Upper prongs of Middle Cow Creek, Ozarks between Limestone and Fort Douglas, Arkansas

5/16/2017 -  Center and southwest upper prongs of the Middle Cow Creek valley

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Parking Location #4 (today's location):  35.70573   -93.30781, 1755 ft.
  Falls #27:  35.70861   -93.30734, 
  Falls #28:  35.70942   -93.30806
  Falls #29:  35.70998   -93.30863
  Falls #30:  35.71016   -93.30879
  Bluffline Break (Falls #31):  35.71121   -93.30860
  Falls #31:  35.71111   -93.30887
  Bluffline Break (Falls #32):  35.71233  -93.30925
  Falls #32:  35.71179   -93.30919
  Falls #20:  35.71030   -93.31327, 1393 ft.

  Falls #19:  35.70933   -93.31329, 1440 ft.
  Jackson Drew Falls:  35.70888   -93.31323, 1472 ft.
  Bluffline Break (Jackson Drew Falls):  35.70956   -93.31347, 1442 ft.
  Harper's Hidden Cascade:  35.70866   -93.31325, 1491 ft.
  Falls #16:  35.70823   -93.31368, 1522 ft. 
  Falls #15:  35.70749   -93.31440, 1581 ft.

Pet Friendly: Dogs off leash should be OK.  If your dog needs to be on a leash, it is doable but difficult because this is all bushwhacking.  Boomer had no problems scrambling up and down through the bluffline breaks, although some of them are fairly steep.

Motorcycle Friendly: No, not at all friendly to your big bike.  The parking locations are several miles down dirt roads.

Hiking Statistics:  The Middle Cow Creek valley is only about 800 feet from top to bottom.  On today's hike, we had a highest-to-lowest elevation change of 500 feet.  Boomer and I hiked a total of only 3.65 miles on this loop.  The terrain varied from relatively open, with a low slope along Middle Cow Creek itself, to very rugged and very steep in the prongs.  I would rate this a moderately difficult bushwhack.

GPS files (.gpx format) - See maps at the bottom of this blog post
  Cow Creek Basin Waypoints
  Middle Cow Creek center and southwest upper prongs - today's hike track
  Jeep road track from Pine Ridge Road to Parking Location #4

Links to blog posts for other sections of Middle Cow Creek:

  East and Southeast Prongs of Middle Cow Creek 5/5/2017

  Southwest Prongs of Middle Cow Creek 4/1/2017

  Middle Cow Creek valley waterfalls 3/9/2017

Jackson Drew Falls

Just three days ago I had hiked in Still Hollow after it had received a substantial amount of localized rain the day before.  There was so much water, Still Hollow Creek was basically in flood mode, and every waterfall was full and impressive.  Yet, at our home about 16 miles due south, we didn't see a drop of rain.  Curious to see just how localized that rain was, and just how lucky I might be, I decided to hike a part of Middle Cow Creek that I had not explored yet, and maybe get some spring time photos of the southwest upper prong.  Boomer  (our German Shepherd) and I had been hiking in the nearby prongs of Middle Cow Creek in April, and there were a couple of waterfalls I hoped to catch with the full flow and with all the spring greenery.  My earlier trips to the upper prongs of Middle Cow Creek had all resulted in new waterfall finds that were impressive, so I had high hopes for the center of the three upper prongs, the only one I had not explored.

Falls #32

Middle Cow Creek is a large valley, the entirety of which is all public land.  To date, I have found 32 "photo worthy" waterfalls there, many smaller water features, and some of the nicest country for hiking you will find anywhere.  That being said, the key word is "large".  If you want to try to hike everything in one day, good luck.  If you are into backpack camping, this would be a great place to spend two or three days.  If you are like me, however, and prefer day trips, where you park will have everything to do with what areas in this valley you want to see.  See my post on March 9 for a description of how to get to the first three parking locations and details of the hikes for those areas.  To avoid redundancy, I'll limit this blog post to just the hike Boomer and I did today.


To get there, 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  
- Go north on CR-5741 for 5.7 miles, then 
- Turn right on CR-5680, also known as Pine Ridge Road.   
- Go only about a quarter mile on Pine Ridge Road, and turn left (north) onto an old logging road, what I refer to as a Jeep road.  If you don't have a good 4WD vehicle with good ground clearance, park here off Pine Ridge Road and hike the rest of the way.  This Jeep road has not been used as a logging road for many, many, years, and even if you don't get stuck you will pick up what we refer to locally as "Arkansas pin-striping" from the brush and such you have to plow through.
  This is the kind of old track that I got the FJ Cruiser for, and the winch and tires I have on it give me a little more confidence on this kind of trail.  There were a couple of logs and holes we were able to roll over, but still only got about a quarter mile down the Jeep road before coming to a log across the old road that I didn't want to take on.   We turned around and parked here, and this is the location I have marked above as parking location #4.  

