Little Bluff Cabin cam April 30 - happy SUNNY Sunday to you!

Our CANVAS GALLERY will be open 05/6?/23, 9-3 for walk-ins, and is available for appointments when Tim is home - click for info.

Journal updated April 25

Print Of The Week Special (above) - click here

March Journal was last updated with March 5-11 catch up..., plus March 24-30 - including the EPIC HIKE! (pics to come later) - click here for March Journal

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04/06/23 We had to scramble into our tornado shelter yesterday morning at 6am as a ""radar indicated" tornado was flying over Cloudland and then Lost Valley, but it missed us - whew! Then I drove to Sringfield for a double-root canel that seemed much worse than the tornado warning. By afternoon wildflowers were blooming and trees were popping, and at last I think SPRING has finally arrived (though the temp this morning was 37).

04/09/23 (photos are just phone snapshots) Wheels up at 3:55 this morning. First thing I noticed was there weren’t any stars. Oops. I kinda needed some really nice bright sunshine as a background for a photo I was trying to get - hoped it would clear up by the time I got there at sunup. Next thing I noticed there were a bunch of bunny rabbits along the backroads - at least they all stayed out of the way and didn’t die. (they were probably out hiding eggs, or painted potatoes)

It was still a little dark when I arrived at the end of the road Cozahome Trailhead down in the lower end of the Buffalo National River. My first stop would be a short hike of about a mile to a spot I’d been to couple of times before - a natural bridge. I was hoping for a sunny background behind the bridge - not full harsh sunshine of the day, but rather those first few golden rays that can add so much drama and magic to an outdoor scene.

I headed out on an old roadbed that’s now the trail, and realized it was light enough to see dogwoods in full bloom. The more I hiked the more dogwood I saw - this would be a theme of the day - DOGWOODS in full bloom - the woods were full of them, and oh how beautiful they were, even in the dimness before sunrise! Turns out this is one of the very best dogwood blooms I’ve seen in the Ozarks in a long time, with the trees popping open bright white rather than yellowish-green like they often do. Still lots of redbuds too - in fact much more colorful now than when they first woke up last month.

But even though I was faithfully in position squeezed up against a bluff wall behind me with the camera on tripod and ready to shoot the natural bridge just a few feet away, sunshine never arrived. It was cloudy there too, and would remain so for the rest of the day. Oh well, it was great to get out in the early morning and hike, and practice shooting this natural bridge - I’d have to come back though on a clear morning and hope for the great light.

One thing I noticed with the first iPhone pano photo that I took of the bridge was that it looked so very much like an elephant with his truck extending way out. There is a famous bluff nearby over on the Buffalo called Elephant Head so I figured this would be the Elephant Bridge. What do you think?

It was one of those early spring mornings where everything is fresh and green, but not fully leafed out yet so you can still see a long ways into the woods - which was a good thing because some of my route was brand new to me and I was kinda feeling my way around. A delight to hike through the middle of a big wide open forest.

This was all part of the Lower Buffalo Wilderness Area of Buffalo National River park. There are still lots of old roads, especially along the tops of ridges, but the only traffic besides wildlife now are hikers of horses. The old roads that don’t see any foot or hoof traffic have mostly grown up and disappeared, though you can stumble over one now and then.

I was crossing an area known at the “Ducks Head” - when you look at a map or aerial/google view you can see why - the route of the river looks like an outline of Daffy Duck’s head. I would be mostly working the neck today.

Friend and fellow guidebook writer, Danny Hale, had told me how to reach several unique sink holes that he’s featuring in a new guidebook of his, and those would be my second stop. Along the way I hiked along one of the old roads into the Duck’s Head, passing many small patches of yellow/orange puccoon wildflowers. I stopped several times to take snapshots but never could get the phone to work well - sometimes it does GREAT, other times not so. I was too lazy to stop and break out my full camera gear, but enjoyed seeing them all the same.

Within a few minutes of leaving the old road I stood peering down into one of the sinkholes that had a large tree growing up from it - quite unusual. The next sink hole was kind of fun because it has a “side” entrance where you can bend down low and hike back into an overhang and come out at the bottom of the sink hole - where there was light shining in. I’d seen many photos of this one though it didn’t look quite as good today - missing the right light I guess.

