Another
beautiful winter day, too nice in fact not to get outside and do
something, so naturally I’ve decided to go hiking. Headed south on SR 7 just before the Buffalo
River I turn onto narrow and sometimes rough NC 2890, I don’t go far. A little over half a mile is a nice parking
area and ORT Trailhead, this is where I begin.
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Briar Bluff on the Buffalo
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The
Old River Trail heads south and soon past a gate, this is where I realize the
trail follows an old road. Now the
‘road’ curves around to the west as it heads downhill into a small
drainage. The little creek is flowing
good and the trail crosses on solid bedrock, below the trail I climb down to
check out the nice ten-foot Travertine Falls before continuing on the old road
(ORT) which soon arrives in a big hay field.
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| plenty of parking at the trailhead |
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the ORT is in great shape
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The ORT turns southwest following the edge of this field which
has a couple armadillos rooting around for lunch. The trail itself is very obvious and in
places a little muddy with loads of footprints, not of hikers or horses but
lots of racoon, dog, elk, deer, and I don’t know what but they all look fresh. But no critters around other than the two
armadillos, at the end of the field the road resumes.
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Travertine Falls on a pretty little stream
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Not
far on the road I see a yellow blaze nailed to a tree which says ORT, the trail
leaves the road here and heads south toward the river. The trail is easy to follow and in good shape
other than a few muddy spots, but nothing compared to the quagmire I
encountered hiking last week on Greenhaw Mtn. Road (see: 189 Greenhaw to
Moore CCC). Soon the trail comes
alongside the Buffalo River.
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high water on the Buffalo
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Up
on the bank about 10-15 feet above the river but still in the flood plain,
there are trees and cane knocked down everywhere. At a place where access down off the bank to
the river looks easy, I head down the sandy bank through scattered debris to
rivers edge for some pictures of the Buffalo and the impressive bluff on the
opposite bank. Back up on the trail I
don’t get far before heading back down to the river again.
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| cane on the river bank |
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wide river at the ORT crossing
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Here
and on some other recent hikes along the Buffalo (see: 183 Hiner to Leypoldt, 185 Miss Hickman on the Buffalo and 188 Flatiron Bluff Loop) I’ve
really been amazed by the ‘cleansing’ on the flood plain of the Buffalo
resulting from the big storm back in the middle of November. Some folks just see ‘ugliness’ but I find it
very impressive that nature can be so powerful.
Anyway, back up on the ORT which soon turns away from the river.
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| on High Road Trail |
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up the hill on horseback
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Now
in the woods for a couple hundred yards I come to an intersection, my map shows
the Old River Trail heading left down to the Buffalo River crossing. But the well-used trail right isn’t shown at
all, hmm that’s curious. I head down to
the river, but I’ll be back. At the
crossing the river is running fast and deep, there won’t be any crossing today
although I can clearly see the trail emerging on the other side of the
river which is at least 100 feet across.
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looking down off Ozark Bluff Overlook
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Back
at that intersection I turn onto the ‘mystery trail’ which is in good
condition, obviously used often assuming by the abundant horse biscuits. But after only a couple hundred yards the
trail is back on the road and soon enters another long hay field. Just like the last field this obvious trail
continues along the top edge of the field.
At the end of the field above the trail is a little ledge with a
three-foot waterfall, the trail turns slightly to the left and enters a thick
cane break.
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looking downriver from a great viewpoint
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Coming
out of the cane break I start hearing distant voices approaching from behind,
not much further the trail heads down to a creek crossing. The stream is flowing well, the crossing has
some good flat rocks for stepping stones with lots of mud in between. I stop mid-stream on a rock to get a picture
and here the two ladies on horseback catch up to me. |
| upriver view |
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in the face of Briar Bluff
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One
on a black and white mount the other on a brownish red, they also stop
mid-stream to say ‘Hi’. They started
their ride at Pruitt Landing and are heading ‘up to the road’ then back to
Pruitt. I ask about this ‘mystery trail’
that we’re on and am told this is what they call the ‘High Road Trail’ or ‘High
River Trail’. It consists of many spur
trails that all end up at a road, enabling loop routes that bypass river
crossings. |
| cozy spot at Ozark Overlook |
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down below is Ozark Campground
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This
is great news as all these trails will open up many more potential loop hikes
for my future enjoyment, if I can find them.
My visitors continue on there way up the hill after crossing the creek,
I head up the hill as well after finally getting that picture I was about to
take. After about 200 yards I notice a
faint trail crossing this ‘main trail’ where I turn left, not as obvious but
I’m able to follow it without difficulty. |
pastoral scene in west hay field
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Now
heading south and curving around to the west I soon arrive on top of Briar
Bluff, John Moore in his ‘Moore Monkeys’ blog years ago wrote about the
fantastic vista at this location. John
called this ‘Ozark Bluff Overlook’, it consists of four or five wonderful
viewpoints looking up and down the river with Ozark Campground directly below front
and center. What a great place, far
below just downriver are two men with their dogs playing in the shallows, upstream
I see two women looking up and taking my picture. |
back on the road
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From
Ozark Bluff Overlook I begin the hike back to the truck. Finding a ‘better’ trail back to High Road
Trail, it dawns on me that today has been entirely on-trail, no bushwhacking
other than twice when I briefly left the ORT to get right down on the river. It’s pretty much back the way I came, except
I stay on the road instead of swinging down close to the river, besides a
little bit of a short cut it’s also different scenery. |
obvious ORT across east field
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A
great time was had on today’s outdoor adventure in the Ozarks, I was
pleasantly surprised by the good condition of the trails. The river is running high but clean and as
beautiful as ever, and Ozark Bluff Overlook is a great place to hang out and
soak up some sunshine. Today I hiked 4.3
miles with 428 feet of elevation change, every bit of it was easy and fun. |
Buffalo River
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ORT to Ozark Overlook: Statistics Chart 190 It’s easy enough to find the trailhead/parking, just
north of the curving Scenic Highway 7 bridge over the Buffalo River head west
up the hill on Newton County 2890. This
road is paved just to the top of the hill then gets narrow, avoid looking to
your left at the fantastic views off the top of the bluff, keep your eyes on
the road. After just over half a mile
pull in to the nice parking area on the left (south) this is the trailhead.
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base map before fair use alterations is property of USGS--licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License
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