GPS Coordinates: (Latitude, Longitude, Elevation)
Parking Location #1: 35.58673 -93.22045, 1794 ft.
Parking Location #2: 35.60608 -93.22053, 834 ft.
Falls #1: 35.59942 -93.22710, 909 ft.
Falls #2: 35.59061 -93.23420, 1017 ft.
Falls #3: 35.59151 -93.23994, 1156 ft.
Falls #4: 35.59129 -93.23983, 1141 ft.
Falls #5: 35.59025 -93.23987, 1182 ft.
Falls #6: 35.58715 -93.23013, 1011 ft.
Falls #7: 35.58526 -93.22964, 1035 ft.
Falls #8: 35.60079 -93.22779, 810 ft.
Falls #9: 35.60232 -93.22816, 801 ft.
Falls #10: 35.60174 -93.22878, 820 ft.
Falls #11: 35.60408 -93.21788, 820 ft.
Falls #12: 35.60383 -93.21791, 826 ft.
Pet-Friendly: Dogs off leash should be OK. If your dog needs to be on a leash, it is doable but difficult because this is mostly all bushwhacking.
Motorcycle Friendly: No! This is not at all friendly to your big bike. The parking locations are several miles down rough dirt roads.
Hiking Statistics: Today we hiked a total of 10.2 miles, about 7.5 miles was bushwhacking and the remainder on the ATV trail going down the spur of the mountain and back to parking location #1. The highest-to-lowest elevation difference was 1067 feet, with hikes up into 5 different forks, and back down those creeks. If we had parked at parking location #2, the highest-to-lowest elevation change would have been only 350 feet. The total hiking time was 5:52 (h:m). I would rate the bushwhack part of the hike as a moderate bushwhack. There was not that much undergrowth nor exceedingly steep climbs along the various creek segments. The really steep climb was along the ATV trail on the way out.
GPS files (.gpx format) - See maps at the bottom of this blog post
Dover-Sand Gap area waypoints
Trace Creek GPS track
Links to blog posts for other nearby areas:
Hole Creek
Graves Creek (upper section)
Graves Creek (lower section)
Dover-Sand Gap area waypoints
Trace Creek GPS track
Links to blog posts for other nearby areas:
Hole Creek
Graves Creek (upper section)
Graves Creek (lower section)
Arkansas Sphinx
The Trace Creek drainage area has been on my "go explore" list for quite a while. I knew nothing about it and hadn't found anyone that had explored it at any depth. On paper, it sure looks like it could harbor some nice waterfalls. It is a very large drainage area, over seven square miles, with four major prongs draining out into one of the major tributaries to Big Piney Creek. The drainage area is like a huge bowl, surrounded by the ridge of Pilot Rock Mountain on the south and west, and Meadows Knob on the east, draining into Big Piney on the north. A huge area that was still a complete unknown to me. So when my friend and frequent hiking partner, Dan Frew, asked if I wanted to go take a look, I jumped at the opportunity.
To get there, from the Dover town square (junction of Hwy 7 and Hwy 27), go north on Highway 7 for 5.5 miles and turn left on Highway 164. Go 7.6 miles on Highway 164 and turn right on FR-1800 (Pilot Rock Mountain Road or CR-3891). This is just past the twin bridges over Big Piney Creek. Stay on Pilot Rock Mtn Road for 5.5 miles as it changes to CR-3890, to CR-3861, to CR-4840. Bear Right onto FR-1802 (aka CR-4891, or Meadows Knob Road). Go 0.9 miles on FR-1802, then turn left onto a Jeep road. The parking #1 location we used today is 0.1 miles down this jeep road at a food plot. Park as far off Meadows Knob Road as you feel comfortable in your vehicle, but be aware that going further will require a 4WD vehicle with good ground clearance.
