Cloudland Deck Cam, 3/30/04, 8:08am, clear and cool |
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Cloudland Deck Cam, 3/30/04, 8:08am, clear and cool |
3/1/04 It was another windy night last evening, and furniture and all sorts of things got tossed all about. We ended up getting about 1/2 inch of rain yesterday, and while it hardly even wetted things down, it certainly was WELCOME! Today the leaves and twigs in the forest were dry and crunchy, so that moisture got soaked up in a hurry. Supposed to be more moisture moving in on Wednesday - hoping for a foot this time!
While on my way to and from some chores that I had to do at the other end of our property tonight I got the chance to hike around a little bit in the moonlight. It sure was (is) a beauty outside tonight - the moon was about half full and way up high, beaming down just the right amount of soft light. Enough for shadows of the trees and branches on the forest floor. Enough to enchant the mind as you wandered through the night, with bright and dark and bright and dark and bright and dark passing across your face in rapid succession. Enough to see the dogs way out there, running and leaping and having the time of their lives, as was I. Enough to look across the ridgetops to the next and the next, and to peer down into the canyons with their black, bottomless space. It was warm and breezy, and felt like spring was on the way.
Speaking of SPRING, I wanted to let all of you know that we just posted a brand new gallery of 105 photos from the ARKANSAS SPRING picture book - you can go here and view them online, complete with the caption info that is in the book. This is not a new picture book, but we have not had the photos all posted online before. THANKS PAM for putting in all those hours to make this work! Of course, the main objective in doing this is so that you will find an image that you like and will buy a print - perhaps two or three! OR you can simply look through them all and enjoy, for free!
Speaking of FREE (well, not exactly, but close), we just put the very same ARKANSAS SPRING picture book on a special springtime sale price - only $19.95! The normal retail price is $60 for this beautiful hardbound and individually boxed coffee table picture book. This special price is only available through the online store. (Sorry for the ad, but we do have to pay our bills just like you!)
Sometime soon we will have another new online gallery - this one being of my absolute most favorite picture book of all time - WILDERNESS REFLECTIONS. I'll let you know when it is ready.
Speaking of spring again, I wanted to make note of the fact that last fall nearly every single one of the "natural" signs that folks read to tell the coming of a hard or soft winter said that we were going to have one terrible winter indeed. I would put a great deal more stock in those natural signs than in all the high-tech stuff we have available to us. Yet we did not have a hard winter - far from it - one of the mildest ones on record around here. I know we still have some cold stuff to come, but overall not much winter at all. The persimmons and the wholly worms and the oak trees and the critters all guessed wrong. I wonder what it was in the atmosphere that led them to believe the opposite? One thing is for certain - there will be an abundance of carefully-hidden acorns remain in the ground this spring!
By the way, I wanted to share a photo with you that my bride took yesterday evening from the back deck of the cabin. After being cloudy and dark all day, the western sky opened up just as the sun was dipping behind the distant ridges, producing one incredible light show that she photographed with her little digital camera. I was off in another direction waiting for this very same light, but was unable to capture anything as good as Pam did:
3/3/04 Cool and wet this morning just before daylight. We had some nice, slow rainfall much of the night, but less than 1/4" total. The wind has died down after blowing like crazy for a couple of days. Seemed like it is taking a long time to get light this morning, and the blackness of nighttime is hanging around.
Just before dark yesterday I broke out of the cabin and went for a hike - spent nearly 12 hours working nonstop and just had to get out and breathe. I first visited the little trout lilies in our early spring patch - they had already closed their heads, but had probably been out smiling up at the beaming sunshine all day. There were only three or four flowers up, which is surprising considering how much sunshine we got and how warm it was - warm enough to shut down the heat pump and let the fresh spring breezes flow into the cabin.
Lucy is like the wind, and often spends her time way out there beyond sight and sound. It is great to watch her floating through the forest, and how fast she can cover ground. Then she is off and not to be seen again until the cabin is in sight on the way back.
Aspen and I veered off to explore a part of the mountain I seldom get to see, a place where I once considered building a guest cabin - it has a nice view across a meadow and deep into the wilderness. Seemed to be more rocks in this area than I had remembered - hum, are we growing rocks out here? They probably are just much more visible at this time of the year instead of the summertime when they are all covered up with ivy or creeper.
We wandered on up into Aspens meadow - I enjoy looking around these open areas in the winter - so many shapes and textures to examine. Last fall I decided to mow only part of the meadow, leaving some of it to grow up just a little bit for some variety. Interesting to see the different plants that will thrive in each area. I will probably add a third level of growth this year, and perhaps a fourth next. There is an experiential plot of land somewhere in California where they mow/cut/burn in one acre tracts - one plot gets mowed each year; the next every other year; the next every three years; the next every four years, etc. What happens is that different species live in different plots - from grasses in the plots that get mowed each year to larger trees that grow in those that don't get cut down but once each ten or twenty years. We'll something like that out here, only probably just three or four plots. It will be interesting to follow them from year to year and see what comes up.
When we were about half-way across the meadow I saw Aspen perk up and take off in a dead run. Looking ahead I saw a coyote standing there near the far edge of the meadow. The coyote was standing at attention, but did not seem too nervous. Aspen did not bark, or utter a sound, just took off running straight at the coyote. And what a magnificent animal this guy was! He had a multicolored coat on that reminded me of a calico cat. Big bushy tail. And even though the sun had already set, I swear I could see a glint in his eyes, and a big smile on his face too - probably because he saw a new playmate heading his way!
