Falls Creek Falls

This waterfall is located in the Lake Catherine State Park near Hot Springs. The hike is a short 1.4 mile round trip. The waterfall is fed by Falls Creek which explains the name of the fall.

Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge

Holla Bend is located south of Dardanelle Arkansas off of highway 155. It was established in 1957 and consists of over 7000 acres. A gravel road provides wildlife viewing from a vehicle and there are a couple of short hiking trails. There wasn't a lot of wildlife activity today but I did get a couple of creatures to cooperate.

Holla Bend provides winter refuge for migrating waterfowl. Habitat like below is why.

This flock of Mallards didn't appreciate our visit.

Nine Banded Armadillo

They don't see very well which allowed me to move in close.

Opossum....North America's only Marsupial.

Unlike the friendly Armadillo...This one was giving me a warning hiss.

A flock of Red-Winged Blackbirds

This is a stretch of the Levee Hiking Trail.

The Toothache Tree. Chewing the bark numbs your mouth...thus the name.

Hunt's Loop

This last Saturday (Jan. 5th), Melissa and I went on our first hike since October. The weather was dreary with rain and fog but the temperature was just right. We hiked Hunt's Loop in the Ouachita National Forest. The trail starts at the Iron Springs Recreation Area which is north of Jessieville Arkansas on highway 7 and travels up Short Mountain. The trail is 4.5 miles long with the first 3/4 of a mile being uphill. That is bad enough but Melissa and I decided to make it more difficult than that. Not on purpose of course. Not long after we started we lost the trail and wandered aound for an hour trying to get back on track. We weren't lost because I had my GPS so getting back to the truck would have been no problem. We just lost the marked trail. When we finally found it again we realized what had happened. The trail made a hard right turn (switchback) but we didn't. We just walked right on by and never saw it. Anyway, once back on the trail we went on to finish the hike, but we paid better attention to the trail this time. The photos below were taken along the trail.

This is the location of the trailhead.The dense fog from the top of Short Mountain.
Moss growing on a Pine
A fungus on an Oak Tree
Melissa pauses on the bridge over a creek.
This spillway is on the Middle Fork of the Saline River.