The next sinkhole was enormous - perhaps the largest I’d ever seen that broke the earth’s crust. So large in fact that I could not get all of it into a single photo without shogun a phone panoramic. And guess what - there was a giant dogwood tree (or two) in full bloom pouring right out of this giant sink hole! (the sink is THREE times wider than it appears in this photo, and pretty deep, with a shelter and sink hole way down under on the left)

Next on my list was anther rock structure, but I had to climb up and over a ridge first, then make my way about 1,000’ downhill to the bank of the Buffalo River. Guess what - there were probably 100 or more dogwoods in full bloom all along the way - it was quite a beautiful hike down to the river! And the Buffalo itself was in full emerald green dress (or whatever you call it). I really LOVE this time of year here when the rivers are this color and the trees are just waking up. Seems like the wilderness is in complete harmony. Wildflowers too.

My next target was the Buffalo Arch, a nice formation I’d only seen one time - kind of a glancing blow back in 1989 when I was with a group of my high school volunteers that helped build the Little Missouri Trail in the Ouachitas down south - we spent several days on the Buffalo as a final fun trip for them after five weeks of pretty difficult trail building. We passed by the arch and slowed down to see it, but didn’t stop or explore. I remember that day so well because there was a big storm brewing, and once we all got set up on a gravel bar farther downstream the wind blew so hard that our tents were nearly blown over flat - it was amazing to try and stand with the force of the wind. (though not nearly as powerful as the devastating tornadoes we’ve had in our state lately}

So this was my first time to be face to face with the Buffalo Arch, and it was looking pretty nice indeed. It’s kinda funny in the most all travelers go right past and never know the arch is there - it’s just above the river right on the downstream end of Ludlow Bluff between Buffalo Point and Rush. You really can’t see it from upstream, and from downstream it doesn’t really look like much. But you climb up to and through it and look back downstream it’s really pretty nice. I took a few photos and spent some time there but decided I’d have to return for a really good image I was thinking about. (probably by boat the next time)

So this was a Sunday on a prime spring weekend and the river level was just perfect for floating, yet in the two hours I was on the river I never saw another person or boat - had the entire area all to myself. That often the way I hike and work but was odd no one was on the river on the popular day.

OK, time to head back UP the hill! Oh my the dogwoods continues to put on a grand show all the way up to my final stop for the day - one of the most spectacular overlooks of the entire river. It was still cloudy, but that was OK - with early spring greens I love “cloudy bright” conditions best and the river was really showing off so I was a happy camper.

I could easily spend the day there, but I did have just one more spot I needed to stop at - all I’d eaten was my morning smoothie at 3:45am and nothing else since, so I kicked it into high gear and got back to the van in a hurry, and soon was pulling up to the McDonalds drive-thru window in Marshall at about 2. I was just a little taken aback though when the bill for fries, chicken sandwich, and small chocolate shake was almost $14 - YIKES! (a bit of marketing ploy at play - the new sandwich they were touting was not priced anywhere on the menu, nor online, so I had no idea how much it actually cost when I ordered) But I must say every bite and slurp was WONDERFUL! Though I probably won’t be ordering that combo agai

At the end of the day I’d seen some wonderful country and got in some great exercise, and maybe a nice photo or two. But as is usually the case I longed for another trip to each location, maybe two or three more, and plans were afloat inside my brain to make that happen. APRIL in Arkansas I do believe is one of the very best seasons of any on the planet - the more time we spend outdoors this month the better for our souls! (and our bodies)

2 ticks, no snakes, about a dozen scratches on my arms and legs, 8.5 miles, one empty Happy Meal bag - it had been a good day in the woods.

04/10/23 Our wild blueberry plants (aka huckleberry) are a really nice crimson color right now - do they think it's fall, or just happy that it's spring and want to make us smile!

And the same patch of huckleberries a couple days later

04/15/23 One thing I’ve noticed as I get more into geezerhood - seems like I take a LOT more stuff with me no matter where I go or for how long! This really got my attention as I was carrying gear from the new parking area at Buffalo Point Campground down to the “boat access/launch” area there. First note is that there is no boat access/launch area, at least not one anywhere near the actual river. When they redid all of that spot they blocked off the access to the river - now you must park in an upper parking area and carry everything down a long and winding path, down a steep flight of steps, then finally out across the gravel bar and eventually you may reach the river. I guess it’s progress somehow.