We started our hike down toward Trace Creek along this Jeep road, which rapidly narrows down to what I would classify as an ATV trail, although a Jeep will fit down it most of the way. It extends right down the spur between a long hollow on the right called, ironically, Short Hollow, and the remainder of the Trace Creek drainage area on the left. It goes all the way down to Trace Creek itself, where the creek from Short Hollow flows into it. Refer to the map at the bottom of this post to see where it runs between the two parking locations. This is a very long and steep trail, and we decided to leave Dan's Jeep parked at the food plot since we had no way of knowing what the trail was like. Sometimes, it is very tempting to drive right down one of these trails as far as you can, and I do that often. But sometimes it becomes impassable, and sometimes there is no place to turn around, requiring you to back up a very narrow, very steep trail. I have many dented fenders and busted tail lights from such situations.
Today, we were in Dan's brand new Jeep, and not about to take a chance on putting some "Arkansas pin-striping" on the shiny new paint job. As it turns out, either Dan's Jeep or my FJ Cruiser could have easily made it down the ATV trail almost to the bottom, although we probably would have picked up a little of that Arkansas pin-striping. At the point I have labeled as parking location #2, about a mile and a half from where we parked, there is a more recent ATV trail bypassing some downed trees. This section is almost at the bottom and is a little tight even for a Jeep to fit through. There is a spot to turn around here, though, making it a good parking place if you have the vehicle to get you down there and back out. Today, however, we had parked at the top and didn't even find this spot until we were on our climb out. Today, we peeled off the ATV trail to the left at a spot where we found another old trace road leading down and upstream into the hollow.
We followed this old road as it wrapped around the hollow back to our left until it disappeared, at which time we headed down toward the creek. We found Falls #1 here in a side drainage. As you might expect, there was barely a dribble of water going over the waterfall today, so we marked it and moved on down this small side drainage to the main creek. Short Hollow, as previously mentioned, runs down the east side of the ATV trail we hiked down. On the west side, Trace Creek has three other major prongs, two on the east side of the hollow and one on the south end See the map at the bottom of this blog post to better visualize the layout of the Trace Creek area. Our hike coming down into the hollow had put us right on Trace Creek, downstream of the south and southwest prongs. We started our exploration hiking upstream and into the southeast prong.
We hiked well over a half mile upstream from this point, and the only thing we found was what appeared to be the remains of an old wagon or trailer. We found what appeared to be short steel sides and the remnants of a sheet of steel that may have been on the floor, but no wheels, axles, or frames. Occasionally, we saw the traces of an old road along parts of the main segment of Trace Creek. I think a road was cut down the spur between the two forks of the southern prong, running close to two miles down the creek. Today the area has large trees growing in most areas this old road ran, but we still found traces of it along the creek.
Continuing upstream, we went first up into the southwestern prong and found Falls #2 about a quarter mile up this creek. Further upstream, we found Falls #3 and Falls #4 an additional quarter mile upstream into the right fork of this prong. The entire Trace Creek drainage area extends about three miles north and south, and about 2.5 miles across. It is just too much bushwhacking to cover all of this area in a single day, so we decided to hit the high points. Instead of hiking further up into each of the forks, we decided to explore at least a little of each fork today. Going back downstream out of the right fork, we went up into the left fork of the southwestern prong and found Falls #5. While the main part of Trace Creek actually had more water flow than I was expecting today, the further up into the forks we hiked, we naturally saw less flow.
We hiked back downstream out of the southwestern prong to the intersection with the south prong and started hiking upstream into it. We found Falls #6 about a quarter mile upstream from the junction and then found Falls #7 about 200 yards upstream from that. At this point, we turned around and hiked downstream to explore the other areas of Trace Creek. I believe just above this point is where that old road would have been cut, coming from the ridge of Pilot Rock Mountain down into Trace Creek. We did find traces of an old road going down along the creek here.
Quite often, we will hike up and over the spurs or ridges between hollows to explore the next drainage, instead of hiking downstream on one and then upstream on the next. In the Trace Creek drainage area, that isn't all that practical. It is laid out almost circularly, so it is very difficult to go from the top of one hollow over into the top of an adjacent hollow. Along the creek, the hiking was fairly pleasant, as far as bushwhacking goes. Further up the slopes, the brush and undergrowth get thicker. It may have been a little more hiking distance to stick to hiking along the creek, but it was much easier and much quicker. So all the way back downstream we went, bushwhacking along Trace Creek.
