1/7/2019 - Punchbowl Falls (aka Dry Creek Falls), Stack Rock Homestead Falls, and Orange Rock Falls
GPS Coordinates: (Latitude, Longitude, Elevation)
Parking Location: 35.86676 -92.92346, 1907 feet
Orange Rock Falls: 35.86970 -92.94310, 1342 feet
ATV trail intersects OHT: 35.86866 -92.94424, 1271 feet
Leave ATV trail for Punchbowl: 35.87295 -92.94035, 1323 feet
Punchbowl Falls: 35.87578 -92.94057, 1066 feet
Stack Rock Homestead Falls: 35.87452 -92.93038, 1527 feet
Old Pioneer homestead site: 35.87441, -92.93116
Pet Friendly: Yes, for the most part. If your dog doesn't climb steep slopes and rocks well, you might want to leave it home for this one. On an earlier trip, I had to help Boomer get out of the Punchbowl Falls bowl.
Hiking Statistics: Quite a bit of this hike is along the Ozark Highlands Trail (OHT), with the hikes down to waterfalls and the half-mile along Dry Creek being bushwhack hikes. I hiked a total of 7.52 miles, with a minimum-to-maximum elevation difference was 924 feet. Most of the climb is on the OHT, which helps, but the bushwhack portions are very rugged terrain, which does not. That climb out raises the difficulty factor on this one. I took approximately six hours on the hike, but a good deal of that time was photo-taking time. My actual moving time was only 2.5 hours. I hiked down to Punchbowl Falls by one route, and what I consider a much easier route on the hike back. Even using that easier route, I would have to rate this as a difficult hike.
GPS files (.gpx format) - See maps at the bottom of this blog post
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| Punchbowl Falls |
I have been to Punchbowl Falls before, and I had written a blog post years ago for the area. After today's trek, however, I read through the old post and realized that so much had changed, a new blog post for the area was way overdue. Not only is the route of the OHT different now, but I actually found a new route today that I think is much easier. I also visited Orange Rock Falls today, so I should share that information. Plus, the last blog post for Punchbowl Falls was almost five years ago. The structure of the blog, and hopefully my writing and photography, have progressed some over the years. Reading that old post, though, I remembered the difficulty Boomer (our German Shepherd) had while climbing up out of the bowl. That was when he was a two-year-old; in his prime, so to speak. I didn't want to have to boost his 110-pound furry butt out again, especially since both of us have aged five years. I also intended to do a little exploring, and I never know if I'll run into a situation that I can climb out of and Boomer can't, so today he stayed at home with Bethany and I set out solo for Punchbowl Falls.
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| Small waterfall upstream of Stack Rock Homestead Falls |
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). Go 1.6 miles on NC5080 and you are at an odd 4-way juncture; this is Iceledo Gap. Go 1.9 miles south of Iceledo Gap on FR-1205 (aka NC-5070) to Dickey Junction. Dickey Junction is
5.0 miles north of the Richland Creek campground, if you are coming from that direction. From Dickey Junction, turn east onto FR-1201 (aka Richland Road or NC-5085). Go three miles on FR-1201 and turn left onto a narrow road. This goes only about a hundred yards to a gate. Stop here and park; there is plenty of room for parking and turning around. This is a trailhead for the Ozark Highlands Trail (OHT).
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| Ozark Highlands Trail Head |
Go around the gate and get on the Ozark Highlands Trail (OHT). There are a couple of old logging roads here, so make sure you get on the trail, not a road. If you are unfamiliar with the OHT, look for the white metal tags loosely nailed to trees. That's how you'll know you are on the OHT. The tags also tell you the direction the trail will turn when you see them mounted at an angle instead of straight up and down.
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| Along the OHT |
From the parking location to the Stack Rock pioneer homestead is only 0.9 miles. It used to be right along the OHT but now is just a spur off of it. Kudos to the architects and constructors of the OHT; everywhere I have been on the OHT, they seem to have found the ideal route through the area. I love hiking the OHT, and today's hike only uses two miles of this segment of the OHT that runs for 165 miles. Due to a landslide that took out a section of the OHT, it is now re-routed to run on the bench ABOVE the old pioneer homestead, effectively bypassing it. The old trail is there and can be followed to the homestead and Stack Rock Homestead Falls. But after that, you have to double back and get back on the NEW OHT or try to bushwhack across the landslide area, which I really do not recommend. It is a mess. The trail will split about a quarter mile from the old homestead so it will add about a half mile to your trip. If you notice, the trail from the OHT to the homestead is not maintained and is marked with blue tags instead of white since this is now just a spur trail and not a through trail.