It wasn't until Aspen was just 50 feet away from him that the coyote whirled around and disappeared into the nearby forest - seemed like he did it all in one motion. Still not a sound from Aspen, but he continue his pursuit into the woods. I ran over to the edge of the meadow and watch the two of them racing through the trees below, the coyote just sort of bounding along, and Aspen going at full throttle. It did not feel like a "chase" though, but rather the coyote saying to Aspen "come on, follow me this way" sort of thing. Still no sound from Aspen. They broke out into the orchard, crossed it in just a few seconds, then disappeared into the woods on the other side - that was the last I saw of them. Never a word from Aspen, and heck he makes a big fuss about finding a lizard in an old log, much less a real live coyote. There was perhaps some sort of communication between them that I did not hear. The excitement was over for me, so I wandered on.
The light faded quickly as I made my way down a southern slope, where I found a great spot to sit up against a tree. Actually something got into my sock and so I sat down in a soft pile of leaves to take my shoe off, then decided it was a nice place to sit back and enjoy the evening as long as I could. Ever since I got Aspen I have not had many opportunities to sit back alone and be one with the forest - and especially now with Lucy, the two of them always cause a lot of commotion. But it was just me and the trees, and the night air.
The light continued to slip away, but never really got DARK. The air took on a dark-blue hue, and then the fading stopped. I could still look around and see pretty good. Then I realized there was a large and more-than-half moon almost directly above me - that is what was keeping the place lit up. It was great to just sit back and BE in the forest for a little bit - always seems to recharge the soul.
On the way back I detoured to the office and did a bit of work, then headed on down to the cabin. Aspen and Lucy joined me - both of them breathing hard and wagging profusely. Calico was no where in sight. I worked another couple of hours into the night, then called it a day. As the impending crush of the spring workload begins to come down on me there will be less and less stolen moments to get out and be in the forest, but I will soak them up as I can, and enjoy each and every moment.
Speaking of enjoying moments, for any of you who really love great art, and especially photography by the masters, there is a print exhibit going on in our region that is about over and is one that you should not miss. It is an exhibit of Ansel Adams "classic" images, and is in Springfield, Missouri at the Springfield Art Center until March 14th. Admission is free. I've seen a number of Ansel's exhibits over the years, and this is one of the best. He was no doubt the greatest wilderness and landscape photographer that ever lived, and most of us who sell our photos owe him a debt of gratitude for helping push photography into the art world. Highly recommended if you are anywhere within driving distance to get there and back in one day.
3/4/03 Daylight is once again creeping ever so slowly into the wilderness this morning, or at least the little bit of the wilderness that I can see. Right now it is nothing but heavy fog outside, which is what it was most of the day yesterday. No wind, light rain at times, and lots and lots of pea soup. We've only had a total of about a half inch of rain in the past two days - hoping for some heavy stuff today, but I'm not holding my breath - not too much showing on the radar. I wonder if all that fog is soaking up the moisture and holding on it?
Both my bride and I were ill and under the weather yesterday, but we managed to put in a 10-12 hour work day anyway. I was exhausted and had to shut down the computer at 9pm last night - just couldn't work any longer. I did get to take a short hike just before dark though, and that picked up my spirits a little and got some of that thick fog into my lungs. It was great to go out and just wander, not really knowing or caring where my feet went. Both dogs stuck close to me the entire time - I was hoping Aspen would go have another date with Calico.
When you are in thick fog, the fading light at the end of the day is nearly impossible to detect - the white stuff seems to hold onto the light longer. I guess the fact that upstairs there was that big old moon shining down into the clouds too, and I bet the fog was picking up some of that as well. I lingered in the forest as long as I could, then headed for home. Even though I enjoyed my little ramble in the wilderness, it was great to see that old cabin looming in the distance as I approached, and light from the windows beaming out into the fog. Home sweet home.
3/5/04 We had a horrific storm blow through last night just after dark - blew all of the fog away for sur. At first we were all sitting in the drawing room admiring the lightning show to the south, then we heard there was a tornado heading our direction (national weather service) so we ran for cover. We ran after we tried to cover things up - the rain was pouring into the cabin in about a dozen different locations - some we have never seen before. When the wind blows really hard from a certain direction we get the leaks. Never been able to figure out the source, even though that side of the cabin is caulked over and over and over. One of the leaks was coming in close to the aquarium, so we just redirected it into the pool.
The power never went out, and while the wind got up into the low 50's mph, the cabin didn't shake, and this morning there doesn't seem to be any damage. The storm itself was moving at more than 50mph, so it passed by really fast. The river is up and running brown and wild - we had a total of about 2-3 inches of rain, hard at times, but not too bad. Bright sunshine early this morning and clear blue skies.
3/7/04, late. We've had incredible, spectacular, wonderful, beautiful, delightful, springtime weather this past couple of days - warm and sunny and just the best there is. I've been holed up in the cabin with a temp of 103 and a respiratory infection that has knocked my socks off, and the rest of me too. I've been in bed during it all, just trying to survive. But now my bride got me into a doctor, and I am armed with a handful of powerful and very expensive drugs (one anti-biotic cost $12 per pill!), and I think I'm going to survive. (My poor family - I honestly don't know how they have put up with me this weekend!) I do hope that the rest of you were able to get out and enjoy this textbook spring weekend out in the woods.
