Blanchard Springs Cavern Dripstone Trail and area hiking, Arkansas Ozarks near Fifty-six, Arkansas

2/18/2016 -  Blanchard Springs Cavern, Waterfall, and Mirror Lake 

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Park for Blanchard Springs:  35.95889,  -92.17539,  439 ft.
  Blanchard Springs:  35.95860,  -92.17740,  483 ft.
  Mirror Lake:  35.96349,  -92.17094,  416 ft.
  

Pet Friendly: Yes; dogs on or off leash should be fine.  Just not in the cave.

Motorcycle Friendly: Yes; there are good paved roads right to the visitor center, as well as parking locations for Mirror Lake and Blanchard Springs.

Hiking Statistics:  We did a number of short hikes today, all of them easy, and on some of the best trails you will find anywhere.  The upper cavern hike is only half a mile, and hikes to either Blanchard Spings or the base of Mirror Lake  are only about a quarter mile each.  There are some ups and downs in the cave but easily managed.  If you go when the lower cave is open (summer), that trail is about 1.2 miles long and somewhat more strenuous, but still not bad.  Read the info at the visitor center before you go.

'Main room' in the upper cavern
about 90 feet from floor to ceiling

No rain, no waterfalls.  At least, that's a common knowledge.  We had a huge rainfall New Year's weekend, but basically nothing in the six weeks since.  Fortunately, there are those places that defy common knowledge.  We went to Big Creek Cave Falls a couple of weeks ago, and today Bethany and I decided to go to Blanchard Springs, another cave waterfall.  The main event at Blanchard Springs, however, is the cavern.  We left Boomer at home since we were going through the cave system, and we were pretty sure dogs weren't allowed.  I never did see a sign to that effect, though.

Mirror Lake

We took the adventurous route out and took a lot of back road detours in our trip to Blanchard Springs, ending up on many one-lane dirt roads and eventually making our way there.   Unless you really want to exercise your 4WD vehicle, you don't need to do that.  The turnoff to Blanchard Springs is right off Highway 14, so this is one of those rare hiking trips in which you can stay on the pavement for the entire drive.  The turnoff is well marked with a sign, 1.1 miles east of the small town of Fifty-six, Arkansas.  After you make the turn, there are signs on the paved access road to the visitor center, Mirror Lake, and Blanchard Springs.

Blanchard Springs Cavern - with Bethany

Our first stop was the visitor center, where you can get a walking tour of the cave.  We wanted to go through the cave and had no idea of when the tours were scheduled.  At this time of year, you can only get a tour of the upper cave, since the lower cave has a bazillion bats hibernating this time of year. Well, Okay, our guide said 420,000 bats, but I don't think they count every one.  The 'Dripstone Tour' of the upper cavern system is awesome, and highly recommended for all.  There are some steps, but they can be bypassed and the Forest Service folks will accommodate wheelchairs on request.  Today, we got lucky.  After our 4WD adventure on the back Forest Service roads, we got to the visitor center at 1:25 pm and a tour was starting at 1:30 pm.  Score for the guy (me) that hates waiting for anything!  Not only that, but winter weekdays are very slow.  We only had a few folks go with us and the guide gave us some bonus guiding.  It should be a one hour tour, and we took closer to two hours.

Blanchard Springs Cavern

The caverns are very restricted, and you are only permitted in on a scheduled tour.  I would rather roam around on my own, but our tour guide was very knowledgeable, very patient as we went through the cave, and willing to let us do anything short of touching the cave.  The trail through the cave is very well constructed, going within view of all the many, many, formations while keeping the impact to the cave itself to a minimum.  It took 10 years to construct this trail, the elevator systems, and the two sets of bleachers at each end.  The bleachers are used for "caroling in the cavern" every Christmas.  Google it.

