UPDATED 11/30/04 A short post to end the month...

11/22/04, JFK DAY. Well, I never made it down into the Ouachitas yesterday like I had planned, but I did get out and take a few photos. The alarm was supposed to go off at 4am, but I was up and out the door long before then. Before I tell ya where I landed, I must report on the slide show at the Bella Vista photo club on Saturday - it went great, and we had a packed house that included yet even more Journal readers, some who had driven a good long ways to attend. Great to see so many Journal readers, and to get to talk with and answer the many photo-related questions that always come up at photo club shows. I only wish they would have let me talk on for another couple of hours!

OK, back to yesterday. It was foggy and a little bit misty as I made my way on down off the mountain at 3-something in the morning. As I was leaving Russellville I decided to make a quick run up to Petit Jean State Park to see if they had any color, and before long I was parked at the gravesite waiting for sunrise - I knew there would be no sunrise, but I had to park someplace and wait for daylight to creep in so figured it was a good place. I got out of the truck and walked around in the dim light, reading the different signboards they have placed there, and watched a long barge making its way up the Arkansas River far below.

As it began to get daylight I headed on back to check on a waterfall at the Davies Bridge - much to my surprise the tree that looms right in front of the waterfall was filled with bright red leaves! Only problem was the wind was blowing pretty hard, so I didn't even bother to take any photos - mental note to come back later and wait out the wind. But it was a good, no a great sign that we had color up on the mountain! So I sped off to towards the lodge parking area, quickly shouldered my camera bag and new tripod, and went skipping on down the trail.

DOWN is the main word here - the trail drops quickly and switchbacks DOWN the steep hillside. I saw a large bright spot of orange almost immediately, and it was right in the middle of the little creek that tumbles on down right next to the trail. It turned out to be a person, and for a moment I thought I had discovered a body - it was still a little dusky dark, and this person way laying down on the wet ground with their hands and head in a pool of water. As I got closer the body moved, and a young lady sat up and waved. Must have just been a lodge guest that got up early to go enjoy the cool waters.

As I approached the giant Cedar Falls my heart raced - there was color EVERYWHERE! And plenty of water too. For probably twenty years I had dreamed of photographing this waterfall in the fall. I had seen a poster that the Arkansas Parks & Tourism Department was giving away (and always wanted one) of this falls with red and yellow sweet gum trees all around it - the photo was taken by Charles Ellis, a naturalist at the park, and I had always been envious of him getting that shot! Turns out Charles lives over on Hwy. 7 near Lurton, and is actually in our calling area here.

The closer I got, the more the trail was COVERED with bright yellow leaves, long and slender the leaves where, and just gorgeous (I never did figure out what type of tree they were from). Knowing the situation could turn sour at any moment, I raced to find a good location, set up the tripod, and fired off a series of photos. YIPPIE, I finally got my photo!

Turns out it was tougher than I thought to get a perfect photo of this falls with all the color. I spent nearly an hour there, all alone, with not a single person to join me at this most popular trail and destination. I spent much of that time looking around for the best view, including going back behind the falls, off to one side, then the next. What I discovered was that the wet rocks around were really SLICK, and I my boots had absolutely no traction whatsoever - I kept falling and falling and falling, fortunately none of the times with camera in hand.

One problem was that a heavy mist had begun to fall, which made the scene less clear, and also since the waterfall was blowing everything around down in the hole, that mist would quickly form on the front of the camera lens - not a good thing. I kept watching the sky thinking that it would get better soon, but it never did, and in fact the mist got heaver. I put away my camera gear, and vowed to return later in the day, so I packed up and left, still the waterfall was all alone.

On my way down the trail I past a guy standing out in the middle of the creek on top of a rock, fighting with an umbrella and a tripod - hum, he was a REAL photographer to be out in this mess to begin with, and to have remembered to bring an umbrella with him! Don't know if he was getting any good photos or not, but I wished him well an moved on down the trail.

Since it was nearly raining at this point and I wasn't going to be talking any photos, I decided to use the time to explore around a little bit. I left the trail and headed up a side drainage where I knew another waterfall lurked. The little drainage was filled with huge moss-covered boulders, and a little bit of color here and there. The creek leaped from one boulder to the next and it was all quite scenic. As I climbed higher the terrain got really rough, and at times I found myself holding on for dear life. It wasn't a dangerous situation, but one where it could be easy to slip and fall and slide down 100 feet. I found my self saying "if I could only reach that ledge up there, I would have it made and it would be easy going from there on up." Nice try. I ended up telling myself that at least a dozen times before I really WAS up and out of the rough going. There was a very nice and tall cascade at the head of this little drainage, but no actual place to get a good photo from, so I never even stopped to shoot. And besides, heavy mist and fog continued.