Friday I was bounded and determined to get up and go explore an area only about ten miles (as the crow flies) away from here - a place that I have never been before, but that turned out to be easily one of the top ten most scenic spots in this part of the country. I knew there would be waterfalls, and so I wanted to make sure I took the opportunity of finding them running since we had the good rains of the night before. No matter that my temp had already climbed up to 102, my head was throbbing, my throat was about as raw as just-ground hamburger, and I was hacking my head off - I had to get in there, and that was all there was to it.
What I found was indeed a spectacular place, and all the while I wondered why few people had ever published photos from in there before - easily one of the most photograph-able spots I have seen in a good long while. I must say though that I left my big camera rig in the car because I knew I could not get good photos with the bright sunny skies and terrible lighting conditions - I certainly did make the right choice there. I took the snapshot camera and shot many photos of the waterfall after waterfall after waterfall that we found, but really none of them turned out any good, so I won't bore you with them here. Actually I've also been so darned down on my back since that hike that I really had not even had time to mess with any of the photos - nor had the heart to, because I know that I will be back in there again when things green up and we have nice overcast skies - sometime in April.
Here is one photo I will share - taken from back behind one of the many waterfalls. The hiker in silhouette is my friend Peter Van Den Heuvel, who bravely volunteered to go on this hike with me, knowing full well that he probably was going to catch whatever it was that has possessed me. Nuff said about this place, other than to say it will be included in the new nature guidebook, and you will see some really nice photos of it come April!
Just a few moments ago I got up the strength to slip outside with a camera and take a photo of the rising moon - not really a full moon - that was yesterday - but it was pretty large just the same.
While I was out there soaking I realized that the moon would be low in the western sky this morning at sunrise, so I made plans to get out early and try to shoot a photo of the moon and some of my favorite trees. It was cool and crisp and the air was still, and I just made it to my shooting location when the sun popped up over the horizon, lighting up the trees. I got into position and took about a dozen photos before the light changed to white. Of course, the moon being lit directly by the sun remained white, while the trees reflected the "Ozarkglow" of the first rays of sunshine.
Just as I arrived at my destination and parked the truck, my lovely wife was returning from taking Amber to the bus. She rolled down the window and said "worms, those darn worms!" Amber's assignment for the weekend was to go out and collect a jar full of worms, then take them into school today and perform some sort of experiments on them. The ladies did manage to find a few anemic worms, and collected them in a nice glass jar. That very same jar remained on the kitchen table (right next to my $12 pills) as the two of them sped off to catch the bus. Pam was on her way back to the cabin to get the worms when I saw her, and then had to drive the poor worms all the way down to Boxley Valley where Amber was waiting for the next bus. It was only a 16 mile extra trip for Pam!
Oh yea, one other point, whenever we get a good load of rain like the other day and the rivers run high, the water takes on this marvelous green color once it clears up. I once read that the color has something to do with the high water stirring up sand and grinding off particles of stones in the river - certainly it does that. Then those fine particles get suspended in the water and block some of the sunlight that is normally reflected back to our eyesight, thus producing the green color. Of course, Pam says that color is nothing more than beaver pee, but you never know! Here is what the Buffalo River looks like now:
3/9/04 Another spectacular, beautiful, incredible, crystal-clear spring morning today! The air has been as clean and clear as I've ever seen it this past few days - you really can see detail in the ridges more than five miles distant - no telling how far you can really see, but it is clear, CLEAR! A very noisy start to today all around. Probably hundreds of birds all over the place making chatter, including at least five woodpeckers chomping away. Three of those were the giant pileated woodpeckers - one of them very near the cabin. That guy would get to drumming, then a second one up on the hillside that I could not see would answer, then a third one across the canyon would start up. Very loud and sharp whacks.
Both rivers below were singing lively tunes, as they have been doing for several days. Neither one is flooded or running really high, but they are just at the right level to produce a lot of noise. Sounds like the wind roaring through a stand of pines, but there was no wind this morning.
Lots of noise inside the cabin as well today - noise coming from my daughter's room. Hum, what was going on in there. Oh yea, NO school today! Yesterday they got out at 2pm, today no school, Thursday they get out at 2pm once again. Man, why didn't they do that sort of thing when I was in school? One problem with them getting out early is that the bus drivers who are not teachers never get told that school is letter out early, so Amber's big bus often has to wait for the little bus to show up - not until the normal time! That means that Amber's third bus (Pam) also has to wait out on the main road until the normal time.
I have been feeling better, but still extremely weak. Yesterday I was able to get up and work for 30-45 minutes at a time before getting totally exhausted - the day before it was more like five minutes was all I could take. My lungs are still ripped to shreds, but my throat is getting better. Head is still throbbing. Perhaps the loudest and most annoying noise here this morning is the sound of my constant hacking. One good thing for my family is the fact that my voice is almost totally gone - I sound like I've been a chain-smoker all my life, and am 100 years old! While that is good that the girls don't have to listen to me - since I can't talk - but it is funny sometimes because Pam has to answer the many phone calls for trail information - I often have to write notes or make hand signals to her to help answer some of the questions. But I must say, she is going a great job of giving out accurate info and putting up with so many of the silly questions that come up these days. One thing that I have noted - the vultures are out in great numbers this morning, soaring, gliding, and hanging around in the air close to the cabin. Hum, I wonder if they know something I don't?