Falls #29

I had encountered this log on a previous visit and considered bringing a chainsaw with me this time, but my recollection was that there were so many other logs down on this road that I would spend more time clearing the road than I would have hiking.  Besides, I was going down the center prong this time, so I didn't have far to hike on the old road anyway.  Boomer and I set off down the old logging road and almost immediately turned off the road to the right to go down into the center prong.  The first thing I noticed was the lack of water.  The heavy rain that hit Still Hollow four days ago clearly had missed this area.  We found Falls #27 and Falls #28, two smaller waterfalls, on our way downstream, then we came to the top of Falls #29 a little over a quarter mile into our hike.  I didn't get a photo that I could scale, but I would estimate this waterfall to be in the 26-foot range.  Around the bluff on the left is another large waterfall, Falls #30.  Both of these waterfalls had disappointingly low flow, but now that I found them I'll definitely be back to see them with more water.  

Falls #31

Continuing downstream, Boomer and I soon came to Falls #31, another fairly good-sized waterfall.  This time I did remember to take a photo on the camera's timer of myself perpendicular to the waterfall base so I could scale it at home.  This one was just over 28-feet tall.  We had to go quite a way down the bluff on the right to find a bluffline break, which I marked and recorded coordinates for.  Likewise, Falls #32 downstream had the same extended bluffline and we had to hike a good distance along the top of it before finding an access break.  That seems to be a characteristic of most of the larger waterfalls I have found in the Middle Cow Creek upper prongs.  It makes for a lot of doubling back and hiking the same length of creek three times, but those tall, unbroken blufflines are exactly the topology that gives us these nice, tall waterfalls.  

Falls #7 on 5/5/2017 - 11 days ago

After leaving Falls #32, it was less than a couple hundred yards to the junction of the upper prongs.  Falls #7 is at the confluence of the center and southwest prongs, and I stopped to take a quick photo of it for comparison with the flow I had seen less than two weeks ago while hiking the southeast and far eastern prongs.  The difference was amazing.  In just 11 days, the flow in these creeks had dropped dramatically.  Having seen what the southeast prong looked like with wet conditions, I was now determined to come back and see these nice waterfalls in all their glory.  There are some really nice waterfalls here; just add

Falls #7 today - 5/16/2017

water.  I turned up the southwest prong, which I had hiked about six weeks ago while we were still in 'leaves off' season.  Hiking down the center prong by the creek had been pleasant, without a lot of briars and other vegetation that can make hiking this time of year very aggravating.  I had the same experience in the southeast prong, and the southwest prong was the same today, not noticeably worse hiking than my 'leaves off' season hike here.  The other nice thing about hiking all three of the upper prongs of Middle Cow Creek is that you don't go very far between waterfalls.  Instead of just a long slog of a bushwhack, there will be a waterfall every hundred yards or so to break up the hike and give you a little ooh-and-aah factor.

Jackson Drew Falls

The southwest prong was also disappointing with the lack of flow.  Comparing photos of some of the waterfalls today with the flow during my trip in early April, the difference was astounding.  I'm definitely coming back to hike this same loop again, but I'm not doing it until this area gets a lot more rain.  That being said, Jackson Drew Falls is the gem of this prong, and Harper's Hidden Cascade above it at the end of a short hidden canyon was awesome looking in April, but today was looking more than a little dry.  All that being said, the hike up along the creek was really kind of nice.  The only rough spot hiking-wise is climbing above the bluff after visiting Jackson Drew Falls.  I had marked a bluffline break on our previous hike, and I knew it was a steep one, but the steep factor seems a lot worse when I climbed up it instead of coming down through it, as I did in April.

Boomer and I walked right up along the creek bed and out the top of this prong to the old trace road that wraps around the top of the upper prongs.  From there, it was just a simple hike back along the old road to our parking location.  All in all, it was another great day to be out in the woods.  I only had time today for a short hike, and this one was only two and a half hours.  Wetter conditions would have been nice, but it was still a nice getaway in an area with great scenery and no people.  This one goes on my 'wet weather go-to' list.  I'll be back!

Upper Prongs of Middle Cow Creek
Green - old trace road
Yellow - today's hike
Blue - 4/1/2017 hike of Southwest Prongs
Red - 3/9/2017 hike of East Prongs and Middle Cow Creek

The Greater Cow Creek Basin

Cow Creek(left and top), Middle Cow Creek (middle, of course) and Little Cow Creek (right)
Orange - Forest Service Roads

Green - old trace roads ("Jeep roads")

Red/Blue/Yellow - Hiking tracks

Lower section of Still Hollow, Ozarks near Freeman Springs, Arkansas

5/13/2017 - Still Hollow waterfalls west of north and south prongs

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)

  Parking Location #3 (today's location):  

  Falls #50:  35.64386   -93.09353

  Parking Location #6:  35.64268   -93.11766, 761 ft.

  Parking Location #7:  35.64283   -93.11945, 757 ft.

  Falls #54:  35.64056   -93.10512, 928 ft.

  Falls #55:  35.64041   -93.10503

  Falls #56:  35.64055   -93.10507

  Falls #57:  35.63946   -93.10482

  Falls #58:  35.63851   -93.10499

  Falls #59:  35.63822   -93.10509

  Falls #60:  35.63774   -93.10519

  Claire Falls:  35.63768   -93.10523

  Falls #62:  35.63724   -93.10516, 1236 ft.