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| Stack Rock Homestead Falls |
From the parking location to Stack Rock Homestead Falls, the trail parallels the creek that flows over the waterfall. As you get closer to the falls, look back upstream and you can see (in winter/early spring, anyway) where the creek cascades all the way down the hill before it feeds the waterfall. I should have said the hike on the trail to the TOP of Stack Rock Homestead Falls was easy. The Falls is just off the trail on the right. You can't see it from the trail, but you can hear it. Unfortunately, getting to the base of the falls is not as easy. It's a scramble down a steep hillside with a lot of brush, undergrowth, and large rocks. I whine a lot, but it really is a beautiful waterfall and despite not being the easiest to get to, it is worth the effort.
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| Pioneer Homestead |
On the other side of the trail from Stack Rock Homestead Falls is the homestead that I assume the falls were named after. This is at the lower part of the Stack Rock Scenic Area, and there is an old pioneer homestead here, so I'm thinking that's a reasonable assumption. The only thing left of the pioneer home is the fireplace. It's a little surprising the fireplace has stayed mostly intact a century and a half after the rest of the house decayed away to nothing. If you look closely at the rocks in the fireplace, you can see they were dry stacked - no mortar to hold them together. I guess back in the early 1800's it was hard enough to get mules into an area like this even without a wagon. Packing stuff like Portland cement into an isolated area like this was probably out of the question. When they dry stacked this fireplace and chimney, they did a good job. I see a lot of dry stacked fireplaces, chimneys, and fences all over the Ozarks. The old pioneer homestead makes a great flat piece of ground for hikers to camp.
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| View from inside the cave next to Punchbowl Falls |
You can visit the old homestead and waterfall either on the way to or back from Punchbowl Falls. Today, I stopped by there at the end of the hike on my way back. I had actually intended to go there first and bushwhack down the Stack Rock Creek to see what else was there, and then hike up Dry Creek to Punchbowl Falls and return on the OHT to make a big loop. I kind of spaced out, just hiking along on the OHT, and by the time I checked my GPS, I was almost a half mile down the OHT past the homestead site. After refreshing my memory on how bad the terrain and brush is at Stack Rock Homestead Falls, I'm kind of glad it worked out the way it did. I ended up getting back with the sun setting. There's no telling how long that bushwhack might have extended my day.
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| Orange Rock Falls |
Down the OHT from the spur to Stack Rock Homestead, it goes mostly on the level along the tall bluff above the bench the old trail ran on. It starts to zig-zag down into the Dry Creek valley and gets steeper as it cuts through the two major blufflines. Still, it is the Ozark Highlands Trail, and the trail makes for easy hiking. I took a side trip over to the hollow to the left (south) to check out Orange Rock Falls. I believe this was named by John Moore, and a photo of this waterfall taken by him is one of the prettiest I have seen of any waterfall. Today, even though creeks everywhere in the area had gobs of water, for some reason this one did not. I don't know if the rain was that localized, or if the creek in this hollow has just gone more underground, which does happen in the Ozarks. I'll have to come back in the spring to try to catch it running better, and with some greenery. Leaving Orange Rock Falls and returning to the OHT, I came across the point where an ATV trail intersects the OHT (GPS coordinates listed above). I made a mental note that with the direction it ran, it must run along the bench high above Dry Creek, and probably along the best route down the valley.
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| Punchbowl Falls |
I do love the scenery along Dry Creek, however, so for now I decided I would go the tried-and-true way and started downstream. Dry Creek, ironically, is a pretty good flowing stream. While many creeks in Arkansas will go dry in late summer, Dry Creek almost always has water in it. A kayaker told me it is one of the best kayak creeks in Arkansas when the water is way up. As far as hiking, I would have to call it a difficult bushwhack. Going downstream involves some serious rock hopping, crossing from side to side, climbing over boulders, and in some cases climbing up the creek canyon walls. Today, it was high enough that I had to just climb up on the bluff above the creek and bushwhack down from that level. Dry Creek has a plethora of water features one after another, with waterfalls, cascades, water slides, and deep pools all the way downstream. Closer to the falls, the left side goes along a high rock bluff that limits access entirely on that side.
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| Punchbowl Falls |
As you get to within 100 yards of Punchbowl Falls, there are some awesome water features. There is a really nice 'umbrella type' waterfall where the water slides off the rock at a downward angle, with other nice smaller falls around it. Just before it goes over the falls, the creek goes down a long, very fast water slide. Unfortunately, the creek canyon closes up around the creek the last couple of hundred feet as well, to make those features. To get down to them and see them well, you have to climb up the bluff on the right and then go back down to creek level. At the top of Punchbowl Falls, you have to climb back up the bluff on the right side to get downstream of the waterfall. Today, I just stayed up on the bluff and looked down at the creek as I hiked the bluffline.
