11/1/00 It was late morning before I rolled into Cloudland. All of the maple trees had a while after daylight today to perfect their incredible beauty - it was quite a stunning sight motoring past and under these standing jewels. I know that I have said it before, but these trees are the best I have ever seen them today!!! Quite spectacular, and blinding.

The wind was blowing hard, and leaves were flying around all over the place. And heavy rain was on the way, so today may be the last of the really great color here. I did see other hillsides on the way in that were still green though, so color will be around in the Ozarks for a little while yet. Many other hillsides peaked and were mostly brown.

Nothing is finer than autumn in the Ozarks, but I am also looking forward to the grey's and brown's of winter. I don't know, everything just takes on a totally different feel to it. I used to hate it - no color and everything dead. But now I know that the winter woods are very much alive and full of color - you just have to get out there and find it all!

It was a very busy afternoon, as most days are right now. And I spent most of it deep within the office and warehouse. I spent yesterday hauling out three more tons of the new picture books. Because the heavy trailer that I had used was so much taller than my warehouse floor, I had to unload each and every box by hand (instead of pulling an entire pallet of the boxes off of the trailer with a pallet jack like I have done before). I was one tired puppy by the time the last box was off the trailer and stacked in the warehouse.

I will be giving a slide show down in the deep south tomorrow (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and so had to get all of my ducks in a row today. I had planned to spend a bit of time napping today - it is a ten hour drive down there, then a ten hour drive back up tomorrow night/Friday morning - but no time for naps after all. Good thing I will have the superdog along for company.

It rained hard several times this afternoon. Looking out the office windows I could see red, orange and yellow blurs going by - the heavy rain was taking a toll on the colorful leaves. I suspect that many of the trees around here will be bare tomorrow. But what a delightful play mat the forest floor will be! I would suggest that anyone who can do so to get out into the woods this weekend and roll around in the leaves a while. Some things we do as children should be repeated as often as possible.

11/2/00 It was very dark at 3am when I rolled out of bed. As I loaded the truck I discovered pea soup in the air -  VERY thick fog. Not a good sign. I absolutely love fog, but not when I have to drive through it, and I had a long way to drive today.

The fog remained with me until nearly Clarksville. Some tough driving. Then I hit Little Rock during rush hour. Some tough driving. By the time I had reached Louisiana it was raining hard, really hard. Some tough driving. By the time I reached Baton Rouge at 5:30pm I was one tuckered dude.

This program was for the Louisiana Hiking Club, a new organization less than two years old. I don't like to drive this far to give a program, but felt it was important to help out this new club. As I was approaching town I heard an announcement on the radio for the meeting - that showed this group was making an effort to get folks to the meeting, and I really did appreciate that.

The announcement said that I was the "C C Lockwood of Arkansas." I had known about C C Lockwood for many years, and had actually talked with him on the phone a couple of times. He was the very first "real" person in my line of work that I knew about who had made it big, really big. He is one of the most talented nature photographers in the world, and has his base in Baton Rouge. If you have ever seen a wonderful swamp picture published somewhere, it probably was his. I have admired his work and the man for many years. The fact that he was a real person and had made it probably had a lot to do with my own success - because of him I knew that anything was possible.

Anyway, I was extremely proud to have my name mentioned in the same announcement has his.

The meeting was held at the Louisiana Fisheries building, and they had a large room all set up for the show. The place filled up in a hurry, and I got to meet and speak with many hikers. Just before it was time to begin the meeting a gentleman approached me and stuck out his hand - it was C C Lockwood. I was stunned. There he was, one of the best there is, and he came to see my show. It was quite an honor for me. He asked if we could exchange latest books, and I said YES!!! So I now have an autographed C C Lockwood book in my collection, right there next to my David Muench book. Yes!

His web site is http://www.cclockwood.com . You can take a look at some of his wonderful work there, that includes the best images ever of the state of Louisiana, swamps, and the Mississippi River.

The house was packed, and I spent more than an hour showing slides and answering questions. This was a really good group of folks. When it was all over, the president came up to me and was just bubbling over with excitement - 30 new members had signed up at the meeting and paid membership dues!

It was 10pm before I got the trucked all loaded up and headed north again. I had planned to drive all night because I had plenty of work to do here. Not too long after I left Baton Rouge it began to rain again. Hard. Very hard. Boy, they sure do get a lot of rain down there! All of my whining about wanting it to rain was now coming back to haunt me. It was very slow going, but thank goodness there wasn't much traffic. I plowed on through the rain.

I must say that the superdog was just great during this entire trip. He is a good guy to travel with, and can hold it as long as I can (we normally only stop for gas/food/pee once every 4-5 hours).

11/3/00 Needless to say by the time we returned to Cloudland I was one tired puppy. I had pulled over once during the night to take a nap, but I don't think I really got much down time in with all of the rain, but it was good to rest my eyes for a few minutes. The trip lasted more than 24 hours - a VERY long and tiring drive, but the meeting and especially getting to meet one of my idols made it all worth it.

As I approached Cloudland I was met with a forest of blazing color - the maple trees pulled out all the stops to welcome me home. I spent a while at the computer - 40 e-mails to answer (that will teach me to be gone for more than a day), plus the mail, and the truck to unload. By late afternoon I was near the end of the piles of paper and electronic work and finally drove on down to the cabin. Aspen was glad to be out  and free once again.

I hadn't slept in 36 hours, had driven 1400 miles, and was dead tired. Sleep was an option, but it was just so wonderful outside that I decided to go on a hike instead. I put on my long pants and boots so that I could go a rambling and not worry about thick brush and difficult terrain.

Within 100 feet of the cabin Aspen took off running down the hillside barking at something and disappeared. I thought, what the heck, and wandered on over the edge to see what he was up to. It was nothing - probably just a squirrel, or the wind, but I found a neat little spot that I had never seen before. It is located right there at the top edge of a very steep bench, just below the edge of the upper bench that the cabin sits on. I took a seat on this lichen and moss covered boulder and laid back to soak it all in.

Oh my goodness what a wonderful spot I had found (oops, I meant that Aspen had led me to). There were large trees all around - oaks and maples mostly - and more boulders. Actually the boulders were just part of an exposed layer of sandstone, actually small bluffs. The sun was not shining and so the light was very soft. The temp was perfect, and the wind was blowing.

This was a neat spot, and I made plans to set up a hammock here one day - what a great view down the hillside! I laid back and closed my eyes, letting the sound of the breeze take over. A few minutes later the sound of the wind merged with another sound - geese! I opened my eyes and saw a flock high overhead, flying east. I focused sharply and counted 63 geese - a pretty good-sized wedge.  Then another flock came up next to them, a much smaller group with only 17 birds. Oh to soar above it all. What a life they have!

The honking merged with another sound - a soft rain began to fall. It was such soft, delicate music. Even though I had cursed the rain for two days now, this was different, and it just felt so wonderful - I stayed put on my rock and eased back into dreamland.

Then the sound of the rain changed pitch. I sat up to see what it was, and realized that I was still hearing rain, but older rain, and in a different form - I could hear the Buffalo River running! Yippie!!!!! That is a sound not heard in many months. And then son of a gun, I looked over to my right and could SEE the river, right there below. What a great sight and sound. Yes, this was one very special spot, and within 200 yards of the cabin, which was just barely visible through the trees.

I got to thinking about the forest. About how seldom do you ever get to just sit there, quietly and without motion, for a long period of time. When you do that the forest returns to its natural state right before you eyes and ears. The many critters that live there and were scared into hiding when you approached come out and get back to the work of their everyday lives. That is when you see wildlife. And when you hear the wind. And when you feel your own soul becoming a part of it all.

Getting to sit in the forest for extended periods of time is something that I get to do as a regular part of my life. But what about you? OK, here is an assignment. The next time that you are outside and away from civilization, go find a comfortable spot in the middle of the woods - sit down and lean up against a tree or rock. And then just sit there, without motion, or sound. Move you head back and forth and scan the forest - but do this very slowly - no sudden movements. Stay put for 15 minutes. It is tough to do, but very rewarding. Study every detail around you on the ground, up in the trees, and above. Now 30 minutes. Then an hour - almost impossible, but if you can do it I promise you will have a brand new view of the wilderness.

The last time that I went deer hunting, I sat up in a tree from before daylight to after dark - all day long without coming down once - for a solid month without a break. 30 days sitting in the same spot and watching the forest. I learned a great deal about things that month. That was 12 years ago and while I no longer hunt, I do go out into the forest and just sit there as often as I can - it is very good for the soul.

The soul of my rump was getting sore from sitting on that rock, so I got up and slid on down the hillside a bit, where I found a deer trail. Come to think of it, I saw a bear using this very trail this past summer, so I guess I should call it a game trail instead. It led along the top of the real bluffline, on over to one of the most spectacular viewpoints in all the Buffalo River area.