  Falls #63:  35.63951   -93.10391, 1103 ft.

  Falls #64:  35.63977   -93.10441, 1034 ft.

  Falls #65:  35.64148   -93.10381, 1007 ft.

  Falls #66:  35.64533   -93.10165, 950 ft.

  Rapids on Still Hollow Creek:  35.64423   -93.10002, 888 ft.

  Falls #67:  35.64477   -93.09582, 952 ft.

Pet Friendly:  Dogs off-leash may be okay, but there are some areas they may have difficulty getting into and out of.  This is a very difficult bushwhack.  If you think your dog needs to be on a leash, I would leave it at home.  Otherwise, it will be a very, very, long day for you and your dog.  Also, you need to cross Still Hollow Creek several times.  If the water is as high as it was today, many dogs will have problems with the current.

Motorcycle Friendly:  Not even close.  Indian Creek Road is rough for any vehicle, let alone a big bike.  

Hiking Statistics:  From top to bottom, Still Hollow is over 1200 feet of

elevation change.  I hiked in from the mouth of Still Hollow today, so I did not have a big climb out to one of the roads on the ridges surrounding the hollow.  Today, I hiked a total of 7.1 miles, with a minimum-to-maximum elevation change of only 430 feet.  As with most areas in the Ozarks, getting to waterfalls means repeated climbs and descents as you navigate blufflines.  This is a difficult bushwhack, primarily because of the dense undergrowth in the higher elevations and along the first quarter-mile of Still Hollow Creek from its confluence with Indian Creek. 

GPS files (.gpx format) - Maps of the GPS track are at the bottom of this post.

  Still Hollow, Gulf Hollow, and Elmer Page Hollow Waypoints

  Lower Still Hollow South GPS track for today's hike (part 1)

  Lower Still Hollow South GPS track for today's hike (part 2)

  Jeep Road GPS track from campsite

Links to blog posts for other sections of Still Hollow:

  South prong of Still Hollow 5-7-2017

  North prongs of Still Hollow 5-29-2016

  North prongs of Still Hollow - blaze a new route 3-28-2016

  North prongs of Still Hollow - initial exploration 11-18-2015 

Falls #54

I had made a very tiring, but highly productive, hike into the big south prong of Still Hollow last Monday.  At that time I had noted that the lower section of Still Hollow from the confluence of the south prong down to the mouth of the hollow where it drains into Indian Creek was the only area I had not explored to at least some extent.  My friend and frequent hiking partner, Dan Frew, had made a hike through this section of Still Hollow last winter and had noted quite a few waterfalls.  That is, where waterfalls would be if only we had water in the creeks.  At the time of Dan's hike, we were in the depths of a severe drought.  We are starting to get some much-needed rain this spring, and yesterday the area around Still Hollow received a lot of localized heavy rain.  So this looked like the right day to check out my last big section of this great polyfoss area.  Not knowing what the conditions would be this time of year with the potential for high water and Still Hollow's jungle-like vegetation, I decided to leave Boomer (our German Shepherd) at home for this one.  My wife Bethany discovered long ago that the word "bushwhack" means it would be wise to opt-out until I had completed an initial exploration and knew the lay of the land.  

Falls #58

To get there, you will need a high clearance vehicle for this trip.  Even without the "off road" or "Jeep road" parts of the route to where I parked, the campsite (Parking Location #7) is three miles down Indian Creek Road, which is not well maintained in this section.  I believe most cars can make it, but you may encounter parts of fallen trees, mud holes, and generally rough roads.  I didn't put my FJ Cruiser in 4WD until I got to the campsite, where I forded Indian Creek to a Jeep road on the other side that leads up Gunter Branch Hollow.  But it is an FJ Cruiser, not a PT Cruiser.  As I said, pretty much any vehicle can make it down Indian Creek Road, but be aware that in a smaller low clearance vehicle, it will be rough and slow going.  Do not attempt the ford across Indian Creek without a 4WD vehicle, and don't attempt it if you can't tell how deep the water is. 

Falls #67

From the Dover town square (junction of Highway 7 and Highway 27), 

 - Go north on Highway 7 for 12.3 miles, then turn left onto OLD Highway 7 (aka FS-1801)

 - Go 1.4 miles on Old Highway 7, then turn right on Treat Road (aka FS-1805)

 - Go 6.3 miles on Treat Road, then turn right onto Indian Creek Road (aka FS-1808).  You will go over a long low-water bridge over Indian Creek before turning onto Indian Creek Road.  The junction of Indian Creek and Moccasin Creek are on your right, the combined Indian Creek is on the left.  

 - The turn onto Indian Creek Road is just after the low water bridge.  Go 2.9

miles on Indian Creek, and turn left into a campsite on Indian Creek.  

If you don't have a good 4WD vehicle with good all-terrain tires and ground clearance, park here.  This is Parking Location #7.  Use your judgment of your vehicle's capabilities to assess whether you should ford Indian Creek with it.