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| Small waterfall downstream of Punchbowl Falls |
Punchbowl Falls used to be called Dry Creek Falls, but the new name suits it
much better. It is a powerful waterfall for the size of Dry Creek. The more powerful and higher the waterfall, the bigger the pool it carves out for itself at the base of the falls. In this case, Punchbowl Falls goes into a huge emerald pool with steep cliff-like walls on all sides except where the creek runs out downstream. It does indeed look like a punch bowl. The pool and waterfall look spectacular from the top of the cliff around the falls, and most photos I have seen of it is taken from the top of the cliff on one side or another. Getting down to the base of the falls is pretty tricky. It's also dangerous, so use your own judgment and don't go where you have any doubts.
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| View from the downstream access point |
There are a couple of access points I have used, both difficult, steep, and a little dangerous. With the structure of the cliff around the bowl, you still have to go through the bowl to get to the base. Right next to the cave on the right side of the creek as you face downstream, there is a crease where runoff water has cut a crevice down the side of the cliff. I have climbed down this before, but I think a better way is to continue along the edge of the bowl (carefully!) and downstream there is a steep but do-able slope down to the creek level. You can then go upstream to the 'punchbowl', but there are also some nice smaller waterfalls, rapids, and cascades downstream. Dry Creek is still just as pretty downstream of Punchbowl Falls. At the pool, you'll see that you can't just walk around to the base of the falls and the cave due to a steep vertical rock on that side of the pool. You can climb up a bit, grab onto what trees there are, and ease your way over to the cave and base of the waterfall. If you slip, you are going swimming. If it's warm enough that you don't care, heck, just jump in and wade/swim over.
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Punchbowl Falls
Note the steep rock face into the pool |
At the base of the waterfall, you can tell it is an even more special place than it seemed from higher up. Right next to the base of the waterfall is a good sized cave that you can't really see well from up on the bluff. The sound of the water crashing into the pool next to it, coupled with the spectacular view of the pool and creek downstream, makes this simply an awesome spot. As you would expect, you also get a much better view of the waterfall itself from this perspective. This is almost a magical spot, and I tend to dawdle and take photos for a long time while I'm here. It's also good to rest up and get recharged for the hike out because it's a bit of a bushwhack and a pretty good elevation change back to the OHT trailhead. Instead of trying to ease back over to the downstream side of the bowl and climb that steep slope, I chose to climb up the steep slope of the crease by the cave. It's not nice either way, but at least this way I do have rocks to cling to.
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| Punchbowl Falls |
Going back up Dry Creek is as much a bushwhack ordeal as it was going downstream, only now you are going uphill and probably already a little tired. Thinking about it, I decided I didn't really need to see the creek again. If I was going to bushwhack along the top of the bluffline anyway, I might as well bushwhack uphill and try to find that ATV trail. Once you get above the bowl area, there is some rough terrain to traverse going up higher on the bluff, then it becomes more of a steady slope. There is less undergrowth and much fewer rocks and other debris to hike through than there is along the bluffline above the cliff, and you aren't constantly going up and down, just up and up some more. I came upon the ATV trail (GPS coordinates listed above) in less than a quarter mile from Punchbowl Falls with an elevation climb of only about 200 feet. Turning right on the ATV trail and hiking to the OHT was very easy going, mostly on the level.
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| Landslide area where the old OHT route was |
Heading back up to the trailhead and the parking location is much easier on the
OHT, but it is still uphill. As it turns out, it is a lot uphill, with an elevation change of 924 feet and a whole lot of up-and-down climbing, depending on which way you go. On the way back, I went down the old OHT to the landslide area to check it out, then back to the new OHT route, then back down the old OHT to the Stack Rock Homestead and Falls. By the time I finished there, the sun was setting and I hurried back to the parking spot before I had to hike in the dark. I carry a flashlight and headlamp in my pack, but I certainly don't want to have to use them.
I was really tired when I got back to the FJ but exhilarated at having spent another great day in some fantastic and majestic countryside. I had one GPS (my inReach) that said the total was 9.1 miles, and Back Country Navigator on my phone said 7.52 miles. I'll use 7.52 miles for my stats because that's the track I record and use on my topo map system. Keep in mind, I did a fair amount of exploring and looking around. Also, keep in mind that this is a dangerous and remote area. I know one hiker, a very experienced one, that slipped, hit his head and died before the rescue team could get him out. Be very careful, especially if you hike alone as I often do.
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GPS tracks for Punchbowl Falls
Red - Route to Orange Falls and Punchbowl Falls along Dry Creek
Blue - Route back on ATV trail to landslide area, Stack Rock Homestead Falls, and trailhead |
Awesome area, but WOW, it’s definitely remote and really rugged. Used your trek to get there. Definitely not many people visit this place. For those reading this, don’t underestimate this area. While beautiful, it could be weeks, or a few months before someone else hits the falls, so if you get hurt, you are in your own. Again, really beautiful area m.
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