Reflections on the Lake
in the Blanchard Springs Upper Cavern

The extent of the cave itself was not even known to exist until 1960.  The entrance to the lower cave was known, about a half mile from Blanchard Springs, but was so hard to descend into that it wasn't done until 1960.  It was known as "half mile cave" for quite a while.  Once a couple of locals managed to descend into the cavern, they found a massive cave system with huge rooms, columns, curtains, stalagmites and stalagtites, and all that other cave stuff.  Over 10 miles of passages have been mapped out in this cave system.  They also eventually found a vertical

wall of rock 60 feet high that had gravel washed down from above.  In 1963, two local teenagers made it to the top of the wall, squeezed through a tight passage, and discovered the upper cavern, the one we toured today.  This upper cavern may be smaller, but it is still huge.  There is a small fee for the tour, but well worth it.  Entrance to the cave is via an elevator, so no gymnastics are needed like the first explorers had to endure.   Air locks protect the cave environment itself, and disinfectant pads at the exits keep visitors from spreading White Nose Syndrome out of the cave on their shoes.  So far, the efforts at this cave in that regard have kept it exempt from the five year ban on cave entry in effect in the rest of the Ozarks.

Blanchard Springs (10 ft)

After our cave tour, we got back in the Explorer and drove down to the trailhead for Blanchard Springs.  It doesn't seem right even calling it a "trailhead"  This is the nicest hiking trail in existence, a wide, pebblestone paved trail that you can literally take a wheelchair down, all the way to where the spring can be viewed.  The paved part ends there, but you can descend some short steps and explore the rock-strewn valley here.  Access to the cave that Blanchard Springs spills out of is prohibited, but you can roam around the rest of the area.  Blanchard Springs itself flows out of the cave in a waterfall about ten feet high.  Like many cave waterfalls, it seems to keep a pretty good flow through dry times.

Mirror Lake

Leaving Blanchard Springs, we went down to Mirror Lake, which we had just passed on the way to the spring.  There is parking next to the road at the spillway for Mirror Lake, and from there you can walk down a long boardwalk to the handicap parking.  It would be nice if you could park here, but it's for handicapped folks.  There is an area next to it for dumpsters, but it has a "no parking" sign.  So we park at the spillway, go all the way down the boardwalk to the handicap parking, and from there you can hike at creek level. 

Mirror Lake Falls seen through
the windows of old grist mill

Going back upstream toward the spillway, you pass the ruins of an old grist mill, operated up until 1928 when the original owner sold the property to the Forest Service.  Mirror Lake itself is formed by a masonry dam created to supply the water head to power this mill.  Since Blanchard Springs feeds the creek that flows into the impoundment, this one also has good flow even in dry times.  It may be a man-made waterfall, but the Mirror Lake spillway forms one of the prettiest two-tiered waterfalls anywhere.  Having the remains of the old mill there as well makes for a photographer's dream setting.  I'm really surprised I don't see professional layouts done here.  

Blanchard Springs Cavern

This area is about a two hour drive from our house, closer to three hours takingthe torturous route we took on the way there.  During wetter weather, there are many more great hiking areas much closer to home.  That being said, there are many wonderous areas like this in Arkansas that we have yet to visit.  Blanchard Springs is in a corner of the state a good distance from most of the population, but is well worth a little driving time.  I have never been in the lower cave system, and look forward to hiking through it in the summer months.

Big Creek Cave Falls, Arkansas Ozarks north of Cowell

2/6/2016 - Big Creek Cave Falls and Wolf Creek Cave Falls

GPS Coordinates:  Latitude/Longitude/Elevation
  Parking:  35.87684, -93.16071,  1162 feet
  Big Creek Cave Falls:  35.86318, -93.15447,  1294 feet
  Wolf Creek Cave Falls:  35.86063,  -93.15244,  1297 feet
  Underground Falls:  35.86074,  -93.15257,  1281 feet
  Cave Creek Cascade:  35.86384,  -93.15439,  1267 feet
  Mine shaft:  35.85954,  -93.15322,  1309 feet
  Unnamed Cave Falls:  35.85954,  -93.15350,  1300 feet
  Unnamed Wolf Creek Falls #1:  35.86265,  -93.15121,  1292 feet
  Turn off trail to Cave Creek Cascade:  35.86472,  -93.15319,  1239 feet
  Rock Peninsula Falls:  35.86666,  -93.15417,  1214 feet
  Turn off trail to Rock Peninsula Falls area:  35.86736,  -93.15412, 1223 feet
  Old homestead with antique car bodies:  35.86826,  -93.15399, 1260 feet

Pet friendly:  Yes, we took Boomer with us on today's trip.  One word of caution - if your dog needs to stay on leash, it should be OK unless you venture off trail and do any significant bushwhacking.  There are a lot of briers and underbrush in this area.