I sat there on a new rock and surveyed the entire wilderness world for a while. Many trees had already lost their leaves, but there were still patches here and there with lots of color. In fact there were quite a few large oaks surrounding the spot where I was sitting, that had grown up from the forest floor 80 feet below. These oaks were all burnt orange in color. As I looked around I could see many shades of this same orange, or rust color. Dozens of shades of rust. It was a remarkable sight.

And then I looked over and spied what looked like a great sitting spot. I got up and made my way carefully along the bluffline to this other spot. Wow, what a PERFECT sitting place! There was a level spot at the base of a small pine tree that is located a few feet back from the edge - making it a safe place to take a nap at. And the floor is covered with a thick carpet of pine needles, making it a nice soft spot for my tired behind to rest.

The view was spectacular, not only of the main Buffalo valley, but also back up to my right of the Whitaker drainage too. And the site was protected by all of these twisted branches bending down low from the small pine trees that had crowded around my little spot. Yes, this site would be visited by me many times in the future. Funny how I had never noticed this spot before, yet I had sat for hours within 30 feet and in full sight of it. I guess you just have to keep on going through life because there is always something new and wonderful to discover, even in your own back yard.

I simply love the woods this time of the year. Momma nature has done a fine job of sculpting the forest floor with blankets of shiny leaves and pine needles - they are all at their thickest now. Soon the wind will blow them around and they will begin to decompose and dry out and crumble up into dust.

I left my little nest and wandered on up the hillside a bit to yet another new spot. This one is tucked away between two trails that lead away from the cabin. The hillside is pretty steep there, but the view out through a maple grove is outstanding. A miniature bluffline is about ten feet tall there. Just the right size for close-up inspection. And those maples were simply beautiful - glowing yellow and orange and red. The forest is very open here, and you can see into it a very long ways. Like the two previous new place I had found this day, this spot is within a couple hundred yards of the cabin. I wonder how many special places like these there are within a mile of this place? Probably thousands. It was good to be home.

11/4/00 After a bit of shut-eye at last I awoke to an orange world. The trees surrounding the cabin are all in fall dress now - many orange oaks and yellow maples and others in between. It was raining lightly, and chilly outside - 44 degrees. Clouds were dancing all about in the valley below. I absolutely LOVE days like this. Life is good here today.

Pam and Amber arrived for a weekend visit late morning. It was still chilly out and I met them with a warm blaze in the fireplace. We went on a little hike before lunch - out through a stand of maples - with Amber in the lead. I'm not sure if it is the name, or she genuinely has an adventure streak in her (probably both), but we quickly found out that she likes to bushwhack. And bushwhack we did. Nothing too serious, but it was fun just to wander around through the forest, stopping and examining whatever we liked.

Our fearless trail guide and head bushwhacker

It is amazing how much color is still left around here in the trees - not only overhead, but also on the ground. The wind and rain has brought down many leaves. One spot in particular had bright yellow maple leaves scattered about everywhere, looking like someone tossed out a bunch of lemon drops. And remember all of those acorns that we have been picking up/being hit on the head by? Hardly a single on in sight today. I think most of them have already worked their way down into the thick carpet of leaves, have been covered up with the new falling ones, or have been hidden away by the squirrels (although I have not seen many squirrels this fall).

We found plump cicada right in the middle of the trial. One of the summer bugs still hanging around. We picked him up and put him on the side of a large tree, to keep him from being stepped on. It would be a long time before those summer bugs would be singing again. That is fine with me, because I love the late fall and winter seasons, not to mention springtime!

There were clouds and fog and some rain around much of the day. It was so great to be getting all of the moisture, and especially to be able to hear the song of the river once again. That music will be with me all winter and spring now, until the middle of next summer when I once again will make daily treks down to the swimming hole.

We made a big pot of veggie chili for dinner. Amber likes to help out in the kitchen - a good sign. But she is still at that age where she won't eat much but hot dogs, mac and cheese, cereal, and other simple kid foods. Since I love kid food too, we do well together.

Keeping the fire stoked was a new job for us all to deal with. The wood supply was low to begin with, so we had to scrounge around to find enough to keep it going. I had planned on spending a better part of the weekend cutting wood, but the damp conditions kept me away from the chain saw. Besides, I had some dancing to do.

The Superdog and Pam in front of the fire

And that is what we spent the evening doing - dancing around in front of the crackling fire. Home sweet home.

11/5/00 The cabin was engulfed in a thick fog layer at first light. This would be a sign of things to come. In fact, the fog and clouds and rain were with us all day long. As happens out here most days, we began the day in the hot tub, with steam rising up to mingle with the swirling clouds above. It was fun to watch all the new clouds developing down in the valley - that is when we could see that far.

We hiked up to the office and got a little work done, then Pam's parents Ron and Judy Ferguson arrived for a short visit. This was their first time to Cloudland. It had been solid fog all the way down from Missouri. Pam had told them about all the great views along the way, especially through Boxley Valley and up the big hill - all they saw was fog. And an elk. A big elk, down in Boxley Valley. I sometimes forget all about the herd down there since I seldom go through that way. But now through the winter is a good time to view them - and you can often see them right next to the highway, especially in the early morning and late evening.

OK, future in-laws first visit - must be time for a hike! We all bundled up and headed out, with our fearless leader Amber out in front. We wandered through the woods, across the East meadow, and along the wilderness lane. Then stopped at the deciduous holly tree to marvel at how loaded this guy was this year - thousands of fat red berries! And we found a single daisy in bloom - one lone survivor to add a splash of color.

Funny thing about berries this year. The holly tree had twice as many as I had ever seen on it, yet the dogwood trees were nearly all bare this year. Lots of red berries on wild rose bushes too - I never noticed any last year, although there must have been some. Not hardly any sweet gum balls. But the acorn and hickory and persimmon crops were outstanding this year. I guess it all goes in cycles.

We toured the Faddis cabin, the office, then Aspen's meadow. I could not drum up much support for the tennis court that I have always wanted to build out here, but the "Mother In Law" cabin idea went over pretty well.

The heavy fog stuck around all day, and while the long views were not possible, the forest itself that we hiked through was as beautiful as ever. This was one of those days were you could just stop, take a deep breath, and bring the rich aroma of the wilderness deep inside you. The fog was so thick that most of the day we could not even see across the meadow at the cabin.

After lunch and a bit of holiday-decoration planning by the ladies, we waved goodbye to Ron and Judy. I have always wanted to dress up the cabin for the holidays, but have never been in the mood before. I'm in the mood now, and look forward to helping out.

It was a lazy afternoon, which found the five of us sprawled out on the floor in front of the fireplace (Me, Pam, Amber, Aspen, Lucy). Times like these are valuable, and stick in the mind for a many moons. The complete Cloudland of my dreams is coming together just fine. Now, where is that turkey in the oven?

11/6/00 The rain continued all night, and by daylight more than three inches had fallen. This will certainly give the water table a good shot in the arm. I will need a lot of rain this next couple of months so that I can photograph all of the waterfalls that will be in my new waterfall guidebook.

Getting into the hot tub this morning was a bit painful - lots of cold blowing rain. But once I jumped in and got totally submerged, all was well. In fact the frigid raindrops felt great on my head, with the rest of my body bubbling away.

The fog had lifted during the night, or had been washed away, but a heavy cloud cover remained, and continued to spill rain. I am sitting here now at the cabin computer looking out the window. Within a few feet of the deck there are individual trees of varying color - orange, yellow, red, and green. And those are all maples! I can can't get over how many shades the maples have turned this year.

The river below is running wildly, a bit muddy, and is floatable right now. There is a 17 mile stretch of the river through the wilderness that is called the Hailstone Run. It is quite challenging, and usually only done when the river is flooded like it is today. It wouldn't surprise me to see a kayak or two come floating by later this afternoon. Fall is about the worst time to float here - especially in the headwater rivers like this one - but when you get enough rain, anything is possible.

The mighty riv er returns - view from the back deck. This view has been mostly rocks since June.

I really should be out photographing waterfalls today, but I have a ton of office work to do, plus a hot date to go see Gordon Lightfoot in concert. The rain has been coming on and off now today, with black clouds and sunshine - very strange looking day.

11/8/00 A very COLD rain was falling at daylight, and continued most of the day, off and on. The temp hovered in the mid-30's - not quite cold enough for snow. An additional inch of rain fell. Boy, the forest sure does LOVE this weather! And so do I. It is down right nasty out for sure, but if you are prepared with the proper clothing and state of mind, it is no big deal. This is probably the toughest weather to backpack in though - cold and wet. Especially since you have to pack up all that wet stuff and carry it on your back all day. But dayhiking in it is terrific, especially when you get to return to a cozy cabin and sip hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire.

