This trip was in the making for an entire month. Brian Cormack and I had taken off the last three business days of October and we were ready to go (thank you, Carla!). Little did we know, that upon driving north of Russellville, we would be greeted with some of the best fall colors that we have seen in Arkansas in years.

_{View from Sam’s Throne}

_{View from Sam’s Throne}

We left Wednesday morning around 11AM and headed for the Ozarks. Upon reaching Russellville and starting the journey up highway 7 we couldn’t believe the color. It was beyond what we’ve seen the past couple of years. All of the trees were in their full autumn dress and they put off quite a show. We weren’t really sure exactly where we were headed and basically played this trip by ear. However, we did have a first night camp site in mind, Sam’s Throne.

We stopped numerous places along the way, including Moccasin Gap, to get photos of the color.

_{Road from Moccasin Gap}

…as well as a photo of the Jeep!

_{Zack’s Jeep Grand Cherokee}

We finally arrived at Sam’s Throne around 1PM or so and got our camp set up. Afterwards, we dropped down to the overlook and shot the beautiful colors until we couldn’t stand it anymore. We decided to drive around a bit and found ourselves driving down dirt roads near Mount Judea with a few Buffalo River stops along the way.

_{Sam’s Throne}

_{Sam’s Throne}

_{Sam’s Throne}

_{House For Sale}

_{Sam’s Throne Campsite}

After exhausting the evening light we headed back to Sam’s Throne to prepare a camp fire and prepare for the stormy night ahead.

Day 2 – Thursday

I was awaken by thunder rolling in the distance on Thursday morning. I knew that we were supposed to get rain, but I didn’t realize that it would rain all night and continue for the rest of the day.

I woke Brian up around 7:15 or so and we drove down to the Sam’s Throne overlook. We got there just in time to see a massive cloud forming in the valley and hear a few lightning strikes. We even saw a lightning strike hit the throne and it was so loud and close that Brian and I jumped. I looked at Brian and asked, “Are we still alive?!” Needless to say, we got out of there as soon as possible. We walked back to the Jeep in the pouring down rain and headed for the best place to hide from the rain near Jasper, the Ozark Cafe.

It’s hard to beat breakfast at the Ozark Cafe. $3 for their special which includes eggs, hashbrowns, biscuit and gravy, and bacon. A plate full of homecooked food cheaper than McDonalds. What more could you ask for? We hid out there for an hour and a half or so. While listening to the older gentlemen which frequent the Ozark Cafe on a daily basis, I overheard them saying this was the best fall color they had seen in years. I couldn’t have agreed with them more. While I didn’t go out last year, 2009 was a good year for Matt Kennedy and I. It was the year we hiked into Twin Falls when it was flowing full tilt and had beautiful fall colors on display. We couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity and I couldn’t have asked for a better photograph. I captured this one in 2009 during a perfect fall, beautiful fall colors with enough rain to get the waterfalls flowing:

_{Autumn at Twin Falls}

Anyways, it was Thursday and, although it was raining, Brian and I weren’t going to sit around in the Ozark Cafe all day. Instead, we headed for Triple Falls, just to gauge the water levels so far. Unfortunately, the waterfall wasn’t running well at all, but we did end up getting some good shots of the road with falls colors on the way down to Camp Orr.

_{Road to Camp Orr}

Kyles Landing was our next stop, since we were in the vicinity. The only thing I thought to photograph here was a tree with it’s amazing root system displayed above the ground. Unfortunately, the photos I took of it were all mis-focused and incredibly blurry. I really wish my XSi’s screen was better so that I could notice these things before leaving the location. I did capture one other photograph. While not incredibly amazing, I thought the leaves looked neat caught in the rocks in this scene:

_{Leaves at Kyle’s Landing}

After leaving Kyle’s Landing we drove to Steele Creek, another Buffalo Access not too far the previous and one which has one of the tallest bluffs on the Buffalo National River, Roark Bluff.

_{Roark Bluff}

On the descent into Steele Creek, Brian and I couldn’t help but notice the newly paved road. It’s a nice addition to an already amazing spot to camp on the Buffalo National River. Not only that, it also was decked out in beautiful fall colors.