Yesterday afternoon I managed to get out for a short hike. It was warm and sunny and inviting, and I was useless at the computer, so I grabbed the snapshot camera and wandered out the door while Pam went to pick up Amber from school. I only made it about 100 yards into the woods before I had to stop and lay down. Within minutes I was fast asleep, something that comes in very short supply for me of late. There is just something so darn natural and comforting about laying down in a bed of soft leaves in the warm afternoon sunshine and going to sleep. I swear these guys were NOT there when I laid down, but when I woke up sometime later there was a bunch of trout lilies blooming within three feet of me! All I had to do was roll over and click the shutter.
Looking around I could see dozens, many dozens of other trout popping up and blooming all over the place, all basking in the warm spring sunshine just like me.
With the warm temps and sunshine, the forest should begin to bloom soon. The sarvis tree (serviceberry) right outside the drawing room windows is all budded out and ready to pop - literally at any hour now. These are the first trees to bloom in the Ozarks - at least the first ones you can see from a distance. I always refer to them as "popcorn" trees because the blooms do seem to pop out almost instantly, and look like popcorn all over the tree. Looking back through previous Journals it seems spring may be just a few days late right now - the popcorn trees have normally begun to pop by now. I suspect this week will bring a lot of changes to the wilderness, and then all heck will break loose as the most glorious season on the planet gets into full swing. You can have New England or the Smokies or the Rockies or the coast - give me the Ozarks in the SPRING any time as the very best season anywhere!
3/11/04 Sunny and warm today, and I am getting around a little bit more, although my voice is still mostly gone, and my chest is full of whatever I've got. All in all, not much sleep, and feeling pretty miserable. But it is GLORIOUS outside, and that makes it all worth while.
Hardly a week goes by without someone calling and asking me about any property that is for sale up here. I'm not in the real estate business so don't keep up with that sort of thing most of the time. But I do know of three different parcels of property that have just come on the market that some of you might like to know about. The first one is up here on the main Cave Mountain road - 40 acres of dusty woods and a rundown shack - nothing special, or appealing at all. The price - $80,000. Just a wee-bit overpriced there bud. And then there is another 45-acre parcel of just STEEP woods and rock - not even a shack on this one - and the asking price for that one is $185,000. But here is the real jewel that JUST hit the market yesterday. It is in Boxley Valley, and includes the herd of elk (whenever they are there, which is often), plus a couple of small houses and an old barn, but mostly it is pasture - 306 acres of beautiful pasture and frontage along the Buffalo River! One little note about this property - since it is located inside Buffalo National River park, you are not allowed to do ANYTHING to the property at all, NOTHING, not even put up a fence or outbuilding, nothing. You are allowed to remodel the inside of the houses, but can't do a THING to the outside of them. Really, nothing at all to any of this land. All of that at the bargain price of a cool million bucks! If you are interested in any of these, you need to contact a realtor of your choice - they all can sell them to you at exactly the same price. Come to Newton Country where the land is cheap! Good luck, and let me know if you are the successful buyer.
Yesterday evening we had a ton more thick smoke from forest fires filling the air. There is no question the forest service is great at starting fires, and have a ton of cash in hand to get the job done (nearly ALL district personnel are used for each burn). Too bad it really doesn't do much here in the Ozarks, and it not really necessary like it is out west. No problem - mr. bush can just print more money to cover it all!
3/15/04 Several years ago in January (well, actually it was 22 years ago, but who is counting?), I led a backpack trip that began at White Rock Mountain. The group from the newly-formed Ozark Highlands Trail Association included several young ladies that had never been on a hike before, let alone a backpack trip into the winter mountains, plus a number of grizzled and soon-to-be-grizzled veteran backpackers. That night we all woke up sometime around 3am, and poked our heads out of tents to figure out what the heck had woke us all up in the middle of the night - there was no sound to be heard, nothing. Of course, THAT was what had woke us up - the SILENCE! You see, we were camped right next to this beautiful little stream, and when the temp dipped to five below zero that night, the stream that has lulled us all to sleep had suddenly froze SOLID, and the silence woke us all up. The reason I am telling you all of this is that Pam and I spent this past few days rerouting that very trail along that very creek - Spirits Creek it is - and you will find no more beautiful little stream on earth.
The temps were much more manageable on this visit, but none the less a number of volunteer trail workers were scared off by the gloom and doom of the weather forecast - could you have found a better day to be in the woods than yesterday? Good grief, the sun was out all day along, the temps were warm, wildflowers were popping up all over the place, serviceberry trees and several other brands of flowering trees were flowering, many oh man it was a glorious day, and we were right in the middle of the best part.
We did have enough volunteers show up for us to craft 1,000 feet of new trail that now bypasses two of three crossings of Spirits Creek - I've wanted to make that reroute ever since I first hiked that part of the OHT way back in the late 1970's - just didn't make any sense to have to cross this creek three times in 1/4 mile - a creek that is often too high to get across dry, so you have to get wet not once, but three times. No longer - now it is just one crossing, and that after what is perhaps the most scenic 1,000 feet of trail on the entire 165 miles. This new trail takes you right up against a bluff, and within reach of two waterfalls, plus you are looking directly down at Spirits Creek below, and across the narrow canyon there is another bluff with several more waterfalls, wildflowers and blooming trees in all direction.