Slot at the top of Falls #54

 - Either ford Indian Creek in your vehicle or wade across Indian Creek at the campsite.  On the other side of the creek, follow the Jeep road for about a quarter of a mile.  You will go across Gunter Branch, then up a short but steep hill.  The Jeep road goes up to a large food plot and continues on the other side, but turn right off of it at the edge of the food plot.  This is about a quarter mile from where you turned off Indian Creek Road.

 - Drive/hike across the right (west) side of the food plot to the far end of it, toward Still Hollow.  There is a Jeep road here that you could take all the way to Still Hollow Creek, but I parked here at the end of the food plot.  You can drive down the road right to Still Hollow Creek, but it is pretty tight for parking off the Jeep road and for turning around.  It's also not very far, so I just found it easier to park at the end of the food plot and start the hike there.  This is Parking Location #6. 

Falls #56

I started my hike along the creek on the left (north) side since it looked much flatter on the topo maps and I was hoping to find traces of an old road up into the hollow that would make the hiking a little easier.  I did find traces of an old homestead, where they had built a rock wall for quite a distance along this side of Still Hollow Creek.  Alas, I did not find any trace of an old road to follow, although I'm certain the old pioneers would have blazed one in this area.  What I did find is an almost impenetrable jungle of briars, vines, saplings, and every type of vegetation known to mankind.  The creek was so high, it was basically bank-to-bank, so I toughed it out and just made my way through the mess as well as I could.  

Falls #63

After a quarter-mile or so, I was ready to hang it up, but it finally thinned out somewhat along the creek, and I finally figured out that I was not crossing the creek without getting water in my boots.   Since the first area, I needed to check out was the large drainage on the other side of the creek, I was going to have to cross it at least once anyway.  Once I accepted the fact that my boots were going to be flooded the rest of the day, I crossed the creek to the side that looked a little better, generally on the inside bank of a curve in the creek.  The hiking conditions were pretty miserable at the start, for the first quarter mile or so, and I didn't turn up into that large southwest drainage until almost a mile upstream.  Previously, I had kind of split up Still Hollow into hikes in the north prongs and the big south prong.  To avoid confusion, I'll refer to everything downstream of the north and south prongs as the 'lower portion' of Still Hollow, and this large drainage on the south side of this section as the 'southwest drainage' of Still Hollow.

Falls #54 (foreground)
and Falls #55 (background)

Once I started up into the southwest drainage, I came to the first waterfall, Falls #54, and the lousy hiking conditions became a distant memory.  This is a beautiful, classic Ozark waterfall, dropping over 20 feet from a narrow canyon above.  As I hiked down the base of the bluffline it flows over, I took some photos from that perspective, then moved around to the other side to capture that as well.  It wasn't until I was preparing to hike on upstream that I looked up as I passed directly in front of it and noticed an even larger waterfall directly above it.  That was one of those 'D'oh!' facepalm moments when you wonder how you could have been so wrapped up in the beauty of the waterfall that you didn't even notice the huge lead-in waterfall above it.  But after the hike up the creek, I saw this one and immediately said, "Totally worth it!"  It is, but seeing the huge double waterfall made it doubly totally worth it.

The slot at the top of Falls #54

I climbed up the right side bluffline and made my way down into the narrow canyon above it.  The banks of this short blind canyon above Falls #54 are very steep, but manageable if you take your time.  You may well slip and slide down part of it on your butt (I managed to not do this), but it will be a short enough slide, and you will get plenty of opportunities to wash the mud off your pants later as you go wading in Still Hollow Creek.  Once down into the short canyon, I saw that the large cascade above Falls #54 was actually separated from it by several yards, so I called it a separate waterfall, Falls #55, instead of just one two-tiered waterfall.  From the base of Falls #55, there is a cool slot that the water funnels into and takes it right to the top of Falls #54.  It doesn't look like it, but the slot opens up to a very short, but wide, ledge just prior to going over the edge, giving Falls #54 it's wide top.

Falls #57

Having just seen a couple of waterfalls that made the whole hike imminently worthwhile, I was excited to see what else might be in this drainage, going upstream, I found Falls #56 just a few yards above Falls #55.  It seemed to be like that all the way up this drainage, with one waterfall after another.  The rest are not all grouped as closely together as the first three, but you don't go very far without finding yet another waterfall.  Falls #56 is a long, tumbling waterfall where the creek is forced into a narrow channel.  A hundred yards upstream, Falls #57 has a long, rippling cascade followed by a drop onto a large rock.  Another fork of this drainage takes off to the left (east), but I chose to check that out on the way back down from this drainage.  

Claire Falls

A hundred yards further upstream, Falls #58 is another long, tumbling waterfall, and a few yards above that, Falls #59 is where the creek splits into two streams, each with short waterfalls before they flow back together.  A short distance upstream, I found Falls #60, at the top of which is the pool at the base of Claire Falls.  Claire Falls is not the largest of the cascades I have seen, but it is definitely one of the prettiest.  This waterfall is named for Devon and Lindsey Henry's baby, Claire Henry.  If you are a follower of the hiking blog, you know we have a tradition of finding and naming previously unnamed waterfalls after newborn babies in the family.  Devon and Lindsey are two of the most proactive people I know;  Lindsey is what you would call a planner, for sure.  They drove to Arkansas to spend a weekend with us waterfall hunting months before Claire was due.  This waterfall was the one they selected to be named after their baby when it was born.  It's almost as pretty as baby Claire is.  Welcome to the family, Claire!