_{Road to Steele Creek}

_{Steele Creek}

Boxley Valley was the next destination and I knew exactly what I wanted to photograph, an old barn that has been a favorite of mine for a while now. Fortunately, my lens which had been foggy most of the day, decided it would clear up and I was able to capture this image. One of my favorite barns with fall color surrounding it.

_{Boxley Barn}

We drove through Boxley and photographed numerous things before deciding to take a really neat road back to highway 74, Walker Mountain Road. It leads you way up into the mountains over Boxley Valley and around the mountain tops all the way back down to Low Gap. It was a beautiful drive with the falls colors. Our destination was, yet again, the best place to hide out from the ongoing rain… the Ozark Cafe!

After enjoying yet another amazing meal we headed to a couple of Buffalo River access points, Hasty and Carver, to check out the views. Afterwards, we found a spot to camp at the Erbie Campground. We were the sole campers Thursday evening and enjoyed a really nice camp site, which Brian said may be the best one we’ve ever had. I couldn’t agree more, there were two beautiful trees at the campground which provided much needed protection from the ongoing rain that last well into the evening.

_{Erbie Campground}

_{Barn off Erbie Campground Road}

Day 3 – Friday

Sleeping in the hammock on Thursday evening was a blast. I was lulled to sleep by the tapping of rain on the fly, the sounds of thunder in the distance and the slow rocking of the hammock in the wind. If you’ve never tried sleeping in a hammock, you should definitely give it a shot. It hands down beats laying on the ground.

Since the Parker Hickman Farmstead is so close in proximity to Erbie Campground that was the first stop of the day. The color in the morning light was beautiful, but since the clouds had moved out in the early morning it was a harsh light. Luckily, there was a little fog left hanging around to help soften the scene.

While Brian shot the homestead I sneaked off and got my typical shot from this location. I typically photograph a small road which leads off to an incredibly old cemetary and I have done this for three seasons now. Winter, Summer, and now Fall. Here are those three shots, which luckily resemble each other pretty well.

_{Old Cemetery Road – Fall}

_{Old Cemetery Road – Summer}

_{Old Cemetery Road – Winter}

I did something this trip which I haven’t done before, I ventured off down the Buffalo River Trail. Much to my surprise, it meets up with another old road just around a bend and there was a beautiful morning scene waiting for me there! The small road wandered off and disappeared into a beautiful light filled fog. I desperately tried to capture the same scene with my camera and was fairly surprised with the outcome. These may be my favorite two shots from this trip.

_{Buffalo River Trail}

_{Buffalo River Trail}

Leaving Erbie, we headed towards the other side of the Buffalo National River towards the Cecil Cove Trailhead. We noticed a small barn and field on the way there and stopped for a few photos. After spending a little while in that field we decided to take a different route back to highway 7 which involved driving down, yet another, dirt road which we hadn’t explored before. It was definitely worth it as there were many more things to see.

After making it back out onto highway 7, we were greeted with thousands of tourists driving up and down the road. It was amazing how many more people were in the area on Friday. I’m actually really glad that we decided to leave earlier in the week, I wouldn’t have wanted to be there with the huge amount of tourists driving 20mph on the 55mph highway 7.

We, slowly, made our way to Pruitt where Brian photographed the old bridge there. That was the last stop for the day before we decided to make the drive home. We had seen the best of the best and decided that the full on sun wasn’t going to be the best light for photos anyways. So we made the long trip home with full camera memory cards in tow.

_{Pruitt Reflections with Bridge}

It was a week to remember, that’s for sure.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos that I captured on this short vacation.

Until next time, take care!

Matthew Kennedy and I went up to the Nars (Narrows) on the Buffalo National River this past weekend.

This location is a bit harder to reach depending on the amount of water you have in the Buffalo River and in Richland Creek. It is landlocked on both sides by the Buffalo and Richland. Fortunately, for us, this past weekend the Buffalo was cross-able and we were able to make it to this beautiful and unique location.

_{Richland Valley}

The Nars is located at the Woolum Access off of Highway 65 on the Buffalo National River. It is all that remains of a mountain that once stood directly between the Buffalo River and Richland Creek. Richland Creek has now moved away from the high limestone bluff and stands at the other side of Richland Valley. While standing at the top of the bluff the river is directly below you on one side and Searcy Highway 14 is directly below you on the other. At it’s narrowest point, the Nars is maybe 3 feet wide and standing on that ledge of rock with a 100ft drop on either side is definitely an eye-opening experience. I didn’t even want to think what would happen if a wrong step was taken.

