My geography professor was predicting this cell way before it even appeared on the U.S. maps. We were hit by the low pressure system on Friday morning which brought a ton of rain into Arkansas and throughout the southeast.

Matt and I were planning our weekend way before that though, and had in mind one of the most beautiful locations in the whole state, the Richland Creek Wilderness.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Twin Falls}

The area has been blocked off from the south access into the Richland Campground for some time now. A landslide last year during the hurricanes is the cause of the road block. It has been at least a year now since the slide has been there and it doesn’t look like it will be removed any time soon. Therefore, access to the campground is restricted to the north side. Matt and I hiked in from Hill Cemetery, which is about 3 miles north of Twin Falls.

_{Highway 7 Overlook HDR}

The hike in doesn’t seem like it would be that bad, but I had fifty plus on my back and with that weight it was interesting. We attempted to drop down the hill several times in hopes to find Don Hamilton falls, along with some other waterfalls that run through the area. The creeks in the Richland Creek Wilderness all have unique features, which include several slides, waterfalls, and cascades. You could spend a week or more exploring this area and all it has to offer, something which I may do next spring.

For this trip though, we had 24 hours.

Day 1

Matt and I left Conway around 10:00AM.

We were headed for the holy grail of hikes in the whole of Arkansas, Richland Creek Wilderness.

I’ve never been there before this day, but I was definitely excited. I have heard many good things about Richland Creek Wilderness. I have even attempted the grueling hike in from the campground a while back. Unfortunately, I had to turn around and head back due to limited time.

We started off the day with a few appetizers, Falling Water Falls and Six Finger Falls. The colors of the leaves in the area are changing and the road on the way in was beautiful. I captured the view of the road at one particular point where a couple of dogwoods were hanging over and displaying their bright red leaves.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Falling Water Road}

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Falling Water Road Panorama}

Falling Water Falls and Six Finger were just full of water. Torrents upon torrents of water were flowing downstream towards Richland Creek Campground. This was the sole purpose of the trip though, Matt and I knew there would be a lot of water after the heavy rain we had on Friday.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Falling Water Falls}

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Falling Water Falls}

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Falling Water Falls HDR}

After quickly viewing Falling Water Falls and Six Finger Falls we headed around to the north side of the Richland Creek Wilderness area and parked at the start of the journey, Hill Cemetery.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Six Finger Falls Panorama}

We started from Hill Cemetery and quickly crossed several creeks which run down the hill during high rains. One in particular had some really interesting waterfalls running through it; unfortunately, we were short on time so those will be left in memory. However, at one point we did drop down the hill in search for Don Hamilton falls. We did not find Don Hamilton falls, but we did find a couple of interesting falls that were fun to photograph.

For this shot in particular I was standing on a small outcropping over the creek with a bluff at my back. I had approximately 10 square feet of space to work with and 6 of those feet were taken up by the tripod legs.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Unnamed Waterfalls}

Matt and I continued downstream hiking along the creek in search for Don Hamilton falls, unfortunately we hit a spot where the creek went into a slot canyon and we had to hike back up and around, up wasn’t too much fun with all that weight, but we made it.

We hiked a little ways longer and finally heard the roar of Twin Falls. As I always state, I’ve seen the photos before, but being there is a totally new experience. The Twin Falls look MUCH larger in person than they do in photographs. They are about 25-30 feet tall and almost the same size in width. Viewing them in person is a majestic experience that I recommend everyone to have, at least once throughout their lifetime, especially if you live in Arkansas.

