Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

     Kat was online a week back and ‘put us on the list for a ranger led tour of historic Boxley Mill.  Part of the 50 th anniversary celebration for Buffalo National River, the park service has opened the mill for guided tours, every weekend in October.  O ur group starts out a little after 10:00 led by tour guide Kevin Middleton a retired Park Ranger.  Beginning at the gate on an old road that we learn is the actual old highway that went through Boxley Valley before the new paved highway was built in the late 1970’s, we walk back to the mill. Boxley Mill at the start of the tour      The mill was built by Robert Villines in 1869 just as people started returning to the valley after the Civil War, construction took almost a year.  The Villines Gristmill opened in 1870, the structure we see today is mostly original, other than the siding and roofing.  The mill operated for eighty years by three generations of Villines.  First ...

     We’re pretty excited this morning, it has finally cooled off enough to do some hiking and we are ready.  I decide to try to find Big Point Lookout, mainly because on the map it appears to be a fairly easy hike, (we’ll see).  I have a whole list of other places I want to check out along the way, so we get an early start out the door. Blue Hole in early autumn      On highway 123 south, our first stop is Blue Hole on the Buffalo, this is Blue Hole #5, with Eddings Cave across the river up a little ravine (see: 57 Blue Hole ) .  We want to see what this hole looks like at the end of summer with low water levels and get a few pictures while we’re here, the water levels certainly are ‘low’.  Other than a small area around the bend at the downstream end of the hole, Blue Hole is only 3 or 4 feet deep, that includes under the rope swing. vista from above Hell and Gone      About halfway back up to the highway, is a pull-off ...

     Later this week the weather is supposed to finally cool down but today’s forecast is for highs in the mid-nineties so we better go swimming, it just may be our last chance until next year.  We drive south to St. Joe and turn off Highway 65 at the brown sign for Baker Ford and Woolum, the plan is to try a different swimming hole near Baker Ford.      There are actually three holes in close proximity to Baker Ford: Baker Ford Hole, Blue Hole (#8), and Greenhaw Hole.   At least ‘on the map’ these all look as though they should be pretty easy to get to, but  ‘you never know until you go’.   We park down at the canoe launch area and explore the bank looking for a route upriver, it appears there may have been an old road heading upstream once. at Baker Ford      This isn’t an option thanks to a slough that looks more like a little stagnant swamp with a very small ‘entrance’ from the river.   All along the riverbank ...

     Last year in September we came to Blue Hole and were so impressed with this beautiful place we just had to return, for that first time here see: ( 101 Blue Hole ) .  There are a bunch of swimming spots on the Buffalo River known as ‘Blue Hole’ and by Ken Smith’s count this is Blue Hole #6.  Anyway, this particular Blue Hole is just upstream from river mile: 78 , and Woolum Ford.      We drive to Woolum leaving SR 65 at the south end of Pindall, turning west on N. Woolum Rd.  The well-known on S. Woolum Rd. from St. Joe has been closed for almost a year now, due to erosion of the road at the area on known as High-banks.    N. Woolum Rd. starts as a paved road, but the pavement ends after about half a mile.  Seven miles more down this fairly good dirt/gravel road we arrive at Woolum parking lot with the restroom and bulletin board.   today Green Hole  would be a better name      From here I reco...