_{The Nars}

Just downstream from the Nars is a bluff with a cave in it resembling a skull. It is formally known, by the locals, as The Bat House. However, the strong resemblance to a skull has it left it with the title of Skull Bluff. Matt and I were able to just make out the formation from the top of the bluff, but a stand of trees in the way blocked most of the view for photos.

_{Woodland Barn}

I hope you’ve enjoyed the shots!

Matt and I are currently planning another escape this evening so expect more photos in the near future.

I got an email from Brian Cormack last week asking if I wanted to go shoot this past Saturday. As you can see, from my lack of posts, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything photography related. As a matter of fact, the last time I was out was with Brian to Steele Creek. Needless to say, I was ready to get out again and that’s exactly what Brian and I did yesterday.

We opted for Flatside since it is so close in proximity to where we live. With the temperatures dropping near the dew point the previous night we had a pretty good idea that there would be fog in the valleys. Luckily, we were correct. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as nearly as much as we would have liked. There was just the right amount to give the photographs some character though. With the clouds overhead and the fog underneath it made for some interesting photos from Flatside Pinnacle.

Upon arrival Brian and I were greeted with a completely new trail heading up Flatside. It appears the FOOT have been busy at work up there. No not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, FOOT, the Friends Of the Ouchita Trail (http://www.friendsot.org/)! They have completed a new switchback up the mountain completely rerouting the trail about 100ft or so. It makes for an easier first ascent. Instead of climbing all of those steps, you now gradually make your way up the hill. The climb up the back side of Flatside Pinnacle is the same, but they definitely have cleared it out a lot.

There was also a prescribed burn in the area, which you will see the detail of in some of my photos, that turned some of the trees orange. This made for some better views of the sunrise and helped reduce some of the fuel in the area. There are tons of new baby ferns and small plants already growing back, the fire burned area looks to be really healthy.

After the morning views from Flatside Pinnacle, we made a long loop along the Winona Scenic Byway and then down to Iron Springs and back up to Russellville. It made for an interesting day of photography and exploring. I will have to go visit the Iron Springs campground again when there is actually some water running through it. The Iron Springs campground is a really neat area that I had been wanting to visit for a while now.

That’s all I’ve got for this trip. Hope you have enjoyed the photos!

It’s been a while, so I thought I’d share a photo with everyone. This one has been collecting dust on my hard drive for about a year now.

I photographed this sunset on a small outing with a friend who shares a mutual interest in photography. We headed to a spot that I frequent quite often, Flatside Pinnacle.

This place is so close to home that it’s been my stomping grounds for a while now. Anytime I’m itching to do some short notice photography, this is where I head.

This particular evening was magical, to say the least, we arrived to find the sky absolutely covered with clouds. We were a bit dismayed by the atmosphere, but decided to hike up the pinnacle anyways. Even with the bleak atmosphere the view is still pretty incredible.

When we reached the top we were greeted by a break in the clouds, just as the sun was setting. I’m not sure what made the atmosphere such a purpley color, but it sure did make for some outstanding photographs of Flatside Pinnacle.

Hope you enjoy this one. This one has been sitting on my hard drive for almost a year now, taken last September.

It’s been hot lately, really hot.

Brian has been wanting to go camping again, ever since his floating trip last month.

He got in touch with me this past Wednesday and wanted to know if I’d like to come along for the trip. I was able to get a day off of work to go along and I’m glad that I did. It was nice to just get outside again, even if it was sweltering hot!

The water levels in the Buffalo have been dropping constantly since last month. While the water was the perfect level to float in June, this weekend it was incredibly low. Most of the river is below 4ft which meant we had to find swimming holes along the river. Luckily, we were able to find a great spot to stay cool while enjoying the beauty of Steele Creek.

We lazed about a couple of days at Steele Creek and took the various opportunities to do photography, which happened to be during the evening and mornings of the trip. The rest of the time the sun was full blast and no clouds were seen in the sky.

Enjoy the photos!

_{Steele Creek Sunset}

_{Steele Creek Overlook}

_{Steele Creek Sunrise}

_{Steele Creek Sunset}

_{Steele Creek Moonrise}

I hope you enjoy the photographs that I captured while on this small camping trip.