When I first took our hardy volunteers on a "tour" of the new trail that we were going to build, I know most of them thought for sure I had flipped my lid - no way could humans build trail across such steep and rugged terrain. But not only did those very same volunteers dig right in and get the job done, but they built an excellent little trail that is as good as any. All you got to do is believe! Of course, it also took a little more horsepower than your average level trail to build, but we have a number of great guys and gals who showed up to dig in. This was all part of nine days of volunteer trail work that the OHTA is doing this week - all of it starting from our "base camp" at the lodge up on top of beautiful White Rock Mountain. Still lots of work to do for any willing volunteers - and DON'T pay any attention to the weather forecast!
I got to spend most of the day Friday laying out and blowing off the trail in Spirits Creek - another gorgeous day in the Ozarks. It had been a while since I was able to spend some quality time like that on this trail, and in this location. And boy did I need it. My physical health has been improving, but I am still a wreck inside and out. I was able to make it through all of the work days, although after just a few hours of digging my dogs were really tuckered, and it was everything I could do to keep going.
Two notes of humor from the weekend. The first involves just me, late on the long workday Saturday, when I was so tired I could hardly pick up my cutter-mattox tool. But pick it up I had to do in order to dig out one last 25 foot stretch of the trail. The hill I was standing on was so steep that I literally had to hold on in order to keep from falling down the hillside. Once the trail tread was in, no problem, but until then, you really had to watch yourself. I could barely muster up enough umph to raise that mattox and slam it down into the earth, and this one time when I did, I hit a large root, and not only did the tool bounc up right back at me and up and out of my hands, but it went flying up in the air behind me, then landed about half-way DOWN the steep slope between me and the creek, THEN it continued to slide on DOWN and down and down until lit finally came to rest just above the creek. I was able to slip and slide and made it down to collect the tool, but then I had to literally CRAWL and scratch and claw my way back up that slope to reach the narrow trail. I was hoping everyone else was just too busy to see my stupid move!
The other item happened just as we got home from the trip. I was unloading the truck, and had reached in and picked up and shouldered my 40-pound camera bag and started to move away from the truck. As I moved I felt an intense pain in my backside and increased with every motion. What the heck was going on? Something had me, and was digging in! I realized that somehow my huge wood and brass tripod had gotten stuck in the straps of my camera bag, and the long steep spikes at the end of each leg were being jammed into my rump! I'm sure most of you could never imagine that a tripod leg could actually inflict pain, but the next time you see me, just ask and I'll be happy to jab you with one of these spikes! Anyway, I was unable to free myself, and the more I tried to mess with it the deeper the spiked feet went into me. So I yelled at my lovely bride for help. She started to approach me, but then when she saw what was sticking out of my backside she came to a sudden halt and could not stop laughing! "I'm hurting here, HELP!" In order to fully appreciate the comedy of this situation you must know how I feel about tripods and taking pictures - I PREACH to all of my students that you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, MUST use a tripod for each and every shot! But now my dear wife, and all of you, will not be able to keep a straight face when I talk about mounting your tool on the tripod!!! You really had to be there, and I'm SO glad that my wife did not have a camera handy...
It is just before dark here on Monday, and we have had a little bit of light rain - just enough to wet things down. No rain over the weekend, although we did get just a little bit of sleet on Saturday while working on the trail. Springtime is not nearly as advanced here as it was over near White Rock - or actually up and down along the Pig Trail around Cass was really beginning to break out - not leaf out, but trees were flowering. We could just barely see the beginnings of one serviceberry tree way off on a distant hillside popping out today, but the one next to the drawing room has not begun to "pop" yet - I suspect the next sunny will bring it out. Pam reports lots of trout lilies up, but I have not seen any other wildflowers out yet. Only a matter of a few days for sure, and spring will be in full swing. Of course, it will be next month before the trees start to leaf out - I can wait until then.
UPDATE ON OUR DEAR FRIEND GREG HEINZE. I have just received the following link to a web page with details about Greg's condition and details of the airplane crash - CLICK HERE. A fund has been set up to help out with what will be no doubt mountains of bills that will pile up as Greg recovers. I have not been down to see him in the hospital yet, but did receive a phone call from him the other day (while we were out in the woods). His jaw is wired shut so he could hardly speak, but it was so great to hear his voice, and to know that he was in good spirits. Greg is one of the good eggs in this world, and I know he will come out on his feet. Please remember him in your thoughts, and with your pocket book if you can.
And speaking of web sites, White Rock Mountain now has a home on the web - CLICK HERE. For those of you have never been there, this is a really neat mountain top that is rimmed with 100-foot bluffs with incredible views all around - with a loop trail that goes around the rim (two miles - NOT suitable for young kids!). They also have a campground, and three RUSTIC stone cabins that were built by the CCC's back in the 1930's, plus the stone lodge building where our volunteers are being housed this week. The cabin are only $60 a night. The caretaker is another good egg - Paula White. Don't count on getting a cabin for any popular weekend (she takes reservations beginning at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve), but when you can get a slot, I highly recommend this place - absolutely the very best sunset view in Arkansas, and in this part of the country for sure.
It's late in the night now, and 500 hacking coughs later, and we are still wet outside. Not heavy rain, and not very much, but a nice steady supply coming down. Overall the Ozarks are still quite low on water, but the water table seems to be coming up, and the ground is quickly saturated now - that is good for the streams and rivers and for waterfalls. However, we really need to beef up that water supply in the next few weeks to get ready for the gazillions of gallons of water that the new forest will be drinking up each second once they begin to come alive next month - in other words, please do a rain dance...