I found Falls #62 just a short distance upstream from Claire Falls, but at this point, the blufflines were starting to break down and the creek was flattening somewhat.  There was an old logging road only about a hundred feet higher up across the top of the southwest drainage, so that told me this drainage probably didn't have much else in it.  The type of topology that is conducive to creating waterfalls is not so friendly to road building.

Falls #64

From Falls #62, I hiked down and around the bluff into the next drainage to the east, the one I had noted branching off downstream of Falls #57.  I found Falls #63 in that drainage, and right below it Falls #64.  From this point, it is only a short distance downstream to where this fork flows back into the creek in the southwest drainage, and you can see Falls #57 a short distance upstream.  The topo maps showed yet another side drainage off to the east, the direction I would be going up Still Hollow Creek anyway, so I hiked over to it and found Falls #65.  From this waterfall, I hiked down this drainage to where it flowed into the bottom of the southwest drainage and continued hiking upstream on Still Hollow Creek.  

Falls #65

Once you get up past the lower quarter mile or so of Still Hollow Creek, hiking alongside it is not so bad.  It is still a bushwhack, and there is plenty of undergrowth, but it isn't the dense jungle I found in the lowest part of the hollow.  My boots were also thoroughly flooded, and couldn't possibly get any wetter, so I figured I might as well wade across Still Hollow Creek as needed, and I did.  Generally, when the creek curves, the outside of the curve will be somewhat steeper, as the creek digs into and erodes the bluff on that bank.  The inside of the curve, conversely, is generally flatter and more open, making for easier hiking.  This creek has a lot of curves, but I was at the point of just jumping in and wading across.  I tried to find spots where the flow wasn't so rapid I would be swept off my feet and was successful in staying upright in the creek all day.  Sometimes it was shin-deep, sometimes knee-deep, sometimes deeper, but my pack stayed dry, and that was the most important thing.  My camera, a Nikon D500, is environmentally sealed, but the 16-80 mm lens I use most often is not.

Falls #66

Hiking upstream, I made pretty good time as I went to the next drainage I wanted to check out, on the north side of Still Hollow Creek.  This one had a waterfall that Dan had seen on his trip here last winter, and I found that less than a hundred yards up this drainage.  Falls #66 is a cascade about 10 feet tall but had a lot of large logs jammed in front of it blocking the view.  From the topology of this drainage, I suspect is has some more nice waterfalls upstream, but I was running a little short on time and wanted to make sure I at least went all the way up the lower portion of Still Hollow to the south prong.  

Falls #67

Continuing my hike upstream along Still Hollow Creek, I passed some pretty cool rapids on the creek.  I'm not sure how these would look if the water wasn't so high, but it was nice today.  Further upstream, I found Falls #67 plunging over the very tall bluffline along the south side of Still Hollow Creek, falling not ten yards from the creek itself.  I was a little surprised at how much flow there was in this tall waterfall, much more than you normally see in a wet weather pour-off.  When I got back home, I noted that Dan had seen this one last winter, so it had at least a trickle of flow even back during the long drought.  Looking at the topo maps, it appears that this waterfall is at the end of a very long, steep drainage.  I'm intrigued now since it looks like this drainage could be hiding some really nice waterfalls.  You never know until you go look, so now I'll have to return and find a way to get into this drainage. 

Falls #50

From Falls #67, the junction of Still Hollow Creek with the large stream coming from the big south prong is only about 150 yards upstream.  I hiked into the south prong along the creek as far as Falls #50.  I wanted to see what it was like today compared to when I had seen it last Monday to get a feel for how much-localized rain the hollow had received.  Falls #50 was, indeed, flowing about half again as much as it had been.  On this waterfall, once it gets going good, as it was earlier this week, the additional flow doesn't hurt but doesn't make it look much different.  Leaving Falls #50, I started my hike back downstream to where I parked.  

Falls #62

The hike downstream went pretty quickly.  For one thing, it is downhill, which is one distinct advantage of this entry into Still Hollow.  Every other hike out has involved a very steep climb of a few hundred feet.  Going downhill is definitely easier, and this time I didn't care if I got more water in my boots.  My boots could not possibly take any more water.  The lower quarter mile that I had struggled with on the hike in was still not great, but not nearly as bad as the dense jungle I had fought with.  Getting back to the FJ Cruiser, I went back the way I had come, across Gunter Branch and the ford across Indian Creek, and headed back toward home.  Since there isn't any great elevation change, the only thing making this a really tough hike is the vegetation.  In the 'leaves off' season, this would be much easier, maybe dropping the rating down to a moderately difficult bushwhack.  But make no mistake, this time of year it is a difficult bushwhack.  I would not recommend this hike for children, nor for any not physically fit.  But if you are up for a difficult bushwhack, the payoff on this one is huuuge.  I'll be back.