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A few months ago I got a tip from John Moore on a really neat location. It’s called Penhook Hollow and is located near Hector, Arkansas.

_{Waterfall on the way to Penhook Hollow}

_{A Waterfall in Penhook Hollow}

We got quite a bit of rain this past weekend so I figured, yet again, I’d go out and search for more waterfalls. To my surprise, this hollow was absolutely loaded with them!

I left early Monday, thanks to my wonderful boss Carla, and headed for Hector, Arkansas. Hector is about 50 miles away from Conway and it only takes me about an hour to get there. I’ve really been enjoying finding all of these waterfalls so close to home. It makes it a lot easier to get out and explore on my days that I don’t work evenings at College Square Retirement.

_{Waterslide Falls}

Thanks to the Takahik website (http://www.takahik.com/penhook08.htm), I already had an idea of what to expect here. They have taken two hiking trips into Penhook Hollow and have photographed two of the falls that I found on this trip: Penhook Hollow Falls and the other, which I don’t believe is named. Those two I know they’ve been photographed, I actually found 5 more in the hollow itself and 2 on the way in, just off of the road.

_{Penhook Falls with me for scale}

_{Penhook Falls}

The last drainage that I explored for the day actually had the tallest waterfall. It was approximately 60ft tall. Upon climbing to a ledge at the midpoint of the falls there, I removed my backpack to find a HUGE walking stick clinging to it. It was raining pretty heavily and I was guessing he thought I might find shelter, which I did, and he could hide out from the storm. I left him on my bag and took off to photograph the falls. I was planning on getting a shot of him after photographing the waterfall, but unfortunately he must have had other plans because he was nowhere to be found upon returning to my pack. I’m going to name this one after the walking stick that “hitchhiked” on my pack while I was exploring the drainage, Hitchhiker Falls.

_{Hitchhiker Falls}

_{Hitchhiker Falls with me for scale (6 shot pano)}

After the scramble up to this waterfall, I was completely exhausted. I’ve been doing a lot of hiking lately and it’s been finally catching up to me. Thankfully, the ATV trail was just at the bottom of this drainage and getting back to the Jeep was incredibly easy. I love it when there are trails! It was a long day exploring Penhook Hollow, but following the trail out was incredibly easy and after all the hiking I was tired!

Hope you enjoy the shots! I’ve got the coordinates for all of these falls on my Arkansas Waterfalls Map.

Arkansas Waterfalls Map

_{Winding Road}

Brian was able to get off of work early on Friday. So around noon we were off to one of the coolest locations in all of Arkansas. We were hiking to the Goat Trail that evening. A location which is precariously located on the side of the tallest bluff between the Appalachians and the Rockies: Big Bluff.

We arrived at the trailhead and started our 3 mile hike in what seemed like winter conditions. The temperature was approximately 48 degrees with blowing cold wind and mist. I’m glad I had the foresight this trip to pack some heavier clothes; a hoody was definitely helpful at blocking the wind and keeping me warm!

_{Big Bluff}

If you’ve never been to the Goat Trail on Big Bluff then you’re missing out! The hike in is 3 miles, but gradually downhill and easy. I think we made the hike in a little over an hour. That was with about 50+lbs on our backs, so if you’re day hiking it, you could probably do much better. We weren’t in a hurry so we hiked at a steady pace and did pretty well. There were around 5 vehicles at the trailhead on the way down, but we only saw 4 other people on the trail. Two separate groups, a younger couple and a mother and daughter, were on their way out as we were hiking in.

_{Big Bluff}

The mother and daughter actually hiked all the way to the top of the hill before the drop to the Goat Trail and then turned around without even seeing the view! Brian and I were kind of shocked when they said they walked 2 miles then turned around. We couldn’t fathom why someone would want to hike the trail to the top and then not even see the best view in the state. Oh well, to each his own!

After arriving we quickly set our gear aside and took the cameras down to the Goat Trail for some awesome pictures from Big Bluff. The views were amazing, as can be expected, and offered good cloud cover on the tops of the mountains. We explored the bluff for about 2 hours and got some great shots of the scenery.

