Update: A blog post with what I consider an "optimal" route to visit all the waterfalls of this area can be seen here.
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| Hamilton Falls - with Dan Breedlove |
Today I went back to one of my favorite places, the Richland wilderness, with hiking companion Dan Breedlove. Dan had contacted me last weekend to see if I wanted to get out somewhere, and this area was one of the first to come to mind. Dan was a native of the Arkansas Ozarks and an avid hiker and outdoorsman. Yet somehow, like most Arkansans, he had still not been to this little jewel of the wilderness system. The Richland Creek Wilderness was created by an act of congress in 1984, giving us almost 12,000 acres of beautiful Arkansas Ozarks that the wilderness act protections keep pristine and beautiful. Bringing someone that appreciates the natural beauty of areas like this here for the first time is pretty cool.
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Twin Falls
The "Left Twin" waterfall photographed
from behind the "Right Twin" waterfall |
Although we had finally got some rain to break the drought, it had been such a long dry spell that the creeks and streams were still far below their normal late fall flowrates. My thinking was that the larger creeks and rivers with much larger drainage areas would be okay, and those with waterfalls right on the larger creeks would be a good bet. As it turned out, this was probably the best location in the Ozarks to catch some really nice waterfalls with some decent flow. It was also a great day for hiking and waterfall photography. The temperature stayed in the 30's all day, it was cloudy all day, and the water in the creeks was running clear. My last trip to this area had similar conditions but was in late spring. To see the contrast in the area from late spring to late fall, you can see the blog post for that hike here.
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| Richland Falls |
I have documented five routes to Twin Falls on previous posts. The one we took today was my most recently documented route, and the one I now prefer. This one runs from FR-1205, north of the Richland Creek campground, across the large bench high above Richland Creek, then down into the Big Devil's Fork drainage. It eliminates the need to cross Falling Water Creek and Richland Creek and is a shorter, better, route than hiking from Iceledo Gap or Hill Cemetery. Unless you have a pretty good 4WD, the road to Hill Cemetery from Iceledo Gap is not advisable. It is always in bad shape now and is a veritable swamp after a good rain. As bad as the road to Hill Cemetery is, I'm sure the FJ Cruiser is up to it; still, I like the direct routes from FR-1205 better.
If you are curious about the other four routes to this great hiking area, here's a quick review and links to the posts for detailed directions:
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| Hamilton Falls |
I won't bore you with the details of the hike since we followed the same routes as my last couple of visits. I have provided plenty of links for those blog posts above for your reading pleasure. I will say that I did try something different today to see if we could hike more on the level around the top of the first drainage you cross near the parking location. Yes, I'm old and lazy, and try to avoid going down into hollows just to hike back up the other side. We ended up expending much more effort trying to find an easier way, so just stick to the route detailed in my previous posts. It seems that I get an awful lot exercise by trying to avoid exercise.
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| Devon Falls |
On my last trip here in June, I had a difficult time keeping track of the old trace road along the bench because of the late spring foliage. Today it was much easier to keep on the trace road, but I still managed to lose track of it a couple of times. That's a little embarrassing when you are supposed to be the guide, but at this time of year, it isn't that big a deal. As long as you stay on the bench, it is fairly easy bushwhacking. You'll want to find the old road again where it wraps around the mountain, as it leads you right to Devon Falls. Devon Falls was our first stop, and I was surprised at how much flow it had despite being in a side drainage and not on the main creek itself. This is my wife's favorite waterfall, and one of my sentimental favorites as well for personal reasons, and it never fails to make me smile. Today, we even saw some frost flowers near Devon Falls. These were not as ornate as some that I have seen, but these rare oddities of nature always amaze me.