When I broke out on top I found the Boy Scout Trail that runs along the top of the rim of the canyon, and followed it on over to the "Rockhouse Cave" that I had always wanted to see. This is one of the deepest overhangs that I know of, going a long ways back into the hillside (an overhang and not a real cave). It was pretty neat in there, and DRY. I looked around and spotted a number of the drawings left by previous tenants, and set up and shot some photos from the very back of the cave. Then I continued my journal along the trail.

This Boy Scout Trail is really one of the great hiking trails in the state, and the views from up there AND of the neat stuff along the way were might fine. It visited quite a few unique rock formations and bluffs, then followed Cedar Creek up above the main falls - this part of the drainage was filled with all sorts of color, both warm colors of red, yellow and orange, as well as bright greens of mosses and other plants. Lush, really lush, lush, LUSH! I stopped several times and looks at potential photos, but never did shoot any. (some of this canyon is off-limits because it is so dangerous, well at least it is dangerous if you happen to wander on downstream far enough to get to the edge of the big falls - many deaths from doing that)

The trail met up with the Cedar Canyon Trail, and I used the bridge over the creek on it to cross over, then took the Scout Trail on back to my truck at the Lodge. I was soaked, hungry, and a little beat up from falling so many times, and just plain climbing around with the heavy camera pack. It was 11am and still misting. I headed for the little country store up on the mountain a couple miles away to get something to eat, but was surprised to find it closed - I had to buy a can of beenie-weenies at the park visitor center for lunch.

The mist continued, but seemed to be getting lighter, so I returned to that first waterfall I looked at, set up my camera gear, and waited and waited until I got a short minute when the wind died down a little bit. In the meantime I read up on the history of the stone arch bridge right next to the falls - turns out it was designed and built back in the 1930's by the grandfather of the guy who is the long-time director for Arkansas Parks and Tourism and a friend of mine (Richard Davies). I sort of started an unofficial "arch photo series" when we were at Ft. Morgan in Alabama last spring, so while waiting for the wind to die down I turned the camera and took a photo of this stone arch - quite a work of art for sure (the bridge, not the photo).

Once I got the photo I loaded up my camera bag and hiked along another section of the Scout Trail and spent some time exploring the creek and canyon, taking a few photos along the way. There was some really nice stuff in there, but I had trouble finding perfect spots to shoot - some of these things are just meant to be viewed in person and never photographed I guess. I was happy, and it was a terrific hike.

With the mist stopped I set my sights once again on the big falls, and loaded up for another trip down in the big canyon. This time I used a little-known trail that had been built by the CCC's back in the 1930's but long since abandoned - we discovered it during an Arkansas Trails Council trip there probably 20 years ago, and no one every used it. This trail goes beyond the normal boardwalk at the Cedar Falls Overlook, and visits some really interesting rock formations before making the plunge straight down the steep canyon wall to the creek below (very steep and slick). When I got to the bottom I actually found a way across the creek without getting my feet wet - the rest of me had been soaked from previous hiking, but my feet remained, surprisingly, dry.

Conditions as I approached the falls were ideal - no mist and no wind! But there was a bunch of hikers gathered around the falls, and this would continue for the next two hours until nearly dark. No matter, I knew I could remove them in Photoshop if I really needed to, although I made my compositions carefully to only include a few of them off to the sides. Seems like as soon as I started shooting, it began to mist once again. I did get a few good photos, then gave up, put my camera gear away, and went exploring around the base of the falls once again.

There was this one scene from almost behind the falls that I decided to shoot, but in order to do so I had to crawl part way up the vertical wall, where I could cling onto a tiny ledge of crumbling rock. About the time I got myself and camera gear up there and into position, hikers appeared and began to come behind the falls and into my scene. I spent nearly an hour up there, holding on for dear life, and watching the parade of folks. I was not the least bit discouraged because I knew the folks were having fun, and that it continued to mist so I couldn't shoot any photos elsewhere anyway. There was one group of six girls that came by - must have been 13-14 years old - that I watched with great interest. They were having a blast, and were getting covered with the nasty mud that the powerful spray from the big falls created back under the overhang. They all seemed like this was the first time they had been set free and were making the most of it. I wondered which one of them would be Amber in another couple of years.