_{Big Bluff}

Shortly after we arrived a couple of canoes came around a bend in the river. Brian and I saw the perfect opportunity to grab a couple of shots that would show the scale of this magnificent scene. After waving and yelling back and forth to the canoeists we took their photograph and let them go about their way; they soon “pulled over” to camp right beneath Big Bluff.

_{Big Bluff – Spot the canoe}

The light was waning so we decided to hike back up to our camping spot and get our shelters built. I hung my hammock then helped Brian set up his new tent. The amount of rocks at the top of the mountain there greatly harshed Brian’s gig as he tried to drive stakes into the ground. We figured out a way to pull his tent apart using the various large rocks and guy lines and it was able to stand after that. We then set out to build a fire, which proved extremely difficult considering the amount of wet tender that we found; the area had received quite a bit of rain the night before.

We eventually, after an hour or so, got a nice huge fire going. We sat around and had a few drinks while we waited till well after dark to finally get some sleep. Around 10:30 or so we heard a couple of voices coming down the trail and noticed a few lights. We thought to ourselves, who would be crazy enough to hike this 3 mile trail in the middle of the night? I shouted a hearty hello but nobody returned the gesture. The lights went out and we both wondered what was going on. After a short pause the lights came back on and the voices behind the lights shouted hello back to us. Ok, I thought, let’s find out who these people are!

_{Big Bluff – Brian for scale}

I walked towards the light expecting a couple of guys with packs, guys perhaps just as crazy as me and Brian. To my surprise as I got closer to them and they got closer to me, I noticed there was not one, not two, but 10+ guys with flashlights! I said to them, what the heck are you doing hiking out here in the middle of the night, where they returned what the heck are you DOING out here in the middle of the night. I said camping, and they said hiking, touché.

Come to find out, they were a youth group from Tulsa, Oklahoma who were camping in Ponca. They simply got bored and decided to hike 3 miles into the middle of nowhere! They didn’t have a clue as to where they were going and had absolutely no idea they were standing on top of the biggest bluff between the Appalachians and the Rockies.

The funny thing is, just earlier I had told Brian, no matter where I’m at or what I’m doing something strange happens to me on every single adventure that I go on. I guess that’s why they call them adventures?

In any case, the guys were there and we had a strong fire burning. The night was cold, at least below 45, so they figured they’d stick around for a while and use our campfire to get warm. They told a few stories and we all shared a few laughs before they decided it was time to hike back out at 11:30 at night.

_{Big Bluff – Hot Fire}

Shortly thereafter Brian and I decided it was about time to hit the hay. Especially considering we were going to wake up and take pictures of, what we thought, was going to be the most epic sunrise ever.

Day 2

We woke up around 5:45AM hoping for some amazing fog in the valley. Unfortunately, there was no fog at all, the light was terrible, and we were extremely pleased with our shots from the night before. Therefore, we decided that we would hike out early and try and hit up a nearby waterfall, Sweden Creek Falls.

I’ve seen the guidebook photo of this waterfall and I love how Tim photographs the guidebook photos for the falls. While he does give you an idea of what they look like, he also doesn’t show a lot of the surrounding area. Upon arrival, you know what to expect, but at the same time you don’t know what to expect. That was the case with this waterfall. Tim’s photo makes it look like it’s along a flat bluff line just spilling off into a small creek. However, this waterfall has a lot of character and looks a lot like other waterfalls; sitting up in a hollow with a beautiful creek tumbling through it.

_{Sweden Creek Falls – Brian for scale}

It’s sheer size makes it incredibly hard to photograph. Even at 10mm I was finding it hard to get shots of it. In order to shoot it you have to back up from the waterfall a lot and even then you have trees blocking your view. Luckily, I was able to find a couple of spots that provided a neat perspective on this huge waterfall.

_{Sweden Creek Falls}

After the hike out of Sweden Creek, we went towards Deer on Highway 16 and made a backwoods drive to Haw Creek Falls, the last destination for the day.

_{Haw Creek Falls Panorama}

This trip was relatively uneventful, so I’m just going to share a few photos with you all! I hope that you enjoy them. The only thing that I would have changed about this trip is to have gone to Forked Mountain instead. Unfortunately, you can’t see directly west from Flatside Pinnacle so I was unable to photograph the actual sun rising. However, the light from the sunrise provided some unique shots from Flatside Pinnacle.