The clouds were having a fun day down in the wilderness below. I spent a good part of the day watching them from the living room. These fog vents would be born down on the river, slowly rise up into the air, then take off in one direction or another and really get up some speed. Often times it appeared that one cloud was chasing another one. Of course, when they would meet, they usually formed a larger cloud, which sometimes was too heavy to rise up and would suddenly drop right back on down to the river. They reminded me of hawks playing up in the air currents during mating season.

A new cloud forms

The river itself had gone down somewhat from its flooded highs of the day before. And now it has taken on that beautiful turquoise color that it will retain until next summer. Those deep pools are especially nice. And the sound of the rapids filled the air all day. Delightful music.

But most of my day was spent up in the office, slaving away on that pile of paperwork and all of those e-mails. Every now and then it would get really noisy inside because of heavy rain.

I wandered out for a short hike around the property and was amazed at how much color remains in the trees here. Mostly yellow, but some red and orange too. The long view from the cabin out into the wilderness revels a scene of mostly brown and grey trees, with very little color left. But my oasis is still mostly color. I got to thinking about all of that color, especially the yellow that has been around here for several weeks. What if the trees remained yellow all year? Are there any trees that do that? Why green? How come the trees are not yellow, or red, or some other color, and then turn green in the fall and drop off? When you spend a lot of time in the woods on cold days, your mind begins to wander.

I will only make one political note here for those of you not from NW Arkansas who might be interested. My friend and frequent Cloudland visitor Dan Coody did very well in the mayor's race in Fayetteville. It was supposed to be a really close race, and I never thought he would be able to beat the dismal incumbent, but Dan beat him by 5%, which was a big surprise. When you are the type of politician that the current mayor is, an honest good guy like Dan has little chance of even getting close in an election. Since there were four other candidates, there will be a runoff in three weeks between Dan and the mayor. WAY TO GO DAN!!! Another frequent Cloudland visitor (and hard worker), Patsy , is mayor of Greenland.  I guess there is something about coming to Cloudland that develops great leadership!

11/9/00 There was a light dusting of snow on the trees when I crawled out of bed this morning. The temp was 32 degrees. If it had been this cold yesterday, we would have had a foot of snow on the ground and I would have been skiing all day. But I will take a dusting over nothing any day.

I laid back in the steaming bubbles and let the snow pellets cover my face. Boiling hot on one side and freezing on the other - that feels really great. You could look up into the sky and see hundreds of tiny dark snow pellets and flakes racing down towards you. The real trick was to pick out a particular flake and try to follow it all the way to the ground - great eye exercise, but very tough to be successful at!

Looking over at Beagle Point during the snowstorm

As I started up the hill to the office, I somehow got sidetracked and ended up on an hour-long hike. That happens a lot out here. But not enough. First thing I noticed was that there was still a lot of green around - don't recall seeing snow on GREEN leaves before. The snow on the green was very striking.

And there was a great deal of noise, although it was very soft noise. As the snow pellets hit the leaves in the trees, and even on the ground, there was the slightest hint of impact. You have to be very quiet and still and in a particular state of mind to hear those big snow flakes hitting a snow-covered ground, but the snow pellets coming down today were louder.

The forest was quickly turning into a winter wonderland. I figured that anything that hit the ground would quickly melt, but the ground was just cold enough to hold onto that bottom layer. And the compact snow pellets that had been coming down turned into actual flakes, some of the quite large.

Aspen loved it all, of course, and went bounding up one hillside and across the next flat, then back again, jumping and laughing and running at full speed. This guy is a really happy dog, just like the old guy trailing along behind.

A blast of frigid north wind hit me in the face in the East meadow. But it actually felt good. I got to thinking about changes in the weather, the seasons, and different temperatures and how our bodies react. Last night I was a bit chilled inside the cabin at 65 degrees, yet at other times that temp would cause me to peel off all of my layers because it would feel too warm. I guess the body gets used to being at a certain temperature, then takes a while to get used to a new one. That is where I am at right now - still used to the late warmth that we had this fall, and not used to cooler weather yet. I know that my sister will disagree with me, but I firmly believe that living in a climate where there are distinct seasons with big temperature swings makes the body and soul happier. (She lived in Hawaii for many years where the temps were perfect all year.) After all, variety is the spice of life. Why else would god have invented different positions? I look forward to getting used to the cold temps, and am hoping for a REAL winter this year, not only to help with the bug problem, but so that I can use my x-country skis.

The snow began to come down heavy - it was a real snowstorm! And the ground quickly covered with white. I hate to keep coming back to them, but those darn deciduous holly berries really looked great in the snow. So here is yet another picture of them.

Out in the Faddis meadow the snow blew on and it looked like a blizzard - I could hardly see 100 feet. Man that felt GREAT hitting my face. I just sort of wandered on through the meadow and out the other side into the woods and then whereever my feet happened to take me. By the time I arrived at the office, the snow had let up. But it still took me a few minutes to shake off all the accumulation on my hat and clothes. Some commutes to the office are a lot of fun here. The rest are pretty nice too. Looks like we got nearly a half inch of snow, with more looming above.

The path to the office

Light snow drifted down all morning, then stopped altogether. Even though it wasn't very deep, the white coating on everything looked very nice. And then an odd thing happened, and I was right out in the middle of it. The temp inched up to 33, and within five minutes the entire forest melted, at least everything on the ground. I was out on a short hike, and by the time I reached the cabin, the forest floor was brown. Quite a change in only five minutes!

The sun never did come out, but you could just feel it up there nearby somewhere.

11/10/00 I was sitting in the hot tub when it happened. It hit the carved wood bear that stands guard over the tub first, then slowly moved down and finally got me square in the eyes - brilliant sunshine! Not a cloud in the sky today. And no wind either. The light revealed a wilderness below much changed from yesterday. There was still a bit of white stuff here and there, but most of the landscape was a stark brown-grey color. Most of the trees had lost their leaves - fall is pretty much over now here, and winter is setting in (28 degrees with a coating of ice). Of course, it will probably be in the 60's tomorrow, which will feel very warm.

After a bit of office work this morning I am off to Tulsa, OK to give another slide presentation tonight. Any of you in that area are welcome to come by - 7:30pm at Hardesy Library. It is a meeting of the Green Country Outdoor Club, but is open to everyone. That will put me back here in the middle of the night, but I have a very relaxing weekend ahead, so no matter. Then I'll be giving the new ARKANSAS SPRING slide show at the Ozark Highlands Trail Association club meeting in Springdale at 7pm Sunday - this too is open to the public, and you are most welcome to attend.

Right now outside there are a few leaves slowly drifting to the ground. Still many leaves and lots of color in the trees between the cabin and my office. And every now and then a leaf will hit a branch and send a fine mist of snow flying. With the sun backlighting it all, the snow sparkles like someone dropped a bag of diamonds. The bright red and yellow maple leaves on the ground are covered with a fine coating of frost that really lights up when the sun hits it. Kind of a catch 22 I guess - that frost really shines once the sun hits it, but that also signals the end of its life, as the sun melts it into water within a few minutes.

There is quite a color show going on here. From my office window I can see a maple tree nearby. It is covered with bright green moss. Its branches are still filled with beautiful orange leaves. Behind it all is a deep blue sky. And then the motion of those falling leaves and mini snow showers fill the scene. It is really hard on me trying to get any work done this morning with such a wonderful scene going out outside my window. And in a few minutes I will be forced to walk through it all in order to get down to the cabin. Life is tough out here at Cloudland.

11/11/00 Its about 2:30am (so please pardon even more typos than normal), and I am just getting back from the show in Tulsa. Before I go any further, let me say THANK YOU VETS!!! None of us would be here, certainly not me living out in my dream land, if not for the sacrifice of our veterans. Nothing else can compare, and I for one am deeply indebted to each and every one of you.

What an odd trip home I just had. After I picked up Aspen from Bill at my mom's house (Bill is one of her caretakers), and spent a bit of time in Wal Mart getting groceries (being in Wal Mart at midnight is kind of odd in itself), I headed for the cabin. First off, Aspen was not feeling very well at all. He had the shakes, swollen glands, and a strange cough. So I put him in the front seat of my Mercedes and turned on the heated seats. He rode shotgun for the very first time. It didn't take long for the coils to warm up and he was soon fast asleep.

And then I ran into a wall of fog. That was the really strange part. It was below freezing outside, and all of this fog. And high overhead, a full moon was shining down through the moon roof. The fog was thin enough overhead to allow the moonlight to get in, but so thick at ground level that the traffic was crawling.

Once I got further out of town the fog let up a bit, and out came the critters - rabbits, coyotes, and deer, LOTS of deer. That reminds me - there was a pile of coyote scat on the trail between the cabin and office yesterday. Right out there within full view of the cabin. Hum, the coyotes are coming in close - a sure sign of a hard winter!