I had noticed a guy with a tripod making his way around towards my position during my stay up on the side of the wall. He had a tripod and was taking a few photos. I knew I must have looked pretty silly up there where I was, but when I finally got my shot and climbed on down from my perch the guy came up to me and introduced himself, like he knew exactly who I was. "How did you know it was me?" I asked. He replied that no one else would have been up in that position but Tim Ernst! I have been called an old goat before, but I guess I really looked like one on this day!

Just about the time that everyone cleared out from the falls area and the mist STOPPED, I realized it was getting dark in a hurry. I returned to one final spot that I had wanted to photograph from and quickly set up my tripod and began shooting. As luck would have it - right at the very end of the day - I decided that I needed to get to one location out in the middle of the creek that required me to wade, so I plunged right on in, and soon my DRY boots were soaked - which is how they normally get at the beginning of a shoot. This one shot was a reflection, and one of my favorites from the entire days work.

I shot and shot and shot until I could shoot no more - the light was fading in a hurry. Then I crossed the creek and headed on back up the old CCC trail until I topped out. OK, ok, I found one more scene that had to be photographed, but the light was nearly gone and my exposures were REALLY long, but I think the shot was worth it - this was a view looking down into the canyon that showed the big falls disappearing into a sea of fall color.

OK, work day done, time to head home, a two and a half hour drive! You can get a lot of work done when you get up at 3am and don't get home until after 7pm, and I was a happy camper. Here are just a few photos from the day, although I didn't want to fill up the entire Journal. I've got a ton of office work to do today, and also will need to make a trip into town to collect and deliver 18 large prints that Bedfords is printing for me on their big printer. I hope to return south, and this time I might make it down into the Ouachitas! (It is heavy pea-soup fog here this morning, so I will post a photo from yesterday as the Deck Cam...)

the falls at Davies Bridge

Davies Bridge

Cedar Falls

the wind was really blowing!

Cedar Falls

from inside the Rockhouse Cave

Here is the scene of Cedar Falls from my perch

Cedar Falls on my way out

the last shot, from the overlook

11/25/04 HAPPY TURKEY DAY! We've got 27 degrees and a bright sun just beginning to pop up over the eastern ridge, spilling sunshine across the mountaintops and down into the canyons. Very still outside, which is a good thing since it is rather chilly even with no wind. I am watching a cloud bank at the far end of the main Buffalo River canyon - the very tops of it are getting hit with sunshine, and as the light works its way down I am shooting a series of photos of the progression - I hope to pick the best one to post as the deck cam shot this morning.

I had a very long and disappointing trip down into the Ouachitas this past couple of days, and didn't come home with even a single publishable image - that is rare but happens. Overall I must say the color down in the Ouachitas is rather good right now - but we had heavy rains, lots of flooding, rather dull light, and most importantly, HEAVY winds the entire time I was down there.

After spending half a day in town trying to get some prints finished from the lab and delivered to a customer, I headed south and drove into the heavy downpours that would follow me for a couple of hours. I wound up driving into the heart of my prime shooting locations down there, mainly the Little Missouri River area and specifically Little Missouri Falls. The creek was raging, and I was happy to find a brand new $50,000 steel bridge spanning this creek (actually giant overkill for simple hiking trail bridge, but you know how the government operates). There wasn't all that much color around the falls, but I wanted to set up my camera and take a few snapshots just to show how much the falls were running. It was still raining a little bit, so I had my trusty umbrella with me. When wind gust came charging down the valley it grabbed the umbrella and sent it sailing right out into the middle of the raging torrent - this happened at the very same spot where we lost a walkie-talkie that last time I was there. Hum.

Little Missouri Falls at floodstage

In an effort to save my $8 umbrella and not litter the landscape I made an attempt to rescue my umbrella. It has landed upside down and was floating in the water. The creek had pushed it to one side where it lodged up against the far end of a long log - the close end of the log was resting on the bank. OK, I figured if I just walked out onto the log and reached way out I could grab the umbrella. Nope. As I began to walk out on the log the log began to sink, and within a few seconds I was standing on a submerged log and was up to my knees in water! When I backed off the log rose back up again. OK, no problem, I will just walk out onto the log, hold it down long enough for the umbrella to be freed, then hopefully the umbrella would continue on downstream and come to rest elsewhere where I could snag it. Nope, didn't happen that way. When the umbrella began to move on downstream, it tipped, then sank right to the bottom! Not wanting to kill myself over an $8 item, I elected to not go in swimming after it. Sorry for the litter!

