Rock Creek Polyfoss and Car Wash Falls, Arkansas Ozarks

4/12/2014 -  Rock Creek Area and Car Wash Falls

GPS Coordinates: 
  Car Wash Falls:  35.70529, -93.25474
  Parking at 4-Road junction (Piney Creek bridge):  35.73287, -93.27262
  Parking for Big Buck/Deer Trail Falls:  35.75620, -93.27557
  Leave Road for Big Buck Falls:  35.75664, -93.27583
  Leave ATV trail for Big Buck Falls:  35.75595, -93.27041
  Big Buck Falls:  35.75717, -93.26870
  Big Doe Falls:  35.75660, -93.26585
  Leave Road for Deer Trail Falls:  35.75528, -93.27386
  Deer Trail Falls:  35.75530, -93.27187
  Parking for Rock Creek Bluff Falls:  35.74200, -93.27243
  Leave Road for Rock Creek Bluff Falls:  35.74372, -93.27492
  Leave ATV trail for Rock Creek Bluff Falls:  35.74599, -93.26842
  Rock Creek Bluff Falls:  35.74699, -93.26805

Pet Friendly: Yes, no problems for a dog on or off leash.

Motorcycle Friendly: Hahahahahaha.  Sorry.  Let's just leave it at a big fat no.

GPS files:
  GPS track file for hike to Big Buck/Big Doe Falls (.gpx format)
  GPS track file for Rock Creek Bluff Falls (.gpx format)

Big Buck Falls

Woooo-hoooo!  Bethany, Boomer, and I headed out this morning for a remote (VERY remote) part of the Ozarks, along the upper Big Piney Creek.  Actually, this polyfoss area is adjacent to the Piney Bowl Falls area, directly across the Piney Creek.  As you can see from all the GPS coordinates above, we visited a lot of cool waterfalls and will give directions to them that you can't really go wrong with.  If you have a GPS, that is.  If not it's still doable, but c'mon, dudes and dudettes.  If you are serious enough about your hiking to get back into an area like this, you need a handheld GPS.  

This is an incredibly diverse and beautiful area.  There are waterfalls up the wazoo, caves of all sizes, pretty little creeks as well as Piney Creek, which is bigger than most rivers, fascinating blufflines, even a slot canyon and a couple of natural bridges.  The only downside is that the only road through the area is not much of a road.  In fact, calling it a road is kind of generous.  We did see one other truck after the Rock Creek ford, that had pulled a small travel trailer into the area for some camping next to Piney Creek.  The truck looked like a hefty 4X4, but it must have been nerve racking pulling even a small camp trailer.  That was the only other vehicle in the area, however.  For a warm, sunny Saturday in pristine country such as this, that tells you a little about how difficult it is to get into the area.  Our Ford Explorer managed it just fine, but it was a slow 5 mph drive and we put it in 4-wheel drive for fording across Hurricane Creek and Rock Creek.  

The only entry point into this area that I know of is going north on FR-1002 (aka City Road 311, aka Newton County NC-7470).  You used to be able to drive south on this road from Limestone, but my understanding is that this route is still closed from a landslide in 2011.  There are at least three ways I know of to get to this entry point, however.  The entry point to the area is at an old single lane concrete bridge over Piney Creek where FR-1002 and FR1202 intersect.  This intersection/entry point is near the border of Newton and Johnson counties, so the FR-1002 and FR-1202 change county road numbers as they cross county lines. FR-1002 (aka NC-7470) runs north from this intersection, FR-1002 (aka Johnson County CR-5881) goes south from it, FR-1202 (aka NC-7471) goes west over the bridge, and FR-1202 (aka Parker Ridge Road or NC-7410) goes east from the bridge.  

To get into the Rock Creek area you have three route choices, depending on where you are coming from and what type of vehicle you have:

  1) From the community of Deer on Highway 16, drive south on FR-1202 (Parker Ridge Road/NC-7410) for 11.7 miles.

  2) From Pelsor (Sand Gap) drive west on Highway 123 for 11.1 miles (to just before the bridge over Piney Creek), then turn right on FR-1002 (CR-5881) for another 5.6 miles.

  3) From Pelsor (Sand Gap) drive west for 16.0 miles (3.3 miles past Haw Creek Campground), then turn right on FR-1003 (CR-5741) for 5.7 miles, then turn right on FR-1202 (CR-5680), then go another 5.1 miles to the entry point.  Note that the road name changes to NC-7471 the last 1.3 miles, after you enter Newton County.

We traveled in on Route #2, and returned on Route #3.  The disadvantage of Routes #1 and #3 are that they are longer; about 11 miles of gravel road.  The disadvantage of Route #2 is that you have to ford Hurricane Creek about 1.7 miles after you turn off Highway 123.  When we got to Hurricane Creek this morning it was running a little high, with about 50 feet of creek we had to ford.  We almost turned back at this point, but we could see the rocks on the creek bottom all the way across and it appeared to be only about six inches deep at most.  Beware - appearances are deceiving.  It was a little deeper and swifter than we thought, but we were in a FORD Explorer, so surely we could FORD (haha) across this creek.  