Now, back to Tulsa. The program went very well, and the house was filled with very nice folks - most of them volunteers. They even laughed at my dry humor. And when it was all over, they gave me a new pair of hiking socks! That's something I never have enough of. Last week I got a pile of great Cajun stuff in Baton Rouge, and tonight a pair of socks - hey, who cares about selling books when you can come home with good loot!

It is even later now, the moon is shining brightly, lighting up the entire wilderness. If I wasn't so tired and had a sick superdog in the front seat, I would bundle up and go for a hike. But as it is I believe I will sign off now and go seek out flannel sheets...

I slept in until about an hour after daylight. The first thing that I did was to get up and salute the greatest veteran that I ever knew - my dad. I took the flag that had been draped over his coffin 21 years ago and for the very first time unfolded it. The large red, white and blue symbol of freedom hung down from the lower railing for all the world to see. It is a great honor to be his son. Thanks you dad, and once again, thanks to all of our great veterans, past-present-future.

Thank you vets! A view of my dad's flag from the meadow below the cabin.

Aspen was not feeling any better, so he slept in. Before long Mrs. Cloudland arrived, along with Aspen's girlfriend Lucy. He perked up a bit right away. So did I.

It was quite frigid outside, with the wind chill down in single digits, perhaps even lower. Roy and Norma called in on the little radio from the Buffalo Fire Tower. We could actually see them in the tower with the telescope (at 45X), even though they were 5.5 miles away. It was the first day of the gun deer season, and there were a number of other folks using the same radio frequency. It was interesting to speak with some of them.

I promised Pam a hike today, so we bundled up and headed out on a little ramble. We went down below the main bluffline and followed in on over towards Hawksbill Crag. I was surprised to find SO MUCH COLOR in the trees down there! I mean there were scores of brilliant maple trees just now peaking. It got warmer with each step that we took, and turned into just a delightful afternoon in the woods.

Pam has just competed in a climbing competition the night before, and her hands were a bit torn up so she didn't do any climbing, but I did catch her drooling once in a while as she gazed up at the wonderful rock above us. Much of this wall of sand is not fit to climb, but there are a number of potential spots for intermediate and advanced climbers (I am the one who would stay on the ground!).

Even though Aspen was feeling pretty bad, he could not be outdone by his girlfriend Lucy, so he tagged along and the two of them romped and played and explored all over the place. It was obvious that Aspen was missing a step or two though. He is a tough dog.

The superdog - a real trooper

We eventually made our way along the bluffline until we were directly underneath the Crag, and stopped for a bit to admire the view. A few artifacts are beginning to pile up under there - we found a hat, stuff sack, and two soft drink cans. The Crag sure does look different from below, especially when you are down in the leaves playing.

Pam's-eye view of Hwaksbill Crag. Hum, what was she doing down there in the leaves?

Once we made our way past the Crag, up through the bluffline and on top, we spent some time exploring the blocks of stone that live along the top of the bluff - some really interesting stuff there. One of the blocks was nearly covered with cactus.

Cactus on the rocks

And the high-bush huckleberries along there were just incredible! Their leaves were not only brilliant colored, but the bushes themselves were simply covered with tiny berries - many more than I had ever seen before. These guys will often grow  along the top edge of bluffs like this - I really do think they do this because they enjoy the view!

High bush huckleberry

Pam and friendly pine tree

A wood nymph enjoying the view from on top of the bluff

There were several folks at the Crag, but no big crowd. We picked up a deer dog there who had gotten lost and "took" him with us on up to Bob's cabin (deer dogs will often follow hikers around, as this fellow did). Once we got the little beagle reunited with his proper owner, we wandered on back to the cabin. Man, it was one splendid hike! I think Aspen enjoyed himself too, even though he ran inside the cabin and jumped into his bed as soon as we arrived back home.

Roy and Norma soon showed up and helped us cut down a large oak tree next to the cabin that had died last year. This is one of the very few trees that has died as a result of the cabin destruction. You typically lose many more trees when you disturb the soil this way.

It was a large oak, and was twisted and leaning in several directions. I was a bit concerned about it falling into the cabin when I cut it (or being blown there by a storm), so we tied a rope high up in the tree (using a ladder) and Roy stood to one side to help guide the falling monster. TIMBER!!! We were all a bit anxious - a couple were downright worried to death - but the big fellow came crashing down in the exact spot that I had pointed it to. Both Roy and I breathed a big sigh of relief. Especially me.

Then we took turns cutting the tree into usable logs. And Roy showed us his great strength by splitting several big logs into firewood. Way to go Roy! And speaking of Roy, he was wounded a number of times in Viet Nam - a purple heart recipient -so it was most appropriate that he be at Cloudland today.

And speaking of another great veteran, Neil Compton's daughter stopped by for a visit. Neil as you may know is the man who led the fight to save the Buffalo River from flooding by none other than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Neil was a WWII veteran.

After our guests left Pam cleaned out the fireplace while I hauled in some wood for the fireplace. Then we had a bit of dinner, turned the lights down low, lit a candle or two, and danced and laughed and gazed into each other's eyes. We realized that tonight was the first time we had been alone here since we got engaged. I'll skip any further details. I will say that we got to watch the full moon rise, although it came up way far north instead of in the east or southeast - very strange.

11/12/00 More weather moved in during the night, and it was a bit nasty out today. Cold and wet. But we were on a mission, so bundled up once again and headed out into the woods. We were after grape vines to use as decorations. There are lots of grapevines out here at Cloudland. And it didn't take us long to find all that we needed.

Then we wandered on around through the forest and stopped a time or two to admire the view and soak up the wilderness. There are SO many great places out here to just sit and relax. That was the name of the game today. But all too soon it was time to leave - Pam back to Missouri, and me into town to give a slide show.

I must digress for a minute to go back to Friday. Pam had asked about pine cones for decor. Visions of many fine days gathering them in my youth flashed before me. YES I said - I would gather pine cones! The best place that I know of for this is on the grounds of the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville - they have many wonderful giant pine trees there, and of different species than we have in the forest. So I spent a couple of hours on Friday there gathering pine cones. This sort of thing is addictive to me, just like picking up acorns or looking for arrow heads. My dad worked at the VA there for nearly 30 years, and since we great up nearby I used to climb the tall fence and go pine cone hunting there many times. I think Pam was pleased with my haul this time.

Soon-to-be cabin decorations

Oh yea, the first decorations were put up today at the cabin - two single red bows are now tied to the snow shoes - the first of many colorful additions to come!

11/13/00 It was another very late night for me, and while I did drive through a bit of snow, the big storm that had been predicted never appeared. I awoke to clear blue skies this morning. The temp was down in the 20's, but it was a wonderful crisp fall morning, and great hiking weather. I only got to do a short hike up to the office though.  I plan to take a longer one this afternoon. But I had to spend much of the morning writing this journal before getting a pile of e-mails from readers wondering where the day's post is!

Time for the Superdog to go to the doctor!

By the way, thanks to many of you who have expressed concern for Aspen - including a neat get-well card drawn just for him by one of the Canadian readers. He is doing a little better today, but is still not feeling too well. We have an appointment at the vet later today.

Our little home in the woods

11/15/00 The sky in the east was on fire at first light this morning. And it quickly spread up into the heavens - a very dramatic pre-sunrise! It got me up and out into the cold air, scrambling around in my slippers trying to find a good spot to take a picture from. Every time that I looked up the scene was different - it was changing rapidly. With this little digital camera of mine you never know if the picture is going to be sharp or not - seems like it has a mind of its own. Especially when I don't use a tripod, which is most of the time with this little camera. I always use a tripod with my real camera, but the digital is so tiny and light that I never bother with one. Anyway, the sunrise was pretty darn nice today.

Fire in the east!

As I lay back in the steaming bubbles to enjoy what was left of the show, a flock of small birds flew by overhead - coming from the south. Than another flock appeared. And another. Then one came over from the west. And the north. There were dozens of flocks of small birds his morning, and they were coming from all directions. Some of them would fan out and then come back together again, kind of like an accordion. These flocks were flying really fast too. And then I heard a long "honk" way up high. It came from the lead bird in a flock of black and white geese - a giant flock of three birds total! They were heading south.

While I was in the kitchen cleaning up a bit, I saw movement out the window. It was a deer, a buck, a GIANT buck, sneaking along carefully through the forest. I hardly ever see deer near the cabin, especially bucks. It was obvious that this guy had been chased around a lot this week, and he was out of his territory. He stopped twice and looked straight at the cabin, trying to figure out what the heck it was. He was a beautiful animal in his prime, with a widespread eight point rack. This is the sort of fellow that sends chills down a hunter's spine and starts him shaking. I've been there many times myself, and it is a unique feeling indeed. Some of that excitement came over me this morning too, and while I did happen to glance over my shoulder at the deer rifle hanging on the wall, I haven't hunted in a dozen years, and don't plan to start again now (I stopped because I no longer like the taste of deer meat, or any wild game for that matter). Too far away for a good picture, I was content to watch this magnificent fellow slip off and disappear. Yes sir, the animals are on the move today, which is often a sign of changing weather.

