHT leaves the road and heads up a tiny drainage.

bluff gets tall quick

    Here at the trailhead is an engraved slab of granite thanking Dale Bumpers for all his work and dedication toward the creation of wilderness areas in Arkansas.  Then fifty feet further a sign-in box provided by Walmart, one hiker signed in yesterday I’m the first today.  It’s pretty much all uphill for just over a third of a mile, just when it levels out a  bit I leave the OHT.

easy bushwhack along bluffline

window rock

    Here where I leave the trail the bluff is just beginning, so it’s an easy walk to the base.  The bluffline quickly grows to over fifty feet high, with no trail whatsoever I pick my way along slowly.  I wouldn’t call this ‘a walk in the park’ but it’s not bad, I would have to say this bluffline is an easy bushwhack with occasional greenbrier and rocks.  The most consistent ‘obstacle’ would be all the dead leaves covering the loose rock.

the hook/can opener

Orange Hole

    After about 500 feet along the bluffline, features begin to show with regularity.  First a waterfall maybe 40 feet tall, I’ll see five wet weather falls along this route today but all are dry even though we had over two inches of rain just yesterday.  It will take some prolonged rainfall to get the creeks going again, after the long drought we’ve experienced for almost two months now.

square flattop overhang

    Anyway after the first waterfall, in the next 200 feet first is a protruding rock abutment that with lots of imagination resembles  an elephant head.  Not far past that is Window Rock which could be described as a pedestal leaning on the bluff, then a huge rock overhang up above.  Then two more waterfalls with an orange hole between them up on the bluff.  Less than a hundred feet from the orange hole another wet weather waterfall.

small shelter in Fern Alcove

rugged formations

    Around the corner is Fern Alcove, then maybe 200 feet more a small shallow shelter followed by another pedestal leaning against the bluff this one just barely touching in two places.  Then a wide waterfall about twenty feet tall, this one will be impressive with abundant water flow.  Another ‘leaner’ after the falls, this one lower with a flat top looks more like an arch than the previous pedestals.

crevice in small shelter

'touching' pedestal

    The next 100 yards, the bluffline sort of gives way to a couple steep rocky ‘bail-out exits’ with the second being a little less steep and rocky.  Around the next corner the ‘Bear Den’ where the west opening drops down into a pit, then around and down on the east side a lower ‘back door’ lets you walk into the pit.  Soon comes another small shelter with a small window in the back, then Tri Shelter which is just three small shelters one after the next.

wide wet weather waterfall

arch rock or leaning pedestal?

    Beyond Tri Shelter the bluff ends into a rocky hillside, I head north then turn back west and slowly make my way up to the top passing a short wide pillar with a big rock sitting on the top.  From here I try to maintain my present elevation as I make my way back to the OHT.  Easier said than done, I come up against a couple steep rugged ravines with loads of greenbrier deadwood and big sharp rocks that I have to navigate around, for a while it’s pretty rough going.

small caves with windows

    Eventually I find the Ozark Highlands Trail and its clear sailing from there, heading back I pass a real nice campsite about 50 feet off the trail near the top of the bluff.  Less than half a mile back to the road I realize that I haven’t seen a single trail blaze since at the trailhead/road but no worry, even with the thick blanket of dead leaves the trail is still obvious and easy to follow.  And pretty much all downhill I’m back to the truck before you know it.

last of Tri Shelters

    Sugar Creek Bluffs is a great little hike of only 2.2 miles with 433 feet of elevation gain, and it does have a little bit of everything for the hiker: easy trail conditions of the OHT, easy bushwhacking along the base of the bluffs, and a couple areas of more challenging rugged terrain while making your way back to the Ozark Highlands Trail.  If you visit after some substantial rains you’re in for a treat thanks to the five waterfalls.

way out begins here

Sugar Creek Bluffs: Statistics Chart 180     Getting to the parking area and the OHT is real easy, at the east end of the old one-lane steel bridge over Big Piney Creek turn north off Highway 123 on Big Piney Road aka JC 5881.  From there the parking area is 650 feet on the left (next to Big Piney) and you will see the trailhead 200 feet further north.

base map before fair use alterations is property of USGS--licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License