Car Wash Falls

The advantages of going on Route #2 are that it is shorter, it is a very scenic drive along Piney Creek, and you get to see another waterfall along the way that is quite unique.  At 2.8 miles after you turn off Highway 123 you will drive through Car Wash Falls.  Literally, you drive through it.  The waterfall spills over a rock ledge 21 feet above the road, directly onto the road bed.  As I told Bethany, leave it to old fashioned Redneck ingenuity to get a car wash miles from electricity and running water.  Just build the road under the waterfall.  To give a little credit to the architects of this road, they really had no other choice.  This was about the only place to squeeze the road between the sheer rock bluffline and Piney Creek.  There is obviously no hiking involved, but it is worth seeing at least once.  If you can't ford Hurricane Creek, you should consider driving the 2.8 miles south from our Rock Creek area entry point.

Where you ford Rock Creek

Once you get to our entry point for the Rock Creek area, drive north on FR-1002 for 0.6 miles and you will find an area to park and camp right before the road crosses Rock Creek.  Beware - if you have a vehicle that doesn't have decent ground clearance, you might want to just park back at the parking area on the west side of FR-1002 at the bridge (i.e. back at our entry point).  Once you get to Rock Creek, you have a choice to make.  If your vehicle can ford Rock Creek, you can do so and drive another mile to park close to trail heads for both Big Buck Falls and Deer Trail Falls.   If not, stay parked here where it is safe, cross Rock Creek on foot, and hike the extra mile each way.  We had already forded Hurricane Creek successfully so heck, we figured little old Rock Creek would be easy.  It was easy, but again surprised us by being deeper than the six inches it appeared to be.  Rock Creek was only about 15 feet across at the road, so I put it in 4-wheel drive and crossed successfully.

FR-1002 - You Have Been Warned!

Once across Rock Creek, the road did not get any better.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  This is a very rough road, so if you don't like beating up your suspension and driving about 5 mph, you might want to just park back before Rock Creek and walk anyway.  Next time, I'll probably do that.  An extra two miles of hiking won't kill us.  Whoever named NC-7470 "City Road 311" had quite the sense of humor.  There isn't a city within a hundred miles and even Detroit has better city roads than this. 

However you get there, this is a fantastic area to explore.  It is National Forest, not Wilderness Area, so ATV's are allowed.  The FR-1002 road runs right along the wonderfully scenic Piney Creek.  Piney Creek is as misnamed as City Road 311.  This section of the Ozarks is mostly hardwoods, and it is way too large to be called a creek.  It is wider and has more water flow than most rivers I know of.  As FR-1002 runs along Piney Creek, there will be a large bluffline on the right (east side), and above that yet another large bluffline with a wide bench between the two blufflines.  As you might guess, the abundance of feeder creeks into Piney Creek coupled with the blufflines they have to run over means there is an abundance of waterfalls, or a polyfoss area.  

As you go that mile down FR-1002 you cross a number of smaller creeks.  If you look toward the bluffline, you can see some nice waterfalls on these from the road.  A little over a mile from Rock Creek, you will ford a larger creek.  This is the creek downstream of Deer Trail Falls, Big Buck Falls, and Big Doe Falls.  This creek flows into Piney Creek at a big bend.  Continue around this bend in Piney Creek, and there is a pull-off loop on the left where you can park.

Big Buck Falls - with Bethany and Boomer

We decided to go to Big Buck Falls first as it is the steepest and longest of the hikes we were planning on today and wanted to tackle it while we were freshest.  From where we parked, we went north on FR-1002 another couple hundred yards to where an ATV road goes off to the right (east).  The GPS coordinates for where you leave the road are listed above, but it is fairly obvious where the ATV trail is.  Follow this trail up the hill, bending around to the right as it climbs, and it will take you up above the lower bluffline to the bench between the two blufflines.  Keep following this trail past a couple of smaller drainages that may or may not have water flowing.  But remember the amount of water in the creek you forded before the parking location; that's the major drainage you are looking for.  When you cross this major drainage, leave the ATV trail to the left.  The GPS coordinates for where you leave the trail are also listed above, so if you have a GPS you can't go wrong.  When you turn left off the trail, it is only a 0.13 mile bushwhack up to Big Buck Falls and Big Doe Falls, but it is a little steep.  Stay to the right as you go upstream and try to stay as high above the creek as you can on the way up.  When you get up close to the bluffline, the creek splits.  The larger feeder goes off to the left and Big Buck Falls.  The smaller feeder creek to the right goes to Big Doe Falls.  If you stayed above the creek level 30 yards or so, you should be right between them and can see both falls from the same point in between.  

Big Doe Falls

We went to Big Doe Falls first to check it out, as it was actually somewhat of a surprise to us.  This waterfall was not mentioned or even on the map in Tim Ernst's Arkansas Waterfalls book.  I made a mental note to contact Tim with this information for his next edition.  As far as we knew it was not only unnamed, but we could find no mention of it anywhere.  So in keeping with the naming theme of the other waterfalls in this drainage, we named it Big Doe Falls.  Big Doe Falls is not as big or powerful as Big Buck Falls, but is a pretty little waterfall nonetheless, about 19 feet high.

We then went back to the left along the bluff to Big Buck Falls, a beautiful 62 foot waterfall.  It falls over the bluffline to the pool below, then immediately the creek flows out of the pool and through a cave to the creek below.  I think technically they call features like this a natural bridge.  The creek flows through a tunnel or cave large enough to walk through.  We spent a lot of time enjoying this area, and chose to hike back down as close to the creek as we could.  This is a pretty little creek with a number of smaller waterfalls and cascades.