Motorcycle friendly:  Not really.  It is 2.8 miles down a marginal gravel road.  I wouldn't take mine on it, but I know a lot of you riders don't see that as a challenge at all.  As one of my nephews puts it, "my driveway is longer and rougher than that."

Hiking Statistics:  We logged 6.07 miles round trip on the GPS trip meter today.  Part of that was meandering around while we explored, part of it because we overshot our creek crossing on the return.  You should count on about 5.0 miles round trip, at least.  Most of the hiking was at, or near, creek level, with only one steep climb to Big Creek Cave Falls.

GPS files (.gpx format) - Maps of the GPS track are at the bottom of this post.
  Big Creek Cave area waypoints
  

Big Creek Cave Falls (29 ft)
with Tom and Jeannette Henry

My brother, Tom and his wife Jeannette, had come to visit, and wanted to "go see some waterfalls."  Since we have had little to no rain the last four weeks, my first thought was that they were going to be a little disappointed by the flow in the waterfalls this weekend.  When Tom followed up with "and maybe some caves" comment, my second thought was "Big Creek Cave."  Of course!  Not only is this an awesome area with some uniquely cool stuff to see, it had both caves and waterfalls.  Having been to Big Creek Cave Falls during dry times before, I knew it to be one of those waterfalls that seemed to maintain a decent amount of flow all year long, wet times, and dry.  So we made it a family fun day; my wife Bethany, our German Shepherd Boomer, Tom, Jeannette, and I ate a big breakfast and headed north.

Wolf Creek Cave Falls
with Rick and Bethany

On a previous blog post, I detailed complete driving directions as well as step-by-step hiking directions to the various features in this area.  I even included photos of the area at each major turn and section of the hike.  I won't reiterate all that mass of detail, I'll just direct you to them at the link here. That's an awful lot of detail to copy and would just needlessly clutter this blog post.  Today, those hiking directions were good as gold, except for one thing.  One note here on my directions; this is one of the few hikes where I deviate from the route in Tim Ernst's Arkansas Waterfalls book.  This excellent book has been my hiking bible and was my guidance for my first visit to the area.  I have since used a much easier route that utilized the old trace roads in the area.

Wolf Creek Cave

We hiked straight through to Cove Branch and chose to bypass Wolf Creek and Unnamed Falls #1 as there was not much flow at all on that tributary.  Underground Falls and Wolf Creek Cave Falls were also much less flow than they typically have in wetter times, but still looked good today.  There seems to be much more bright green moss all through all the small creeks in the area, lending a big splash of color to the water features.  Leaving Wolf Creek Cave, we went upstream about a hundred yards to the old mine and another cave waterfall high on the bluff above it.  Today, there was just a trickle of water coming from Unnamed Cave Falls.

Cave Creek

We made our way to Big Creek Cave Falls and found it to be flowing quite well.  As I mentioned previously, this one is fairly consistent and never disappoints.  I did lead my guests on a little extra  bushwhacking, however.  I failed to go back and read my own directions and did not remember exactly where to go uphill toward Big Creek Cave.  We headed uphill a little too early and had to cut back down into the drainage and up on the right side.  Remember to wait until you get to the bottom of the drainage for Big Creek Cave Falls and go up the right bank to save yourself a little extra climbing in some steep and rough terrain.

Rock Peninsula Falls at low flow

From Big Creek Cave Falls, we cut around the bench to Cave Creek.  Erosion had made the descent down the front of the bluffline here a little more steep, slick, and treacherous than on previous visits, so watch your step here.  Following Cave Creek down to Cove Branch, we crossed the creek and found our old road for the return trip.  After a short trip down to Rock Peninsula Falls, we headed back.   

Boomer - crossing Cave Creek

This time, we put a little twist in our return trip and did a little exploring.  I have often said, "you don't really know what's there until you go look."  On the way out, Tom had spotted an old, old, truck body in the woods on the left (east).  Intrigued, we decided to detour and take the high road back.  Going back to the cattle guard we had just crossed, we took a hard left and started down the other road back.  I had always assumed this road went back to where a road branched off way back at the first field after crossing Left Fork.  However, I had never actually verified that.  Today, we did.

