Upper Bailey Cole Creek waterfalls, Arkansas Ozarks near Witt Springs

12-31-2018 Bailey Cole Creek upper section

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Parking Location:  35.73974   -92.91068, 1642 ft.
  Falls #8:  35.73811   -92.91275, 1510 ft.
  Falls #9:  35.73843   -92.91278
  Falls #10:  35.74061   -92.91388
  Falls #11:  35.74108   -92.91405
  Falls #12:  35.74152   -92.91515, 1404 ft.
  Falls #13:  35.74139   -92.91355
  Falls #14:  35.74150   -92.90923
  Falls #15:  35.74144   -92.90947
  Falls #16:  35.74133   -92.90956
  Falls #17:  35.74071   -92.90840
  Falls #18:  35.73952   -92.90629
  Falls #19:  35.73867   -92.90406
  Falls #20:  35.73902   -92.90416
  Anniversary Falls:  35.73852   -92.90392

  Falls #22:  35.73820   -92.90363

  Falls #23:  35.73766   -92.90297

  Falls #24:  35.73773   -92.90263

  Falls #25:  35.73752   -92.90282

  Falls #26:  35.73724   -92.90247, 1600 ft.

Pet-Friendly: Dogs off leash should be OK.  This is a fairly rugged area, with a lot of large rocks you sometimes have to scramble over and around.  A smaller and/or older dog may have some difficulties in some areas.  There will be several creek crossings, and Bailey Cole Creek can be a little deep and very swift at times.

Hiking Statistics: Today's hike was 3.8 miles round trip, but seemed longer.  There was a minimum-to-maximum elevation change of only 313 feet, although there were several climbs up onto bluffs and back down again due to the terrain.  I would rate this a difficult bushwhack, obviously not because of the distance or elevation change, but because of the ruggedness of the terrain hiking along the creeks.  If the creek is as high as it was today you'll be hiking with wet feet, if that adds any difficulty factor for you.

GPS files (.gpx format) - See maps at the bottom of this blog post
  Bailey Cole Creek and Bailey Hollow waypoints
  Upper Bailey Cole Creek track
  

Links to blog posts for other nearby areas:

  Bailey Cole Creek (lower section) from Falling Water Road
  Bailey Falls from Falling Water Road

Anniversary Falls

About three weeks ago, I went to Bailey Cole Creek to do a little exploring of that creek and the small hollow just south of it that contained Bailey Falls.  Both areas were fantastic, offering some of the most pristine Natural State goodness in an area that rarely sees any humans that are not on horseback.  It has very little of the horse-borne visitors, but trekkers like me are often deterred by the geology.  When the creeks in these hollows are high, making for the best in the water features they have, it also means Falling Water Creek will be high.  Sometimes, in dryer seasons, the level is low enough you can cross without getting wet.  Most of the year, crossing Falling Water Creek just means your lower legs will get wet, which in itself is enough to keep many from crossing it.  After a good rain, it can flow enough to knock you off your feet.  On my last hike here, it almost did just that.  I got off to a bad start that day, but still hiked the lower half of both hollows and ended up wet but quite happy with my day in the wilderness.

Falls #20

I was impressed enough with both drainages that I vowed to come back and explore the upper half of each valley.  Today, I headed up to hike the upper half of the valley containing Bailey Cole Creek.  Once again, I feel the need to elaborate on terminology and the names of these areas.  There is a Bailey Cole Creek reaching from its headwaters at Highway 16 to where it flows west into Falling Water Creek.  THAT one was my objective today.  It's confusing because there is also a major creek named Bailey Cole Creek with its headwaters directly opposite this one across Highway 16 that flows south down into the Middle Fork of the Illinois Bayou.  The hollow south of my hike today is unnamed, but I call it Bailey Hollow since it contains Bailey Falls.  Still confused?  Look at the topo map at the bottom of this post.  I still plan on exploring the upper half of Bailey Hollow and the Bailey Cole Creek that flows into the Middle Fork, but that will be another day.