The location is Flatside Pinnacle in the Flatside Wilderness of the Ouchita National Forest near Perryville, Arkansas.

_{Dawn at Flatside Pinnacle}

_{Dawn at Flatside Pinnacle}

_{Post-dawn shot from Flatside Pinnacle}

_{Flatside Trail}

With as much rain as we’ve been having lately, I figured it would be ludicrous not to take the opportunity to go out and search for waterfalls this past weekend. So, that’s exactly what I did. Little did I know, that it would turn out to be one of the most memorable adventures I’ve had so far!

It all started on Friday last week with a plan of attack to search a few hollows. Matt, Brian, and I had searched Moccasin Hollow just a few days previously and found a magnificent 83ft waterfall: Whiskey Chute Falls. So, I just knew there had to be more to find out in that area. Just downstream from Moccasin Hollow lies another Hollow that I thought might hold a few waterfalls, and it did!

I started the day off dropping into one of the most promising drainages. After hiking downstream in the drainage a ways I came to the top of my first waterfall, Lizard Log Falls. Unfortunately, the sun wasn’t too keen on hiding on Friday afternoon, so I had to take some shots of this one in direct sunlight. While they’re not the greatest photographs, they do show the scale of this waterfall. Utilizing my method of measuring the height of waterfalls, I’ve determined this one to be around 45ft.

_{Lizard Log Falls}

However, my method consists of copying/pasting myself, in the photo, head over heels until I reach the top of the falls. Thereafter, I count the number of Zacks and multiply by 6 (I’m exactly 6ft). So, you can either take my word for it OR laugh at my lame method of waterfall height estimation.

In any case, I found a cool waterfall! This one reminds me a lot of Pam’s Grotto, the way the water spills out and it’s pattern, it’s also about the same height, if not just a little bit taller. I’ve dubbed this one Lizard Log Falls, because I saw tons of lizards in the area and upon taking one of my photographs a lizard scared the crap out of me by jumping onto a log by where I was standing. So, yeah, Lizard Log Falls?

_{Lizard Log Falls}

The creek downstream from this waterfall is absolutely gorgeous. There are tons of small drops and little falls that you could photograph all day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have all day so I enjoyed the sights, but didn’t take many photos. I was on a mission to find waterfalls after all; big waterfalls.

_{Unnamed Fall beneath Lizard Log Falls}

The next fall I found wasn’t really worth the effort that it took me to get to it, but its proximity to the road means that it would be an easy fall to drop down to. This one had quite a bit of character itself and had a huge rock sitting next to it that created a small shelter. I tried to include this rock in some of my compositions, but they really didn’t turn out as well as I would have hoped. This one didn’t “give” me a name and since it’s in an unnamed hollow I’m not sure what to call it. I’ll just leave it nameless for now.

_{Unnamed Fall}

_{Unnamed Fall}

This was the last fall for Friday, it was beginning to get dark at this point and so I hiked back to my camping gear and set up camp next to the creek. I captured a few shots to show my camping spot. Unfortunately, every place that I could hang my hammock was covered in poison ivy. I used to be immune to it, but apparently my resistance wore off; I’m covered almost head to toe in the stuff now. In hindsight, it might have been better hanging my hammock OVER the creek!

_{My Hennessey Hammock and campsite}

Day 2

_{Iris Falls Fern}

The next morning I woke up to an unfamiliar sounding bird, I’m still not sure what kind it was, but its call was unique to me. I gathered my gear and hiked straight up and out of the hollow, just to drop right back down into it from above. The first area I was searching today was upstream in a drainage from where I camped the night before. However, I felt returning to the Jeep and offloading my camping gear would help my already sore legs from the day before. So, that’s just what I did. Upon reaching the top of the hill, I drove down just a ways to the next hollow and started my descent. After following the creek for a ways, I noticed the edge of the top of a waterfall and boy was I in for a treat!

_{Iris Falls}

This particular fall would be the largest that I would find on this trip. Using my amazing method of waterfall height estimation, I worked this one out to be about 55ft. Considering the amount of Iris around the falls, I’m naming this one Iris Falls. The ground surrounding the falls was littered with Irises. I would have taken a few closer shots, but they were beat pretty bad from the hard rains that we got the week before.

