Just wondering if anyone has checked Kapark Road lately. I'd like to take a trip down into Bowers and maybe Hubbard this weekend - if the road to the trailhead is open. Anybody else game?
Hey Bill, I'll post a photo from that road in the Journal later today or tonight that you will find amusing and informative - plan on walking the last bit to the trailhead, and add an hour or two to your time for the trip into Bowers...
Thanks for the report Tim. Just an hour or two extra? I'm just glad to hear that you can still get there at all! I'll look for the Journal post later today - I can always use a little amusement.
Maybe a little late but I hope you had a happy birthday yesterday. Man, 54 huh?
Yup, and 34 years of that as a pro photographer, but it took me something like 30 years before I ever "broke even," as most folks like to say (it doesn't happen overnight). I spent nearly all of my birthday inside a blind shooting bird photos for the new picture book - could have been worse, but my butt aches today...
Artists are always the last to be paid, always the first to be cut in the budget. Everyone has a camera now, why should they pay YOU for a photo - their brother in law can do weddings too! (and thank goodness for that!) I have worked on a project for more than a year before an order was ever placed - waiting a couple of months for payment was the easy part!
I've been through that mudhole a few times, but have never seen it THAT deep!
Matthew, I'd say Saturday looks the best right now with scattered showers, but that could change between now and then. It would probably be best to wait until Friday pm to make any definite plans. Shoot me an email with your phone number and I'll give you a call.
I have actually been looking for some snake shots, and I don't get poison ivy, so it all sounds fun to me. Tom I imagine "log climbing" would probably describe it best, if it looks anything like the rest of the Ozarks.
Hey Tom, you follow an old road into the wilderness, then break off of it and bushwhack down through the woods (don't you have the Arkansas Waterfalls guidebook!?). The old road has a lot of trees down across it, but once you get off of it things get easier - can't say that too often! I find that in most cases while bushwhacking the ice damage is not really all that bad - I tend to follow the path of least resistance anyway when I bushwhack so it is not all that big of a deal now. But when you must stay on the road/trail, then it takes a lot more time to climb over and around the downfall. Bowers is always a magical place even when the big falls is not running full tilt...
Tim, I have at least two copies of your book, I have never been to this spot, but when the snakes and poison ivy get going good, I have to be careful! Especially the poision ivy! By the way, I saw that picture you posted on the journal, I think we will make Bill drive his truck!
Poison ivy? I hear Utah is pretty nice this time of the year! I'm allergic to just about everything known to man, including my own log cabin, my dogs, all forms of booze, but the ivy has never bothered me thank goodness. I'm looking at property in Utah for the day when I do become allergic - I'll be out of business here!
Tim, be glad that poison ivy is not on your list! It is the reason I head west to Colorado in the summer months, not much of the poison ivy out there. I will be spending some in the coming years in Utah also. My daughter moved from Steamboat to Salt Lake this past fall. I have already located some pretty neat spots around Park City for photography. Salt Lake also looks like a good jumping off point for the Tetons and Yellowstone, they are about 4 hours by car.
Hey Tom be sure to ask the locals out in Colorado about chiggers out there. The guys I know in New Mexico really like to give us a hard time about chiggers in Arkansas. They have no earthly idea what a chigger is.
Tom, I might have tried driving my truck before I had some body work done, but I would have second thoughts now. However, I did have a custom rear bumper made with tow hooks attached that have not been tested.
Tim, isn't Bowers at the same elevation/bluff as Compton Falls? I'm hoping that Bowers survived the ice storm as well as Compton, even though there were some big trees across Whitaker just above the falls.
I don't think there was any damage at the falls, just along the road leading from the trailhead into the wilderness. The road into the trailhead is fine except for that one little clay pit. The issue is that you need about 16" of clearance to get through it, although you can park nearby and the hike is not much - just a few hundred yards each way so it is no big deal. Actually the original trailhead is back out on the main road and they only keep this little extension open so folks can access the cemetery. Anyone who is fit enough to make this hike should not complain about a few extra steps - just be sure not to slide into the mud hole yourself!
Sliding into mud holes is not as hard as it might seem. Two weeks ago I slipped into the first one on the right at Boen Gulf as I was trying to ease around it without getting my boots wet. I ended up slipping and sliding in up to my waist in water. Fortunately, it was at the end of the hike and I had dry clothes in the truck.
Anytime I arrive back home from being out shooting all day in dry clothes my wife gets very suspicious. Fortunately that rarely happens to me (coming home with dry clothes)...
Discussion
21 repliesMaybe a little late but I hope you had a happy birthday yesterday. Man, 54 huh?
Tim, I just saw your journal and that roads look like a blast. Bill you think that old Toyota of yours can handle the mud?
Matthew, I'd say Saturday looks the best right now with scattered showers, but that could change between now and then. It would probably be best to wait until Friday pm to make any definite plans. Shoot me an email with your phone number and I'll give you a call.
Tim, isn't Bowers at the same elevation/bluff as Compton Falls? I'm hoping that Bowers survived the ice storm as well as Compton, even though there were some big trees across Whitaker just above the falls.
I would love to go but this Saturday is my wife's birthday. Not a good plan to be gone for the day. :)