Falls #16

So as not to waste a good part of my exploring time bushwhacking up a creek that I had already explored, as well as no doubt soaking myself again in Falling Water Creek, I looked for access from Highway 16.  I found an old Jeep road going right into the middle of the area I wanted to visit today.
(1) To get there from Dover, or points south/east of it, drive to Hector.  From "The Store", drive 3.1 miles north on Hwy 21 and turn left (west) onto OLD Hwy27.  Go 13.9 miles on Hwy 21 and turn right (east) on Hwy 16.  Go 7.4 miles on Hwy 16 and turn left (north) on an old Jeep road.  Go 0.6 miles on the Jeep road and park.

(2) To get there from Pelsor (Sand Gap), or points north/west of it, from the intersection of Hwy 7 and Hwy 16, go east on Hwy 16 for 21.6 miles and turn left (north) onto a Jeep road.  Go 0.6 miles on the Jeep road and park.
By "Jeep road", I mean an old road that is not maintained and is basically just a couple of ruts across the ground wide enough for a vehicle.  This one is in fairly good condition, but if you don't have a 4WD and/or high clearance vehicle, you might want to park just off Highway 16 and walk the extra half mile.  Use your own judgement.

Falls #9

I'll describe the route I took today first, but after I returned to where I parked my FJ Cruiser, I did a little more exploring and I would recommend a slightly different route in the future.  I first headed southwest and down into the major prong of Bailey Cole Creek there.  I immediately found a couple of small waterfalls, Falls #8 (Falls #1 through Falls #7 are in the lower section of Bailey Cole Creek) and Falls #9, in the range of six to ten feet high.  continuing downstream in this prong, I didn't find anything else but one small yet picturesque waterfall until I came to where this prong flowed into Bailey Cole Creek.  There I found Falls #11, a waterfall that flowed over the bluff directly into the main creek.  I had looked a little upstream of Falls #8 and #9 and didn't see any large water features, just more pretty streams and small cascades and waterfalls.  Depending on what you are looking for, you might want to skip this side drainage entirely.  

Falls #12

I found a spot where I could cross Bailey Cole Creek with only getting a little wet, which was a miracle, as much flow as there was today.  The forest service maps show this as a continuously running stream all the way up into the upper reaches of the valley.  With the recent rains, it was more like a river than a creek today.  Weirdly enough, it seemed like there was as much, or maybe even more flow all the way up to the first major fork at the creek's headwaters.  I went downstream to where I had left off on my hike coming up from Falling Water Creek a couple of weeks ago.  Along the way was Falls #12, which flows into a very large pool in the main creek.  Doubling back to hike upstream, I went up on the bluff since there was scant room to hike along the creek with the water being so high and the banks on each side of it being so steep.  Coming off the bluff to where I had found Falls #11, I found the old horse trail and was able to follow it upstream for at least a short distance.

Falls #11

A short distance upstream from Falls #11, I found Falls #13, a nice cascade on Bailey Cole Creek.  Continuing upstream, I came to one of the major side drainages, flowing in from the north.  I hiked up it a distance, but at this elevation, it had a relatively low slope and the high, steep bluffs and narrow channel meant I would need to climb up on the bluff to explore it upstream.  It had a good deal of flow, so it may very well have something worth seeing further upstream.  It extends all the way up to Richland Creek Road (CR-265).  Today, I wanted to make sure I had time to loop all the way up to the top of Bailey Cole Creek, so I left that drainage for another day and continued up the main creek.  Falls #14, and #15 were in a side drainage with Falls #16 directly opposite of them on the south side of the creek.  Falls #16 will be a wet-weather waterfall, I'm sure, but it sure looked nice today, extending all the way up the bluff.

