2/1/02 Another early start to the day for us, and we were up before daylight packing for a day in the woods chasing waterfalls. I knew it might not be a real productive day because the sky was going to be clear all day - the kiss of death for waterfall pictures! But we loaded up and headed out anyway, passing Amber and Judy along the way (they were waiting for Amber's bus).

By the time we had arrived at our first destination - Longpool Campground on the Big Piney River - all traces of clouds had vanished and above us was only clear blue and bright sunshine. I had never been to this little waterfall that we had been told about, so was anxious to take a look at it. I was hoping that it was on the side of the mountain that was still in shade so that I would be able to get a photo.

We parked in the campground and found an old road that led us in the right direction. It was crisp outside to say the least, and the frigid, muddy, churning waters of the Big Piney River just below added to the effect. But it was a beautiful day for a hike for sure, and we warmed up quickly.

Before long we came to a creek, and there it was - a thundering waterfall spanning the width of the creek. I had mixed emotions right off the bat - first, I was glad that the waterfall was in the shade, but then just a little sad that it was not quite the 20 foot height that I had been told - it was probably 12-15 feet tall. Mind you, I have not seen ANY waterfalls that were anything less than WONDERFUL! I was just expecting more.

As I approached the falls and hopped across the moss-covered rocks in the streambed, I perked up quite a bit when I heard a distant roar. Hum, there must be another waterfall upstream somewhere!

So I quickly passed by this lower falls and raced up a tall pile of jagged rocks beside the flowing stream. EUREKA! As I crested the pile of rubble a beautiful and thundering waterfall appeared - it was SPECTACULAR to say the least. Yes, this is what I chase waterfalls for!

While the falls were facing the correct direction, the sun had already begun to light up the top area on one side. At this time of the day the sun can move very quickly - especially when you want it to go away. So turned back and yelled at Pam to come up, then put it into high gear to run and find a suitable picture spot.

I hiked behind the falls and found the entire area to be getting wet with constant spray - no way I could set up the camera here. So I went on around to the other side and found a perfect spot underneath the large overhanging bluff that created the falls. By the time I had the camera rigged up, Pam had arrived and had stripped down to shorts and a light-colored top.

The reason why we are always wearing shorts and a light-colored top when posing for these pictures is because the images in the waterfall guidebook will all be in black and white, and very small. The person in the photo - which is only there for scale - will show up best with white legs and light-colored top showing. With dark clothing the person just disappears into the background.

No way I could communicate with Pam because of the roar of the waterfall, so we talked back and forth with the radios, and within a few minutes I had my picture. By the time I had finished with the photo session the sun had crept up enough to light up too much of the scene - if we had been there five minutes late we would have missed the picture entirely!

Longpool Falls, 44 feet tall

I had been told about this waterfall by a couple of different folks, and both had put its height at around 20 feet, perhaps a little more. One of the main guys in the forest service who is in charge of recreation for the entire forest did not even know about the waterfall. I'm sure lots of paddlers know of it, as Longpool is one of the main spots for paddlers to camp and put-in, take-out. Anyway, this waterfall was much more than I had ever dreamed of, and a really spectacular waterfall at 44 feet. Plus the location is very good - kind of a magical place in itself, and it is only 1/3 of a mile hike from the campground.

OK, we got one great waterfall, and it looked like the rest of the day was shot because of the sunshine. I wanted to get back into Kings Bluff and measure the falls there (my previous attempt failed because the tape was too short). But first we took the scenic route north through the national forest along the old hwy. 27, which is actually a dirt road, although a very wide and smooth one as far as dirt roads go. We passed through a town called "Solo," and sure enough there was only ONE house there!

Just for kicks, we detoured from our planned route just a little bit to go see about a very large waterfall that is in a side drainage of Falling Water Creek. I had been to it once before, but wanted to go look again to see if it would be worthy of putting into the guidebook. Falling Water creek was running full tilt so I knew this big falls would be looking good. The only problem was that the lighting was terrible, so I probably would not be able to get a picture of it.

