Sandstone Castle, Richland Wilderness Area, Ozarks near Lurton, Arkansas

3/23/2018 - Sandstone Castle, Exploring Arkansas edition

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Parking:  35.84146   -92.98413
  Trail Head on NC5080:  35.84189   -92.98472
  Sandstone Castles:  35.81647   -92.97268
  Rock Wall #1:  35.82520   -92.98599
  Rock Wall #2:  35.82412   -92.98407
  Old Homesite #1:  35.82303   -92.98264
  Rock Wall #3:  35.82039   -92.97832
  Rock Wall #4:  35.81955   -92.97672
  Old Homesite #2:  35.819701   -92.97643

Pet-friendly: Yes!  Be aware there are a number of trees down on the trail and other obstacles that might challenge a smaller dog on a leash.  Also, unlike most of my hikes, there is no water available.  Make sure you pack water for your dog as well.

Motorcycle friendly: No.  Getting to the parking area takes you about seven miles on rough, gravel, forest service roads.  It's doable, but you'll be sorry if you take a cruiser or street bike on these roads.

Hiking Statistics:  From top to bottom, The Richland Wilderness Area is over 1200 feet of elevation change.  Today we hiked approximately five miles, with a "highest to lowest" elevation change of only 262 feet.  There are a few ups and downs, but the hiking is mostly on the level.  While technically a bushwhack because no trail maintenance is allowed in wilderness areas, there is a fairly distinct volunteer trail that follows an old trace road.  This makes for easier hiking so I would rate this a moderately easy hike.  Note that in "leaves on" season, the trail will be mostly overgrown. 

GPS files (maps at bottom of this post):
  Richland Wilderness Area Waypoints
  GPS track file, trailhead to Sandstone Castles (.gpx format)

Links to blog posts for other nearby areas:
  Devon Falls, Hamilton Falls, Twin Falls, and Richland Falls
  The same, plus Long Devil's (Jim Bob), Mystic, and Big Devil's Bluff Falls
  Dogwood Falls
  Wind River Hollow

Richland Wilderness

I have been out to Sandstone Castle a few times over the years and had visited it just three months ago.  It is a nice wintertime (leaves off) hike, and since we were in the midst of a prolonged drought it made a good hike that didn't need water to make the natural features look their best.  Today, I had a different reason to return to Sandstone Castle.  Today my hiking partners were Chuck Dovish and Jeff James.  Chuck and Jeff produce an excellent series on the AETN television network, Exploring Arkansas, which is exactly what it sounds like.  It is a show where Chuck goes to fascinating places in Arkansas and Jeff films him visiting the places and talking about it.  I'm a big fan and have our DVR set up to record new episodes automatically.  Bethany and I use the show for ideas on places to visit all the time.  When Chuck contacted me to see if I would guide them out to Sandstone Castles, I jumped at the opportunity to head back out there again.  After updating my system post-hike, I noticed that I hadn't made a blog post for the area for almost three years, so this blog post is long overdue.

The Sandstone Castles are actually a series of caves cut into the rock of the

bluff at the top of the ridge overlooking Big Devil's Fork and Long Devil's Fork, high above where they flow into the Twin Falls of Richland.  The caves have 'windows' overlooking the valley below.  Legend has it this place was used by criminals and civil war deserters to hide out from the Law.  I'm betting that strategy was highly successful.  This is one of those places that if you know where it is, it is easy to get to and easy to find.  If you have never been there, it can be quite challenging to find.  This trip, I noticed the trail out to Sandstone Castle is getting enough traffic to be clearly visible almost the entire route.

To get there, take Highway 7 north and turn onto Highway 123 north at Lurton.  From the 'T' where you can turn left to Hwy 7 or right to Hwy 123, turn right and go 1.5 miles.  Turn right on NC5070 (aka FR-1200, aka CR-36, aka Herbie Hampton Rd, aka Assembly of God Church Road).  Take NC5070 for 6.8 miles, then turn right on NC5080 (aka FR-1205).  Note that after approximately a mile on Assembly of God Church Road, the pavement ends and the road turns into a gravel road.  Go 1.1 miles on NC5080 and look for where the power lines cross from the right hand (south) side to the left hand (north) side of the road.  The trailhead will be near the last power line pole on the right.  On the north side of the road, there is an extended gravel shoulder to park on.  