The fall woods feel great this morning, and the pile of leaves crushes softly underfoot. The wind is blowing, and the chill cuts through my clothing. The superdog is out roaming around, but he is sticking pretty close to his master (or is it the other way around?). He had a long visit with the vet the other night, and the vet was amazed at how swelled up my dog was - every gland in his throat was large, and he had gotten to the point where he could hardly swallow. A raging infection that was spreading.

He is in better shape today, and the medication is helping out a lot. This dog is something - even though the infection would probably send most of us to the hospital, he was still out there through all of it, wagging his tail and sniffing the leaves. We plan to take it easy the rest of the week, although it is not normal to keep this dog down! He appreciates all of your notes of concern.

11/16/00 ASPEN UPDATE: Today the superdog reached out and grabbed a toy to chew on - first time that has happened in more than a week! So he is well on the road to recovery.

I was on the road today as well - into town to pick up the latest load of books. This batch is the new edition of the OUACHITA TRAIL GUIDEBOOK that I had been working on at the end of the summer. It contains new information about three new trail shelters, plus that long re-route through the wilderness area over in Oklahoma. AND it contains a historical first for me - a digital picture! It is an image of one of the new trail shelters, but I really put it in there to see what the quality of the digital image would be like before I committed to do the waterfall guidebook that way. And much to my surprise and delight the picture looks very good! That means I will now be able to go forward with the waterfall book pictures with the digital camera - SO MUCH EASIER TO DO! The quality if good enough for these small black and white images, but the technology is not here yet for me to use digital for my regular color picture books - perhaps in the coming years that will happen.

It was late at night when I finally put the new shipment of books to bed in the warehouse. Believe it or not I REMEMBERED to bring a flashlight with me for the hike back to the cabin - it was pitch black out. Or so I thought. Just as I stepped out into the frigid night air, terror stuck me right between the eyes - the woods were on fire!!! The wind was blowing pretty good and my first thought was that a hunter had let a campfire get away. Then an instant later I realized that the bright orange glow was coming from the rising moon - I was able to breathe once again. And man, what a moonrise it was! A half moon laying back and resting as it slowly rose into the black sky. This had to be the most vibrant ORANGE that I have ever seen in the moon!

As I made my way through the dark forest I had to stop a several times and admire the incredible sky above. The moon was so low that it did not lighten the black sky any, and the stars were simply brilliant. There were dozens of them that looked like Jupiter normally does (the brightest object in the night sky, not counting the moon). These clear winter nights are great for star gazing. The frigid conditions did make me think a little though - what would it be like to have a big telescope set up on this night - all of the metal would be SO cold!!! But the views would be something else.

11/17/00 A wind chill of 5 degrees at sunrise this morning (actual temp 22). Sometime yesterday I noticed that the wind gauge on my weather station had begun to work again - after several months of not working. Hum, I guess it realized that an accurate wind chill measurement would be needed now. For some reason, when I stepped out of the hot tub and stood there dripping wet in that frozen air, I was not chilled at all. These days I have to keep repeating my old chant of "Way Of The Peaceful Warrior" over and over and all seems just fine. This is the title of a book that I read several years ago, and it always helps me out in severe conditions. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Bright blue skies and lots of sunshine today.

For those of you interested in such things, I have posted the first published review of my new picture book ARKANSAS SPRING. This review is in the Arkansas Outdoor Photographers Club November newsletter that I just got yesterday. You can read part of the review and other individual comments on the Arkansas Spring information page, and find a link there to the entire review. I will try to post any published reviews that I get this next several weeks. And if you happen to see one in your local paper, please let me know so that I can see it.

I NEED YOUR HELP! Some bookstores are very slow to order copies of this new book. They often tell me that they won't stock a book unless customers ask them about it. So I have a favor to ask of some of you - call your local bookstore (in Arkansas - out of state ones won't stock it anyway) and ask about the book, and/or ask about it anytime you are in a bookstore. You can see a list of the bookstores in Arkansas that already stock the book on that same Arkansas Spring info page above. A couple of bookstores in particular that I need help with are:
Any WALDENBOOKS store.
Any BOOKS-A-MILLION store (except the one in Ft. Smith - they have a large stock of them already).
And any other bookstores that are not listed on the info page - please check this info page first, as I don't want to bother stores who already stock the book.
Just call and ask for the book by the title - ARKANSAS SPRING picture book, just to see if they have it in stock. And if they ask for the ISBN, it is 1-882906-42-X. Probably many of them will say that they "have it on order," which probably isn't really true - there are currently no books on order that have not been delivered. And if you get any interesting comments from them, I would appreciate it if you let me know. And THANKS in advance for your spy work!

Some of the books in these bookstores will already be autographed, but many will not (it is stamped "Autographed Copy" in red on the outside of the book box if they are). You can always order a book direct from me with a personalized autograph to you or as a gift (call the 800 number, go to the retail order form, mail in a check, or just send me an e-mail). OK, enough high-pressue sales talk for now - time to bundle up and go for a hike!

What a glorious day it turned out to be! We went on a short ramble around through the forest. A soft crunch, crunch, crunch followed me whereever I went. Very little wind, and still chilly - in the low 30's. But the sunshine made everything feel almost warm, and I was persuaded to sit down up against a tree now and then in the sunshine just to slow down a bit and take it all in. I never got cold. That warm glow felt wonderful on my face (everything else was tucked in behind a down jacket!). Aspen romped and played and chased leaves as good as new.

The trail between the Crag and the parking lot was covered with a lot of fresh-fallen leaves, like the entire forest is right now. At some points it was tough to find the trail, and I had to rely on just following the corridor through the trees. This is a good way to hike trails anyway - just follow the route through the woods, and not rely on blazes or other markers or even the trail itself to guide you. This way you don't have to waste your attention on finding your way and can focus on the job at hand - enjoying the forest!

I found several frost flowers along the trail - the first that I had seen this season. These guys are so delicate that you can break them just by breathing too hard on them. The temp was down near 20 last night, which is perfect frost flower growing weather.

Frost flower, about four inches wide - it would soon melt in the afternoon sunshine.

There was a hiker at the trailhead waiting to be picked up by his girlfriend. It turns out he had been in the wilderness all week, camping under bluffs and wandering around with his pack and guidebook. Nice guy, and he didn't smell too bad either for having just spent a week in the woods. He did get confused when returning to his campsite late one night and was forced to spend the night in the woods without his sleeping bag. But he seemed to have managed OK. He said that he had to tear several pages out of the Buffalo River Hiking Trails guidebook in order to start a fire one wet day. Hum, I wish more people would do that - more book sales!

While I would not suggest that you pick winter to do this, I firmly believe that everyone should spend a night in the woods without a tent or sleeping bag. It sort of forces you to deal one on one with nature, and with yourself. You end up finding out a lot about both. Makes you a much better hiker and camper. And a better person all around as well.

11/20/00 Lots of sunshine and blue skies when I arrived back at the cabin this morning after a weekend out of town. While much of the wilderness has gone into the mono-tone winter color mode of bare tree trunks, there are still many trees with yellow and orange leaves on them - kind of late in the year for that! And since the wind was blowing pretty good, there were lots of leaves out there in the air, just hanging around over the wilderness. It was kind of neat to see these individual leaves out there - they looked like they had no place to go, and didn't want to land. So they just floated around in the air, sometimes being blown to the right or left, up or down a bit, but not moving around all that much. It was a very calm, serene scene.

Aspen is doing well, and although his voice is not back to normal, he is mostly so otherwise. It is supposed to be very cold tonight, but warming up tomorrow. I plan to get a good store of wood cut, chopped and stacked this week.

Today has turned into a very sad day. I had to have my faithful guard dog Stable put to sleep. I was in town this afternoon when I was called to the vet's office - I was thankful to have been able to say a final goodbye. Stable was 15 years old, a cocker spaniel, and as sweet a dog as has ever lived. He spent a great deal of time out here at Cloudland the first year it was built, but  he has been living with my mom in town for the last couple of years. He enjoyed his time with us I know, and we all certainly are better for having had him in our lives. I brought him back out here with me tonight. At first light tomorrow I will walk the land and find the perfect spot for him to rest. I want to find a place with a good view, a few moss-covered boulders nearby, and towering trees to look over him. He was a good dog, a great dog, and it will be tough to say goodbye. It's funny how a pet can have such an impact on you. No, I guess it's really not - pets become part of and enrich our lives a great deal, often becoming as important than other humans to us. They are terrific friends to have around, to rely on, to care for, and to share your life with. Yes, Stable will be missed.