Vintage Cars near old Homestead

We soon saw not only the old panel truck on the left of this higher trace road but a number of other old 1930's and 1940's vintage vehicles on the right of the trail.  Looking around the area, we stumbled on an old homestead site.  As with many such sites I have found deep in the Ozarks, all that was left was the fireplace and chimney.  The remaining rocks indicate this was a very small cabin with a "hidey-hole" type false bottom under the floor directly in front of the fireplace.  You never know what you will find until you go look.  

Old Homestead Site

We continued on down the high trace road and sure enough, it does end up back at creek level where that road branches off.  This is a viable route going in or out, but it is obviously rarely traveled by man or beast and is a little more overgrown than the lower route.  We were enjoying each other's company maybe a little too much and didn't even notice when we passed the long rock fence along the creek where we should have crossed, let alone notice that we were on the wrong side of that wall and ended up overshooting our crossing point by a half mile.  Not a big deal, since it was an enjoyable hike and we did have plenty of time.  We made our way back, crossed Left Fork, and hiked back up to the vehicle.  This was just about a perfect day for a hike; great weather, great company, and great sites to see.  This area is one of my favorites and is always highly recommended.

GPS Track - Big Creek Cave Falls and Wolf Creek Cave Falls

Graves Creek Canyon, Arkansas Ozarks near Bullfrog Valley

1/23/2016 -  Forever Falls, Graves Canyon Falls (2), and Graves Creek Canyon

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude, Longitude, Elevation)
  Parking #1:  35.58566,  -93.18615,  1242 feet
  Parking #2:  35.58892   -93.18586,  1011 feet
  Dead Pool Falls:  35.59213,  -93.18955,  710 feet
  Forever Falls:  35.59188,  -93.18915,  704 feet
  Upper Graves Canyon Falls:  35.59512,  -93.18660,  688 feet
  Lower Graves Canyon Falls:  35.59534,  -93.18619,  682 feet
  Falls #1:  35.59176   -93.18905,  755 feet
  Falls #2:  35.59187   -93.18905,  745 feet
  Falls #3:  35.59296   -93.19038,  722 feet

  Falls #4:  35.59359  -93.17353,  600 feet

Pet Friendly: This area should not be a problem for dogs off leash.  If your dog does not do well off leash, you might want to leave it home.  This hike is mostly bushwhacking, and there are some areas above the bluff that are pretty thick with undergrowth.

Hiking Statistics: We hiked a total of 3.82 miles on the big loop by my GPS trip meter, most of that a moderately difficult bushwhack.  The part that did have a trail was the return hike, which is back along the Jeep road.  The climb on the way back is an elevation change of 400 feet or 650 feet, depending on where you park.  But again, that is along the Jeep road, so it is fairly easy hiking.

Motorcycle Friendly: No.  It is over six miles of gravel road.  While the road is fairly well maintained when you first get on it, it soon narrows to one lane and and gets rough in spots.  

GPS files (.gpx format):
  Graves Creek Waypoints
  Graves Creek canyon track

Graves Creek

Graves Creek is easily one of the most scenic creeks in the Arkansas Ozarks, and that's saying a mouthful.  It is only two or three miles from its origin to where it flows into Big Piney, but what a beautiful couple of three miles it is.  I had not been to the area since July of 2014 (blog post here), so I was way overdue.  I was going to be hiking today with some friends, Dan and Shelly Frew, and David and Amber Dedman, so we all met at the Dover town square and headed out for the hills.

Unnamed Falls #4

To get there, go north on Hwy 7 from Dover and turn left (west) on Hwy 164.  Go 4.6 miles and turn right (north) on Pilot Rock Road.  This is the first right after the double bridge over Piney Creek, about 0.5 miles from the end of the bridge.  Go 4.5 miles on Pilot Rock Road and turn right on Graves Creek Road (FR-1800A).  Go down Graves Creek Road 1.6 miles and you are at parking location #1.  You can park on either side of the road here if you have a low clearance vehicle.   

