Who Knew?

The Great Outdoors: part two 

     I have done google searches for many things in the Ozarks including hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, rock climbing, canoeing, kayaking, ATV riding, spelunking, camping... just about anything outdoors will turn up loads of information online.  A few of the sites (listed alphabetically) that I seem to return to time after time for hiking information are:

Arklahoma Hiker: www.arkokhiker.org Mike Newman (MN) the creator and editor of this website has many contributions from other hiking bloggers including Brent Toellner, Mara Kuhn, Shelley Smart, Charlie Williams and maybe others.  Arklahoma Hiker focuses mainly on the Ouachita and Ozark National Forests of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas.  Many of Mike’s hiking posts include downloadable track-logs and waypoints information.

Barefoot Traveler: www.barefoottraveler.com anonymous... so I must respect that, but whoever he is, he has been documenting his hiking adventures online for a long time (one of the first in the Ozarks).  The Barefoot Traveler started his website back in 1997 and wrote about hundreds of hikes up until 2010 when he suffered a rather significant knee injury.  He still gets out on some ‘easier’ hikes and has kept the webpage going for over 25 years now.

Exploring Northwest Arkansas: www.btoellner.typepad.com Brent Toellner (BT) mainly explores in and around the Buffalo River area and has been writing about and photographing the area since as far back as 2011.  Brent’s photography has dramatically improved over the years along with his trail descriptions.

Hiking Trails of the Ouachita's & Ozarks: www.ouachitamaps.com Charlie Williams (CW) is a map correspondent and contributor for Backpacker Magazine.  Charlie’s website is predominantly a source for backcountry maps some free and many more for sale.  As the name implies most are of the Ouachita Trail and National Forest, but also include much of the Ozarks and all of the Ozark Highlands Trail among other far-removed locales. 

Moore Monkeys’ Adventures: www.mooremonkeys.com John Moore (JM) was active online from 2003-2013 his coverage area is also the Ozarks but also includes the Ouachita region.  An excellent photographer, most of John’s excursions are just him and his camera gear although he includes his wife and sons whenever he can.  What I like most besides his great pictures is the down home or real world feeling I get reading about his adventures. Apparently this site has been pulled down (offline).

My Waterfall Finds: www.brianemfinger.com Brian Emfinger (BE) a renowned storm-chaser, professional photographer and one of the pioneers of drone-photography has also discovered and documented around a hundred waterfalls in the western Ozark National Forest.  Besides beautiful pictures Brian gives detailed directions and access information to almost all of his waterfall finds. Apparently this site has been pulled down (offline).

No Trail Required 00: www.notrailrequired.blogspot.com Patrick Caple (PC) started posting back in 2009 and seems to still be going strong, he explores the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests along with a lot of other less known areas.  Patrick too is an accomplished outdoorsman and amateur photographer who uses some high-tech gear in his documentation, such as Go-Pro and drone photography.  He emphasizes trails are not necessary to enjoy the great outdoors.  I enjoy reading his posts and watching his videos for comic relief, Patrick is hilarious, but I wouldn’t believe everything he writes.

Rick’s Hiking Blog: www.henry411.blogspot.com Rick Henry (RH) with blogposts from 2013-2020 hikes all over the Ozarks and occasionally the Ouachita's, he usually hikes with his best friend Boomer ‘the magnificent mountain dog’ often to some remote waterfalls.  Rick is a true waterfall chaser, early on he gave most of the photography credit to his wife Bethany, but over the years he has honed his skills and has become a very good photographer himself.  I really appreciate all the waypoint and track-log info included in some of Rick’s posts.

Long Creek trestle pier

    And there are many, many more.  Lots of the websites include video documentation, which is nice, but I don’t feel is necessary.  Many more sites include ‘mind numbing’ clutter in the form of endless advertising, I never intentionally return to one of these and none of the sites listed above contain any advertising that I’m aware of.  Okay so the massive volume of information available online can’t be matched by printed material but I’ll take a good book any day over the web, and there are still plenty of good books to be had.  Here I’ll list just a few that I’m aware of, there must be many more... I’m always looking:

Dr. Neil Compton (1912-1999) a medical doctor of obstetrics and genecology was the leader in the fight to save the Buffalo River from damning back in the 1960s.  Dr. Compton wrote three books on conservation well worth reading:  The High Ozarks: A Vision of Eden (1982), The Battle for the Buffalo River: A Conservation Crisis in the Ozarks (1992) and The Buffalo River in Black and White (1997)

Tim Ernst (TE) a professional photographer has many books, including the very popular Arkansas Waterfalls first edition in 2002, which is responsible for the waterfall chaser explosion in Arkansas over the last fifteen years or so.  Arkansas Waterfalls is loaded with excellent photography of course, along with basic directions to hundreds of the best waterfalls in the state.  Some other relevant titles by Tim Ernst include Buffalo River Hiking Trails, Ozark Highlands Trail and the Arkansas Nature Lover’s guidebook.

Danny Hale (DH) co-founder of the River Valley Hikers Club and author of TAKAHIK Hiking the Arkansas Ozarks, first edition in 2016 and now with five volumes.  Danny’s books contain a ton of information including lots of GPS coordinates, nice maps and trail directions.

Kenneth Smith (KS) author of two wonderful books on the Buffalo River, The Buffalo River Country, first edition in 1967 is getting hard to find.  The Buffalo River Country is a great read and takes the armchair traveler back in time before there was a Buffalo National River and goes well beyond the river itself.  Ken’s accidental discovery of Devil’s Fork Twin Falls is one of the many highlights of the book, another is the historic account of the discovery and development of Lost Valley.  Another volume by Kenneth Smith is Buffalo River Handbook, first edition 2004.  In Buffalo River Handbook, the author takes the reader back in time again with lots of interviews with whom he describes as the old timers of the region.  The book also includes a mile-by-mile account of the entire 153-mile Buffalo River, and besides history contains loads of information on the geology, flora, fauna and people in and around the Buffalo National River.

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