ONE MORE WEB PAGE that some of you might be interested. Arkansas native and now world-renowned photographer C.C. Lockwood has begun an interesting project that begins by living for a couple of years aboard a houseboat touring the swamps of southern Louisiana (with his wife). They are keeping an online journal that is full of neat stuff - CLICK HERE to find out more. (C.C. likes to get away from the swamps every now and then and often heads up to the Buffalo and stays in Boxley)
3/16/04 According to the weather radar it is raining hard here right now - hum, we've had a few sprinkles tonight, but not much else. Mostly sunny all day, and warm temps. I left the cabin early to restock books at the Hastings in Russellville - so far for 2004 we are the #1 selling author in the entire store!
On my way back home I took a detour to a place I have seen on forest service maps and heard about and always wanted to go to but never had been to before. The good folks in the TakAHike hiking club gave me precise directions, and I was able to find it without any problems. This place was really something, was much more than I ever expected, and will certainly make it into the new Nature Lovers Guidebook. But first, on the way there, I stopped and took a snapshot of this scene overlooking the Big Piney River - perhaps one of the very best scenic views that you can see from your car in the entire state - can't believe I'd never been to this spot either!
There is a 1.5 mile four-wheeler road that leaves the main forest road and will take you right to the edge of this wonderful area of bizarre rock formations known as Buzzard Roost. It has been classified as a "Special Interest Area" by the forest service for a good many years. The old jeep road is really too narrow for an SUV, and the hike in is not too bad.
Parts of this area remind me of the Pedestal Rocks-Kings Bluff area, and those sandstone "castles" that I went to over in Richland a few weeks ago, also the Bear Cave formations up at Petit Jean, and even the Elephant Rocks area up in Missouri. The view out across the top of the rocks and of the crevasses below is great (and DANGEROUS for kids and drunks!), but once you drop down below all of that you will find some really magical places, including long hallways and rooms way back inside the rock formation.
I probably would not normally shoot "real" photos at this time of the year, but I took in my big camera gear today just for fun, and wound up shooting for several hours and wanting more time.
There are also a couple of "rock wave" formations that are quite unusual, some "hoodoos," and even a detached stone arch, although the arch is not really all that tall. HOWEVER, there is another section of the rock formations a little farther to the north that does contain what I believe is one of the top two or three most magnificent natural rock bridges in all of Arkansas - really something special! It is not quite a wide as the one at Alum Cove, nor at tall up on the bluff at the one in the Hurricane Creek Wilderness, but I think it just may be the most scenic of them all. And it even has a skylight up in the middle of the arch, although by the time I got over to this arch to take pictures the sun was behind a thin layer of clouds and I could not make a neat star burst like I wanted to. I will say that I have a feeling something very special happens at this arch, and I intend to return as often as I need to in order to see for sure and to photograph it. The entire area is easily one of the most scenic and unusual rock formations in the region.
In my haste to crawl and climb around and see as much of this spot as I could, I came home a bit battered up and sore and bleeding - hum, must be photo season for me! Some neat places along the lower edge were being guarded with thick patches of green briars with large thorns. I can't imagine exploring some of those places in the summer after the growth is one. I shall return a time or two before all of that happens, and report my findings to you.
3/18/04 It was 3:30am when the alarm went off. I had already been up for nearly an hour, and out on the deck a couple of times, looking to the east, and wondering if the black clouds and lightning would pass on or stick around. The radar showed the big storm just to our south, but clear to the east. I decided to give it a go, packed up my camera gear and headed out the door.
Two things entered my mind and remained for about an hour and a half - first, that big storm was indeed just to the south, and SOUTH was where I was headed - I needed CLEAR SKIES to the east for the photo I wanted, but being under a giant thunderstorm wouldn't work. The second thing was that I was low on gas - less than a quarter tank, and no hope of any gas stations open at that early hour. I also thought about a guy's e-mail that I had read at about 3am - he was unsure about signing up for one of my spring digital photo workshops because of the "weather" - in May? Heck fire, I told him that the absolute WORST weather for good wilderness photographs would be GOOD weather! - Give me rain, thunderstorms, black clouds, and water, lots and lots of water, then I can make some good photos! I suggested to him that perhaps my workshop was not a good match for him and that he might look elsewhere. Anyway, there I was, driving towards this giant thunderstorm in the middle of the night hoping to hike into a spot and take a few photos.
It was still pitch black when I parked the truck, but I could see just a tiny hint of a fog bank way down in the canyon below - sort of like I bet it looked back at Cloudland at that very moment. Only I was back in the area of Buzzard Roost, hoping to get a shot of the sun rising underneath the natural stone arch there. I really didn't have a clue what direction the arch actually faced, so really did know if I could get my shot if the sun came up at all, but what the heck, this day would be the last opportunity I would have to shoot this scene this season - the sun moves to the north every day, and I knew I was pushing it to begin with.
So I laid back and tried to grab 30 winks and wait for a little bit of light, but I only got about three winks in when I looked up and saw some color to the east - that was a good sign that we might have a sunrise after all. The big thunderstorm remained to the south and was not a factor.
What a beautiful, peaceful, and exhilarating hike I had on over and down to the arch. Just the perfect temp, no wind, and a wilderness coming alive all around me with each step I took. Pre-dawn really is the golden hour of the day, and not only because the light is so very special, but also because, well, I don't know, it just IS. You can walk and walk and walk, or just stand there and be motionless, and the world is perfect and your troubles all are way on out there later in the day, and you don't have to deal with them for now. The air is always sweet, and there is magic in the air. Ah yes, pre-dawn is the best moment of the day, and I highly recommend you get up and greet it as often as you can.