Stable The Guard Dog and Yukon the Wonder Dog - together again at last.
This photo was taken by Roy Senyard during a hike we took back in 1989 or 1990 into George Ernst Canyon (named after my dad).
They are inside a giant hollow sycamore tree. It was a fine hike, and they were a wonderful pair of good friends.

11/21/00 Aspen knew exactly what was going on. He crawled into bed with me, snuggled up close, and never moved all night. At first light, he awoke and stood right square on my chest, and would not move until I got up. He knew there was work to do.

I got up and headed out into the frigid morning, not really knowing where to look for a grave site for Stable. But before I had taken three steps, I knew exactly where to go. A barred owl yelled out - "Over here, come this way." The owl was sitting in the top of a tall oak that overlooked a very nice spot at the top of a steep bench. Once I arrived there I knew it would be perfect. There is a view of the river, and of the wilderness spread out below. And the river sang a constant tune.

It took me a while to gather up my digging tools (one up in Aspen's meadow, another at the cabin), but not too long to carve out a perfect resting spot for Stable. Then I returned to the cabin, grabbed the bottle of Yukon Jack off of the mantle, found a dog biscuit, picked up Stable, then carried him on his last hike through the woods. Yukon was Stable's best buddy for most of his life - they grew up together since 1985. Yukon died three years ago and is buried down near the river below. They were fast friends. Anyway, I bought this bottle of Yukon Jack the day that Yukon died, and it has rested on the mantle ever since. Anytime that I talk about Yukon, I am obligated to take a swig of the whiskey in his memory. But today it would be used as a final salute to his buddy Stable.

Stable was actually my x-wife's dog, but she abandoned him when she walked out on me in 1988. I have been proud to call him my dog ever since. I took him to live with my mom when he got to the point where he could no longer go up and down the stairs at the cabin, and he has been a fine companion for her these past two years. He was always a happy dog, and enjoyed every minute of his 15 years.

I splashed a bit of Yukon Jack on him, put the dog treat by his head, covered him up with earth, and laid a few lichen-covered rocks on top. He'll be happy here. And even though he had been deaf for many years, I know that he can hear the river now, and it will keep him company, along with the barred owl.

I lifted the bottle of Yukon Jack to my lips, swallowed, and said a fond farewell to my great friend.

11/22/00 It was a very late night last night, and it was well after midnight before I finished my one Christmas chore of the day. Here is what I decided to do about the Christmas Tree dilemma. There has never been an indoor one at Cloudland. Indeed I have never really celebrated Christmas out here at all. Now that I have a glorious reason to celebrate (finding Pam and Amber), the tree would be the anchor of the decoration scheme. I have picked out a couple of wonderful cedars around the property while on my hikes - large and fat ones. I really want any tree to be a major part of the great room, and since that room is 23 feet tall, it requires a large tree. But I decided not to cut a big tree each year, well, just because.

Next option was a live tree, then plant it afterward. Not only are they very expensive though, and not native, it would not be large enough to have the desired impact in the large room. When Pam and Amber and I walked into Hobby Lobby the other day I found the answer - a giant fake tree! I never thought I would have a fake tree at the cabin, but this one really made a lot of sense. So now I have an 84 pound, 12 foot tall fake tree right smack dab in the middle of the great room, and it looks TERRIFIC!!! No fire hazard, reusable, and, well, you certainly do notice it right away.

But it took me more than five hours of labor just to get the tree up - no decorations, just the tree. There were more than 3,000 individual branches that I had to uncurl and shape - I spent a great deal of time up on a ladder in the middle of the night! I had planned on doing this over a period of several days, but once I got started, I could not stop. The A Team will be arriving tonight to help with the actual decoration, and I think that I will wait until it is mostly complete before I submit a picture for your approval.

Along with the big tree I had to rearrange all of the furniture. And I really like where it ended up - quite different than before. Now the dining table sits squarely in front of the fireplace, and it all feels very nice.

I must admit that it took a bit of egg nog and some wild rock and roll music to keep me going and get the job finished. Actually I started out with John Denver, then moved on to Cat Stevens, Cheryl Crow, Hootie and the Blowfish, and ended up with Edgar Winter and Grand Funk. There were a few others in between, and the halls were filled with music. It was all great therapy for a guy who had just lost his dog. Tomorrow there will be Christmas CD's loaded, and many smiles to go around.

Once I climbed down from the ladder, Aspen and I went out into the dark night and wandered around a bit. Man, what an incredible night sky! I know I say this a lot, but it is just so darn striking - that coal black sky with the zillions of bright stars and planets. Orion is the dominate constellation right now for sure, but there are also so MANY other bright groups that you just have to sit down and gaze up in wonder - and I did for nearly 30 minutes until my legs were numb from the cold. Actually it was a lot warmer than it has been, which is why I could sit there so long without freezing to death.

There was no wind at all, and the woods were very quiet. Aspen ran off barking into the darkness a couple of times. I wasn't too worried about bears, and figured that he was just out there playing with Stable now that he has moved into the neighborhood.

Aspen was at my bedside at first light, begging to go out and run some more. The eastern horizon glowed bright red - which looked neat against the blue sky backdrop above - then slowly faded to white. This is the sign that the sun is about to come up, so I crawled out of bed and splashed into the steaming bubbles out on the back deck.

The woods smell different this morning. I can't quite place it, but I think it must be just a "leaf" smell. And I found something a bit odd on my commute up to the office - the ground was covered with GREEN oak leaves that had just fallen. Hum, it is the end of November and there are green leaves falling. They look interesting all tossed about there on top of the red and yellow maple leaves. It has been quite a different fall here, but then I guess they all are.

The river is making music today - and I know that Stable is listening - but the waters are getting low, and we need some good rains. Come to think of it, since I need to get out and photograph about a hundred waterfalls flowing at peak this winter for the new waterfall guidebook, a foot of rain a week all winter would be about right!

I am looking forward to this very first real holiday season here at Cloudland with a great deal of anticipation. In years past there has always been something missing and no real reason to celebrate. But we are going to do it all up right this year - the first of 50 or so holiday seasons here for me. Oops, I guess I should say at least 51 (or 52). You see one of my life's dreams is to have a 50th wedding anniversary. Back when I was a young kid (as opposed to the older kid that I am today), I remember going to my grandparents 50th up in Minnesota. I was VERY jealous of them because they received three gold coins - they added up to $50. Being a coin collector at the time, those gold coins really made an impact on me. I have wanted gold coins ever since. And now I have two gold coins - Pam and Amber. Now all I have to do is make it all official and then work hard and keep them happy for the next 50 years. I'm 45 now, so won't have any trouble getting it all done before I reach 100. Hum, I wonder if I will be able to hike down to the river and BACK up when I am 100?

OK, back down to earth. I must pause for a moment and thank many of you on two fronts. First, I do believe that it was all of your well wishes that brought Aspen back from the brink of death - he is nearly normal once again, which is GREAT to see! It was quite good to see him down and out. Of course, now he is getting into trouble again as he tries to keep from getting bored all day.  And then thanks so much for the wonderful tributes and thoughts from many of you about Stable's passing. I have received many e-mails - some of them quite tearful - about your own pets, and your attachments to them - and what great friends pets can be to us. I do believe that the human race is going to endure for a long time to come, thanks in part to the joy that pets bring into our lives.

Aspen back to normal

11/23/00 A little warm nose dug into my side and woke me up early. Aspen was on the couch. Pam was asleep. I rolled over and found that Amber had crawled into the bed. Believe it or not, that is a moment this grizzled old woodsman absolutely LOVES! After a bit more snoozing, we got up and played for a while in the hot tub. It was raining a bit (yea!), and we tried to see how many raindrops we could catch on our tongues.

Superdaughter and Superdog (in Missouri)

Pam brought down a car loaded with decorations, and we could not wait to get to work on them. But we also had a big dinner in town to attend, so had to put off the "fun" work for a little longer. Once we returned from town (after seeing the lights on the Fayetteville square, and meeting several of Scott's flying squirrels), we worked long into the night. One problem we discovered was that we could not climb up onto the rock mantle around the fireplace and put the decorations there with the fireplace going full blast! The mantle itself does not get hot, but the air coming up around it certainly does. We finally dozed off to the glow from a tiny lighted tree at the far end of the map bar.

Aspen, Lucy (what green eyes you have!) and Amber (in Missouri)

It rained most of the day - a very cold rain - and we ended up with more than an inch of wonderful rain. The river below began to sing a little louder. It was a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Tomorrow would be the real holiday at Cloudland though, as we were going to decorate the cabin, and host the very first ever holiday dinner here.