I was not exactly sure which of two creeks this big falls was on, so we parked the rig and I loaded up my pack and headed up one of the drainages. I told Pam to just stay in the truck and that I would be "back in a few minutes" and would call down on the radio if I needed her. I took along the camera just in case.

The first creek split, and I followed the left-hand fork. It led up to a really neat bluffline, and to an area of several waterfalls, but not the big one that I had been to before. The sunshine was just terrible (for pictures - it felt GREAT on my face!), but I set up and did one shot anyway, just in case I needed to use it.

Then I made my way across the very steep hillside and to the second part of this creek. It had a really nice waterfall in it, which dropped into a small box canyon - a very special place indeed! The falls was in the shade, but the sun was creeping in, so I hurried up and made a couple of exposures.

Since I was already up high on the hillside, I decided to go ahead and contour on around and make my way up into the next drainage, which certainly would be the one I was looking for. In order to get there, I would have to do a bit of pretty tough hiking.

This drainage is guarded by a tall bluffline that sticks out and towers above the wilderness below. I decided to hike on up to the base of the bluffs. What I had not counted on what the fact that much of the bluffline had fallen off many eons ago, and was littered all over the steep hillside below. It took me nearly 20 minutes just to make it up to the base of the bluff.

This bluffline was one of the most beautiful that I had seen in a long while. And it had a multiple rock-type makeup. The lower reaches of it were many hundreds of thin layers of rock, perhaps even shale. The wind and water had shaped them into all sorts of smooth patterns, and lichens and mineral deposits in the rock made the bluff multicolored as well. The top 20-30 feet was capped with a layer of solid rock - sandstone I guess - which contrasted with the layers below. And on top of the cap were many old and twisted cedar trees, hanging over the edge.

In many places there were trees growing 2/3rds of the way up the bluff that were covered with ice. Sometimes it was tough hiking simply because my eyes were looking up at all the wonderful sights instead of down in front of me where my feet were going. Fortunately, there was a deep pile of shale fragments so my boots sunk in just a little bit and took hold.

I FINALLY reached the end of this canyon and came to one of the tallest waterfalls in the Ozarks. I had long ago named this waterfall KEEFE FALLS after Terry Keefe - one of the most prolific waterfall hunters in the state. He is the one who sent me up to look at this falls in the first place many years ago.

It was such an incredible sight that I just had to take a picture, and most of the waterfall was still in shade, but the sunshine was creeping in quickly. There wasn't enough time to radio Pam and get her up here for scale (before the sunshine ruined the scene), so I decided to go ahead and set up to shoot whatever I could.

My camera platform was on a hillside so steep that I had a great deal of trouble standing up - and in fact slid down the hill all the way to the creek several times before I was able to get a good picture! I always use tripods that have individually-adjustable feet for situations just like this one where the "platform" is uneven ground. In fact the feet of my tripod can go up all the way to horizontal, which I really needed for this shot (one leg up against the hillside, the other two normal).

I don't normally like to estimate the height of waterfalls - most people do that and are seldom even close to the correct height. But I would have to do that for this falls because there was no break in the bluffline above for a long ways in either direction. I will return to this point again and get to the top of the falls one way or another for an official measurement for the book, but for now I am going to say it is 80 feet tall. Quite an impressive sight for sure!

(The two previous waterfalls that I had photographed probably won't make it into the guidebook. However, we have been thinking about doing a Volume Two of the guidebook so that I can put in some of the smaller waterfalls - and ones that I find and photograph in the year to come. The number of great waterfalls has already grown to more than 75 for this first edition. By the way, I will soon post a list of all those waterfalls online here so that you can look at the list - AND perhaps even suggest a significant one that is not on the list.)