_{Irises beneath Iris Falls}

After making my way out of this area and relaxing in the Jeep a bit. I drove down to the Jeep Trail right next to Schoolhouse Hollow, my last waterfall destination for the day. Little did I know, this would be the most beautiful waterfall I’ve ever seen in Arkansas. That means a lot, considering how many waterfalls I’ve seen!

_{Schoolhouse Falls}

Upon hiking down to the drainage, I noticed a lot of orange tape tied off to the trees. It was obvious that someone had made this trip before. It was even more obvious when I stumbled right upon a well beaten path which led up and down the drainage. I decided that up the creek would be the way to go, so off I went. Upon reaching the top I was greeted with this magnificent waterfall. I could easily understand why there would be a trail here, it was absolutely gorgeous. This waterfall proves that waterfalls don’t have to be the biggest fall to be the prettiest; it was around 30ft tall.

_{Schoolhouse Falls}

I’m confident that this one has been named before, considering the amount of foot travel in and out of it. However, I’m going to call it Schoolhouse Falls, after the hollow it resides in, at least until I find out it’s true name.

_{Schoolhouse Falls}

That’s the last waterfall I found on this trip and, believe it or not, this is actually where the story starts to get interesting!

_{Flat Rock Ford on Brock Creek}

Here’s the wild getting stuck in the mud and saving a woman’s life story.

I left this waterfall around 1:30PM or so, in my Jeep, heading down the Jeep Trail which runs directly adjacent to Schoolhouse Hollow. The trail itself was an easy going trail. It was somewhat technical, but also pretty wide so it made the going easy. However, upon reaching the base of the mountain and Brock Creek, things took a turn for the worst.

A huge tree had fallen over the trail, just after Flat Rock crossing on Brock Creek. Considering the number and severity of all of the mud holes I had been through just before this tree fall, I figured it would be easy just to go directly around the tree, even following the tracks of others who had done the same. However, as soon as I left the road, I was done for.

My Grand Cherokee sunk immediately into about 2 feet of nasty slick mud. There was no easing into this one, it was an instant stuck, and instant whoooops! Even more whoops, because just as I got stuck it started to rain! Let’s set the scene. My Jeep, stuck in the mud, OFF the trail about 20ft, next to a massive downed tree, and about 10 yards away from a creek, which was rising due to rainfall. Needless to say, I was incredibly worried. After doing everything I thought of to get the situation back under control, I finally came to the realization that I was never getting the Jeep out alone, I needed help!

So, off I went hiking towards who knows where to try and find anyone who could get me back on the trail and back on my way. Upon reaching Brock Lake, I found that the road I was travelling was completely covered in water anyways! I had to hike about 3 miles around Brock Creek Lake and up to Brock Lake Road to even have hopes of seeing anyone else out there.

I guess luck was on my side this day, because just as I made it to the road I heard the sound of a truck coming. I waited and around the bend a huge white truck, pulling a few four wheelers, came driving up the road. I stopped them and asked if they knew anyone that would be able to recover a stuck Jeep and the man, Jim, told me exactly what I needed to here. That a guy named Tim had camp set up just down the road across Brock Creek Lake and had a Jeep that could recover anything. He offered a ride to the camp, but I shrugged it off and told him that I would just walk it. I didn’t know that I was a mile and a half away!

_{Brock Creek Lake}

I made it to the camp and met a guy named Brian, an amazing COOK named Brian! He was just about to start cooking a marinated deer loin and a whole mess of shrimp. Let’s just say that I stumbled upon the right camp in the middle of the woods! Brian heard my story out and got me pumped for Tim’s arrival, he said that Tim would definitely be the man to get my Jeep out of the mud. However, Tim was out turkey hunting at the time. So, Brian and I sat around the campfire and enjoyed a few MUCH NEEDED cold beers, shared a few stories of Brian and Tim getting stuck, and laughed at my misfortune.

Soon after, Tim showed up in his old military style Jeep. It was such a cool little Jeep and looked like it could handle anything. Tim and I were off before I knew it and on our way to rescue my Grand which was stuck in the mud. We took trails that didn’t even look like a four wheeler would make it down. We went past an old homestead and between trees no wider than the span of your arms. Getting my Jeep stuck in the mud has never been so rewarding, the short off-road trip that we took on the way back down to the spot I was stuck was incredibly exciting.