Unnamed Falls #2

A high clearance vehicle can continue on this road all the way down to where it runs into Graves Creek itself.  See the map at the bottom of the post.  We continued on the road another 0.8 miles and parked where an old trace road runs toward Graves Creek (north).  We hiked along the old road until it swung to the right, then we followed a small drainage northwest toward Graves Creek.  This is the drainage feeding Forever Falls, a nice 47-foot waterfall that spills over the bluff and falls directly into Graves Creek.  Just before it plunges over the cliff are two smaller waterfalls, Unnamed Falls #1 and #2.  

Dead Pool Falls

After visiting the two upper waterfalls on this tributary, we hiked laterally around the bluff to the left, going upstream from Forever Falls to where a bluffline break allows for a more gradual hike down to the creek level.  This will bring you down to a point close to where Dead Pool Falls is, and a short hike upstream will take you to Unnamed Falls #3.  Falls #3 and Dead Pool Falls are both on Graves Creek, and had plenty of flow today.  Forever Falls, however, was showing the strain of going over three weeks without appreciable rainfall.

Unnamed Falls #3

Forever Falls, as well as Upper and Lower Graves Canyon Falls,  are actually on smaller tributaries that flow into Graves Creek.  All three waterfalls flow over the high, steep, blufflines and spill right into the creek bed.  They might have had disappointingly low flow today, but Graves Creek itself never disappoints.  It is a beautifully scenic creek, especially as it flows through a mile or so of very canyonlike terrain starting at Forever Falls.  

Unnamed Falls #1

Continuing on downstream through the Graves Creek canyon, we passed Upper and Lower Graves Canyon Falls, only about 50 yards apart from where they flow over the north rim of the canyon.  The upper waterfall did not have enough flow today to be "photo worthy", and the lower waterfall had enough to be noticed, but a far cry from its full-flow beauty.  From here, it is actually shorter to hike back the way you came, and I did that in my last visit to Graves Creek.

Lower Graves Canyon Falls

As I said, however, Graves Creek itself is a very scenic creek, and we were happy to be out in the wilderness in such a place.   Also, if you continue downstream for another mile or so, you come to the road that you parked on.  And just a few yards downstream of the road is yet another unnamed waterfall on Graves Creek, Falls #4.  Hiking back to parking location #2 is still a climb of about 400 feet, but there is a huge difference in hiking that on a road or trail instead of bushwhacking up a steep, slippery, rocky, slope.  If you parked at parking location #1, it is a 650-foot elevation difference.  Again, it's good exercise, but hiking on a Jeep road still pretty easy hiking.

After getting back to the vehicles, we still had a some time left this afternoon.  After a brief discussion, we decided to go check out nearby Rough Falls in the Longpool area.  The hike so far today was cold but thoroughly enjoyable.  See the next post for the hike in Rough Hollow.

GPS Track - Graves Creek
Red - Jeep Road to Parking Location #2
Blue - Hiking route

Rough Falls, Arkansas Ozarks near Longpool

1/23/2016 -  Rough Falls

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Park #1:  35.53233, -93.14661, 732 ft.
  Park #2:   35.53148  -93.14735,  688 ft.

  Rough Falls:  35.53339, -93.14486 640 ft.

  Rough Falls Access:  35.53257, -93.14438,  601 ft.

Pet Friendly: Yes, dogs off leash should be fine. Some of the terrain is very steep and rugged, particularly in the upper end of Rough Hollow, but most dogs should be able to make it through the bluff breaks.  Smaller dogs or dogs on leash would not be recommended.

Motorcycle Friendly: It depends on where you park.  Parking  right off Longpool Road and would be okay.  Parking locations #1, #2, are on a very rough Jeep road and are no place for a cruiser or street bike.

Files (.gpx format) - Map with GPS Tracks at bottom of this post
  Rough Hollow waypoints
  Rough Falls GPS track

Rough Falls

After finishing our hike through the Graves Creek canyon earlier today, my hiking companions and I decided to check out another waterfall in Rough Hollow.  After all, it was practically "right on the way" (excuse #2).  It was already afternoon, so we were not doing the grand tour of all the nice waterfalls in Rough Hollow, only a quick trip to Rough Falls.  You can see the blog post for ALL of the many waterfalls in Rough Hollow here.  