GPS track for today's hike (brown)
Jeep Road from Indian Creek Road (green)

Still Hollow
Brown - today's hike in the lower (west) portion
Orange - south prong
Blue - high route upstream along trace road
Yellow - creek route upstream
Red - the original exploration of north prong

South Prong Waterfalls of the Still Hollow Polyfoss, Ozarks near Freeman Springs, Arkansas

5/7/2017 - Some new, some old, great waterfalls in the south prong of Still Hollow

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Parking Location #3 (today's location):  35.62982,  -93.08622,  1460 ft.
  Still Hollow Falls:  35.63843   -98.08373,  1275 feet
  Revenuer Falls:  35.63695   -93.08767,  1159 feet
  Falls #24:  35.62949   -93.08759,  1387 feet
  Falls #25:  35.63216   -93.08723,  1295 feet
  Falls #26:  35.63343   -93.08785,  1283 feet
  Falls #28:  35.63769   -93.08766,  1144 feet
  Falls #29:  35.63805   -93.08723,  1227 feet
  Falls #30:  35.63798   -93.08579,  1184 feet 
  Falls #45:  35.62974   -93.08878
  Falls #46:  35.63318   -93.08757
  Falls #47:  35.63893   -93.08829
  Falls #48:  35.63966   -93.08894
  Bluffline Break - Falls #48:  35.64009   -93.08919
  Falls #49:  35.63986   -93.08915
  Falls #50:  35.64386   -93.09353
  Bluffline Break - Falls #50:  35.64441   -93.09375
  The Sidewalk (Slot):  35.64828,  -93.09065,  974 ft.
  Sally Lou Falls:  35.64801   -93.09163,  961 ft.
  Still Hollow Twin Falls:  35.64782   -93.09160,  961 ft.
  ATV trail:  35.64791   -93.09109,  976 ft.
  Falls #51:  35.63886   -93.08314
  Falls #52:  35.63878   -93.08261
  Falls #53:  35.63750   -93.08255

Pet Friendly:  Dogs off leash may be okay, but there are some areas they may have difficulty getting into and out of.  This is a very difficult bushwhack.  If you think your dog needs to be on a leash, I would leave it at home.  Otherwise, it will be a very, very, long day for you and your dog.

Motorcycle Friendly:  Not 'friendly', but do-able.  You will be going just a short distance down Dare Mine Road from where you turn off Highway 7.  This is a dirt road, and not too bad at the beginning but it gets progressively worse.  Your big bike, your decision.  I have driven a Harley Electraglide on worse roads for much longer distances.

Hiking Statistics:  From top to bottom, Still Hollow is over 1200 feet of

elevation change.  I covered a lot of that on today's hike, more than once.  Today, I hiked a total of 7.58 miles, with a minimum-to-maximum elevation change of 919 feet.  As with most areas in the Ozarks, getting to waterfalls means repeated climbs and descents into the waterfall grottoes.  This is a very difficult bushwhack, not just because of the steep climbs and rough terrain, but there is a lot of dense undergrowth in the higher elevations of this hollow. 

GPS files (.gpx format) - Maps of the GPS track are at the bottom of this post.

  Still Hollow, Gulf Hollow, and Elmer Page Hollow Waypoints

  Still Hollow South Prong GPS track for today's hike (part 1)
  Still Hollow South Prong GPS track for today's hike (part 2)

Revenuer Falls (33 feet)

Still Hollow is the most prolific polyfoss area I have seen.  If you don't know
what that means, click on the 'Glossary and FAQ' link on the right.  Since my friend Dan Frew and I first visited Still Hollow back in 2015, I have been back for several hikes, mostly in what we refer to as the 'north prongs'. So far, I have cataloged 53 photo-worthy waterfalls in this big hollow, and I know of several others that Dan has seen along the tributaries of the lower portion of Still Hollow Creek.  I had made one trip to the south prong with Dan and Jim Fitsimones, but it was somewhat dry at that point and it went onto my 'wet weather go-to' list.  Although we have had some recent rains which got the creeks and streams running again, things were already starting to dry up, so I figured today was the day I go tackle this beast again.  I remembered our last trip here, which was in the middle of winter, as being a pretty tough slog for the climb out, but I also remembered it having some great water features that I wanted to see with more water and some greenery.  Boomer (our German Shepherd) had to stay home today, so I was on my own.

Falls #47

Driving directions to this section of Still Hollow are fairly easy.  From the Dover
 Supermarket (intersection of Highways 7 and 27), go north on Highway 7 for 21.2 miles.  This will take you to the small community of Freeman Springs.  Like many communities in northwest Arkansas, don't expect a bunch of houses or a sign or anything.  Turn left (southwest) on Dare Mine Road (aka CR-1806).  Go 2.9 miles on Dare Mine Road and park.  This is the parking location I used today.   I wish I had given this a little more thought when I prepared, as it makes more sense to park at the top of the west fork around (35.6370,  -93.0732).   This would be about a third of a mile down Dare Mine Road from Highway 7.