When Matt and I arrived at the falls it was getting very dark. We had plans to cross the creek and camp at one of the established campgrounds in the area, but the water was flowing way too high to make a safe crossing. Therefore, Matt and I sat up camp on a small overlook above the confluence of Long Devils Fork and Richland Creek. I actually got an interesting shot on this trip, in the photo you can see the two different waters merging together and can clearly see that Long Devils Fork is much bluer in color than Richland Creek which was brown.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Richland Creek and Long Devils Fork Confluence HDR}

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Richland Creek and Long Devils Fork Confluence Panorama}

Even after all the rain, Matt and I got a humble fire started and it provided some fantastic warmth into the darkness of the night. We stayed up till around 9:45, which was almost 3 hours after the sun had finally set. The temperature got down to around 35 degrees where we were camping, but the warmth from the small fire kept the cold from chilling the bones. On an earlier backpacking trip I had learned of a cool trick, boiling water and thereafter placing it at the bottom of the sleeping bag. Matt and I didn’t have anything to boil the water in so we sat the bottles close to the fire. Over the course of the 3 hours they heated up quite nicely and provided some great warmth in the sleeping bags.

At one point during the campfire building Matt came across a small salamander. According to a post on the Central States Nature Photographers forum it is currently salamander migrating season, who knew? What was funny about finding this little guy was that Matt was just discussing the post earlier in the day and we happened across one on our hike! It was pitch black outside so the only light I had was my flash, probably scared the little guy to death, but I did get a couple of shots of him before he crawled off into the darkness. Not an amazing shot, but at least you can see what he looked like.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Salamander}

Soon after the salamander left, Matt and I hit the tents, and got some sleep before waking up around 7:00 for the short hike up to Richland Falls. Lucky for us, the raging torrents that were Long Devils Fork and Richland Creek became a bit tamer and we were able to ford.

Day 2

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Richland Falls}

We forded Long Devils Fork and took a small trail up to Richland Falls. Richland Falls is approximately 1/4 of a mile from the confluence of Long Devil’s Fork and Richland Creek. It’s definitely worth a view if you’re in the area. It may not be tall but it covers a span of about a 120ft. It’s literally impossible to get the waterfall, from the front, in one single shot. Therefore, a lot of panoramas were taken of Richland Falls. It would have been nice to cross Richland Creek and get some shots from the opposite side; unfortunately, the water next to the falls was a bit too high to make a crossing.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Richland Falls Panorama}

Matt and I got a few shots of the falls, which were running quite nicely, and then turned around to make a short trip up to Twin Devil’s Falls, better known as Twin Falls.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Twin Falls}

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Twin Falls Panorama}

I have seen many waterfalls on my adventures, but Twin Falls has got to be the most beautiful waterfall in the entire state of Arkansas. It was just jaw dropping awesome. The hike in and out of the Richland Creek Wilderness was absolutely worth it, especially in such good conditions. I’m glad that I took the time off of work to go see it after all the rain we had on Friday.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but keep in mind, while these photos may be beautiful they do absolutely NO justice to the beauty of this place. Twin Falls is simply amazingly serene.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Long Devils Falls}

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Big Devils Falls}

After getting our shots of Twin Falls, we hiked back down Long Devil’s Fork and captured a few photos of the color along the creek. The colors of the trees in Richland Creek Wilderness are just beginning to turn. Some of the trees closer to the creeks were helped along by the cold water. Here in a couple of weeks though it will be spot on perfect.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Long Devils Fork}

Matt and I decided on heading out earlier than we had anticipated. We were both a bit worn out from the hike and were just ready to get back to the truck and head home. Not only that, when we finished the hike the sun was blazing and the Razorbacks were whooping up on Auburn. The score was 27 to 3 at halftime when Matt and I made it back to the truck.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Long Devils Fork}

We had an awesome trip into the Richland Creek Wilderness. It’s a unique place in Arkansas and one that is hard to get to nowadays; which makes it that much better. I’ll definitely be checking this location out a lot more over the next spring when I have a week to myself away from school.

_{Richland Creek Wilderness – Long Devils Fork}

Thanks for visiting and viewing!

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Arkansas!

I’ve posted a new photo from the birthday trip with Brian Cormack. This time, it’s another panorama. A photograph panorama of Falling Water Falls.

View it here: Photography by Zack Andrews – Panoramas.

Hope you enjoy!

You can view the page here: Explore Arkansas – Falling Water Falls.

I might just have a photo of the day for you here in a short while.