Going downstream from where we had first hiked down to the main creek, we found Falls #8 about 200 yards further downstream. Further downstream, the bluffs get very sheer on both sides of Trace Creek, with a very tall cliff on the right (east) side, requiring us to climb above the bluff to hike downstream on the left (west) side. From Falls #8, the junction with the northwestern prong is only another 200 yards or so downstream. Going upstream into this prong, we found a maze of overhanging bluffs on both sides of the creek. This is a beautiful, almost fantasy-like area, well worth the hike just for this part.
A short distance after turning into the northeastern prong, Falls #9 spills over the bluff from a side drainage on the north side. As you go upstream, the creek winds from side to side, where it has carved out big overhangs on both sides from the solid sandstone. I can only imagine what this area will look like with more water flow and some spring greenery. I plan on coming back, so I won't have to imagine for long. Falls #10 was another hundred yards upstream, and that was as far as we went today in this big prong. There are undoubtedly more waterfalls upstream, but we still had Short Hollow to look at and had been out hiking a good part of the day. We hiked downstream over a half mile to the junction where Short Hollow flows into Trace Creek and started hiking upstream into it.
We hiked up Short Hollow until we hit the first waterfalls, only about a third of a mile upstream. Falls #11 was in a side drainage on the left (east), and Falls #12 was on the main creek in the hollow adjacent to it. Short Hollow, like most of Trace Creek, was fairly clear of undergrowth and briers, so as bushwhacking goes it wasn't too difficult. We hiked back downstream to the junction with Trace Creek, where we found the ATV trail running down the spur. At this point, we had been hiking over 8.5 miles, almost all of it bushwhacking, but I was still fresh and not all that fatigued at all. The climb back out sure fixed that. The good thing is, we decided to bushwhack back downstream and climb out along this trail, which is much, much, easier than the steeper and rougher climb up the side of the hollow.
While hiking the ATV trail along the spur is not as steep as the side of the hollow, it is still really steep. It is a 1.5-mile mile hike up this spur along the ATV trail and an elevation change of 1067 feet. I will confess to being just about wiped out by the time we got to the top of the ridge. As I remarked to Dan - the first eight plus miles of bushwhacking was actually quite pleasant, and the last mile and a half of trail hiking almost killed me. If you are familiar with the hike from Hemmed-In Hollow Falls up to the Compton trailhead, this is about like that, except on that hike you can take a breather by going out to Wild Vic's Cabin. On this hike out, you just have to take it slow and take a break when needed. I saw enough on today's hike to know that I want to come back when there is more water. Only next time, I'll be driving most of the way down the spur. Overall, I would rate this as a difficult bushwhack, and if you park at the top of the mountain, I would call it a very difficult hike. That being said, it is still recommended; next time, I'll have better photos of the waterfalls.
The Trace Creek drainage area has been on my "go explore" list for quite a while. I knew nothing about it and hadn't found anyone that had explored it at any depth. On paper, it sure looks like it could harbor some nice waterfalls. It is a very large drainage area, over seven square miles, with four major prongs draining out into one of the major tributaries to Big Piney Creek. The drainage area is like a huge bowl, surrounded by the ridge of Pilot Rock Mountain on the south and west, and Meadows Knob on the east, draining into Big Piney on the north. A huge area that was still a complete unknown to me. So when my friend and frequent hiking partner, Dan Frew, asked if I wanted to go take a look, I jumped at the opportunity. 