I shot a few photos of the nearby hiking trail, and of the bronze plaque that has my name on it (this is the only place I am immortalized in bronze, so I have to take a picture of it every time I see it!), then motored on to the next location.

One thing that struck me about this area of the Ouachitas was the fact that so many of the trees were dead - lots of terrific color, but it was mixed in with all that dead stuff and was not too scenic. I passed right on by many of my normal shooting locations and didn't even stop a single time. Of course, the fact that everything was so flooded and the wind blowing so hard meant I couldn't get any good photos anyway.

On my way out of the area the sky above began to break up a little bit and the air took on this very weird glow. The countryside I was driving through was very rural, with brilliant green fields, but also with a mountain running on the far side of the pasture land that was covered with very good color. And the sky beyond this mountain was the strangest shade of dark blue - it was not blue sky, but rather a powerful thunderstorm. There were also some white clouds in the foreground. As I drove that weird glow intensified to the point where I simply had to stop and get out and shoot SOMETHING! Just as soon as I stopped and started to set up my tripod a pickup truck roared by and stopped - a couple of good old boys wanted to know what I was doing. Actually they were quite amazed at the weird color too, and I politely asked them if I could step out into their field and take a photos - they happily said yes. I put down the tripod into the grass and snapped a few photos, knowing I was just trying to record this weird light but didn't really have a photo. Once I was finished I motored on down the road as the weird light began to fade (no way a photo could ever actually capture this light).

Gosh darn it, not a mile down the road was an INCREDIBLE scene, one of the most magnificent rural scenes I had ever come across, including a red barn, that

green pasture, hillsides as far as you could see with brilliant trees covering them, and cows in the pastures, plus that SKY above. But I was too late - the weird color has passed, and it was too dark to shoot. Had I not stopped at the previous spot to take the photo, I would have come upon this perfect scene at the peak of the magic light - sometimes you win (like the sunset on Lake Ludwig a couple of weeks ago) - but more often than not you just miss out. Oh well, at least I was out there looking.

I decided to head to another part of the Ouachitas - north of Hot Springs - in hopes of getting some good shots the next morning. My first stop, though, was to buy a new umbrella at Wal Mart. While I was in there I happened to pass by the fresh bread case, and they had just put in fresh hot french bread - I am a sucker for fresh hot bread! So there I sat in the parking lot at Wal Mart, eating most of a loaf of bread and some juice for dinner while it poured rain. Yep, this nature photography is an exciting life! Oh yes, that hot bread was great...

Later I motored on up the highway and pulled over and parked and crawled into the back of the truck to spend the night. I have trouble sleeping in my own bed and seldom get any sleep while in the back of the truck. It rained much of the night, but at around 3am I happened to look out and saw stars - this was a great sign - I wanted clear skies in the morning!

But that was not to happen. We had a little more rain and heavy cloud cover at first light. And HEAVY winds.

I realized that I was going to be spending most of the day just driving and hiking around and probably would not get much to shoot until the clouds cleared out in the afternoon - at least that is what they were predicting on the radio. My very first stop was at this great viewpoint along the Winona Forest Drive, a special route that the forest service has designated as a scenic drive - and they have several great pulloffs with scenic views. Only problem is that the forest service seems to not be paying any attention to these viewpoints and has not trimmed the brush in many years - you don't get much of a view any longer! But I found a good location farther up on the hill at this first stop where I got an OK view of my favorite mountain in the world - Forked Mountain. And much to my great surprise and delight not only was there color on the flanks of the mountain, but the SUN was breaking through some of the clouds and moving across the wilderness!

I could see this incredible image in my mind of my mountain reaching up towards the sky and lit in full sunlight while everything else around it was in shadow and very dark. I scrambled to find a suitable shooting location (above the actual viewpoint) and quickly set up the camera and tripod. The wind was blowing so hard that I had to hold onto the tripod to keep it from blowing away. I won't bore you with the entire story, but suffice it to say that I nearly froze my finger off standing out there waiting, and while the sun did move through the wilderness several times, it never once lit up the mountain! The sun disappeared altogether and it was nothing but heavy clouds so I finally gave up and packed up and drove off.

