Waterfalls in the sunshine!

Here are some images I snagged while visiting the Richland Creek Area this morning. It was bright b/c we got a delayed start... but I tried to make the most of it. This was a nice change from all my recent portrait work. This is my blog entry: Jeff and I made a mad dash up to Richland Creek in the Ozark Nat'l Forest today. We left last night and drove to the creek (4 hrs) and slept for a few hours in the truck (very comfy). We woke up at around 6am to head out to catch some good light this morning at the magnificent Twin Falls. After around 2.5 miles of hiking we figured out we were headed in the wrong direction. We have been here before, but we came in from a different direction, this time we wanted a shortcut... big mistake. Basically by the time we got back to the truck we had a 5 mile warm-up! So we went to the spot we knew to hike in and made the hike. The creek and scenic area was very pretty and colorful. This is a very rare occasion in Arkansas. Only about once every 20-30 years is their fall color as well as high water in the Ozark Nat'l Forest. That is why we made the impromptu trip. I love to get out in the wilderness and just unwind a bit. My brain seems to work so much clearer then! By the time we got back to the truck we had totaled over 11 miles in less than 7 hrs as well as from the truck to the falls, the GPS read a difference in 1100 feet in elevation (this seems unbelievable, but the GPS guided us out accurately so I believe it, and I remember all the cliffs we had to climb). We were exhausted.

Somebody debunk or confirm my elevations... cemetery to twin falls?

Get out in the woods! The color is awesome!

Hey Matt, looks like you almost got some really great photos - if only you were there before the sun arrived! Looks like more color then when I was there on Thursday, and still water in the falls. Very nice.

If you just hiked out from Twin Falls (elevation 1383') back out to Hill Cemetery (elevation 1677'), you gained 294 feet - so I guess your 1100' would have included your short cut ey? I normally find some great stuff while on my "shortcuts," which I do often - just ask my wife...

thanks tim... i thought it seemed far fetced... i got the correct reading at Hill Cemetery... but down at the falls it was registering 534'. Who knows... the gps had probably just been metering all the hills we were going up and down because we stayed lost off the trail... thanks for your help and the info.

Matt:

I forgot to note that you really should get the Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook if you don't have it already (and if you do, hum....). I can't imagine where you hiked for 2.5 miles in the wrong direction if you started from the cemetery - everything downhill leads to Twin Falls. I'm sure you had a good time exploring though!

Oh... i should have made that more clear. We attempted to hike in from the campground first. We followed the creek from the campground around 2 miles then it dissapeared... went completely dry. We got discouraged and turned around since we were on such a tight time frame. Also the GPS said we were going really far away from twin falls. A local told us we needed to go just a bit further... then after driving around to hill cemetery and hiking down that way, we ran into Bill Dark and he said we must have went up Falling Water Creek ( i think that is the creek name he mentioned). He said a lot of people make that mistake on their first attempt in from the Campground. Does that sound right?

And yeah, we didnt have any trouble going in from the cemetery... just some rough terrain. Sore knees this morning!

IS THERE A DELAY when making these posts before they appear? I have had quite a few that are double-posted and I never hit the button twice, and just now there was a post in between two identical posts. Very strange.

Not sure how many times this one will get posted, but yes Matt, I'm sure you went up Falling Water Creek, although if you went two miles you would have been hiking along the forest road that runs next to it for a good long while. And I can't believe it was completely dry! Lots of folks do make that mistake, although I have never figured out why since the two creeks leave the campground 90 degrees apart and it is really easy to see which is which, although I guess if you don't look at a map it could get confusing.

You guys are killing me with your waterfall and color shots! Heck, I think the biggest waterfall I've seen in Kansas is in my bathtub! Last time I looked there wasn't any color there anyway ....

Well I am assuming we slept next to Richland Creek... but when we hiked we drove on into the Campground to park and unload... that was our mistake. We followed the creek for about 1.5 miles and it was very full until then. it then made a small split and a very small stream went to the right and a large, dry rock bed went to the left. we explored around there for a bit to see if we could find where we were... then we turned around. I guess the small stream to the right is where FWC keeps running... b/c falling water falls was still up and going strong! We went out their that night... but it was total darkness, so no night shots for us...

It's actually kind of interesting to see these falls with a blue sky behind them. Not the best light, of course, but it gives a nice view of an area that I've not yet visited. At least you guys got to spend some nice time in the wilderness. Pretty cool any way you look at it!

It was nice to meet another NPN photographer at the falls Matt...glad to see you were able to get some decent shots, in spite of the harsh light. Hope you guys had as much fun being in the woods as I did - what a gorgeous place! Thanks for sharing your work.