We made it back to the Jeep and it was still above water and yeah, still stuck. Tim had brought his chainsaw to cut the tree, but unfortunately no gas. We had to hop back in and go all the way around, again, getting to the other side of the downed tree to pull out the Jeep. A few tugs and pulls later and the Jeep popped right out of the mud and back onto the trail. Since Tim didn’t have gas in his chainsaw, we had to go completely around, back the way I had originally came before getting stuck, and back down the mountain to return to his camp.

Little did we know, this would be a good thing. On our way back we were driving at a pretty good speed, one behind the other, and off to the side of the road was a woman just a few years older than me; she was lost in the woods! I stopped to talk to her and see if she needed anything and I could tell she had just had a very tough experience. She was distraught, wet, and cold. I told her to hop in and that we would get her home safe and she didn’t hesitate; I don’t blame her.

We all went back to Tim’s camp where Brian was cooking that amazing dinner that I talked about earlier. It was quite possibly the best food Charlotte and I had ever had in our entire lives. After an evening of misfortune for both of us, it turned out that a good group of southern guys pulled us out of quite a mess; In my case, literally. If it wasn’t for them, both of us could still be stuck out in the woods. I can’t help but think that Tim forgetting his chainsaw gas helped us save Charlotte’s life. The storm was raging and the temps were dropping, it’s possible she wouldn’t have made it through that night if she had been left out in the woods all alone.

Everything happens for a reason!

I hope that you enjoyed the waterfalls and story. I’ll be making the waterfall maps page here pretty soon which will contain coordinates to all of the waterfalls that I’ve found in the past two weeks as well as all the falls that I find in the future!

If you enjoyed the post, please subscribe at the top of the page. There will be many more adventures to follow, and tons more waterfalls to find, so don’t miss ‘em!

You can visit the above waterfalls by entering these coordinates into your favorite GPS. Just keep in mind, all of these waterfalls are off the beaten path, aside from one. Waterfall hunting is incredibly dangerous and I do not recommend it if you don’t have the experience or a few friends to go with you!

Iris Falls – N35.540020°, W92.815256°
Lizard Log Falls – N35.532970°, W92.811440°
Schoolhouse Falls – N35.529430°, W92.798890°
Unnamed Falls – N35.536310°, W92.823910°

I had an awesome day today with Matthew Kennedy and Brian Cormack. The mission? Find waterfalls.

We left Conway around 12:45 and arrived at the pull off to the Brock Creek Motorbike trail around 1:45. Not bad for an hour’s drive to find waterfalls. We were kind of surprised to even see a trailhead here, but were also pleased because it must have meant there were things to see here, right? Well, yeah, but we were looking for huge waterfalls not just a so-so creek!

Luckily, after walking around in the rain for an hour and a half we finally found a waterfall tucked away in one of the many drainages which flow into Brock Creek. Also, luckily for us, we may just be the first ones to have ever photographed this one, which means… we get to name it! Unfortunately, for Brian, he had stayed down at creek level and did some shooting. We got away from him so he decided to return to the Jeep for a beer while we were off searching this waterfall. Don’t worry, I promised to return with him and take him to this one and Ladder Bucket Falls from the previous post since he missed both. Oh well, at least he got to miss work!

_{Whiskey Chute Falls}

Ahem, we have dubbed this one Whiskey Chute Falls, because of the particular drink we shot upon reaching the falls. If you’re gonna do it, do it right!

This waterfall we estimated to be approximately 50ft or so. Unfortunately, Matt forgot his measuring rope at home so we weren’t able to get an exact measurement. That might just mean we’re in for a return trip.

_{Whiskey Chute Falls with Matt Kennedy for scale}

Hope you enjoyed the shots! They are somewhat limited, because of the steepness of the terrain at this particular fall. It’s really hard to get a variety of photographs. I do have a feeling that I’ll be making a return trip here though; there’s a hollow just downstream that may hold many more waterfalls.

_{Whiskey Chute Falls with Matt Kennedy for scale}

Only time will tell!

The hollow that this particular falls resides in is Moccasin Hollow. It is located at the following coordinates: 35.53053, -92.83049 If you decide to search this one out, do so with warning, it’s VERY steep terrain and waterfall hunting is VERY HAZARDOUS to your health. especially while drinking whiskey!