To get there, from the Dover town square (junction of Hwy 7 and Hwy 27), go north on Highway 7 for 5.5 miles and turn left on Highway 164. Go 7.6 miles on Highway 164 and turn right on FR-1800 (Pilot Rock Mountain Road or CR-3891). This is just past the twin bridges over Big Piney Creek. Stay on Pilot Rock Mtn Road for 5.5 miles as it changes to CR-3890, to CR-3861, to CR-4840. Bear Right onto FR-1802 (aka CR-4891, or Meadows Knob Road). Go 0.9 miles on FR-1802, then turn left onto a Jeep road. The parking #1 location we used today is 0.1 miles down this jeep road at a food plot. Park as far off Meadows Knob Road as you feel comfortable in your vehicle, but be aware that going further will require a 4WD vehicle with good ground clearance. 
We started our hike down toward Trace Creek along this Jeep road, which rapidly narrows down to what I would classify as an ATV trail, although a Jeep will fit down it most of the way. It extends right down the spur between a long hollow on the right called, ironically, Short Hollow, and the remainder of the Trace Creek drainage area on the left. It goes all the way down to Trace Creek itself, where the creek from Short Hollow flows into it. Refer to the map at the bottom of this post to see where it runs between the two parking locations. This is a very long and steep trail, and we decided to leave Dan's Jeep parked at the food plot since we had no way of knowing what the trail was like. Sometimes, it is very tempting to drive right down one of these trails as far as you can, and I do that often. But sometimes it becomes impassable, and sometimes there is no place to turn around, requiring you to back up a very narrow, very steep trail. I have many dented fenders and busted tail lights from such situations. 
Today, we were in Dan's brand new Jeep, and not about to take a chance on putting some "Arkansas pin-striping" on the shiny new paint job. As it turns out, either Dan's Jeep or my FJ Cruiser could have easily made it down the ATV trail almost to the bottom, although we probably would have picked up a little of that Arkansas pin-striping. At the point I have labeled as parking location #2, about a mile and a half from where we parked, there is a more recent ATV trail bypassing some downed trees. This section is almost at the bottom and is a little tight even for a Jeep to fit through. There is a spot to turn around here, though, making it a good parking place if you have the vehicle to get you down there and back out. Today, however, we had parked at the top and didn't even find this spot until we were on our climb out. Today, we peeled off the ATV trail to the left at a spot where we found another old trace road leading down and upstream into the hollow. 
We followed this old road as it wrapped around the hollow back to our left until it disappeared, at which time we headed down toward the creek. We found Falls #1 here in a side drainage. As you might expect, there was barely a dribble of water going over the waterfall today, so we marked it and moved on down this small side drainage to the main creek. Short Hollow, as previously mentioned, runs down the east side of the ATV trail we hiked down. On the west side, Trace Creek has three other major prongs, two on the east side of the hollow and one on the south end See the map at the bottom of this blog post to better visualize the layout of the Trace Creek area. Our hike coming down into the hollow had put us right on Trace Creek, downstream of the south and southwest prongs. We started our exploration hiking upstream and into the southeast prong.
We hiked well over a half mile upstream from this point, and the only thing we found was what appeared to be the remains of an old wagon or trailer. We found what appeared to be short steel sides and the remnants of a sheet of steel that may have been on the floor, but no wheels, axles, or frames. Occasionally, we saw the traces of an old road along parts of the main segment of Trace Creek. I think a road was cut down the spur between the two forks of the southern prong, running close to two miles down the creek. Today the area has large trees growing in most areas this old road ran, but we still found traces of it along the creek.
Continuing upstream, we went first up into the southwestern prong and found Falls #2 about a quarter mile up this creek. Further upstream, we found Falls #3 and Falls #4 an additional quarter mile upstream into the right fork of this prong. The entire Trace Creek drainage area extends about three miles north and south, and about 2.5 miles across. It is just too much bushwhacking to cover all of this area in a single day, so we decided to hit the high points. Instead of hiking further up into each of the forks, we decided to explore at least a little of each fork today. Going back downstream out of the right fork, we went up into the left fork of the southwestern prong and found Falls #5. While the main part of Trace Creek actually had more water flow than I was expecting today, the further up into the forks we hiked, we naturally saw less flow.
