Today my brother (David) and I decided to set out in search of a waterfall. Yesterday's rain and today's cloudy weather are the perfect combination for such an adventure. Blocker Creek Cascade is located in the Ouachita National Forest. To get there you travel north on highway 7 out of Hot Springs Arkansas and continue on through the town of Jessieville for another 7 miles. From there, you turn left on a forest road and travel approximately 11 miles into the mountains. As we traveled on the forest road, we were surprised to see snow. Neither one of us had any idea that it snowed anywhere in Arkansas yesterday. The wet and snowy dirt road provided some slippery travel through the hills. All was going well until I tried to park the truck off of the side of the road. I was soon stuck. My truck is not a 4 wheel drive and I was at the mercy of a mud hole. After several attempts to rock it out to no avail, we decided to pull out the jack and raise it enough to put rocks under the rear tires. It worked great but we were covered in mud from the whole ordeal. With the truck out and parked safely and securely in another spot we began our advenure to the unknown. The trail to the fall is only 1/2 mile but the last 200 yards is down a very steep and on this day wet and slippery hill. The task of reaching the base of the waterfall involved sliding on our bottoms (not voluntarily) , bushwacking through a vicious briar thicket and praying that the rocks we were bracing on as we descended on would not give way. Unfortunately not all of those prayers were answered.
When we finally reached our destination we were wet, cold, muddy and bleeding but we were in one piece and our cameras had survived the trip. We set up our tripods and went to work. When we finished, we packed up to start the ominous journey back up the same hill we just rolled down. I had the bright idea of trying a short cut through a steep section that had absolutely nothing to use for bracing or leverage. My brother decided to stay put and enjoy the show. After three failed attempts and near tumbles he pointed to a less hazardous route. I tucked my tail in defeat and followed him back up the mountain the long way.
The pictures below are from today's adventure. Luckily David was not in a position to photograph my mishaps but I did catch one of his on the way down.
When we finally reached our destination we were wet, cold, muddy and bleeding but we were in one piece and our cameras had survived the trip. We set up our tripods and went to work. When we finished, we packed up to start the ominous journey back up the same hill we just rolled down. I had the bright idea of trying a short cut through a steep section that had absolutely nothing to use for bracing or leverage. My brother decided to stay put and enjoy the show. After three failed attempts and near tumbles he pointed to a less hazardous route. I tucked my tail in defeat and followed him back up the mountain the long way.
The pictures below are from today's adventure. Luckily David was not in a position to photograph my mishaps but I did catch one of his on the way down.
I was at the base of the fall waiting for David (pictured) to come rolling in.
And roll in he did :)
Blocker Creek Cascade (17' Waterfall)
Fog moved in before we left. These two pines really stood out in the cloud.
The snow. We had no idea it had snowed!