The Sidewalk

To hike the south prong in a loop requires bushwhacking down to one of the two big forks of the south prong, then hiking back up the other and climbing out to Dare Mine Road.  It does make more sense to hike down the west fork, which is steeper and more overgrown with brush, brambles, briers, and other undergrowth.  Hiking through this stuff is bad enough, but climbing a steep slope through it when you are already tired from a full day and several miles of bushwhacking is much worse.  If I ever hike this as a loop again, I will reverse my route and hike down the fork that runs from the west, then hike back on the fork that runs from the south.  Consider this another lesson learned.  I failed to consider this even though I had hiked this prong before, so I hope others that do this hike learn from my mistake.

Falls #29

I hiked down the south drainage of the south prong and soon came to the top of Falls #24.  I remembered the bluffline break being on the other (west) side of the waterfall, but I explored the bluffline on the right (east) side to see what was there.  On my other visit to Still Hollow's south prong, it was still dark when we got to this point.  Something about being here for the 'golden hour' that some madman kept preaching, but that's another story.  Being on my own this trip, I started at the more civilized hour of 07:30 am.  The bluffline to the east of Falls #24 is quite high and quite unbroken, well around the corner to a side drainage.  So I went back to the west side, where there is a good bluffline break a few yards from the top of Falls #24 that you can go down, then follow the base of the bluff, once you get below it, right to the waterfall.  

Falls #25

Heading downstream from Falls #24, you will soon come to Falls #45, a long tumbling cascade that looks awesome.  The hiking along the creek is fairly easy in this part of the hollow, and the waterfalls are frequent and not too far between.  I soon came to Falls #25, which may be a relatively short waterfall, but it is very picturesque, falling into a small pool before running under a broad overhand.  There are two smaller, yet still beautiful, waterfalls downstream before you come to the big one in this hollow, Revenuer Falls.  This is the tallest waterfall in the south prong, about 33 feet tall.  As you approach it from the top, you can see the small drops and large rocks that split the stream flow up into the many streams you see going over the waterfall.  The scenery downstream is also quite the sight from the top of the waterfall.  From the top, you can also see the height of the bluff cliffs on both sides.  On our last visit, we went around on the west, and today I went down the right (east) side on the spur between the two forks of the south prong.

Revenuer Falls

Just downstream is Falls #28, yet another of the waterfalls in this drainage that are in that "small but beautiful" category.  This is also just upstream of the juncture of the two forks in the south prong, and just upstream in the other fork is Falls #29, a rippling, many-tiered waterfall.  I went upstream to photograph it since I planned on deviating from the route we took on our last visit here.  On that trip, we simply went down the south fork and climbed back up the north fork.  This time, I wanted to check out the lower part of the south prong, from the juncture of the two forks all the way down to the main Still Hollow Creek.  Previously, I had researched that section of the creek and had determined it was such a long stretch of the creek with a low overall slope that I really did not think there would be any substantial waterfalls here.  You never know, however, until you check it out.  As it turns out, I should not have underestimated Still Hollow.  Given the history I have with this hollow, I should have assumed there would be something worthwhile here.

Falls #47

Roughly a hundred yards downstream of the juncture of the two upper forks, I found Falls #47 pouring over the west bluff to fall on the rocks just a couple of feet from the creek.  The left (west) side bluff along the creek is a tall cliff that extends for quite a while leading up to Falls #47, with the creek running along the base of the cliff.  It providing a spectacular view of the waterfall as you approach it.  This waterfall had plenty of flow to look perfect as it fell over the cliff on the west side.  That side of the south prong is much steeper than the east side, and with the amount of water flowing over the waterfall, I don't doubt that there are other nice sized waterfalls above it.  I knew my intended route today was going to be very long and very rough as it was, so I didn't take the time to do any ad-hoc exploring here today.  Someday I'll come back and check this out.  After all, you just don't know until you check it out.  I took a photo of myself at the base of Falls #47, perpendicular to the camera, to size it.  When I got home and scaled it, it came in a little over 27 feet tall.

Falls #48

Hiking further downstream, I came to the top of yet another large waterfall right on the main creek in this prong.  With all the combined flow from the tributaries higher in the south prong, the creek now had quite a bit of flow, and that all plunged over a ledge into a large, circular grotto.  From above, this reminded me a lot of Punchbowl Falls, with the same type of large pool in a circular basin, with sheer walls all around.  As I mentioned, the left (west) side is much steeper, so I went down the right (east) side looking for a bluffline break.  I had to go downstream a ways, but eventually found a break, which I marked and recorded above with the other GPS coordinates.  Falls #49 is on the west side, at the mouth of the grotto for Falls #48, a tall cascading waterfall in a side drainage.