Remember when I had told Pam I would only be gone for a couple of minutes? It had been a full two hours! She is such a trooper. As I made my way on down the drainage and back to the forest road, I ran into her - she had hiked part way up the drainage and was enjoying the warm sunshine. She knew that I had not taken any water with me, so reached out her hand - I emptied the water bottle in about twenty seconds.

Our final destination for the day was Kings Bluff. It was a quick hike to get there, and a chilly one - the wind had picked up and the wind chill was probably in the teens.

Pam went to the bottom of the falls and I stayed on top to lower the measuring tape. Neither of us could see one another, so the radios came in handy once again. It took me several attempts to get the tape w/bag of rocks lowered over the edge and all the way down without hanging up in a tree or on a ledge. The new tape we bought was made of plastic - the metal ones I had been using kept breaking.

I ended up having to lay down on the top of the bluff and crawling underneath the cedar handrail that runs along the top edge of the bluffline ( I DO NOT recommend this to anyone!) to get the tape to the very edge of the bluff. The tape is a 100 foot tape, which I knew would still not be long enough. I had Pam mark the spot near the bottom where the end of the tape came to, then I went down and joined her and we measured the lower section. The total height of this waterfall is 114 feet! It is the second tallest in Arkansas that I know of - Hemmed In Hollow is the tallest at somewhere near 200 feet (we are going to measure it later this spring - using a 250 foot tape).

While I was not happy with the clear skies and sunshine all day, it was a great day to be out in the wilderness exploring!

2/2/02 We sent on a little adventure this afternoon. They said it would be bright sunshine all day, but by noon there was nothing but clouds, so we packed up the truck and headed out. I wanted to go visit Spainhour Falls on Spadra Creek north of Clarksville. This isn't a giant waterfall, but is an interesting one.

There is a three-mile log road that runs right on up to the waterfall, although it requires some pretty serious 4WDing. Pam held her breath as I eased the old truck into the first of six creek crossings. The water came up to the bottom of the door, but I wasn't too worried as this truck is capable of driving through water up to nearly two feet deep with no problems. Of course, the big rocks in the middle worried us a bit too. And then there were the mud holes - many of them, and they were long and deep. More rough road, and more creek crossings, but the truck did just fine through all of them (Pam said that she had always wanted to go four-whelling, but she never dreamed it would be in a Mercedes!). We had almost reached the falls when we finally pulled over and parked rather than go into a deeper hole of water with really big rocks.

We bushwhacked up and across a very steep hillside (rather then wade the knee-deep creek), and followed the river upstream. We finally came to a point where we would be forced to climb WAY up the hillside to get around a bluff, and decided what the heck, we would go ahead and wade the creek. Yikes, that water was cold!

Spainhour Falls

The waterfall was pretty neat, and we shot a few photos, then turned around and headed back out, following the old road all the way. Before we got to the last creek crossing where the truck was parked on the other side, we came across a fair-sized creek that came in from the left. Hum, I wondered out loud - could there be waterfalls up that drainage?

I left Pam at the road and struck out through the thick brush. It didn't take me long to find my answer - YES, there was a waterfall! It was a beautiful creek to begin with, but a 17' tall waterfall made it all that much better. I made several attempts to take the picture myself, but it was just too much of a stretch and I never did get myself in the picture correctly. You can see here what happens when you need 11 seconds but only have 10 seconds on the self timer!

Lucy Falls, and a ghost image of me falling

So I had to call Pam on the radio to come on up and help me. She had gotten chilled just sitting around waiting for me, and had already started back to the truck. But she is a real trooper, and said that if I needed her, she would come a running. And she did.

I wanted to call this falls Lucy Falls after our little dog. It was not the tallest waterfall in the country, but had a great deal of personality and charm, just like Lucy.

While Pam was on her way up to me, I decided to see what was further upstream. Just a short distance away was another waterfall, and there was a giant boulder in the creek right next to it. And then another falls. And another. And another. It was really one incredible little creek! The fifth one was much larger than the first - 37 feet. I would have to come photograph it as well, and for the time being, I decided to name it Aspen Falls.

