Lost Valley

Lost Valley Campground is located off of Hwy 43 between Boxley and Ponca. There is a hiking trail there that is a little over a 2 mile round trip. This trail consists of waterfalls, with the most popular one being Eden Falls, Eden Falls Cave which has a 30' waterfall inside it, Cobb Cave named this because of corn cobbs left there by indians, and a natural bridge. This place is covered with wild flowers in the spring.

This is an old schoolhouse that you pass as you drive into Lost Valley

This bridge is at the beginning of the hiking trail.

A dry creek bed along the trail.

Before the Color Peak

Hwy 74 bridge in the background and the Ponca Low Water Bridge in front.

Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River at Steel Creek

Fall is in the air!!

Melissa and I just spent an awesome week in the Ozarks. We stayed in our favorite cabin which is the Osage. The Osage is one of three cabins called the Ozark Bluff Dwellers. We highly recommend these cabins. I will add a link to them on this site.

We spent the whole week driving and hiking through the Buffalo River Region and the Ozark National Forest. The fall colors were not quite to peak when we arrived last Sunday but they sure put on a grand show before we left.

I'll be adding several posts in the upcomimg days to document our stay. I am starting with some elk shots. I tried to photograph the elk in early October but they were no where to be found. This trip was different. They were out in the fields of Boxley Valley early and late in the day. The peak of the rut has long since ended but the bulls are still bugling and there is an occassional spar between bulls. If you have never heard a bull elk bugle, you have got to make a trip up there to see and hear them.

I'll go for now but stay tuned for more posts to come.

In Search of Elk

I made a drive up to Ponca early Saturday morning with the intent of photographing elk. My brother David and his family are up from Texas visiting his in-laws in Harrison so he met me there. We drove through Boxley Valley looking for our subject but visibility was realy poor. There was a heavy fog in the valley and even if the elk were there, taking a picture of them was out of the question. As it turns out the elk did not come out of the forest on that day. According to a lady at the Elk Education Center in Ponca, the elk are feeding on acorns and that tends to keep them in the woods. They still venture into the fields but there is no way to predict when. It would be a case of the right place at the right time to get a photo. Oh well...we drove down to Steel Creek to check it out and ran in to Michael Dougherty while we were there. Michael is a local photographer that earns his living photographing the Buffalo River region and is especially good at photographing elk. I am adding his website to my links so you can check it out. He is always full of information about where the elk might be or where to take landscape photos, etc. After visiting with him for a while, David and I went down to the low water bridge in Ponca and took a few shots there. The leaves are starting to change color now. Below are a couple of examples.

The Buffalo River from the Low Water Bridge in Ponca (In the fog)

A bluff down river from the low water bridge.

Longpool Falls 2

What an interesting weather year this has been in Arkansas. We have experienced floods, tornados, and the remnants of two hurricanes. When Hurricanes Gustav and Ike made their way into the state we got more than our share of wind and rain. Ike was especially impressive to me because our power went out in the middle of the night and I was wide awake. I could hear the wind howling and the rain slamming into the house. I looked outside and the trees were reaching for the earth. Of course, I had to experience this so out the front door I went at 2:30 am. I stood out there for at least 20 minutes facing into the wind. I even spread my arms out once as if I was riding high up on the bow of the Titanic. Every once in a while a gust would push me backwards a step or two. I couldn't help but wonder what it must be like to actually experience hurricane force winds. After all, these were maybe 50 mph gusts at best. I finally had my weather fix and went back inside. When the adrenaline rush subsided I went back to bed.

Now back to the rainfall. All of the rain we received gave me visions of waterfalls dancing in my head. So...on the Sunday after Ike left the state, Melissa and I went back to a fall I visited earlier this year. Long Pool Falls is located off of highway 7 north of Dover Arkansas. We drove down to Long Pool Recreation Area and the first thing we noticed was that there was absolutely no one else there. Yee Haw!! We had the fall all to ourselves. We did the short hike to the fall and I set up my camera and tripod and shot away. It was good to be back in the woods after a long summer. Fall is around the corner and we can't wait.

The first two photos below are of Long Pool Falls and the last one is a cascade downstream of the fall.

It Tastes Like Chicken

Melissa and I were on our way back from a wedding in El Dorado Arkansas when we saw this Timber Rattlesnake. I wanted to make a stop by my deer camp on the way back so I took a detour. We were on Hwy 274 between Hampton and Tinsman when I saw something on the road ahead that looked like a stick. As we zoomed by I saw that it was a snake. I turned around while Melissa grabbed my camera for me. I got out of the car and walked to it. It saw me coming so it coiled up and serenaded us with its rattle. The last picture below was actually taken by Melissa from inside the car just before we drove away. I have never eaten Rattlesnake but I hear it taste like chicken.

Big Dam Bridge

I took some night shots at this bridge several months ago but didn't like the results. I decided to give it another try with some longer exposures. I like these a lot better. What do you think?