Falls #50

I was feeling pretty good about what I had seen so far.  If I hadn't found anything else along the way, I would have still been happy the scenery on this hike.  That being said, more is also good.  About a half mile downstream of Falls #48, I found Falls #50 on the main creek.  This is only a couple of hundred yards from the confluence of this south prong creek with the main Still Hollow Creek.  My friend Dan had a photo of this one from his exploration in January, but at the time the creek was basically dry and it looked nothing like it did today.  Just like Falls #48, you have to go a good distance downstream to find a bluffline break.  I have recorded coordinates for this one above as well.  Falls #48 is flat-out beautiful with full flow.  I wouldn't call the water flow in the creeks now 'full flow', but there was plenty to make this waterfall look fantastic.

Still Hollow Twin Falls

I hiked down to the confluence of the south prong with Still Hollow Creek, then turned upstream to the Still Hollow Twin Falls.  Instead of just reversing course and retracing my steps, I wanted to do a little more exploring with an alternate route that I had scoped out long ago.  That involved using the old ATV trail down to Still Hollow Twin Falls to do my climbing up to the big bench at around the 1200 foot elevation.  My thinking is that it's much easier to do your climbing on a trail like that, and then do the bushwhacking back into the south prong more on the level.  Since they were all grouped closely together, I visited Still Hollow Twin Falls, Sally Lou Falls, and The Sidewalk before heading over to the ATV trail and starting my climb up it.  The hike up Still Hollow Creek to the Twin Falls was actually an easy bushwhack.  It was not overgrown much and was fairly on the level, without much rock hopping needed, on the embankment along the creek.

Sally Lou Falls

I had already logged enough bushwhack miles that climbing the ATV trail for an elevation gain of about 250 feet left me somewhat winded.  But once there, it proved to be a pretty good strategy.  There is a bench at about the 1200 foot elevation level that isn't clear of undergrowth but is much less overgrown and much less rough terrain than would have been the case hiking back up the south prong creek.  It is also hiking mostly on the level, so it takes much less energy.  I made good time covering the mile or so from Still Hollow Twin Falls back to the fork juncture in the south prong.  I actually came down to the upper fork at Falls #30, which was a mistake.  I should have angled down to where the two upper forks flow together because now I had to backtrack to a bluffline break and go down a steep embankment to get to the base of Falls #30.  

Still Hollow Falls

From the base of Falls #30, the climb up the creek is the start of your climb out, and from here it is over 700 feet of elevation climb back to Dare Mine Road.  Upstream is Still Hollow Falls, a pretty fair climb up itself.  Still Hollow Falls is not the biggest or prettiest waterfall in the hollow, but it is the one in which we found the ruins of a very large still operation.  Since we didn't see signs of a still at any of the other waterfalls in this hollow, I'm assuming this setup was how Still Hollow got its name, and thus it seemed fitting to call this Still Hollow Falls.  There was at one time a masonry fire pit and there are a lot of remains from boilers, barrels, and rings from whiskey kegs.  

Falls #53

Climbing up the bluffline on the left (north) side, I continued upstream.  Just upstream from Still Hollow Falls there are a couple of tributaries flowing into the creek, and in each of those is a nice little waterfall, Falls #51 and Falls #52.  Further upstream in the drainage is Falls #53, another beautiful cascade.  Pause here and enjoy this little chunk of paradise, and regain your energy.  From here, I started my climb out up the mountain to Dare Mine Road.  Without getting into the gory details, I'll just say this was one of the most miserable hikes I can remember.  Is it worth it to see all the Natural State goodness I soaked up today?  Absolutely.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  But thinking more about it after I got home and charted it all out, I think there is a better way.  

Falls #52

Let's face it, Still Hollow is a rough and rugged place, and it won't be easy no matter which way you do it.  I believe a lot of the pain can be alleviated just by reversing direction and first hiking down the drainage that I had hiked out of, visiting all the waterfalls in that west running fork, then continuing on down the lower section of the south prong to Still Hollow Creek.  For the return hike, I would hike up to Still Hollow Twin Falls and take the old ATV trail up as I did today, to approximately the 1200 foot elevation level.  My recommendation would be to drop down to the juncture of the two upper forks and then hike up the south fork that contains Revenuer Falls and hike that fork back up and out to Dare Mine Road.  From there, the road climbs another 200 feet to where you would have parked (at 35.6370,  -93.0732), but hiking on an actual road is a piece of cake.  I believe that if I had routed my hike today that way, it would have been less tiring and I still would have covered all the same territory.

Falls #28

This is a difficult hike in the cooler 'leaves off' seasons, but this time of year I would have to rate it a very difficult bushwhack.  It is a great area with beautiful scenery, and I highly recommend it if you are up to some very difficult hiking.  I'm not trying to dissuade anyone, and if an out of shape old guy like me can do it, I'm sure others can as well.  I just want folks that want to see the beauty this area has to offer to do so with wide open eyes and go in knowing it will be a tough hike.  If you have a heart condition or are not up to a very strenuous hike, this may not be the hike for you.  For those that up to a little rough bushwhacking, you get to see some fabulous sights that few folks will ever see.

Orange - GPS Track for Today's Hike

Orange - Today's route

Red - Initial Exploration November 2015 trip

Blue - Bench Trace Road Route for North Prongs - March 2016 trip

Yellow - Creek Route for North Prongs - March 2016 trip