I slipped and slid on down the hill just as a red glow widened to the east. I could tell right away that my sense of direction had been WAY OFF, and that the stone arch actually faces southeast, and there was no chance the sun would rise under it today. In fact, the sun was going to rise off of the north end of the arch! Perhaps later in the year - say December 21st - I will return and try it again - the sun would be at its southern-most arch then, and maybe, just maybe, it would rise for me under the arch. Yep, I would be back, but my trip this day would not be in vein, and so I began to look around and see what I could photograph.
I won't bore you with all my thoughts and ramblings about waiting for this shot to happen and looking for that shot and never getting quite what I wanted but at the same time found very unexpected shots. In fact, my favorite shot of the day came literally after I had given up, packed up, and had started hiking back to the truck. I turned around for one last look, and wondered what the scene would look like in this light - a light that had a rare quality and color about it, made all the more special by the fog bank that kept creeping up the hillside and engulfing me, then retreating back down into the broad canyon below. I decided to go see what it might look like, and ended up shooting about 75 or 80 photos. Even then I was not ready to go back yet, but at the same time I really wanted to be back home.
Here are a few shots from the morning:
OK, enough Buzzard Roost pics for a while.
I managed to make it all the way back to Deer without running out of gas. $1.80 a gallon. The news said it would be $2.50 by this summer. Hum, a vacation in Arkansas this summer might be in order!
Yesterday I had a couple of wonderful Cloudland Moments here. The first one came in the morning just before we all went into town for the day. Pam and Amber were outside dealing with the messy job of cleaning out the turtle tank. I was glued to the computer, where I live when I am home. Minutes later I heard shouts of laughter, and of true concern, and I came running. My girls were actually taking their pet turtle out for a hike! Son of a gun that darn turtle was going full blast right down the middle of the trail. They talked about finding a turtle collar so they could take her on more hikes. Good grief, we already have cats that go hiking with us, and now our turtle! Well, at least we wouldn't go hungry if in a survival situation (OK, ok, that was pretty bad).
Later in the evening, the three of us, sans turtle, huddled in the drawing room to witness one spectacular electrical storm after another (actually there were five of us, with Aspen on the couch with the girls, and Lucy down on the carpet with me). We weren't all just in the for the show, but it was some great quality time together, sitting there in the dark, when you will talk about anything. I have grown really used to my girls being around this old cabin, and life is just so much richer now, and I could not imagine time here without them. And man, oh man, what a light SHOW! It tried to rain a time or two, but we hardly got over a dozen drops.
Oh yea, the turtle enjoyed her hike so much that when Pam put her back in the refreshed tank she swam right on over and ate a fish (the turtle, not Pam). She is supposed to eat a fish once every two or three days (the turtle, not Pam), but we have been unable to get her to eat any - and we've put a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors in there for her to munch on. But she dug right on in this time, so I guess from now on it will be a nice hike and then a seafood dinner for Crystal!
This evening, just before dark, there was a tremendous black cloud bank that stretched nearly from the eastern horizon all the way to the western horizon - and it was a puffy cloud bank, and the edges of all those "puffs" were beginning to turn a brilliant crimson color. I jumped up and sped off to get a better vantage point. I parked the truck and ran into the woods and across a big field. As I did so I discovered that the setting sun had just dropped below that cloud bank and was creating a huge orange glow all around it that went far up into the black clouds. At the moment I made a critical mistake. First off, I had left my big lens in the truck - and I really needed that big lens in order to make the most of that shot. And secondly, I passed up the chance to shoot the scene from that spot, thinking I could get a better vantage point by running a little farther. Wrong! By the time I had taken about 20 more leaps, put down the camera bag, and installed my camera on the big tripod, the sun and most of the glow were gone - just like that. I mingled around the area for another 30 minutes hoping all those puffy clouds would light up, but it never happened - I never fired a single shot. No matter - I got to see that beautiful sunset, and will carry that memory with me for a good long while. Darn it!
3/27/04 Nice orange sunrise this morning, but it was short-lived and soon disappeared up into gray skies. Those clouds were being blown around by a strong wind, swirling, singing, moaning, calling out to me to get up out of bed and go hiking!
We went on a short trip around the loop, passing scores of trout lilies whose blossoms had faded away, leaving behind their multi-patterned leaves. And mayapples, lots of mayapples were popping up out of the ground all over the place. I got down on my belly and took a close look at them. Many are coming up as a double-spread with the soon-to-be-flower in between.
Redbuds seem to be a couple of weeks late showing up this year - should have already been out by now, but only a few hints of color in the trees today. I did find one lonely spring of color that was growing close to the bark of a tree - reminds me of a tarantula!
Some dogwoods are beginning to open up - a couple of weeks early. Looks like in another week or two we may have that rare occurrence of having both dogwood and redbud trees in full bloom at the same time. That has happened a couple of times in recent memory - perhaps it will become more common. I wonder if it has anything to do with us not having much of a winter at all?
The wild plums are charging on - absolutely love their beautiful flowers and delicate scent. And the little "wild" peach trees are adding a bit of color to the landscape.