Anyway, at first I loaded all of my gear for a short overnight float into my blow-up kayak, which was fitted with a set of wheels for towing it to water access. But as I reached down to pick up the front of the boat to begin the trip - OH NO, I could not even lift the FRONT OF THE BOAT - it was TOO HEAVY! I ended up removing some of the heavy waterproof bags that everything was stored in and eventually was able to move the boat to the water, although it was not a very safe journey. There were at least two other boaters who watched in horror as they tried to figure out how to do the same thing with their boats - it is just kind of batty why they cut off boat access to the river at this - one of the most popular boat launch sites in the park. I’m sure there is a good reason.

I got in the boat and pushed off and half expected to sink right then and there, but somehow my little blowup boat didn’t seem to mind the excess weight and off we went. It was about that point I realized that sunset was only an hour away and I needed to make 5.5 miles and then get my camera set up. I’m not much of a paddler, but one of the main reasons to do these boat trips is to try and build up some strength in my core and back muscles in hopes it all will help my ailing back.

So I wiggled my butt around into the seat to find a stable position, propped my feet up on one of my big dry bags full of junk, raised my narrow Greenland paddle and dug in. The little redwood paddle almost began to sing with joy - it was a spectacular day and the water was just perfect and off we went!

I was planning a leisurely trip to my shooting location but that was not to be, and so my goal now was to just paddle as hard as I could and get there on time, hopefully not crashing into anything - or swamping in the shallow water - along the way.

While I didn’t get to enjoy the scenery much, I quickly became aware there were many other critters along the river with me - first one being the standard bald eagle that came off a perch high in a sycamore tree, swooping down just in front of me then gliding off into the distance. I’m not sure if this was a friendly hello and nod for a safe trip, or if he just wanted to get a close-up look at the only fool on the river that day. (fast-forward to the end of my trip - I never saw another boat or person my entire trip until I got to the end - something I was not expecting for a perfect April day on the Buffalo River!).

Then a kingfisher jumped out of a tree along the bank and followed me a little while. Then another one, and another. Seemed to be lots of kingfishers along this stretch. And oh my gosh, there were literally hundreds of turtles that would launch into the water from whatever rock or log they happened to be sunning on. The entire trip I only met one turtle who was bold enough to stay put - seemed to be an old guy like me and figured I was no harm so why would he bother.

Did I mention the river was PERFECT for a float? It was. Beautiful emerald water that was moving pretty well, yet still you had to pay attention to make sure and stay from the shallow water - I didn’t want to drag. Only a few spots of mild whitewater, and I even went out of my way to ride one or two. Mostly it was just me digging my way downstream as fast as I could - the sun before me was getting pretty low on the hilltops.

You would think that paddling downstream on a moving river would be no big deal, but I really needed to get to my spot before sunset so I paddled hard, as hard as I could go. Now and then I’d go around a corner and meet up with a stiff headwind - sometimes if I stopped paddling I’d end up going backwards upstream. Oops!

An hour on the dot and I was in my target area, but I had to look for the exact spot to land - I’d just been there two days before (but by hiking upstream from down). I eventually had to stop midstream and pull out my camera app and realized I was at exactly the correct spot - I just could not see it from the river, even though I was only 30’ away.

Within minutes I’d landed and dug out my camera gear and scrambled up the hillside to my spot looking right at the great Buffalo Arch. I still had a few minutes before sunset, so I set up and started taking pictures. I wasn’t really sure what the light was going to do - I had planned to be there for sunset, ALL NIGHT, then sunrise. And I’d just have to wait and see what sort of light I got, including starlight and moonlight.

The sun went down and the light was just so-so, and it turned out my frantic dash to the arch was not needed - didn’t get any interesting photos. But that’s OK - it had been a great float and a terrific workout for me. Since I was kinda starving, my next chore was to spread out on the bank next to my boat and inhale a sandwich I’d packed for dinner. It was SO GOOD!