But I wanted more, and could tell that there must be something else upstream because there was a wonderful bluffline still above, and the creek had to do something when the two met. Plus, I kept hearing this hushed roar off in the distance. Hum.

The going was really getting rough - the hillside was extremely steep, with boulders all over the place. I hiked/crawled high above the creek, up near the base of the bluff. There were more waterfalls down on the creek, and finally, the grand finale - a 50 foot tall waterslide down solid rock, along with several other waterfalls in the immediate area. This place really was something special!

Pam had called up that she had arrived at Lucy Falls, so I turned around and went sliding back to her. The light was fading fast, so I quickly set up the camera and had Pam take a few shots, then packed everything up and raced back up the drainage to get to the 37 foot falls. It was already so dark when I arrived that I could hardly see an image in the camera viewfinder (I had sent Pam on back to the truck so that she would not be caught hiking in the dark).

I worked as fast as I could - the light was all but gone. For those of you who know about such things, it was getting a FULL f-STOP DARKER every minute! By the time I got the camera all ready to go I had to shoot an eight-second exposure with the lens wide open and the polarizer removed. Just a few minutes before back at Lucy Falls I was shooting about 1/4 second at f-8 w/polarizer.

Aspen Falls (?) in the near-darkness

OK, I got one shot with me and one without that might work - I did not have time to double check. I loaded everything up and headed back. I had brought a flashlight with me, but it did not want to work. So I did a combination of "scramble across the steep hillside as fast as I could" and "place each and every step very carefully." I have hiked many miles in near darkness like this, and am perfectly comfortable doing it - at least on level ground. This rough terrain was something else. But I managed OK.

The biggest problem with hiking like this is not really seeing where to place your feet - even in nearly pitch darkness you can see that if you have good eyes. The big problem is keeping branches from poking your eyes out. I started out with one hand up in front of my eyes to deflect them, but soon had to use both hands. That slowed my progress down quite a bit, although I tried to maintain a steady pace because the slower I was, the darker it got.

I finally reached the old road and knew that I had it made. Everything was fine except for Lucy. Right after I had packed up and started back Pam radioed that Lucy was lost. So in addition to me straining to see the uneven ground in front of me, and keeping from getting my eyes poked out, I was also yelling for Lucy every few steps. There was a great deal of concern in Pam's voice over the radio, and I tried to reassure her as best I could. But there she was, way the heck back in some wild place she had never been in before, miles and miles from nowhere, and both her dog and her husband were out there in the darkness! I was NOT looking forward to getting back to the truck and having Lucy still lost. I had Pam honk the horn as a last resort, and son of a gun, Lucy came a running. Whew!!!

I had to make one last creek crossing, and had no choice but to plunge right on in without the aid of knowing how deep the water was or what rocks I would come across. No problem - I just felt my way along with my boots and before long had landed on the other side. Pam has been a great trooper through all of my wilderness antics so far, and tonight I rewarded her with a stop at the Burger Barn at Ozone (they make the best burgers and especially CHOCOLATE SHAKES!).

2/3/02 Just about the time I woke up this morning I realized that I was back in the woods once again, but this time it was a little lighter (although not much). I was hiking down a steep hill into the Mountain Creek drainage near Cass, chasing another waterfall. I was able to get permission from the good folks at Spirit Mountain Lodge to use a trail they have that runs from their property right on DOWN the hill to several waterfalls along the creek (actually it is an old road). That sure made getting to the falls a lot easier.

The first waterfall was right on Mountain Creek, and I had heard about it from a number of people, and have even seen it advertised in mountain bike guidebooks. I was a bit disappointed when I got there - the falls were only 13 feet tall. But they dropped into a nice emerald pool, and if the temp hadn't been in the mid-30's, I just might have gone in for a quick dip.