And how about a wild cherry blossom!(below)
There is a great deal in bloom right now, but you have to look close. On the flower side of things we have violets and toothworts coming on strong. And we saw a bloodroot in the front yard as we were leaving. I'll get out in the next few days and look around the area and see what all is up and blooming - I suspect quite a bit of flowers are on their way.
Looking around at the overall landscape there are a few trees popping out with new leaves, although still most of the landscape is brown, still another two or three weeks away from coming out. Spring is on the way for sure, and the view from here will be changing not only daily, but many times during each day as well. Come on rain, and sunshine, and more rain!
I have spent the last week down in New Orleans. Not partying, but rather working my tail off in class. I attended a high-end advanced week of instruction in the digital photo world, taught by one of the top 8 or 10 experts in the entire world (Seth Resnick). Don't know if I am actually progressing with all of this, or if Seth is simply just great at teaching, but I was actually able to comprehend and understand most all that he was teaching. In the past a majority of what has been discussed always flew way over my head. Seth is not only one of the top experts, but also is on the cutting edge of this developing technology, and is on the development teams of Photoshop, Canon, and a number of other products that I use every day. Nice to get to spend so much time with someone who really is on the inside of all this new stuff.
And I am happy to report that while my hotel room (and all the seminars) were within a block of Bourbon Street in the heart of the French Quarter, the sum total of my drinking for the entire week was one beer (guess I still had a hangover from the last time I was there - nearly 30 years ago - that was enough for me!). Of course, we basically worked from 5am until nearly midnight every day, so there really wasn't much time for play. I got up every morning and hiked over to the river front and shot pictures until it was time to hike back and get to class. Certainly a wonderful city with lots of history and neat things to see, but really all I wanted to do was be in class all day and then get the heck out of there - don't like cities at all. It was a very long week and I am glad to be home.
3/29/04 When the alarm went off this morning I noted a bit of noise going on downstairs. It was Amber, up and wide awake and getting ready for school. "The sun woke me up and I could not get back to sleep!" I happened to look out the window and noticed it would still be another hour before the sun actually appeared - she was excited about another week at school - something must be wrong with this child!
Actually what I really saw when I looked out the window was an incredible scene beginning to unfold. There were cloud banks down low in all of the canyons - a sea of clouds surrounding us - with mountains poking up into the clear air as far as I could see. We had not seen a fog bank like this in a good long while - the result of lots of rain yesterday. I stepped out onto the back deck and took a few photos in the dim light. With the clear skies above and all that white below to reflect, it really wasn't all that dim after all. Looked to me like you could just strike out across the top of that white cloud and walk all day on it. Cloudland - yep, that's a pretty good name for this place.
That was an hour ago, the sun has just now popped up over the eastern ridgetop and is shining in my eyes and across the computer screen. We need to get blinds for Pam's new room and all her windows. The sunshine is quickly spilling down into the canyons, lighting up bits of the cloud bank. The white stuff has not moved yet, but as the air warms (it is 43 degrees now) with the sunshine the clouds will begin to move and swirl around and rise up and dance and play and generally have a grand old time.
On days like this I at first get really excited and then all hyped up because the photo opportunities are so great, but then I realize there is no time to get anywhere else before it all happens, and what the heck, I'm standing/sitting at the best viewpoint anyhow.
Night before last we were awakened in the middle of the night by hard and loud and giant raindrops hitting the metal roof. It rained for about a minute and then quit. This happened several times during the night, but only totalled about 1/4 inch of rainfall. Then during the day yesterday the sky finally did open up and it rained for real - about two inches in less than an hour. The rest of the day it remained wet with some light rain now and then, but mostly just wet in the air. The river below came up quickly and ran muddy. Waterfalls all over the place sprang to life - it was a GREAT afternoon for waterfalls!
I must tell you one funny note about my first day back after being gone for a week. I spent a good long while on the steep hillside to the east of the cabin - picking up construction trash that has piled up down there over the past several months. You must understand that while down on that hillside you literally are unable to stand up much of the time because it is so steep, and have to hang on with one hand while working with the other hand. I was able to fill up three tubs with trash, then wrestle them up and onto the lower deck. It was nice being out in the sunshine, but especially nice to have a clean hillside once again. Well, later that night, the wind blew and blew and blew like crazy. The next morning I realized that those three very same tubs of trash had taken flight and were once again spread along the steep hillside. Too wet to do anything about it yesterday, but it is on my list today - and once I get it all collected again, I'll move the tubs to a more secure location!
Oops, the clouds are beginning to move around a little bit, I had better to take a few photos!
One of the drawbacks with the combination of shooting digital and doing it right off the back deck is that fact that once I get a few photos shot I want to immediately run inside an see what they look like on "the big screen." While this is a great thing to be able to do, it also takes me away from the scene, and no doubt I miss some great stuff while I am sitting in front of the monitor! Of course, I can still see it all happening out the window, and can always run out with another memory disk and keep on shooting.
It is sort of an odd feeling out there this morning - both the main Buffalo River and Whitaker Creek are running full tilt and making a lot of noise - I mean singing a lively tune. And they are doing it all under the cover of the cloud bank - can't see a thing down there. But you know the rivers are fast and furious. It will be another hour or two before the sunshine burns off all the clouds and reveals the waters underneath. I suspect the Buffalo is much less muddy this morning, perhaps even back to its normal color, which today will be a really neat shade of green from all the churned up sandstone that is suspended in the water.
Time for me to get back to real work - there is a ton of it to do today - so I will sign off for now. Hope you have a terrific Monday, the best day of the week!
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