Back on the ATV trail, we went back to the car the way we had come.  It was time for lunch, so we went down to Piney Creek just below where we had parked to a nice sandy area and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Piney Creek while we ate.  After lunch, it was time to get back on the trail.  We headed back south of the car about half way around the bend to where our waterfall creek flows into Piney Creek and turned left (east) off the road.  The GPS coordinates for this turn off of FR-1002 are also listed above.  

Deer Trail Falls

We followed the creek on the left side, keeping close to the creek.  This is not that steep a climb, and is only about a tenth of a mile upstream to Deer Trail Falls.  This is a 55 foot waterfall that starts with a short cascade at the top, then flows out over a huge overhang.  The overhang extends around the whole grotto the waterfall flows into, making a very large shelter cave.  There is a trail running through this cave behind the waterfall with bazillions of deer tracks.  Now you know why they named this Deer Trail Falls.

After leaving Deer Trail Falls, it was time to load up in the Explorer and head back to Rock Creek.  There is a plethora of interesting things to see here.  Virtually every creek has a nice waterfall where it goes over one of the two major blufflines.  There are caves, picturesque canyons, huge boulders the size of a barn, and just all around beautiful scenery.  The ATV trail we took to get to Big Buck Falls continues on the bench between the two big blufflines for a couple of miles, all the way back above Rock Creek.  Vic's Hidden Falls is a 33 foot waterfall on the same creek as Rock Creek Bluff Falls, and this ATV trail will take you around so you can get to it.  You can easily spend three or four days exploring the area.  But today we had dawdled too much and needed to head back if we were going to have time to visit Rock Creek Bluff Falls.

Rock Creek Bluff Falls

We drove back to Rock Creek, going painfully slow by necessity but enjoying the scenery along Piney Creek.  After fording Rock Creek again and parking at the camp area along the south side of the creek, we headed back over the creek.  I even managed to keep my socks dry by a significant display of balance while rock hopping!  It occurred to me AFTER we had forded the creek again that maybe we should have parked on the north side of the creek until after hiking to Rock Creek Bluff Falls. At any rate, I didn't want to tempt fate by fording it two more times.

Going back north on the FR-1002 road, look for an ATV road going uphill to the right, about 200 yards from the creek.  Take this ATV trail up, and it goes to the right on the bench below the first bluffline and above Rock Creek.  It swings back to the left above Rock Creek directly across from where we parked.  Take the ATV trail until it turns to the right and goes downhill to Rock Creek.  Where it turns right, you turn left and go directly back toward the bluffline, just a couple hundred feet.   You can see the waterfall to the right, and there is a trail along the base of the bluff to take you down to the base of the Rock Creek Bluff Falls.  This is another really pretty waterfall, 47 feet high, that flows out over a very large overhang into the pool below.

Shelter Cave in Rock Creek Bluffline

The hike to Rock Creek Bluff Falls is only a half mile from the FR-1002 road, and I would have to call it an easy hike.  There is only a very short bushwhack from the ATV trail, and it is a pretty easy one.  On the return hike, we took a little more difficult route along the base of the bluffline.  There is a trail of sorts here, and it is moderately easy hiking most of the way.  This is a huge, scenic bluff and has a couple of large shelter type caves along the way.  After the second cave, there is a section of forest below with primarily large pines and no undergrowth to speak of.  You can bushwhack back to the ATV trail anytime before the bluffline bends back to the north, but that is as good a place as any.  Once back on the ATV trail, we continued back to the road and back to where we parked by Rock Creek.  

House Sized Boulders along Rock Creek

This part of Rock Creek is a nice area to explore as well.  The ATV trail we were on to get to Rock Creek Bluff Falls continues on for over a mile and will take you to even more feeder creeks and waterfalls.  Just upstream of the flat area where you can camp, Rock Creek seems to just disappear for a hundred feet or so.  It goes back into some kind of cave system and comes out in a large pool right next to the camping spot. 

Highway 123 Falls

All in all, another great day out in the wilderness with my beautiful wife and our faithful canine hiking buddy.  You can't really ask for anything more in a very enjoyable day.  But we did a little more anyway.  We headed back home west over the bridge on Route #3 so we wouldn't have to ford Hurricane Creek.  This takes us back to Highway 123 only three miles from Highway 123 Falls, so we stopped by there as well since "we were right in the area and it's just off the highway".   That's one of my favorite excuses for stopping at waterfalls, along with "it's right on our way home and you can drive right up to it".  After visiting Highway 123 Falls, that was my excuse for stopping at Haw Creek Falls as well.  Those two were quick stops and always enjoyable, but it was getting late and we were getting hungry.  We left Haw Creek for home and dinner.  

GPS Track for Big Buck Falls

Highway 123 Falls, Haw Creek Falls, Arkansas Ozarks

4/9/2014 -  Highway 123 Falls and Haw Creek Falls

GPS Coordinates: 
  
  Highway 123 Falls: 35.61908, -93.29014
  Haw Creek Falls:  35.67782, -93.25520

Pet Friendly: Yes, for the most part.  If you can't trust your dog not to run out on the highway and get run over, you might want to keep it on a leash after parking for Highway 123 Falls.

Motorcycle Friendly: Yes.  Park right off the paved road for Highway 123 Falls, and at Haw Creek Campground for Haw Creek Falls.  I have taken my Harley there several times.

Highway 123 Falls

After spending the day hiking in the Piney Bowl area, we decided we would treat ourselves to some of the very easy-to-get-to waterfalls in the immediate area.  We thought it would be kind of cool to just drive up to a couple of waterfalls.  Highway 123 Falls is, just as you would imagine, right off Highway 123.  Likewise, the Haw Creek Campground is right next to Haw Creek Falls.  We were a little tired from the day's hike, but these two falls are pretty much no effort and all reward.