Falls #19

Falls #17 is a two-tiered waterfall in a side drainage, and upstream from it, Falls #18 is a cascade on the main creek that seems to envelop a large rock in the stream bed.  From there, it was about a quarter mile upstream before I came to other water features.  Falls #19 is a beautiful set of cascades flowing over and around large boulders in the creek.  Falls #20 is a fairly large waterfall in the side drainage right next to Falls #19.  Upstream from that, Anniversary Falls (Falls #21) through #26 were all in rapid succession on Bailey Cole Creek itself.  Anniversary Falls was one my wife Bethany instantly took a liking to and is named to commemorate a special anniversary for us.  None of these are very tall, but a large amount of flow and the geometry of the waterfalls make all of the 'photo-worthy'.  These waterfalls were spaced out on the main creek scarcely 100 or 150 feet apart, but the ruggedness of the terrain and obstacles along the creek made it challenging enough to get from one to another.  It seems like I barely got my camera and tripod put away when I needed to get them out again for another shot.  

Falls #26

Upstream from Falls #26, the main creek still had a substantial amount of flow.  The Forest Service Maps show this as a continuously flowing creek almost all the way up to the headwaters near Highway 16.  This is unusual for the Ozarks in that there isn't a lot of drainage area above it to provide a lot of flow.  That being said, I have found that in the Ozarks weird things happen underground with streams of water, and I have seen water pouring out of a spring that had to be forced up somehow to the elevation it was at.  The maps do show a small lake or large pond on some private land above this on the other side of the highway, so that may be a source somehow.  The main creek flowed off from a juncture at this point, and it looked like it had some blufflines that may hold up.  However, I was running out of daylight, and the old logging road shown on the maps that I intended to take for my return to the parking area was shown to be just a few yards up on the bluff.

Falls #22

Just as an aside, don't trust the Forest Service maps.  There was nothing resembling an old trace road anywhere near where the maps showed it to run.  According to the map, the Jeep road I drove in on should have extended around the bluff and up the creek to just a few yards above Falls #26.  It did not.  I set off bushwhacking across the bluff toward the Jeep road I had parked on and never saw a sign of this trace road.  Getting back to the FJ and completing my loop, I decided to do a little more exploring and see just where the road did go.  From where I parked, I started hiking down it.  The road immediately goes to more of a trail, something I would not want to take a vehicle on.  Instead of turning right and going upstream as the map showed, it instead hooked left and went down the face of the bluff downstream toward the creek.  

Falls #23

This was at one time a road of sorts, now it is what I call a trace road.  It was probably cut into the face of the bluff as a mule/horse/wagon road at one point, and eventually, as people abandoned the hollows, the forest took over again.  It probably has progressed to being maybe an ATV trail at one point to just a horse trail, which it does look like it has been used for lately.  It crosses a small drainage and is washed out to the point I wouldn't even want to try taking a side-by-side over, but I have crazy friends that I know would give it a try.  This trail extends a quarter mile down to Bailey Cole Creek, right across the creek from the large prong that I had started going up, but turned back.  

Falls #25

From the parking location to the creek, it only drops in elevation about 200 feet, so this is a nice and easy hiking route to get from the parking spot to the main creek itself.  The small plateau where the trail ends up is fairly open amongst the large trees, a perfect camping or picnic spot if you are looking for such a place away from everyone also on earth.  It will also be a good starting point to hike up and down Bailey Cole Creek, or for me to explore that large drainage.  It was almost dark by this time, but I'll be back to take a look in that hollow.  I didn't travel very far today or have a big minimum-to-maximum elevation difference.  However, you make several climbs into and out of tight spots with steep and slippery bluffs.  Due to the ruggedness of the terrain, the numerous creek crossings, and steep bluff climbs, I would rate this a difficult hike.  Well worth it, but difficult.

Bailey Cole Creek (upper section) GPS track
Red - GPS track today along creek
Green - Jeep road
Purple - Trail to creek level

Entire Bailey Cole Creek area
Red - GPS track today along creek (today's hike)
Green - Jeep road
Purple - Trail to creek level
Orange - GPS track along lower section of creek
Blue - horse trail t Bailey Falls
Yellow - GPS track along Bailey Hollow Creek