The trailhead GPS coordinates are listed above.  Years ago, there was a blue smiley face painted on a tree at this point on the south side of the road.  Now, I can't find that smiley face anywhere and think that tree was cut down.  At any rate, If you climb the embankment across the road from the parking area, you will see there is an old trace road that goes uphill.  Turn RIGHT onto it from the road.  i.e. - you will be heading south-west, at first almost paralleling the NC5080 road you just drove in on.  As mentioned before, this trail is now clearly visible.  The trail will head up the mountain on this trace road.  There are a fair amount of fallen trees on this first part of the trail, but don't let that discourage you.  As you climb the trace road it will crest the ridgeline, and just over the ridgeline, you will make a sharp turn to the left.  The trail here is more discernible and easier to follow, with fewer detours around fallen trees.  Someone has put a sign here to direct you from the ridgeline back to the road on your way back.

After cresting the ridgeline and turning left, the trail follows more or lessjust along the crest of Big Middle Ridge, the ridge between Big Devil Fork and Long Devil Fork.  See the maps at the bottom of this post for reference.  The old trace road is visible in most places and the trail will follow that as it can, with zigs and zags around fallen trees.  The trail is usually visible, but there are a couple of places it gets difficult to see.   As you can see from the GPS track I recorded (at bottom of this post), the trail sticks pretty much to the ridgeline of Big Middle Ridge.  If you stick close to the top of the ridge and don't go down either side of the mountain, you should be okay. The elevation along this route does not vary a whole lot, but there are some gradual ups and downs.  

You pass some rock walls, a couple of homesites, and an old well along the way.  The first of these is about at the halfway point and is actually off the trail to the right a few yards.  These are a good check that you are on the right path.  I included GPS coordinates for these waypoints so you can track your route.  This is where hiking with Jeff and Chuck was somewhat different than my normal hikes, in that we had to wait for Jeff to get set up to take some video footage for the show, record the footage, then move on.  They have clearly done this a bazillion times, so it goes smoothly and quickly and doesn't really hold us up at all.  

Old Homesite #2

The last of the rock walls is barely visible on the trail, and if you don't know what to look for it is easy to miss.  There was a field of blooming forsythia just past this, and in the sea of yellow blossoms, I noticed something else I had walked past many times and not noticed.  There was an old stacked rock fireplace here, the only remains of what was a homesite at one time.  The only other homesite I have located from our pioneering predecessors was what looks to be a stack of rocks that was at one time another fireplace and chimney.  At one time, people lived all over these remote hollows.  People much more rugged and self-reliant than the folks we have become today.

The trail will lead right down the ridgeline to the point where it drops off above Twin Falls.  The  Sandstone Castles are caves in the rock bluff line at this point, and the trail leads to the cliff directly above the caves.  There are a couple of spots you can make your way down to the cave level.   To your left, as you look over the cliff is the easiest way down, going between the two largest caves.  From above the caves, out on this point of the ridgeline, you can look out over most of the almost 12,000 acres that make up the Richland Wilderness Area.  This was designated as a wilderness area as part of a bill that Senator Dale Bumpers pushed through Congress in 1984, establishing nine new wilderness areas in Arkansas.  For 34 years now, the area has seen no logging or any other activity, by law now a "hands off" area for nature to do whatever comes naturally.

Jeff, Chuck, and Rick (L-R)

After filming an interview and taking a lot of video for the Exploring Arkansas show, Jeff and Chuck spent a while taking additional still shots and B-roll video of the area while I just enjoyed the scenery.  It's always a great day to be out in the wilderness, and these were a couple of great guys to enjoy it with.  For me, it was fascinating to see how a television show like this is produced.  After wrapping up all the material they needed for editing into a segment of the show, we headed back the way we had come out.  This is a hike I would recommend for everyone, with one caveat.  Please remember that this is a wilderness area.  No one is going to clean up after you, and there are strict rules on what you can and cannot bring into the area.  No mechanized equipment is allowed of any kind, not even mountain bikes.  You are allowed to build a campfire and camp out but leave no trace that you were there.  Someone had camped in the big cave and had left an empty can.  Since that is all I found, I'm assuming they just missed it.  I packed it out with me, but please make sure you look around and leave the area as you found it. 

Sandstone Castle GPS Track

Richland Wilderness Area