To get to Highway 123 Falls, we only had to turn off CR-5741 and go another couple of miles.  The parking area on Highway 123 is next to Little Piney Creek, and is a big parking pulloff right between the highway and the creek.  It is nine miles north of Hagerville on Highway 123, or 18.9 miles south of Pelsor/Sand Gap on the same highway. 

From the parking area, face the highway and you will see a large concrete culvert going under the highway on the right.  This culvert is for the creek feeding Highway 123 Falls.  Go across the highway, and head up the little creek canyon.  There is a path of sorts, and it is pretty easy hiking.  The waterfall is only a tenth of a mile up the creek canyon, and you can see it soon after you start hiking from the highway.  More often than not, the creek bed is dry close to the highway.  Never fear, though; this creek, like many in the Ozarks, disappears into the rock and goes underground.  It was dry near the highway today and as you can see in the photo, there was still plenty of water going over the waterfall.

Haw Creek Falls

Getting to Haw Creek is just as easy.  From the parking area at Little Piney 
Creek, it is only six miles north on Highway 123, or 12.9 miles south of Pelsor/Sand Gap on Highway 123.  You can't miss it - there is a large sign on the highway.  After turning into the campground road, you immediately cross Haw Creek.  The road is concrete where the creek flows over it so there is no problem with traction, but it is subject to flash flooding during heavy rains.  If you can't see the roadbed under the water, don't try to cross.  Yes, this includes you, guy in the big 4X4.  It's embarrassing to have to call a tow truck for your decked out off road vehicle.  The campground is about a third of a mile down this road, which is well maintained by the forest service.  Haw Creek Falls is literally next to the campground.  

These two falls are always nice to go look at.  Today, we had both all to

Haw Creek Falls - with Photo Boomer

ourselves.  You hardly ever see anyone at Highway 123 Falls, probably because they just don't know it is there and is so very easy to get to.  During the summer Haw Creek Campground is popular, but I have never seen it full.  It is a primitive campground without electricity and running water.  But what a view right outside the door of your tent or RV!  Pack Rat Falls is also accessible about a quarter mile from the back of this campground, but today we were running out of daylight so we chose not to go there and just loaded up and headed home.  These two waterfalls provided a perfect cap to an awesome day of hiking.

Piney Bowl Falls (5), Arkansas Ozarks

4/9/2014 -  Piney Bowl Falls and four other waterfalls

GPS Coordinates: 
  Parking Location:  35.74915, -93.28691
  Piney Bowl Falls:  35.75190, -93.27895
  South Piney Falls:  35.74896, -93.27912
  Lower Piney Falls:  35.75208, -93.28068
  Middle Piney Falls:  35.75240, -93.28144
  Upper Piney Falls:  35.75243, -93.28190

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.

Motorcycle Friendly: No.  No, no, no.  This road is not suitable for street bikes.

GPS files:
  GPS track file for hike to Piney Bowl Falls (.gpx format)
  GPS track file for return hike to parking location (.gpx format)

Piney Bowl Falls

Since we took the easy way out yesterday and went to North Fork, which was a relatively easy drive and not much hiking at all, we thought we would challenge ourselves today and go to Piney Bowl Falls.  This is not an easy hike, just due to the steepness of the terrain and the fact that it is all bushwhack and no trail.  This is also not an easy drive.  It is about 15 miles of gravel road that was not in very good condition.  It is drive-able in a normal car, but it took me about an hour and a half to go those 15 miles due to water filled potholes and such.   It is a difficult hike due to the steepness of the terrain, but it's also not too bad as far as undergrowth goes.

What's the best way to get there?  I would have to say by canoe or kayak.  Piney Creek is very close to these waterfalls, and if you float the upper reaches and have a GPS to tell you when you are close, it is only about 200 yards from Piney Creek to Piney Bowl Falls.  Unfortunately, that sounds fun but isn't going to be an option for most of us.  And as I said before, it isn't an easy drive.  One note on waterfall names for this blog entry - the only waterfall we visited today that actually has a name is Piney Bowl Falls, the largest of the five we will discuss.   But I hate to keep calling beautiful waterfalls "Unnamed Falls #x", so when I discuss them today I will call the large one in the drainage south of the Piney Bowl drainage South Piney Falls.  There are three nice waterfalls above Piney Bowl Falls that I will call Lower, Middle, and Upper Piney Falls.  A printout of the GPS track showing our route to visit all five waterfalls is at the bottom of this post.

From the community of Pelsor (Sand Gap), go 16.2 miles south on Highway 123 then turn right onto FR-1003, aka Johnson County CR-5741.  This is 3.3 miles past the Haw Creek Campground.  If you are coming from the other direction on Highway 123, this junction is 10.5 miles north of Hagerville.  Zero your odometer trip meter when you turn north on FR-1003 and here are your subsequent landmarks:
  5.6 miles - Turn left on CR-5680 (still FR-1003, just a different Johnson County Road)
  7.7 miles - Turn right onto FR-1004 (CR-5661)
  9.3 miles - The road name changes to NC-7460 as you enter Newton County (still FR-1004)
  13.4 miles - Turn right onto FR-1004D/NC-7490
  15.1 miles - Stop at the gate.  This is the parking location.