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| Hamilton Falls |
From Devon Falls, we headed back the way we came and bushwhacked down into the Big Devil's Fork hollow to Don Hamilton Falls. Hamilton Falls was just beautiful today. Water flows over an almost perfectly flat rock to form this waterfall, so even with very little flow the water will spread over the face of the falls and look nice. Today, we had much better flow than that and Hamilton Falls did not disappoint. It was at this point that I realized we had picked maybe the only location in Arkansas that had enough water in the creeks for a waterfallapalooza kind of a day. The water level in Big Devil's Fork was plenty low enough to allow us to hike down the creek instead of having to retreat above the bluffline, so that is the way we went downstream. Sometimes, this creek is just too high to allow this, but this is the route I prefer, just for the additional scenery if nothing else.
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Twin Falls - with Rick
Photo by Dan Breedlove |
We passed Big Devil's Bluff Falls on the way downstream. I noticed when we had crossed it's drainage earlier that it had very little water. There was some flow going over this waterfall today, but not enough for me to deem it "photo worthy". Continuing downstream, I noticed at one point the creek bed was almost completely dry. The water resurfaced prior to going over Twin Falls, but that gives you an idea of groundwater conditions in this part of the Ozarks. When we crossed the little spit of land between the two waterfalls at Twin Falls, I noticed the campsite there appeared as it had for the past few visits, and I don't believe it has been used for at least a few years. My perception is that over time, I see fewer indications that folks have been into this area. One part of me likes that, as I like my wilderness completely unspoiled by mankind and don't at all mind having it all to myself. Another part of me finds it a little sad that people tend to take the easier hikes and never get to experience a truly spectacular place like this.
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| Richland Falls |
Since we were already at the top of the Twin Falls bluff, we decided to go ahead and hike over the hill to Richland Falls. There are two volunteer trails from Twin Falls to Richland Falls, one over the spur between them and the other along Richland Creek and Devil's Fork. I usually hike over to Richland Falls by one route, and back to Twin Falls by the other, just for a little variance in the scenery. The water in Richland Falls was amazing. It had just enough flow to get the waterfall covering the entire width of Richland Creek, but not so high that it obscured the waterfall itself. The water was also crystal clear. Richland Creek is closer to a river than a creek, and when it gets really high and rolling, Richland Falls can look like little more than a speed bump. If you look at the photo of Richland Falls from my hike in March 2015, you can see some of that.
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| Twin Falls |
From Richland Falls, we hiked back along the creeks to Twin Falls. I have seen Twin Falls with a lot more flow, and a lot more impressive, but every time I have seen it I am awestruck. While I have a penchant for waterfalls in general, there are a few that just seem to permeate through me in a way that I find difficult to describe. Bower's Falls, Fuzzybutt Falls, Thunder Canyon Falls, and Compton's Double Falls are that way, and Twin Falls perhaps more that way than any other. I have made no secret of the fact that out of the hundreds of waterfalls I have visited in Arkansas, this is my favorite. Today was no different; even with less than normal flow in the creeks, Twin Falls is still awesome.
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| Falling Water Falls |
From Twin Falls, we made our way back to where we parked. Climbing the mountain to get from Twin Falls back up to the old trace road is the most unpleasant part of the hike. I wish I could find an easier way through the rock jumble as you head back up the mountain, but so far that has eluded me. At least today it was cool enough, which helps. All in all, this was another great day to be out in the wilderness, in one of my favorite 'happy places'. I'm generally tired when I finish this hike, but always happy. I have been here a bazillion times, but I'll be back again. This is one of those places like the Upper Buffalo Wilderness that you just can't get enough of.
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| Falling Water Falls |
On the way home, we stopped by Falling Water Falls. If you drive by it, it's kind of a required stop. Today, no one else was around and we had the area all to ourselves. This is literally a drive up waterfall, as Falling Water Road goes by within just a few feet of the waterfall. Falling water creek also has a very large watershed, so this one was also in fine form today. As I mentioned earlier, we picked the one area in Arkansas with good water in the waterfalls.
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GPS Tracks for land routes to Twin Falls
Red - Hill Cemetery to Twin Falls
Yellow - Upper FR-1205 route to Hamilton and Twin Falls
Blue - Upper FR-1205 route to Twin Falls
Black - Lower FR-1205 to Twin Falls |
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| GPS Tracks for my routes into the Richland Creek Wilderness |