Rough Falls today

We were already in Bullfrog Valley, so we just made a short detour up Longpool Road.  For those not familiar with this area, I'll give more complete driving directions:  from the main square in Dover (Dover Supermarket), go north on Highway 7 for 5.5 miles, and turn left onto Highway 164.  Go 3.5 miles on Highway 164, then turn right onto Old Highway 7 (aka FR-1801).  Go 2.7 miles on Old Highway 7 and bear left onto Longpool Road (aka FR-1804).  Go 0.8 miles on Longpool Road, and turn right onto the dirt road.  This is FR-1803, Pearson Point Road.  There is an area just off Longpool Road where you can park, but depending on the capabilities of your vehicle, you can choose to go down FR-1803 another 0.1 mile to an area used as a campsite.  Continuing past this point is not advised unless you have a high clearance vehicle.  After another 0.1 mile on FR-1803, the road takes a sharp turn to the left.  This is parking location #2, and is the trailhead for access to the lower waterfalls in this hollow,  including Rough Falls. 

Rough Falls - May 2015

At this parking location, there is an old trace road that branches off to the right (east).  This is wide enough to drive your 4WD vehicle down to park a little closer to the waterfall, up to a berm across the trail a short distance off FR-1803.  This old road wraps around the hollow, crossing the creek just above Rough Falls.  There are access points listed above for bluffline breaks to access the base of Rough Falls, approximately 50 yards downstream on each side.  Today, Rough Falls did not have the flow it did on our last visit in May.  The difference in scenery between winter and late spring is also dramatic.

We took in the view, took some photos, and scrambled back up the bluffline break.  Once back on the old road the going is very easy,  and we soon made our way back to the vehicles.  Only going to Rough Falls makes this a short and quick hike, exactly what we had time for today.  David and Amber live over two hours away, so a hiking day for them is cut shorter on both ends.  This is a little over a half mile each way, and very little elevation change other than climbing down into the canyon and back up.  This is a great hollow to visit; I recommend planning on a full day of hiking and visiting all the waterfalls in Rough Hollow as we did last May.

GPS Track - Rough Falls

Hideout Cave, Arkansas Ozarks near Bullfrog Valley

1/23/2016 -  Hideout Cave

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Park:  35.53006   -93.21792,  1044 feet
  Hideout Cave:  35.52963  -93.22128,  954 feet

Pet Friendly: Yes, dogs on or off leash should be fine. 

Motorcycle Friendly: No.  This is several miles up a logging road.

Files (.gpx format) - Map with GPS Tracks at bottom of this post
  Logging road track up Evans Mountain
  Hideout Cave track

My hiking companions and I had already done two hikes today.  We did a complete loop of Graves Creek canyon, then went over to Rough Falls for a quick trip to check on that waterfall.  David and Amber had more than a two-hour drive home, so their hiking day was done.  But I, along with friends Dan and Shelly Frew, had time for one more quick hike before calling it a day.  It really is a blessing to be a 'local' and live close to these beautiful locations.  On our way into the Graves Creek area, we had noticed that the forest service had left the gate into the road leading up Evans Mountain open, probably for deer hunting.  Dan had hiked into this area long ago and knew of a cave high on top of the mountain, hidden amongst a large rock formation.  

To get there, so north on Hwy 7 for 5.5 miles from the intersection of Highways 7 and 27 in Dover (Dover Supermarket) and turn left (west) on Hwy 164.  Go 4.7 miles and turn right (north) on Pilot Rock Road.  This is the first right after the double bridge over Piney Creek, about 0.5 miles from the end of the bridge.  Go 1.8 miles on Pilot Rock Road and turn left on Jakes Creek Road.  Instead of going down Jakes Creek Road, however, immediately turn left onto the Forest Service road at that intersection.  It will have a gate on it, sometimes left open and sometimes not.  You will need a vehicle with good clearance for this road, preferably a good 4WD.