Parking Location

The entire hike today was a bushwhack, except for a short piece of old logging road.  From the parking location, go down the old logging road on the other side of the gate for about a hundred yards.  Then turn left and bushwhack straight down the hill.  You cross another old logging road in about 50 yards.  You are going to cross over this and keep going downhill, but you might want to mark where you crossed this lower logging road as you will be able to come back on it when you return.  Continue to bushwhack straight downhill east, toward Piney Creek.  Staying on top of the ridgeline as well as possible, you can go down through an upper bluffline fairly easily.  As you continue to go downhill, you come to another, more sheer, bluffline.  This is the bluffline that both Piney Bowl Falls, to your left, and South Piney Falls, to your right, fall over.  Just a few yards downhill from where the drainage to your right sends South Falls over the bluffline, there is a break in the bluffline that lets you cut down toward the base of South Piney Falls.  Boomer, our German Shepard, has become very adept at finding paths where we want to go.  I'm not sure how, since his eyes are only a couple of feet above the ground, but it comes in handy.

South Piney Falls

So with Boomer leading the way, we made our way down to South Piney Falls.  This is a really nice 37 foot high waterfall in a rugged, picturesque setting.  I always find it hard to believe little gems like this don't even have a name.  In this case, I suppose it is partly because this is such a remote area.  You can always tell those areas people just don't visit.  There are no cigarette butts, no human tracks or traces, no flagging that other hikers and campers left to mark the way.  Nothing but scenic, raw, Arkansas Ozarks at their finest.

From South Piney Falls, we made our way around the bluffline north, to the right if you are facing South Piney Falls.  This bluffline is 70 to 100 feet high and quite a view just in itself.  Following the base of the bluffline around will lead you right into Piney Bowl Falls.  Boomer and I did explore around a little here, and found a sizable cave formed by two huge rock slabs that were forced together by some event in the past.

Piney Bowl Falls

Piney Bowl Falls is awesome.  This is just one of the most serene, relaxing locations on the face of the earth.  One of the things I have noted in my hiking is that God seems to put the most beautiful pieces of nature where it is hardest for folks to get to them.  I suppose the effort it takes to get there makes it that much more special.  The falls are 64 feet high, and fall into a bowl formed by very large boulders surrounding the base of the waterfall.  As with almost all waterfalls, the beauty cannot be adequately captured in mere photos.  You really have to be there to get the full effect, and that goes double for this particular waterfall.  

We spent a good deal of time at Piney Bowl Falls, and could have spent all day there just soaking in the scenery.  After eating lunch and resting up, we headed back on the return leg of the hike.  

Lower Piney Falls

We wanted to visit the waterfalls above Piney Bowl, so we had to somehow get above that imposing bluffline.  If you continue on around the bluffline to the right as you are facing the falls, right after you round the corner coming out of Piney Bowl, you will notice a large crack in the bluffline ahead.  This is your path up and over to the top of the bluffline.  With Boomer leading the way again, we ascended through this crack.  It actually is filled with rocks you can sort of stair step up.  It is steep, but is the only way to get back above the bluffline that I could find.  As it turned out, Boomer went right up with no problem and I found it wasn't all that bad as well. 

Once back atop the bluffline, we cut back over to the creek that feeds Piney Bowl Falls.  That's right where you will find Lower Piney Falls, a nice little double waterfall.  Continuing upstream, I found it easiest to just go rock hopping directly up the creek.  The creek canyon walls were somewhat steep, so going up the creek was just easier to maintain footing.  The creek itself is very scenic and picturesque, with several small waterfalls and cascades.  
Upstream we found the Middle Piney Falls, a rock shelf type waterfall.  Going even further upstream, we found what I'm calling Upper Piney Falls.  This one is actually a continuous series of waterfalls, with a large cascade coming over the upper bluffline, falling down the rock wall face, going into about a ten foot waterfall, then dropping through a number of smaller falls.  This is very pretty and somewhat unique, and again I have to wonder how water features like this remain unnamed.  

Upper Piney Falls

We climbed up the series of falls for Upper Piney Falls, eventually finding a way up to the base of the ten foot fall.  From there, we had to find a way above this upper bluffline, so I did what I normally do; tell Boomer to find a way, then follow him.  Going along the bluffline to the right, we came to a break in the bluffline we could make our way up.  From there, we went back over to the creek again above where it flows down the rock face.  Upstream just a little, we found a short cascade Boomer used as a water slide.  I think he slipped and slid down it but he claims it was all on purpose, just a dog having a little fun.

At any rate, from here it is still a little climb up out of the creek canyon to the shelf below where we parked.  Upstream a little more, the creek splits into two tributaries, and we went up the spur right between these two.  It is a steep climb up no matter which way you go, but the ridgeline of this spur seemed the most gradual slope we could take.  Above the creek canyon, we ran into that second logging road that we crossed over on the way down to South Piney Bowl.  Turn left onto this logging road and you can take it back over to where you initially crossed it, then cut back uphill retracing the route you came down from the parking location to get back to your vehicle.  The lower logging road is mostly on the level so it was nice to have a little easy hiking after the steep, rugged terrain we had been hiking through.

All in all, this was a fantastic day in the wilderness.  We got a little exercise and got to see some of the most wonderful scenery the Ozarks has to offer.  My GPS track totalled almost three miles and right at two hours.  As you can tell from my track (below), that included a lot of exploring and roaming around.  This one is definitely on my list to visit again.