After I had gotten about a half mile down the road the sun popped out once again and began to move across the wilderness, so I put it in REVERSE and raced back to the parking area, then ran back up and set the camera and tripod firmly in the ground. This time I knew it would light up the mountain, and I was excited. But nope, not this time either.

The sleeping giant

I continued to drive along the scenic drive and stopped a looked around but never really found anything of great interest - everything I did find required sunshine and blue skies, which is what the forecast was for the afternoon.

One time I spotted a rare outcrop that I wanted to go climb to the top of. I found the closest spot along the road below this spot, but had trouble getting the truck far enough off the road (it was very narrow with no turnouts), and after about ten minutes managed to put the truck far enough into the ditch so that another vehicle could pass. After another ten minutes of scrambling up the steep hillside I got to the top and found a great view, but too much wind - I would return later for a shot, I hoped. So I slipped and slid on back down to the truck, and continued on my journey. Son of a gun, about 1/4 mile up the road I saw a turnoff road to a vista - and sure enough, that very road took me right on up to the top of the ridge to within 100 yards of where I had just been!

My next stop was to the base of Forked Mountain to check on the color there and to see about shooting the waterfalls in the creeks nearby. There was even more color at the base of the mountain and going up the flanks but not much color at all along the creeks, and the wind continue to blow at gale force - there would be no waterfall shots this day!

Forked Mountain from inside the Flatside Wilderness Area

Wanting to get the perfect shot of the mountain later in the afternoon when the skies broke up, I began a long search to find a spot where I could see the split in the mountain, AND all of the color on the lower flanks. I wound up spending half of the day out in the wilderness climbing one ridge after another, and found one great spot that would work perfectly for my photo. Now all I needed was that sunshine that they kept calling for. At one point I drove on around and hiked on up to the top of Forked Mountain and nearly got blown away by the strong winds - otherwise it was really nice up there, and, of course, the view was TERRIFIC in all directions. Then I returned to my shooting location as the time ticked on. Hum, another hour passed, then another, but still no break in the clouds. By the end of the day there was no break in the clouds and I didn't get my shot, or any of them for that matter, so I packed up and headed for home, where I was hearing from my bride that it had been SNOWING all day at Cloudland - nothing on the ground, but it was pretty while coming down.

I will make another run down into the Ouachitas after turkey day and hope to make up for lost time and get a few good images before all of the color is gone. So far we have got a terrific waterfall season upon us, and I hope you are able to get out this holiday week and see some of them! For today I am going to spend the day with family and stuff myself with as much delightful turkey as I can hold - I wish you the very best...

Sunrise from the back deck, 11/25/04

11/27/04 It is early this morning, is still quite black outside, and we are getting some heavy rains and lots of thunder and lightning. I believe the forecast is for sunny skies all day, although I bet that has changed since we went to bed last night.

We make a quick trip up into Missouri for turkey day with family - saw about 20-25 bald eagles along the way. Looks like they are moving down into Arkansas to spend the winter and to get away from the frigid temps and snow of up north - I hope we have a ton of snow here this winter to make them feel at home - I NEED some heavy snowfall for photos!

Speaking of photos, I leaf the house around 3am yesterday and headed back down into the Ouachitas. It was a beautiful, full-moon night and the landscape was lit up so much I hardly needed my headlights. I went through the drive-thru at McDonalds in Dardenelle at 5am - can you believe they have these open in the middle of the night now in these small towns?

As I motored down into the mountains I formulated my plan of attack for sunrise, which would turn out to be completely wrong. In fact my timing was off the entire day, photographically speaking. I opted to shoot photos of the first light on Forked Mountain from the lookout along the scenic drive, but instead I should have been at the base of Forked Mountain shooting the full moon setting behind it. I also should have been at this neat lookout point I found where the sun would have risen right above Lake Winona. I needed to be at the top of Flatside Pinnacle just after sunrise, but didn't get there until an hour later.