Next chore was to unpack the boat and move it up onto the bank - just in case a freak rainstorm happened during the night - even if it rained 100 miles upstream the river could still come up so you just never know.

Next was to set up a small tent I’d brought along before it got dark. There was only one place to set up a tent. Hum. The rest of the immediate area was steep and jagged rocks and a tall bluff. My original plan was to camp on the gravel bar just across the way, but then I realized it probably would not be a good idea to travel back and forth during the night across the flowing river.

So I set everything up, got comfortable (not really - it was a steep jagged hillside up against a bluff, but you know), and continued to take pictures as the daylight faded into twilight, then into nighttime.

And then STARS came out - YIPPIE! Actually that’s exactly what happened - coyotes started to yip and howl right across the river. They seemed happy - not sure if that was a sign they’d realized I was trapped up against a bluff just across the river, or if they were just glad to be in the wilderness roaming free.

Then I heard the only unnatural sounds of the entire trip - a chopper came over flying pretty low, with a bright spotlight waving back and forth, up and down as it went. The light was bright enough to illuminate the gravel gar, river, and bluff as it passed overhead.

Soon I heard a splash, looked downstream and saw a large animal swimming across the river. Without a pair of binocs or a telephoto lens with me I was unable to see exactly what kind of critter it was - but I figured it could have only been a bear or a deer - both good swimmers. Up to that point I figured I was pretty safe from critters up on this bluff and on the other side of the river from everything else, but I hadn’t counted on a bear swimming across to get me! One did not, but again, hum.

Then came some chatter from across the way - little piggies squealing and running around and sounded like they were having a BLAST! This is what wild hogs do - they wander around and root up the earth for grubs and other treats in the dirt, and when they are in groups like this sound like they do tend to squeal a bit. I just had to laugh

There were a lot of spiders around me - each time I’d turn on my head lamp to look at something or move around on the bluff I’d see two of three different spiders - sometimes on the ledge next to me, others around my legs as I twisted to stand up. I’m not a big fan of spiders in my face, but I know they do a lot of good for the rest of us so I try to stay out of their way (impossible though),try to ignore them.

There were times when I realized it was absolutely silence - nothing but the ringing in my ears. Other times I’d pick up what had to be the beginnings of a small swirl of water in the river - sounded like it grew in size as it moved downstream, then hit something underwater and just kind of vanished. I’d see these during the day too but at night with no other sounds going on I could hear them and imagine what was going on.

Oh yes, the STARS! It was a clear night and while I didn’t have a large open view of the sky from the camera position, what I could see was just magical - there are advantages to star gazing in the middle of an International Dark Sky Park! I adjusted the exposure of the arch to be able to capture the stars.

Eventually I decided to set the camera to shoot a series of photos one after another for several hours which would show the stars moving through the scene. Once I did that there was nothing else for me to do but go to sleep, so I took my four-hour sleepy pill and crawled into the tent (sleeping on rocks is not too great, but the pill helped). I knew the moon would rise about 2am so I set my alarm for 3am.

The moonlight on the river and distant hills was beautiful, but again the camera position could not see too much of that through the arch. But I switch the camera from shooting stars to shooting the moonlight and spent the rest of the morning doing just that - taking pictures the moonlight and eventually the approach of dawn.

A couple hours later - after I had waited for sunrise to bring new types of light to the scene - I finally called it quits, packed everything up, and headed out onto the river downstream. There were several spots on this stretch of the river where you can come around a bend and see a half mile, a mile, or more ahead of you. It would be a short paddle to end my trip, and at the last corner I could indeed see nearly a mile - all the way to my waiting bride and puppy dogs who were out in the middle of a field at Rush Campground - Pam was doing a sketch of the river and morning light.

Seemed to take forever to paddle that last mile, but I made it! She had spent the night all by her lonesome - not a single other camper all night. Funny, but she told me about a motor cycle that pulled up next to our van while I was down at the river getting ready to start my trip. Pam had left the van door open and the guy got out and started to go towards the open door and our dogs - who were with Pam a little way away - went NUTS! They are not fond of strangers approaching them or our vehicle. Good dogs!