GPS Track

Dogwood Falls, Upper Richland Wilderness, Arkansas

4/9/2014 -  Dogwood Falls

GPS Coordinates: 
  Parking Location:  35.84551, -92.98397
  Dogwood Falls:  35.84978, -9298455.

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.

Motorcycle Friendly: No.  This road is not suitable for street bikes.

GPS files:
  GPS track file for hike to Dogwood Falls (.gpx format)

Dogwood Falls (37 ft)

Boomer and I were packing up and leaving our hike to Punchbowl Falls and Stacked Rock Homestead Falls, but it was only mid-afternoon.  Dogwood Falls was "right on the way" (excuse #2) and was "pretty close anyway" (excuse #1), so we decided to stop and check it out.  We do need to enhance our repertoire of excuses, though.

Dogwood Falls is fairly close to where you park for Sandstone Castles or Twin Falls.  Right between the two, in fact.  From Iceledo Gap, go .4 miles west on FR-1205 and there is a spot on the right (north side) of FR-1205 where you can pull off the road and park.  If you are not familiar with this area, you can get detailed directions on my post for my hike to Twin Falls.  It can be referenced here.  If coming from the other direction, go 1.1 miles east of the junction of FR-1200 and FR-1205 and park on your left.

The hike to Dogwood Falls is only a half mile, but that does not make it an easy hike.  Going directly back from the road, you crest the hilltop and then it gets steep.  Keep going down hill until you reach the creek, then just follow it downstream.  You should not be very far upstream of the waterfall.  There is an inordinate amount of undergrowth on the bottom half of the slope, including a lot of briers.  Aaaaarrrrgh!  Making our way through the briers with an appropriate amount of whining and sniveling, we got to the creek and stayed pretty much in the creek bed as we went downstream to avoid the undergrowth.  The creek feeding Dogwood Falls is a typical Ozark mountain creek, beautiful and fun to just walk along.  This creek is actually the headwaters of East Fork Cave Creek, which runs into Cave Creek near Bass.

East Fork Cave Creek

Be careful approaching the top of the falls.  It seems to appear out of nowhere and in typical Ozark waterfall fashion, it has a sandstone ledge all around the box canyon it spills over into a pool 37 feet below.  If you cross the creek upstream of the falls, then go along the cliff to the left as you face downstream, you will find a break in the bluffline that you can follow right down to the base of the falls.  

My whole desire to see the falls today was based on the fact that we had seen dogwoods blooming all throughout other parts of the Ozarks, including on nearby Dry Creek earlier today.  Upstream along the creek, there had been many dogwoods and redbuds blooming, but here at Dogwood Falls itself there were none.  I did notice some dogwood trees, but they were just starting to bud out.  

No dogwoods at the falls, but Dogwood Falls itself is a beautiful waterfall in a great setting.  I would have to rate this as a difficult bushwhack due to the steepness of the terrain, the undergrowth, and especially the briers.  If you can catch it when the dogwoods actually are blooming, it might provide a unique photography moment.  But otherwise, I would not recommend it.  There are plenty of other waterfalls, such as Fern Falls and Lonesome Hollow Falls, that are about the same size, about the same hiking distance, easier driving and parking, and are a much easier hike.

North Fork Road Falls (2), Arkansas Ozarks

4/8/2014 -  Waterfalls right off North Fork Road

GPS Coordinates: 
  North Fork Road South Falls:  35.57046, -93.01993
  North Fork Road North Falls:  35.57612, -93.01894

Pet Friendly: Yes.  Easy for pets off leash, doable with pets on leash

Motorcycle Friendly: Not acceptable for me, your opinion may differ.  It is about ten miles of gravel road that is pretty good road as far as forest service roads go, but still a little rough going that long on a big road bike.  I have a Harley Electraglide, which is fairly heavy.  If you have a lighter bike and don't mind going slow it is doable.

South Falls, with my favorite photo Boomer

I didn't have a whole lot of time before a storm front was supposed to come through, so Boomer and I thought we would head out to the North Fork Road Falls.  This is two separate waterfalls on different drainages into the North Fork of the Illinois Bayou.  They just happen to be right off the road and super easy to get to.  They are only 24 miles from our house, so even with the nature of forest service roads being what they are, we could make it out there and back in less than three hours easily.

To get there, go to the community of Scottsville, between Dover and Hector on Highway 27.  At Scottsville, turn north on Highway 164, and reset your odometer.  Here are your landmarks on the route after turning onto Highway 164:
  1.5 miles - Cross the bridge over the Illinois Bayou.
  2.9 miles - Highway 164 turns into Granny Gap 1 Road (bear right onto Granny Gap Road).
  3.7 miles - The pavement ends and Granny Gap 1 Road turns into a gravel road.
  4.7 miles - Cross the bridge over the North Fork of the Illinois Bayou.
  5.1 miles - Turn left onto FR-1310, aka North Fork Road.
  5.8 miles - Go straight through the intersection with Adams Mountain Road and stay on North Fork Road.
  13.8 miles - North Fork Road South Falls ("South Falls")
  14.4 miles - North Fork Road North Falls ("North Falls")

South Falls (33 ft)

Just after crossing the creek that feeds South Falls, park on the side of the road.  Make sure you leave enough room for another vehicle to get around you.  This road is not used much and the odds are very slim you will ever see anyone else on the road.  I was on or near the road for about two hours and never saw anyone else on the road.  