The long shadows in Flatside Wilderness area were getting shorter by the second when I arrived at the parking area for Flatside Pinnacle - I quickly threw on my camera bag, grabbed the tripod, and sped across the parking lot and sprinted up the trail into the woods - all to the dismay of the orange-clad deer hunter standing in the same parking lot. "That guy must be nuts." Yup. There are times in my job when I really do have to run as fast as I can because the light changes so fast, and this was one of those times - I knew I was late and already missed the best light, but wanted to try to salvage SOMETHING out of the morning. The wind was blowing so hard, and it was coming DOWN the slope that I was racing up and not helping matters any. With each step I took - while jogging UP this very steep trail - I recalled every single bite of delicious turkey and roll and mashed potatoes and CHOCOLATE PIE from the day before, not to mention the Bacon McGriddle from McDonalds - I have grown rather fat and out of shape and that was beginning to haunt me. I vowed to never eat another un-needed calorie, and to get my miserable excuse for a human being back into shape - I will be chasing the changing light many more times in my life, and I don't need to die on a cold, windswept mountain from a heart attack (although I realize that is probably exactly what will happen to me, I just hope it is many years in the future!).

Anyway, I actually did make it to the top of Flatside Pinnacle, and the view from up there was just terrific. Only the WIND was blowing at gale force speed, and I could hardly stand up - really, I bet it was 60mph or more. I fought to get the camera out of the bag and bolted onto the tripod, then had to hold down the tripod to keep it from sailing over the edge. I had already stashed my hat in the bushes before I reached the top, knowing full well that it would be quickly lost. Each time I make an exposure I tried my best to shelter the tripod from the wind with my body, but more than once I was thrust right into the tripod by the wind during the exposure. I had on three jackets yet was nearly frozen. And while the scene was really nice, I should have been there an hour before!

The view from on top of Flatside Pinnacle (Forked Mtn. is in the upper right)

An hour before I was standing next to my tripod in a much quieter place, in the predawn light enjoying a still and silent moment while I waited for the sun to emerge in the east and light up Forked Mountain. At the same time the full moon began to set off to the left of Forked Mountain, and I shot a few exposures of it as it slowly disappeared into the distant horizon. The "other" shooting location for this mountain would have put the moon setting directly behind it, and while I was actually looking down at that very location, it was about a 45 minute drive to get there and I messed up by not being there. But what the heck. Moments later the sun began to peak up over the ridge directly behind me, and as it slowly rose the sunshine touched the very top of Forked Mountain, then began to work its way on down. In case you hadn't figured it out by now, I love this mountain, and never tire of photographing it from any angle. As soon as the mountain was all lit up, I thought about that shot from up on top of Flatside Pinnacle that I should have been taking, then sped off to see what I could salvage.

Forked Mtn. at first light

Once I came down from Flatside Pinnacle I drove on around the other side of the wilderness to the base of Forked Mountain, then hiked on up to my other shooting location just to see what it looked like. The wind continued to howl, and the trees in the wilderness were thrashing around like crazy. By the time I reached my spot clouds were forming in the west, and began to gather around Forked Mountain. From the looks of things I was about to see the last bit of sunshine and blue sky for the day, although the forecast was for sunny skies all day long. I quickly set up the camera and fired off a few shots. Clouds were gathering around the sun as well, and soon dark shadows crossed the scene. I waited until everything was in shadow except for the mountain, then fired away. I had wanted to take this photo in the early afternoon when the trees would be backlit, but it looked like this was all I was going to get - the best laid plans of mice and men. Soon the sky was nothing but clouds and the sun was no where to be found.

The LAST photo of Forked Mtn. (for a while anyway)

Overall the color in the Ouachitas had been drained right on out since the heavy rains of three days before - lots of rain will do that to fall color. I was more than a little disappointed in the color, but mostly in myself since I had missed a couple of great photo ops that morning by being in the wrong place at the wrong time - but that is just part of the job, and I get lucky more often than not.

For some reason, there seemed to be more color around Russellville, so I reversed my direction of travel and headed on back up Hwy. 7, then veered off and drove up to the top of Mt. Nebo where I hoped to photograph the waterfall there - surely it would still be running after all that rain the other day. The color was indeed quite nice as I switchbacked up the steep hillside towards the park, but the color kind of petered out near the top. I hiked on down to the base of the waterfall and found neither good color nor much water flowing. For those of you who are waterfall hunters, this one is not in the guidebook, but is still a nice one that you should visit - only be sure to come when the water levels are really high.

Not knowing really what to do next, I decided to head to Pinnacle Mtn. State Park just outside of Little Rock to see if I could get some good color in those wonderful cypress trees along the Little Maumelle River (I had forgot about there being a Razorback football game that afternoon in town, so decided to take a back way into the park instead of going the interstate). When I reached the park I discovered the color was rather dull and lifeless, and while I did hike around for a little bit and saw lots of the great cypress trees, I never even took the camera out of the bag. Cypress swamps are one of the main items on my agenda that I need to get a few photos of for the new picture book I am working on (plus I need more photos of them for the Arkansas Nature Lovers Guidebook that I am also working on), and I plan to make several journeys this winter and next spring down south specifically to photograph swamps - I'm always on the lookout for good places to photograph concentrations of them if any of you happen to have suggestions.