Oh, one last wildlife sighting - during that last mile there was a big old fat turkey that ran across a gravel bar, then took flight and flew right above the river just in front of me and disappeared into the forest on the other side. A fitting end to a good trip. Not sure if I got a photo or not (see below), but the experience was worth it for sure...

04/17/23 Funny thing happened at Home Depot yesterday. Our three-vehicle garage has gotten outta control (includes a giant stall for our camper van). I suspect your garage is extremely neat and organized but ours is just a mess. When my lovely bride noted it was time to do something about this - and after she called my bluff by not only finding the exact shelf unit that I had requested, but they were on SALE - I could do nothing but make a trip to Home Depot.

The very shelves were actually a lot cheaper than we thought ($70 cheaper per), so I decided I needed five of them to start the organization process. Turns out the boxes were so heavy I could only load two onto the cart, so I requested help and almost immediately a young lady arrived to help. Soon I was on my way out the door (after picking up a 40# bag of sunflower seeds as well), mission accomplished.

But then I got to thinking about the small “$100 off” sign at the register for opening an account. Gosh, that would ALMOST pay for another shelf unit! So back in the store I went (they had not loaded my boxes into the van yet), and began a process that would take about 30 minutes, and cost me a bit more than just another shelf unit before the discount - I also had to get a second bag of sunflower seeds*, and - well, you probably know the rest. (First all of the items had to be returned to the store and run through the system and my money refunded, then I had to apply for a card, then started the checkout process all over. *But the total of my sale with the additional shelf was still $9 since sales tax was not included in the minimum purchase price, so I had to buy something else - more BIRD SEED!) Turns out this all really was a good deal for me, and also for Home Depot, which is what it’s supposed to do.

Now the only problem is that all those boxes of shelves not only need to be hauled out of my van, but they also need to be built/set up. But FIRST, we have to clean our the garage to make space for the shelves, hahaha...

04/25/23 After the gallery closed last Saturday I got a wild hare to head out into the night and see how the Milky Way would look from a favorite lookout spot of mine in the wilderness where I’ve been a few times already this month. I arrived at the trailhead about 10pm, then laid down for a few winks - the alarm went off at 3am the next morning.

I jumped up, grabbed my camera backpack, bike helmet, a couple of flashlights, and a protein bar, then headed on down the trail along the spine of a ridge. At the far end of the ridge I left the old road trace I’d been following and bushwhacked on DOWN the hillside, about 600 vertical feet to the bottom where my headlamp spotted the Buffalo River. So far, so good, except that the river seemed to be flowing backwards - upstream!

I hadn’t had much sleep but surely I wasn’t seeing things? All I could do was assume the river at that point was swirling around for some reason - I turned LEFT and kept hiking what I hoped would be upstream. It only took me a few steps to realize spring was in full swing along the river - with each step I took the pollen was so thick and in my face that I had to reach into my pocket and pull out my covid mask - always at the ready!

For some reason I struggled quite a bit fighting through the river cane and vines along this stretch of my hike, and it seemed to take forever to reach the Buffalo Arch (total hike of 2.02 miles). But soon I was there, with a clear sky above and a gazillion stars shining!

This would be my third trip to the arch this month, but this time I had a new ultra-wide lens I wanted to try, and a new tent! (about ten pounds lighter than the last one I brought in). I knew the Milky Way would not be in my scene, so before I went up to the arch I spent a few minutes taking photos of the Milky Way from the river bank. I also paused for a few moments to marvel at how amazing the sky and all of my surroundings were. Oh my...

Since it had taken me longer to hike to the arch than I’d planned (surely getting up at 3am would be EARLY enough?), I kinda rushed to get the new tent and camera set up and see what the new lens wold do - but I would only have about 30 minutes of shooting before the stars would begin to fade into dawn. Unlike my last nighttime visit to this arch there weren’t any wild critters lurking about - at least none that I could see or hear.

There was a problem after I got all set up and started taking pictures. In my rush to exit the van and hike the two miles to the arch, I forgot to eat breakfast. I only realized this the first time I sat down after getting the camera going. SQUISH! I just sat on my banana that had somehow escaped from the camera backpack. Normally a squashed banana would not be an issue for me, but this one had been ground into dirt and gravel. Oh well.