You can actually see South Falls from the road, just below the road a few yards.  At least today we could, with Spring coming but no foliage to speak of yet.  But as with any waterfall, you need to get to the base of it to get the full effect.  On the north side of South Falls, there is a break in the bluffline allowing you to get down to the base of the falls.  It is very steep, and loose leaves make it somewhat treacherous, so be careful.

Unnamed Falls South of South Falls

Back down the road on the south side of the falls, the bluffline has no breaks to get down to the South Falls. There is, however, another creek that feeds into the South Falls creek.  This creek also has a nice waterfall about 30 yards below the road.  Similar to South Falls, this is a very steep slope.

Getting back on North Fork Road, we proceeded on another 0.6 miles to North Falls.  Right at the bend in the road where it crosses the creek feeding North Falls is a good place to park. 

North Falls (53 ft)

The road here is a little wider, providing plenty of room on the off chance another vehicle comes along.  North Falls is also just a few yards below the road, but is hidden a little better than South Falls and can't be seen very well from the road.  For North Falls, the best way to get down to the base of the waterfall is on the south side.  

Cascade below North Falls

Once down at the base of North Falls, there is a pretty little cascade that extends down the creek for quite a way.  Be careful around this.  As Boomer and I found out, it is a lot slicker than it looks.  It flows over basically smooth rock and is like a water slide.  Boomer has the advantage of 4-paw drive and it even caught him by surprise.  He slipped and slid, but finally made it back to firm footing before it carried him downstream.  

Climbing back up out of the North Falls canyon back to the road, don't stop quite yet.  Just above the road is another nice little double waterfall.  In fact, we could see this waterfall from where we parked.  We climbed the few yards up to this waterfall as well.  

Unnamed Falls above North Falls

We called it a day after seeing the water features at North Falls.  After Boomer loaded up, we headed for home.  We had plenty of time to see all there was to see and enjoy some Arkansas natural beauty, and still got back home just 2.5 hours from when we left.  This part of the Ozarks is not that far from where we live, but seems very remote.  It's amazing how far you can get from civilization just a few miles off the beaten track.  If you are looking for some waterfalls you can see with very little hiking, this may be just what you need in a very scenic part of the Ozarks.  But then, what part of the Ozarks isn't beautiful?

Penhook Polyfoss, Penhook Special Interest Area, Arkansas

4/1/2014 - Penhook Falls and several other waterfalls

GPS Coordinates: 
  Parking for Penhook Area: 35.56015, -92.94792
  Penhook Falls:  35.56745, -92.95155
  Concrete Slab Falls:  35.56598, -92.95191
  Unnamed Falls #2:  35.56536, -92.95083
  Waterslide Falls:  35.56548, -92.95083
  Unnamed Falls #4:  35.57077. -92.95276
  Unnamed Falls #5:  35.57108. -92.95250
  Unnamed Falls #6:  35.57106, -92.95213
  Hitchhiker Falls:  35.56735, -92.95709
  Unnamed Falls #8:  35.56463,  -92.95061
  Unnamed Falls #9:  35.56364,  -92.95608

Pet Friendly: Yes.  Easy for pets off leash, doable with pets on leash

Motorcycle Friendly: Marginally acceptable.  It is two miles down a gravel road, but the road is usually maintained fairly well.  If you ride slowly and watch out for potholes, it should be fine.

Penhook Falls

My lovely wife was busy today preparing for her annual yard sale.  Neither Boomer (my faithful canine companion) nor I really cared to be around for that and certainly didn't want to be put to work.  So we loaded up in the Explorer and headed out towards Hector to do some exploring.  Our goal today was to find all the waterfalls we could in the Penhook polyfoss area.

Penhook is designated as a SIA (Special Interest Area).  While it was considered for Wilderness Area designation back in the 1980's, it missed the cut for whatever reason.  The Forest Service uses the SIA designation for areas that "are managed for their unique geological, botanical, biological, zoological, scenic, or cultural features. These features are unique enough that they are not found in large areas anywhere in the Forests".  The Penhook SIA is supposedly special for both geological and botanical reasons.

Getting there is fairly easy.  Take Highway 27 north of Hector for 5.5 miles and

Turn left off Highway 27 here

turn left on FR-1376, aka Middle Fork Road.  This turn will be about 9.3 miles from the Bayou Bluffs campground, and is right before the bridge over the Middle Fork of the Illinois Bayou.  If you cross the bridge, you have gone too far.  Follow FR-1376 all the way to its end, 2.2 miles from Highway 27.  This is a gravel road that goes right next to the Middle Fork of the Illinois Bayou, as picturesque a river as there is.  About 1.6 miles down FR-1376, it fords across Snow Creek.  Today it was only was only three or four inches deep, so we had no trouble crossing the creek.  If you go when the water level is too high to cross, there is a short loop there to park out of the way and you can hike the last half mile of road.

After parking at the end of the road, take the trail straight out from the parking

Park Here

location.  I think it was originally a four wheeler trail, judging from the width of the track.  It looked like it had been some time since it had seen a four wheeler, not all winter at least.  This trail parallels Penhook Hollow Creek, and is mostly on the level at this point.  You will pass where another old track from higher on the mountain merges with the trail, cross over a very small drainage that is dry except when there is a lot of runoff, and another larger drainage that usually has water in the creek.  

Boomer and I explored this creek, going all the way down to where it flows into Penhook Hollow Creek.  It goes over a rock bluffline as it goes into the creek, forming a nice little falls.  Unfortunately, I could not find a safe way down to the main creek level.  If I had thought of it at the time, I probably could have saved some time by following Penhook Hollow Creek upstream above the bench until I got to that first waterfall.  But I didn't think of it, and neither did Boomer.  At least he wasn't talking about it.  So we went back up the feeder creek to the four wheeler trail and continued on down the trail to the next drainage, which has a little larger creek.  

