Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

     It's been raining quite a bit lately, but no torrential downpours just an inch or less almost every day.   I suppose this is the way you want it, plenty of spring rain without any flooding.   So of course waterfalls should be looking great, the thing about most waterfalls is: they usually involve a lot of elevation change, it just goes with the territory.   Which is why we try to visit the falls after ample rainfall, it can be pretty disappointing to do a bunch of climbing up and down for a ‘dry’ waterfall. looking west down Boen Gulf      For me a hike that involves a lot of climbing  to reach a waterfall tends to get pushed onto the back burner, while I wait for perfect conditions .   I seem to have a lot of waterfalls on that ‘back burner’ so today with nearly perfect conditions for waterfall chasing I’ve picked Paradise Falls on Boen Gulf in the Upper Buffalo Wilderness. over the berm and down the good trail   ...

       When looking at any map of the Buffalo River, Seven Mile Bend better known as ‘The Duck Head’ is familiar and really stands out, therefore a major point of interest.  Being in the Lower Buffalo Wilderness and right across the river from popular and easy to reach Rush Historic District, I would look at a map and say to myself, ‘so close and yet so far away’.  But that’s not true at all, an easy drive to the end of Cozahome Road provides great access to the ‘Duck Head’. The Mystic Hole      I get to Jackson Ridge Trailhead aka Cozahome Trailhead (the same trailhead used for 153 Devil’s Tea Table ),  at about 9:30 and meet five or six turkey hunters.   All are completely decked out head to toe in camo gear, even their shotguns are camo.   They have been here since before sunrise and are getting ready to move on to ‘somewhere else’, they tell me they heard a few gobblers but haven’t seen a turkey all morning.   St...