Amber and Aspen under the tree at Cloudland

11/24/00 Another warm nose in my back early - who needs an alarm clock with Amber around? All of us were ready to jump up and get to work. Within two hours the cabin was a real mess - piles of green and red everywhere, ladders in the middle of the room, stacks of empty containers, and "tree crumbs" all over the floor. No matter, it was decoration day! And then a car drove up at 9am - oops, Pam's parents Ron and Judy had arrived from Missouri, and we were TOTALLY unprepared! Of course, they added many more piles of neat stuff - including a lot of FOOD!

The next four hours were filled with sights, sounds and smells of delight. I finally got all of the lights on the 12' tree, and Amber and her grandpa proceeded to add ornaments of all shapes and sizes. Pam and her mom finished the mantle display and worked on a giant wreath on the west wall. Then Pam got to work on the log rails leading up to and across the loft, while her mom got to work in the kitchen. It was a remarkable scene, with everyone working and singing and dancing and having a great time. Of course, that pile on the floor was growing! But not to worry, we eventually filled a trash bag or two, and I got out the vacuum.

Carved wooden bear at the foot of the staris to the loft

Oh yea, I almost forgot to tell you about the turkey. I've never cooked a turkey before, but it is my most favorite food of all (well, maybe tied with ice cream). My job was getting it thawed out, which was accomplished at about 8:50 this morning. Pam was the cook, and she had just finished getting it all prepared and into the oven when her parents drove up.

Right in the middle of all the activities, with the aroma of the cooking turkey drifting through the cabin, Ron announced that there was a flock of wild turkeys just outside the cabin. We all got up and raced to the windows. Sure enough, there was a flock of turkeys working out in the woods, making their way past the cabin. If they only knew what we had in the oven!

Grandpa Ron and Amber next to the big tree

At last things were pretty much complete inside, and we turned all the lights on. It was a sight to behold for sure - the Cloudland Cabin all decked out for Christmas! Music, food, wonderful family, and two dogs romping and getting into everything (Aspen and his girlfriend Lucy) - what more could a guy like me ask for?

Just about the time my brother Terry and his wife Marsha drove up, the turkey was ready and we laid out a fine feast. It didn't occur to me until this very moment as I am typing this that I failed to take a picture of the first holiday dinner, but I did get a picture of the diners. Needles to say the dinner was a success. And even though it was my third turkey feast of the week, I loved every bite. And did I mention there were FOUR pies! Cherry, pecan, chocolate cream, and pumpkin.

The turkey dinner went pretty well.

It continued to rain all day - mostly light stuff - and the clouds outside in the wilderness put on quite a show. At times we could do nothing but stand at the window (or out in the porch swing) and stare. It was so good to see all the rain.

Much too soon, Amber and Ron and Judy loaded up and drove north to Missouri (they saw NINE bull elk in one group down in Boxley Valley). Then Terry and Marsha headed out too, after I loaded them up with a couple cases of books.

Tim, Pam, Amber, Ron, Judy, Terry, Marsha

It was nearly dark as I walked down towards the cabin from the office. We did not have time to decorate the outside of the cabin yet, so it was bare, but there was a wonderful glow of Christmas lights coming from inside. There are a few times in your life that rate as the best ever - ones you never forget, always smile about, and sometimes bring out a tear or two of joy  - I was about to walk right into one of those very special times.

I opened the front door and discovered a fairy tale place - my own log cabin decorated to the hilt with lights and red ribbons; that incredible aroma of the mixture of fine food, woodsmoke and pine; holiday music bouncing off of the logs; two beloved dogs curled up with each other on the floor; and the most wonderful person in the world waiting for me - the lady of my dreams. I know there will be other big events, but to date this moment was the greatest of my life so far. I have not written all that much about Pam, but I must tell you  that she has this great natural beauty that seems to come from deep within. And tonight she was glowing even brighter than the thousands of lights we had strung all around the cabin. She did not need to speak a word - a mountain of emotions poured out of her and flowed right into me. I had lived 45 years for this moment. There is no place like home.

I will post an image or two of the cabin lights later this week, when I have more time to set up the tripod.

11/25/00 The sun broke over the distant hillside early - blue skies and crisp temps were in store for today. Pam was ready to get up and go to work - office work today. We spent most of the morning processing book orders from the day before (the phone rang a lot yesterday). But by afternoon we were ready to get out into the sunshine, so we moved our chores to the woods.

I got out the chainsaw and cut up several dead trees into firewood, while Pam hiked around collecting red berries and adding splashes of color. Then we both loaded up the wood onto the trailer, and stacked it neatly in the carport. After several days of rain, it felt great to get out into the fresh air.

This bear guards the entrance to Cloudland

We took a break and sat out on the lower deck a while, while Aspen and Lucy played in the meadow below. Pam spotted a bunny in the thick brush, and it was a riot to see Aspen and Lucy stalking it. They never got even close, and the bunny took them in a wide circle, finally ending up back in the middle of the meadow. The pups eventually gave up.

Later, as clouds gathered on the western horizon, a brilliant red sun played hide and seek with the clouds as it slipped down to the horizon.

Once darkness fell the inside of the cabin lit up again - I just had to sit back and gaze up at it all, not really believing that my old cabin could look so good! No need for other lights. We spent the evening curled up on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Life is good out here in the wilderness.

11/26/00 Another bright sunshine day! And before long we were all bundled up and hiking through the woods. It would be a bushwhack hike - no trail. We wandered on around across the level bench and encircles the mountain, then dropped quickly on down to and through Magnolia Canyon. Man, you could really hear not only the Buffalo River running, but also the side creeks, like Dug Hollow - it sounded great!

The dogs were running and hunting and playing and chasing every little crazy. What joy they both get from romping in the wilderness! Not to mention a couple of human observers who had to stop many times to point and laugh out loud at their antics.

Magnolia Canyon was very nice as usual, and Robert's Falls was running pretty good, as were the main Dug Hollow falls. Then we made out way around to the wide overhanging falls where the weird rocks are. And I am afraid to announce that something has happened to the balancing rocks - either a redneck had visited, or some other act of god had taken place because the works of art had been knocked down. Actually one of them was still partially standing, and a couple of others had been partially built nearby, but the magic of these mysterious rocks was destroyed.

We came across a small pile of bear scat. Since I have already posted a number of scat pics in the past, I thought I should include this one. Appears that the bear had been eating black gum berries. The study of scat is so interesting!

We visited another great waterfall, then climbed on out and up to the Woods Cabin, where we found there had been a great deal of cleanup and construction work recently. The place looked very nice. It is mainly a hunting cabin for them, but also a nice get-away place.

Pam behind the main falls in Dug Hollow

It was an easy stroll on back to the cabin. It felt great to get out and work off some of that turkey!

We spent the rest of the day working outside. Pam decorated the front porch while I put up lights on "Amber's Tree" down in the meadow. This is a cedar tree out in the middle of the overgrown opening below the cabin. The tree looks pretty small from the deck, but it is really over 10 feet tall, and I had a bit of trouble getting those lights up that high (but succeeded). So now we have a natural Christmas tree in the meadow with multi-colored lights. Then Pam added a string of cranberries that Amber had put together. We will add some popcorn strings later, plus some birdseed and bread ornaments - all for the many birds to feast on.

Pam soon had to leave and go back to the real world, and Aspen and I were left alone on the front porch. It had been a splendid holiday, which will be repeated many times more in the future. Later I sat in the glow of Christmas lights with my last plate of turkey and counted my blessings.

11/27/00 It was an early wakeup call for me today (where was Amber!). I had a ton of office work to do - including answering more than 100 e-mails, writing the journal, getting through a mountain of paperwork - plus I had to get all packed and ready for a big slide program that I am giving in Little Rock tonight (7pm at the Arkansas Game and Fish Auditorium - it is free and open to the public). The sky is blue with lots of sunshine, and I can see many little birds moving about in the trees around my office. It is warming up nicely, and has turned into a great early winter day in the Ozarks.

11/28/00 It was about 1am when I rolled into Cloudland after a slide program down in Little Rock. It was for the Arkansas Outdoor Photographers Club, and they had a great crowd. While I am happy talking trails or wilderness or whatever with folks, it is always nice to talk photography with groups that know what they are talking about.

After having been in the truck most of the day before and half the night, Aspen wanted to get up and out early. It was bright, blue and clear. I spent most of the morning doing paper work, but did manage to get in a couple of hikes later.

The first one was along the trail to the Crag. It was just a great day to be in the woods - still cool, but the sunshine made it seem a lot warmer. I came across a hiker from Minnesota. He had been in the area for two weeks, hiking, canoeing, and generally enjoying late fall in the Ozarks. He started off talking about this incredible home that he had just hiked to. He looked to be retirement age, and if so he was certainly doing it right - out doing what he loved. That is a sure way to stay young and live a lot longer.

Next I took the superdog down over the bluff towards the river. There was no breeze, the light was low, and the woods were quiet. It was a magical time of the day. Aspen was literally going nuts - running and jumping and "springing" all over the place. He was in heaven, and I was close behind.