Concrete Slab Falls

This second creek is still only about a half mile down the trail from the parking location.  Following this second creek downstream, you come to a nice little waterfall just before it flows into Penhook Hollow Creek.  In fact, from the main creek you can look back upstream and see this waterfall, Unnamed Falls #1.  As bushwhacks go, it is not that bad once you get off the trail.  There is not much undergrowth, and none of the briers and brambles that I can't stand.

Unnamed Falls #2

Going downstream on Penhook Hollow Creek from that juncture, we came to a couple of nice waterfalls, Unnamed Falls #3 and #2, with a slot canyon between them.  For the downstream falls, I again failed to find a safe way down the cliff to get to the creek level.  I took the photos here from above the falls.  I was able to get down to the main creek level between these two waterfalls, however.  I had to scramble down a steep slope and drop about four feet from the lowest ledge I could find there.  I told Boomer to STAY while I was down there taking photos, and he did for about ten minutes or so.  While I was taking photos and getting GPS coordinates for these two falls, he apparently couldn't
wait and had to jump down to check on me.    Big mistake on his part, since he didn't have enough room to getting a running jump back up on the ledge.  

Waterslide Falls

Which is exactly why I told him to STAY.  On top of that, Boomer is a water loving dog and feels it necessary to go swimming in every pool he finds.  Including the one here between the falls.  So I had to lift a hundred pound, WET dog back up on the ledge to get him out of there.  I was not happy.  Boomer was not happy, but that's what he gets for not doing as he's told.  

Penhook Falls

From there, we went back upstream to Penhook Falls.  This is just upstream of the juncture of the creek we followed down, and is a stunning 71 foot waterfall, spilling over a sandstone cliff into a box canyon.  We spent some time there taking photos and taking in the natural beauty of the surroundings.  Boomer talked me into sharing the turkey sandwiches I had brought for lunch.  Or at least a couple of slices of turkey, at any rate.  After resting, we got back to our hike.  

You have to backtrack out of the box canyon Penhook Falls is in to get to a break in the bluffline you can climb back through.  Once we got back above the bluffline, we bushwhacked back up to the four wheeler trail, turned right (north) on it, and continued on up into the hollow.  I knew the tallest waterfall in the area was further back upstream the same creek we followed downstream to Penhook Falls, but wanted to save that for last since the bushwhack was the most difficult.  About a quarter mile further down the trail, it crosses Penhook Hollow Creek itself.  Just before that, you cross another small feeder creek.  A short way up that feeder creek is another small waterfall, maybe eight feet tall.  There was not a lot of water going over this Unnamed Falls #4 today, but it was pretty nonetheless.

Unnamed Falls #5

Going back downstream from Unnamed Falls #4, we followed the low bluffline around and followed Penhook Hollow Falls upstream.  Just a short way upstream is another waterfall, Unnamed Falls #5, on Penhook Hollow Creek.  And following the bluffline from that one to the right, there is yet another waterfall, Unnamed Falls #6, on a small feeder creek just before it flows into the main Penhook Hollow Creek.  From this grouping of three small waterfalls, it was time to head back and find our way up to the tallest in the area.  

Hitchhiker Falls

Heading back on the four wheeler trail, Boomer and I picked a point before the trail dropped off to the creek we had followed get to down to Penhook Falls.  The creek canyon upstream of the trail is somewhat steep and rough.  Starting out higher above the creek helped somewhat with the bushwhack.  We were able to stay above the creek level as far as possible, just dropping down to creek level a couple hundred feet from the waterfall.  Hiking up the creek is fairly steep and rough, but well worth the effort.  The creek actually was dry for a distance, but this is not unusual for drainages in the Ozarks where the creek goes underground then reemerges further downstream.  This waterfall, Hitchhiker Falls, flows over the bluffline and drops a long way before hitting a rock shelf and falling the rest of the way to a small pool.  By the way, I did not name this one, I found the name in another account of a hike through here.  When the guy stopped at this waterfall, he noticed a grasshopper hitching a ride on his pack and decided to call it Hitchhiker Falls.  Every waterfall has a story.  After enjoying the view for a while, Boomer and I headed back.  We stuck to the stream bed going back down to the trail, and I was thankful my wonderful wife had given me bone dry waterproof hiking boots as an anniversary present.  

Getting back to where we parked, it did not seem like we had hiked all that far.  We must have wandered around exploring a bit more than I thought; my GPS track showed 4.3 miles and right at three hours for the round trip.  Still, we saw an amazing amount of fantastic scenery in just three short hours.  The Penhook SIA really is a "special" area and is highly recommended.

Snow Creek - ford, with creek dry

UPDATE:  8/13/2015 - Bethany, Boomer, and I went for a drive along the Middle Fork Illinois Bayou today, and while crossing Snow Creek I noticed a very large rock very close to where the road fords this creek.  Snow Creek was completely dry today, so it really sticks out.  When I forded this creek last year, I did not notice this rock, so it may have been pushed there by flood waters this spring.  At any rate, you can see where it is in the photo - this is taken coming back from Penhook SIA, so on your way there it will be on your right.  The water could easily be high enough to obscure this rock, so be aware and don't veer too far right when you ford the creek.  Rick

Penhook Special Interest Area GPS track