We drove 3.61 miles along this logging road until we were blocked by a tree across the road.  This point is the parking location listed above.  From this point, it was less than a half mile to the jumble of very large rocks atop Evans Mountain that contained the cave.  There is no indication of a cave opening from the top, so you have to go down to the 'front' of the rocks to the cave entrance. The cave itself is not large, maybe 30 feet in diameter, and about ten feet high in the center.   There are numerous inscriptions and carvings on the rocks outside the cave, but time has weathered them to such an extent that I could not make out most of them.

We hiked less than a mile round trip, so I would hesitate to even call it a hike.  This was more like an off road adventure into an area we normally would not be able to easily access.  The logging road fords across Jakes Creek twice and winds its way up Evans Mountain.  The views from the top of the mountain are spectacular.   

GPS tracks for Hideout Cave
black - logging road
red - hiking route

Still Hollow Polyfoss - South Prong, Arkansas Ozarks near Freeman Springs, Arkansas

1/15/2016 - Still Hollow Waterfalls in the South Prong

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Parking Location #3:  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 

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 difficult bushwhack.  If you think your dog needs to be on leash, I would leave it at home.

Motorcycle Friendly:  Not really.  You will be going just a short distance down Dare Mine Road.  This is a dirt road, and not too bad at the beginning but it gets progressively worse.

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

elevation change.  Today we hiked a total of 3.85 miles in this prong of Still Hollow, with a minimum-to-maximum elevation change of 770 feet.  Most of that was the 600 foot climb from Still Hollow Falls back up to Dare Mine Road.  As with most areas in the Ozarks, getting to waterfalls means repeated climbs and descents into the waterfall grottoes.  This is a difficult bushwhack, not just because of the steep climbs, 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 Waypoints
  Still Hollow South Prong GPS track

Still Hollow Falls - with Rick, Dan, and Jim
Photo by Jim Fitsimones

Back to Still Hollow?  Already?  You better believe it.  On our visit to Still Hollow a couple of months ago, Dan Frew and I covered most of the northern prongs of this huge hollow and found 23 significant waterfalls, with oodles of smaller waterfalls and cascades.  You can see that blog post here.  We ran out of steam (and daylight) long before we could get into the very large southern prong of Still Hollow.  Dan had ventured into this area on his own a couple of weeks ago and found several waterfalls.  At that time, he said it was great but "could have used more rain."  In the two weeks since, it hasn't received any more rain, but we didn't let that slow us down.  Dan agreed to lead another frequent hiking companion, Jim Fitsimones, and me back into the area.  Besides, the weatherman said we had an 80% chance of rain last night.  The weatherman was a big fat liar, but we didn't know that when we made our hiking plans.

Falls #25

After meeting at Hotel Henry for a big breakfast, we headed out before 6:00 am.  Why, you ask?  Someone is all about the photography, and wanted to make sure we were there for the "golden hour", that time when the sunlight would be just right for photographing waterfalls.  I was more concerned with the fact that it was supposed to still be raining (it wasn't) and that it's hard to hike in the dark (it is).  It is less than a half hour from my house to Still Hollow, and it was still pitch dark when we got there.

Revenuer Falls

Driving directions to Still Hollow are fairly easy.  This will be on the opposite side of this large hollow from where we parked for our tour of the northern prongs.  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 we used today.  There is another location we are scoping out that may be a much better way to access this hollow, but that will be another visit to this area.

Still Hollow Falls

So there we were, ready to go but still dark as it could be.  Bushwhacking in  areas like this is difficult enough; bushwhacking in the dark is just silly.  Fortunately, we did have some LED headlamps, so we each strapped one on and took off down the drainage.  The big southern prong of Still Hollow has a fork with two major branches, and we went right down the lower one, the branch furthest south and west.  Even with the headlamps, bushwhacking in the dark is no picnic.  We did make it down into the hollow to where the first waterfall was without major incident.  Falls #24 for Still Hollow (the first 23 are in this previous blog post).  

Falls #30

Fortunately, the first pre-dawn light was just starting to filter its way into the hollow, enough that we could make out a little of the surroundings for this waterfall.  Not so luckily, there was nowhere near enough light for photography.  I generally leave an ND filter on my camera and didn't really want to fumble around with it in the dark.  After milling around aimlessly for a couple of minutes, we decided to hike on downstream.  Whose bright idea was it to come out here in the middle of the night, anyway?  As the crow flies, it is only about a quarter mile from where we parked to this waterfall.  As we stumbled around in the dark, who knows how far it is?