As we approached the bottom of the hill and the historical homesites there, the sun went down. Heck, it was only 2pm! But down in this deep valley the sun slips behind Beagle Point early in the day now. I took a seat near the edge of the shadow and watched it move. It was moving so slow that I could not really see it move, but it WAS moving.

While I sat there up against a large red oak and contemplated the world, a couple of acorns landed next to me, followed by some bark. There was a squirrel upstairs, and he did not approve of me being at the base of his tree. But this little grey squirrel was not going to be scared off by me, and soon he came scrambling down the opposite side of the tree - bark flying everywhere - jumped way out onto the ground, then quickly ran up another tree nearby and disappeared into a hole. Man, this dude was fast! A minute later he poked his little head out of the hole and peered down at me. Aspen was off somewhere splashing in Whitaker Creek.

Later Aspen came by and inspected a different tree that had a large hole in the bottom that was filled with squirrel and other critter scat. We found a tree like this one the other day that had blown over and was filled with several feet of rich scat.

When I reached the river I found a scene completely different from the last time I was here not long ago. The mini flood that we had a few weeks ago had changed the course of the river a bit. It had washed away much of the pebble island that the June floods had created between Whitaker Creek and the Buffalo River. The divide was still there, but the river had plowed through it and was mixing with the creek sooner now. I guess the river wanted to dance with the creek, and didn't want to wait another 100 yards to do it.

The main Buffalo River, wih Whitaker Creek coming in from the upper right

Aspen went out for a good swim, but I just hung out along the bank, looking for critter tracks and colorful stones. I could see where the water level had been four feet higher just last month, completely covering up all of the stone islands in the area. That's about the right water level for my waterfall pictures, so come on rain!

The Superdog swimming laps

Whitaker Creek was running pretty good and making a lot of noise. Once I get to spend an entire day in the woods, I plan to come back and follow it on up to its very beginning.

Late fall is a beautiful time of year in the forest. The floor is carped with a thick layer of leaves, and you can wander along through it all for a long ways and never see your feet. Walking in the leaves like this always makes me feel like a kid. But what the heck, I guess I am still one anyway. Just for good measure I had to lay back and bury myself just once.

The steep trip back up was not nearly as tough as I thought it would be. I'm not in very good shape right now, and after all those pies and turkey thought I might not be able to crawl out at all. But I was determined to make it up nonstop, and did so without too much sweat. Aspen, of course, raced past me and bounded right on up like there was no hill at all.

I am up at the office now. It is late, and very dark. The hike up was kind of soothing somehow, walking through a tunnel of darkness, only seeing what my flashlight would show me. The woods are SO quiet right now.

But just as I was leaving to hike up here, I saw a very strange sight. I was out on the back deck, and looked over to the west and saw what I thought was the "evening star." But it looked very odd, so I pointed the telescope at it for a closer look. What I saw was truly bizarre. It looked like a large star all right, but it was multi-colored - RED on the bottom, YELLOW in the middle, and GREEN on top. And as I watched, it appeared to move. But just barely. Now I know that stars move (actually the earth is rotating), but I could SEE this thing moving, and that was too fast for a star - it moved perhaps an inch while I watched. It was dropping in a normal path for a star though. Within two minutes it had disappeared.

And just a moment ago as I was writing the above paragraph, Aspen jumped up from under the desk and went tearing out the door, barking like he was being attacked. I have come to know his squirrel and turkey barks, and his "large" animal barks. This was the latter, with a touch of hair-standing-on-end thrown in. He is out here in the dark forest barking still. I have no idea at what. Perhaps that burning star has come around for another spin.

DAN COODY WILL BE THE NEW MAYOR OF FAYETTEVILLE! It looks like Fayetteville will be in good hands for a while now - we have thrown the old slumlord mayor fred hanna out, and elected a great guy and frequent Cloudland visitor Dan Coody as Fayetteville's new mayor tonight!!!!!!! Way to go Dan!

11/29/00 Whatever it was that had Aspen stirred up last night was not bigfoot, or at least he didn't eat Aspen, because the furry paws were once again on my bedside at first light this morning (Aspen's, not big foot's). It was a brisk hike around the property this morning on my way to the office. Very quiet out. The temp was in the upper 30's, but I had shorts on and it didn't feel too chilly.

People often ask me what I wear to hike at this time of the year. It really depends a great deal on what the weather is going to be, and how long the hike is. But here is what I had on for yesterday's little jaunt down into the wilderness. Shorts, low-top hiking shoes, long-sleeve capeline shirt, pile vest, and a hat. There was a lightweight windproof jacket in my fanny pack, plus a lighter, powerbar, chapstick, water, and camera. When you are moving you really don't need all that much in order to stay warm, unless the wind is blowing.

I have another slide presentation to give today, so will be spending much of the morning getting ready for that. It will be in Fayetteville at Giffel's Auditorium at 7pm on the U of A campus and is open to the public.

11/30/00 I woke up cold and could never shake it all day. It was clear and bright and sunshine all around, and the temp climbed into the upper 40's and even 50's. But the wind was blowing pretty good, and that kept the wind chill down quite low. I guess one reason why I could never warm up was that I had shorts on all day. Hum, sometimes you just get up and see all that sunshine and blue skies and reach for your baggies.

Several times during the day Aspen went charging off into the woods barking, and I never saw what he was after. Well, I take that back - he got into a flock of wild turkeys once, and I could tell he got very close because I could hear the turkeys clucking like crazy, and eventually saw them flying through the treetops. Turkeys don't really fly all that well - but rather they get all that weight up in the air, and then sort of crash through the limbs and soar until they find another spot to land. Boy they make a LOT of noise!

And one time I walked up on Aspen while he was just sitting there, looking straight up into the air, not making a sound. He had this very contented look on his face. He was looking at, or actually following along with, a leaf that was being blown through the tops of the trees. It was kind of like that leaf that was blowing around in the beginning of the movie Forrest Gump (or was that a feather?). It was a very serene scene, and I just had to sit down next to him and join in.

But there continued to be SOMETHING out there, just beyond my sight, that kept Aspen stirred up all day. I figured most bears would be denned up by now, and people are always too noisy to get away with sneaking around that much, especially with all of the dry leaves on the ground. It wasn't until dark that I figured out what he was probably all worked up about. Glenn Wheeler and his wife Stacey and daughter Elizabeth dropped by for a visit. He works in the sheriff's department in Harrison. They saw it from the car - and got a good look at it. None of them had ever seen anything like it before, nor have I heard of such a thing. It was a BLACK coyote.

What an intriguing critter this black creature is! I'll be he has been slinking around Cloudland all week, not really wanting to be seen, but still knowing there is something here that he wants to be a part of. I'm not the least bit concerned about him, and in fact would like to meet him myself, up close and personal. I wonder how he got to be all black? My own personal feeling is that he is actually a ghost coyote, half wolf and half bear. And all the good parts of all three.

The desire to see this guy will give new meaning to my little hikes around here, and perhaps will send me on more and longer hikes, just to see if I can spot him. There was a flash of darkness over there - was it the black coyote? And when I hear the lonesome calls late at night, out there in the cold and frigid wind, I will ponder up a vision of this guy, out there trying to communicate with me, wanting to say hello, but afraid of what everyone will think. Yes, I plan to meet him one day, probably in the middle of a moonlit night, when I am out for a long stroll. Hello Mr. Black Coyote, tell me who you are and how you came to be. Yes, it is a comfort somehow knowing that he is out there, out there in the shadows, a shadow himself.

I am testing Aspen. There is now a wrapped present under the Christmas tree, one with lots of ribbons and bows. The test is to see if Aspen will play with presents under the tree, or leave them alone. He knows which is right, but as he lays down next to this potential toy for him, he stares at it with mixed emotions. So far, so good. Although he did grab one of the ribbons instead of his real play toy - and pretended not to know the difference. Who was testing who?

After the Wheelers left I went out for a quick night hike. The crescent moon was shining down on the wilderness below just a little bit, and the black sky was filled with bright stars. I tried to move about without a flashlight, but there really wasn't much light so the going was slow. The wind was still blowing pretty good, and making lots of noise, so I could not hear the footsteps of any black coyote. Hum, I must come up with a name for this guy. It will come to me, probably one dark night when I think I am near him.

You should see the Christmas lights inside the cabin! There are 12 windows in the great room, including four large ones way up high, and the lights from the tall tree and the others strung around the cabin reflect in them and seem to go on forever. It really is an amazing feeling to walk around in there.

And now we have come to the end of November. It has been a splendid month, filled with new friends, good times, a lot of travel and slide programs, a very special holiday feast, and a fond farewell to my old trusted friend Stable. Each day of each week of each month seems all the better now. I look forward to the dawn of every single day to see what treats and challenges the wilderness and those who care about it bring.

December 2000 Journal