The weather forecast had called for clear blue skies and sunshine all day on Saturday, and I had been making plans to return to the base of Forked Mountain to try and get the moonset on Saturday morning, but the more time went by, the more I realized it was NOT going to be sunny and blue skies on Saturday - I really need to QUIT paying any attention to the weather forecasts! And the color seemed to have drained right on out of the trees down that way. This, plus the fact that I was growing weary of road travel and really missed my girls, caused me to abandon my three-day photo trek, so I turned the truck around and headed for home.

There was one spot along the drive that I have photographed a number of times over the years, so I decided take a look and see what I could find. Sure enough there was some nice color there, so I spent about an hour taking pictures - in fact filled up an entire 1 gig card there. Of course, I could not go home with dry pants and boots, and I managed to find one scene that required me to wade out nearly waist deep into the swamp in order to get the photo - it may very well turn out to be the best shot of the trip. (Turns out I made a good decision after all on this day - to come home to my girls, who were both waiting for me with open arms!)

Tupelo swamp and maple tree

I have decided to TRY to actually take two days off from work and spend the weekend doing nothing but playing with my girls, getting chores done around the house, and perhaps will go out for a hike or two. We'll put up the Christmas tree and other decorations, and generally get things in order both inside and outside the cabin. We have another long week ahead of us that will include three or four road trips (and slide programs in Benton and Bella Vista), then just one more week of programs (in Harrison and Fayetteville) and then we will be done for the season.

SPEAKING OF WORKSHOPS. I have posted my workshop schedule for 2005, and it includes seven workshop dates - with new ones in January, March, and June, plus the normal spring and fall dates. These are already beginning to fill up, so if you have ever wanted to take one, now is the time to sign up. AND we offer GIFT CERTIFICATES that are perfect for Christmas - just send me an e-mail to let me know how you want the certificate made out - you can even keep the actual date blank and let the person decide which one.

It is just now beginning to break daylight - I can barely see a single cloud way down in the bottom of the canyon. No wait, there are two clouds now. Oops, now three. Looks like the rains overnight (that have now stopped) are getting the cloud nursery up and running. I suspect the scene will change rapidly throughout the day. And, oh yes, by bride reports that there was a huge bald eagle soaring past the cabin yesterday - the first one of the season. I think we are going to have a find winter here at Cloudland - and for those of you who are inclined to do so, we could use a snow dance or two. Thanks!

11/28/04, late. It is rather noisy outside tonight, and cold, and wet, and WINDY! I just took a quick hike up to the office in the dark - well, actually, it wasn't really all that dark and I didn't have any trouble finding my way without a flashlight. A bright moon was up there somewhere, although a thick layer of heavy clouds cut out most of it, but there was an overall glow in the wilderness that provided the dim light for my passage. Kind of odd out there with all that wind, and the temp is in the upper 30's, with it spitting rain, or sleet, or something.

I WAS able to take the entire day off yesterday, and spent it with the girls as we put up the 14' tree in the middle of the great room, and decorated it and the fireplace. It took longer than usual this year - partly because every now and then both girls would break out into dance as a particular Christmas song came on the stereo (since the Carroll Electric power company destroyed our stereo system, we now use a little Bose radio, and while it is not nearly as powerful as the old system, it works pretty darn good, especially in this old log cabin). We all had a delightful day adding the holiday touches to the cabin.

Later in the afternoon I snuck off for a quick hike down to the river with the dogs. Aspen went charging in the lead, and right on over the bluff he went. Lucy and I took our time getting down the wet and slippery rock face, but then she took off like a rocket too. The forest was just delightful, and it was pretty quiet as I shuffled along in the foot-thick pile of freshly-fallen leaves. The sun had already dipped behind Beagle Point, and so the more I hiked, the darker it got down in the old canyon. But also the farther I hiked the more music I heard - not that of the Buffalo, but rather of Whitaker Creek, for it was up and running and singing quite well. Nothing but white water today for this little creek!