In what seemed like only a few minutes of taking pictures, my time was up and the sky slowly began to lighten. I rolled up the tent and packed my gear and headed on back downstream - this time much easier than an hour before. I never did see the backwards water I had encountered in the dark, perhaps I turned RIGHT a little before, but soon I was climbing up and up - I rather enjoy this part of most any hike, the up part.

I decided to veer off a bit and visit an overlook to see what sunshine would bring to the wilderness. It of course was beautiful!

And it got me to thinking, hum, maybe I should return the next clear night and see about taking some Milky Way photos from up there?

Turns out it would be clear again this night/next morning, and so after spending the day working at home I drove back to the trailhead for another short night (to bed about 10:30). I set the alarm for 2am - this time vowing to EAT the banana before I left the van so I didn’t sit on it. With only a few hours of sleep the night before, boy that 2am wake-up call seemed really early.

Same routine, except that I did eat the banana before I left, and this time instead of hiking on down to the arch, I went directly to the overlook - it was a very clear night and I was hoping for a great Milky Way opportunity! In hindsight I probably should have gone somewhere else to photograph a rare Northern Lights show, but I didn’t know anything about it.

While it was a brilliantly-clear sky, my heart sank as I dropped down to the blufftop overlook area - fog, stinking FOG was rolling in - or rather rising up from the river below, and within literally about two minutes of my arrival the Milky Way had completely disappeared.

Fog does tend to move around during the night though, so I set up my little tent and the camera, tripod, and new lens I was testing, and waited. The temp was in the 30’s so I was glad for my down jacket, though the small bottle of ICED mocha I was sipping on did not seem to match the weather conditions (a thermos of warm mocha would have been much better!).

For the next couple of hours the Milk Way and I played a game of hide and seek - it mostly hid and I tried to stay warm. I got to thinking about how much time I actually have spent TAKING pictures during my 48-year career as a pro photographer. The top time consumers have been - driving, hiking to and fro, and then waiting for the light - wind - fog - or animal to become photographable. And then a few rare moments actually taking pictures.

My feet started to get numb. I had hand warmers in my coat pockets for my fingers, but nothing for my feet, which have equally poor circulation like my fingers. Luckily one of the best things you can do to heat up your body is to CLIMB UP stairs, or a hilltop. Since I had a nice steep hill right behind my shooting location I spent a good bit of time simply hiking back into the woods and up the hill - that would usually do the trick for a few minutes. Then I’d scramble back down to check on the fog situation.

Once while on the way back I veered off a little ways and found an opening in the cedar ticket with a view of the tent and the Milky Way. WHAT, THE MILKY WAY WAS VISIBLE???!!! I ran over to the camera and moved to the new shooting location in the trees, only to see the fog roll right on back again (if I had just stayed back at the camera in the first place I could have got my clear picture of the stars).

Eventually I got a good photo or two from each location, but never without the fog covering much of the scene. ‘Tis the nature of the beast. As I packed up and started the hike back to the van in what was now dense fog, I soon was completely above the fog and my head up into beautiful clear sky and Milky Way once again. But tisk, tisk, the stars had already begun to fade away so my chance had vanished.

But WAIT, how about the next night? I’d want to get up and start hiking an hour sooner - 1am maybe? But it was not to be - clouds and a little bit of rain. Same for the rest of the week, and then the moon will be way too bright - this will have to be it for a few weeks.

As almost always, I really enjoyed my time hiking in the dark, surrounded by wilderness and no telling how many wild critters staring at this odd critter going by...

04/28/23 Dennis Gundersen, the third person to complete all 200+ waterfalls in the ARKANSAS WATERFALLS GUIDEOOK - I was honored to hike with him early this morning to the last waterfall on his list - Punchbowl Falls - WAY TO GO DENNIS! (Jill Pickett was the first to accomplish this feat several years ago, Marianne Bassinger was second.) I met Dennis at the trailhead at 6am for the 2.6-mile hike/bushwhack down to the falls - it was a beautiful hike and amzing location! Dennis, who is even more of a gezeer than me (in age only), never skipped a beat, even on the 900'+ elevation gain climb back UP to the trailhead - I hope to be in as good a shape as him when I reach 70!