233 Sugarloaf to Carrollton Castle

dry West Sugarloaf Creek

     A couple weeks ago, it finally cooled off enough to get outside for a little hiking (see: 231 Coursey, and 232 Calf Creek) but it didn’t last long.  The mornings have been nice, but it warms up quick into the eighties, too hot for me to hike.  So we have been catching up on yardwork lately, but today I decide to ‘try’ to get a little hike in before the thermometer hits 80.  The trick to this, is to keep the drive time minimal which means stay close to home.

looking back from W. Sugarloaf Creek

Highway 14/W. Sugarloaf bridge

    Bull Shoals Lake is pretty close to the house, since it’s been a very dry summer the lake level is down below normal conservation pool (659’), today’s elevation is at 652’.  Often in the spring lake levels reach top flood pool elevation of 695’ and can stay there for weeks or longer, but that never happened this year.  When water levels are down the shoreline is transformed into an off-road playground for dirt bikes, ATV, and 4 wheel drive vehicles.

long shallow pools on rocky Sugarloaf Creek

dry feeder stream

    As a result there are ‘volunteer’ roads going everywhere, these roads are also popular with horseback riders, mountain bikers and even hikers.  With very little elevation change along the shoreline, this is easy going, a veritable ‘walk in the park’.  The only obstacle to a pleasant hike is the unrelenting sunshine, after all trees don’t grow too well in places that are typically underwater much of the year.

fall color?

mouth of Terrapin Hollow

    I pull off SR 14 at the east end of the Sugarloaf West bridge and find a spot off the ‘road’ to park about 100 yards from the highway.  Bull Shoals is public property, administered by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.  Typically private property doesn’t extend much below an elevation of 700’ so the buffer-zone around the lake gets quite large as the water level drops.  I head out northwest, going under the 470’ long Highway 14 bridge.

Terrapin Creek

Bull Shoals @ Carrollton Hollow

    Not really on a volunteer road here under the bridge, this is West Sugarloaf Creek which has no moving water, just big long pools, lots of rock and gravel, and very little vegetation.  Near a lone tree I find an ATV trail climbing the steep creek bank, and following that I’m now on one of the afore mentioned ‘roads’.  I stick with this road, with no particular ‘destination’, I’m just out enjoying the morning and the scenery.

Carrollton Castle

faces in the rock

    After crossing a little dry feeder stream, I notice a couple deer up ahead, then this road follows a tree line for a short way before crossing Terrapin Hollow with some flowing water.  Now the road makes a big sweeping curve to the west following the south bank above Bull Shoals Lake in Carrollton Hollow.  The lake only lasts maybe 200 yards, leaving Carrollton Creek which is mostly dry continuing west.

front and back of Carrollton Castle

    Here I see a big light grey lone boulder just ahead, there hasn’t been any large rocks until now.  This huge rock may already have a name but I decide to call it Carrollton Castle, it is maybe twenty feet tall with a circumference of almost 200 feet.  The boulder has lots of nooks and crevices, and without using too much imagination I can see ‘faces’ in the rock, including a man, two dogs, a lion and a cat.

a side-by-side across Carrollton Cove

little ledge falls on Terrapin Creek

    Although the road continues up Carrollton Creek further west, I decide this is as good a turnaround point as any.  Going back I try some of the many volunteer roads, just to get a little different perspective on my way out.  None of these alternate roads are as well used as the one I ‘stuck’ with on the way in, and one near the mouth of Carrollton Hollow fades away, leaving me on a short easy bushwhack through low dead weeds.

almost back to the bridge

    Once back in the rock and gravel of West Sugarloaf Creek it isn’t far to the bridge then my parked truck, the end of this short easy and enjoyable hike of 3.4 miles with 94 feet of elevation gain.  Even with the high thin clouds, it got pretty warm before getting back around 11:00, I’ll definitely need to get an earlier start if I want to do a longer hike in these conditions.  But as usual, I had a great time today on this Outdoor Adventure in the Ozarks.

some unusual plant life growing in the rocks

W. Sugarloaf and Carrollton: Statistics Chart 233  There are plenty of places to park on both sides of the bridge, in fact you could easily ‘drive’ to Carrollton Castle with the right vehicle.  To get to where I parked today; from the middle of Lead Hill where SR 7 heads north to Diamond City, take SR 14 west about 1.25 miles, just before the bridge find the ‘volunteer’ road off to the left down to Sugarloaf Creek and park before reaching the creek.  Keep in mind, this route/hike will become impossible when lake levels are up.