We hiked back downstream out of the southwestern prong to the intersection with the south prong and started hiking upstream into it. We found Falls #6 about a quarter mile upstream from the junction and then found Falls #7 about 200 yards upstream from that. At this point, we turned around and hiked downstream to explore the other areas of Trace Creek. I believe just above this point is where that old road would have been cut, coming from the ridge of Pilot Rock Mountain down into Trace Creek. We did find traces of an old road going down along the creek here.
Quite often, we will hike up and over the spurs or ridges between hollows to explore the next drainage, instead of hiking downstream on one and then upstream on the next. In the Trace Creek drainage area, that isn't all that practical. It is laid out almost circularly, so it is very difficult to go from the top of one hollow over into the top of an adjacent hollow. Along the creek, the hiking was fairly pleasant, as far as bushwhacking goes. Further up the slopes, the brush and undergrowth get thicker. It may have been a little more hiking distance to stick to hiking along the creek, but it was much easier and much quicker. So all the way back downstream we went, bushwhacking along Trace Creek.
Going downstream from where we had first hiked down to the main creek, we found Falls #8 about 200 yards further downstream. Further downstream, the bluffs get very sheer on both sides of Trace Creek, with a very tall cliff on the right (east) side, requiring us to climb above the bluff to hike downstream on the left (west) side. From Falls #8, the junction with the northwestern prong is only another 200 yards or so downstream. Going upstream into this prong, we found a maze of overhanging bluffs on both sides of the creek. This is a beautiful, almost fantasy-like area, well worth the hike just for this part. 
A short distance after turning into the northeastern prong, Falls #9 spills over the bluff from a side drainage on the north side. As you go upstream, the creek winds from side to side, where it has carved out big overhangs on both sides from the solid sandstone. I can only imagine what this area will look like with more water flow and some spring greenery. I plan on coming back, so I won't have to imagine for long. Falls #10 was another hundred yards upstream, and that was as far as we went today in this big prong. There are undoubtedly more waterfalls upstream, but we still had Short Hollow to look at and had been out hiking a good part of the day. We hiked downstream over a half mile to the junction where Short Hollow flows into Trace Creek and started hiking upstream into it.
We hiked up Short Hollow until we hit the first waterfalls, only about a third of a mile upstream. Falls #11 was in a side drainage on the left (east), and Falls #12 was on the main creek in the hollow adjacent to it. Short Hollow, like most of Trace Creek, was fairly clear of undergrowth and briers, so as bushwhacking goes it wasn't too difficult. We hiked back downstream to the junction with Trace Creek, where we found the ATV trail running down the spur. At this point, we had been hiking over 8.5 miles, almost all of it bushwhacking, but I was still fresh and not all that fatigued at all. The climb back out sure fixed that. The good thing is, we decided to bushwhack back downstream and climb out along this trail, which is much, much, easier than the steeper and rougher climb up the side of the hollow. 
While hiking the ATV trail along the spur is not as steep as the side of the hollow, it is still really steep. It is a 1.5-mile mile hike up this spur along the ATV trail and an elevation change of 1067 feet. I will confess to being just about wiped out by the time we got to the top of the ridge. As I remarked to Dan - the first eight plus miles of bushwhacking was actually quite pleasant, and the last mile and a half of trail hiking almost killed me. If you are familiar with the hike from Hemmed-In Hollow Falls up to the Compton trailhead, this is about like that, except on that hike you can take a breather by going out to Wild Vic's Cabin. On this hike out, you just have to take it slow and take a break when needed. I saw enough on today's hike to know that I want to come back when there is more water. Only next time, I'll be driving most of the way down the spur. Overall, I would rate this as a difficult bushwhack, and if you park at the top of the mountain, I would call it a very difficult hike. That being said, it is still recommended; next time, I'll have better photos of the waterfalls. |
| Trace Creek - today's GPS track |
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| Trace Creek basin The lower GPS track is upper Graves Creek |
That one was kinda blah Ricky Bobby.
ReplyDeleteHa! Sorry, man. I'll try harder next time.
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