The dogs plunged right on in and swam around as I inspected the nearby grove of beech trees. All of the leaves that remained on this trees had turned a golden brown now - they will remain throughout the winter until the new growth of springtime pushes them out. Some parts of the forest down there are quite thick because of the beeches, while other areas are wide open and you can see forever out into the wilderness. Along with the browns and grays of the forest and the white and beaver-pee-green of the creek there were lots of glowing boulders that were covered with bright green moss. The air seemed moist, which really brought out the rich colors of it all.

It was cooling down rapidly as the sun sunk even deeper, but I worked up a sweat in a hurry as I climbed on out and back up towards the cabin - made it all in one hump too. I tried to sit out on the back deck and soak up the last rays of the day, but a westerly wind cut into my soaked body, and I retreated inside - only to find it way too WARM for me! So I went back out onto the deck with a cool drink in hand. I shut down the outdoor shower the other day - reluctantly - so I had to go back indoors for my shower. I already miss that outdoor shower, but also want to keep from freezing to death. I suspect I'll fire it back up again in March. If not for the pipes freezing I would keep the darn thing working all winter.

Today I didn't get to take off work. Pam headed out early to go blaze trail, Amber went off to watch TV downstairs, so it was just me and the computer, and a pile of paperwork several feet tall. I spent nearly the entire day right here at the keyboard, but did manage to slip away now and then to hike up to the office. The day began sunny, but it quickly got cloudy and windy and that wind cut right into you - I worried about my bride out there handling aluminum blazes and nails with her bare hands. She is a real trooper.

E-MAIL NOTE. I discovered late today that our e-mail system had not been working since last night - so if any of you send an e-mail, I did not receive it, nor was able to send anything out. Don't know when it will get fixed, but I assume by the middle of Monday it SHOULD be back to normal - please re-send anything you sent on Sunday. I feel kind of naked without e-mail, and while I have been able to spend some time doing research on the net - AND hope this update gets posted OK - I have come to rely on e-mail much more so than phone service. (I got up out of bed at least twice during the night last night in order to type out and send an urgent e-mail to someone that I only though of while in bed - now it looks like none of them got through!)

Just before I put this and myself to bed tonight I wanted to share our holiday tree with you in the soft glow of the dim cabin. We have a pretty tall great room here - 23 feet to the top - and it takes a pretty-good-sized tree to make a dent in it, so we decided many moons ago to recycle our tree each year and save having to kill a large tree every year. It is a little more work, but I think it looks just grand, and I know the forest thanks us.....

11/30/04 The temp is just below freezing this evening, it is quite dark outside, and it is spitting snow, or sleet, or snail, or something. Rain on and off all day today, with chilly temps. The waterfalls in the Ozarks are running at full tilt right now, and the water is clean and just about perfect for waterfall hunting or photography. I've been stuck in the cabin and up at the office all day - tis the season. Birds are flocking to our window feeder, and in fact are fighting to get in. The cats left a couple of body parts at the front door again this morning - bless their little hearts, or whatever parts they were.

Looks like we'll have plenty of sunshine tomorrow and the next day, with warmer temps. I expect there will be some frost flowers out in the morning, and I will try to make a point to go shoot a few photos of them to post here in the new November Journal. I'll try to keep it shorter than usual, with not so many photos, although you know me! The rest of the week will be quite hectic for us with programs in Benton and Bella Vista, plus an OHTA board meeting in town, but hopefully we'll get to sit back and relax a little bit one day this weekend, well maybe not. The holidays will be over with way too soon for me, so I'm going to enjoy them while I can.

The wilderness has put on its winter coat of browns and grays, and with no leaves left on the trees you can really see out into the wilderness and into the soul of the place. Trees take on wonderful personalities, especially at dusk, when you can see so much of them in the bare branches silhouetted against the colorful western sky, each telling a different story that is easy to read. The earth is soft and forgiving now, and rich with green mosses and lichens. And so silent, ever so silent. You can hike through a mile of wilderness and not make a sound. Of course, the creeks and rivers are making plenty of music! And the wind is tuning up for a grand winter show I bet. It cuts through to your skin, and reminds you to breathe, to take it deep into your lungs. Geese fly overhead, and hawks are migrating through. Haven't seen the bald eagle again, but it is only a matter of time. I rather enjoy winter - and not just the cool temps and lack of snakes and bugs - but the FEEL of the place. Somehow you can become more in touch with it all in the wintertime, closer to the wilderness. I guess it is time to go hug a few trees and seek out the warm ones! HAPPY NOVEMBER to you all... Back to top