Falls #25

The day got lighter quickly, and in approximately another quarter mile, we came to Falls #25, a nice little two-tiered waterfall flowing into a large pool with a huge rock crag hanging over it. Most people like the big, tall, waterfalls.  I like the beautiful ones, and this one certainly is that, no matter its size.   Falls #26 was a couple hundred yards downstream from that, another small waterfall spilling into a large pool.  Continuing downstream, we came to Revenuer Falls.

Revenuer Falls - with Rick
Photo by Dan Frew

Revenuer Falls is one of those taller waterfalls we were just discussing.  I took altimeter readings at the top and the base to try to determine the height of the waterfall and got a difference of 37 feet.  The problem with handheld GPS altitude readings is that the margin of accuracy can swing by a few feet or yards.  By doing some scaling against people standing next to it, I think it is closer to 30 feet tall.  Still, a pretty nice sized waterfall.  When Dan came upon this one on his first trip to the south prong, he named it Revenuer Falls in keeping with the reason Still Hollow is called Still Hollow.

Falls #26

A couple of hundred yards downstream from Revenuer Falls we found Falls #28, another waterfall in the 'shorter but prettier' category.  Since Dan's first trip to this area, water flow was of course somewhat less after two weeks without rain, but this one still looked great.  I will make a point of coming back to this part of Still Hollow after a good rain to see these water features really sizzle.   From Falls #28, we went downstream to the intersection with the other branch of the south prong, then went upstream from the fork.  

Falls #28

Falls #29 was just upstream from the fork, a rippling, tiered, waterfall.  Further upstream was Falls #30, a beautiful, cascading type waterfall in the 16 to 18 foot range.  This bluff wall slopes very steeply in at this point, and it is quite a climb to hike up and above the bluff to continue upstream to the location this hollow was named for.  

With a name like Still Hollow, we suspected there was at least one still operating here for some time.  Indeed, we have found remains of locations for old whiskey stills in a large

Remnants of old still at Still Hollow Falls

number of the remote hollows in this part of the Ozarks.  You would think for a hollow actually named Still Hollow, it had to be a major operation.  At Still Hollow Falls, we found an ideal location for a still.  Apparently others thought the same, as there were many artifacts left from back in the day.  There were remnants of old stoves, hoops from wooden barrels, and rock work for the base of a large still boiler.  The waterfall itself provided a ready and steady source of running water.  

Still Hollow Falls

Since this was the location for the hollow's namesake still, it is the one we are calling Still Hollow Falls.  There are many others in this hollow that are bigger, taller and more powerful.  There are others that are prettier, although I suppose that is in the eye of the beholder.  All that being said, this is the waterfall with the hollow's history, so it's the namesake waterfall now.  We spent a good deal of time poking around at this one, then continued on our way.

Upstream from Still Hollow Falls, there are three tributaries that each have a nice waterfall.  Today, they combined with enough flow to make Still Hollow Falls look good, but individually they were a little lacking for water flow.  Again, there will be waterfalls I'll have to check on and document after we get some rain.  From this point there was not much more upstream, and we continued our big loop up out of the canyon on this fork and back toward Dare Mine Road.  

Falls #29

Like the rest of Still Hollow, the brush and briers in the undergrowth were much worse at the higher elevations.  Choosing to hike a little higher versus a longer route with this rough bushwhacking, we headed straight up and out of the hollow to Dare Mine Road, a climb of over 600 feet.  Once back on the road, it was very easy hiking down the road to where we had parked.  

Like the rest of Still Hollow, the large south prong was a 'waterfall rich' area, certainly enough to call this a polyfoss.  It is very difficult hiking in rough terrain, so don't expect an easy hike.  But if you are up for a little bushwhacking, this certainly has a large number of nice waterfalls in a relatively small area.  In my humble opinion, it is also certainly worth the effort.  We had enough easy hiking time on the road to rest up, and it was still only about 10:30 am, so we decided to take on nearby Elmer Page Hollow also.  See the next post for this date!

GPS Track - Still Hollow, South Prong