The falls on Mountain Creek

The second waterfall was a lot more spectacular, and certainly worth the trip down the mountain to see. It is called "Sixty Foot Falls" by the locals. I am a naturally skeptical, especially when it comes to heights of waterfalls, since it is nearly impossible to tell how tall one is, especially without any known reference point. I also feared it wouldn't be running too well this long after the rains. But much to my surprise, the waterfall was beautiful, and running pretty good.

Pam had business elsewhere today, so I was back on my own again, and I had to sprint to make it into the picture within my ten-second time limit. I took about 30 photos from a couple of different angles.

Sixty Foot Falls from two different angles

The locals were pretty close about the height - I measured it at 54 feet, which is a darn nice-sized waterfall in this particular area!

I had also been told about an genuine cave that is located just above the falls, so headed on up the hillside in search of it. I didn't take the time to look enough to find it, but I did come across a wonderful cascade just above the falls, so had to stop and take a few pictures. Sometimes cascades are more beautiful than just plain waterfalls. I guess that makes sense because a cascade is really many waterfalls in one!

The cascade above Sixty Foot Falls

The third waterfall was somewhat of a surprise too, although I had seen a photo of it before. You know, as the ladies say, size really doesn't matter, and I guess that is true of waterfalls too. This one was not all that tall at only 15 feet, but it sure was pretty. The bowl that the bluffline it spilled over made and the emerald pool below added to the attraction.

waterfall in Wellcave Hollow

Instead of hiking back up the old road to my truck, I decided to bushwhack UP a drainage called Wellcave Hollow just to see what I could find. The creek got small in a hurry, and there really wasn't all that much to see until near the very top. Then things got interesting - the creek split in two, and both branches contained many smaller waterfalls of less than ten feet each. But there were SO many of them they were nice to see. I suspect when things are at flood stage this would be a great hike. In fact, unless folks spend the night at Spirit Lodge and utilize their trail down to the big waterfalls (something I highly recommend), the best access to Mountain Creek is to park on Hwy. 23 and take Wellcave Hollow on down to the river, right past all of these little waterfalls.

The clouds above were beginning to break up a bit by the time I had made it back to the car, so I didn't have any other major waterfall hunts planned for the day. Although I did go check out one waterfall just south of Oark that was kind of neat - the darn thing actually pours over a bluff and lands right next to the edge of the county road! It wasn't running all that good today, but when we have fresh high water, I bet it is quite a sight, and would give you a quick car wash! The only problem with this waterfall is that you have to ford a creek to get there, and when the falls are running good, the creek is probably too high for a regular 4WD to cross safely.

The rest of my day was spent back at the cabin, beginning the process of playing catchup from being gone most of the week. One of my chores was to move some computer furniture from the office into the basement of the cabin. Pam will set up her computer there and we will be using it to help produce the maps for the new guidebook.

Right now the water levels are too low for any more waterfall pictures, so I will be grounded so to speak until it rains heavy again. I have SO MUCH else to do so am not complaining. But please do continue those rain dances for me!

2/5/02 I was just heading back to the cabin when it began to snow today. It was coming down pretty hard, and the brown ground turned white in just a few minutes. For the first time that I can recall, I could actually SMELL the snow - you know, the way that you can sometimes smell the rain. In fact, it sort of smelled just like that. Very strange.

It is late at night now, and I have done a couple of hikes in the snow this evening. The first one was short, just up to the office for an hour or two of work. It was dark outside, and I mean really DARK. I couldn't see a thing, and had to use a flashlight to make my way through the forest. The snow was about an inch deep, and it was coming down pretty good. I bet the warm ground has melted the snow and soaked up a lot of it that has come down, so we probably have already had several inches accumulation total. My flashlight created thousands of tiny sparkles all over the snow surface, and they twinkled at me as I moved along.

After slaving away until nearly 10pm, I shut down the office and headed out into the snowy night once again. But this time I did not take a flashlight with me. It was still snowing, but more pellets than soft flakes, and I could hear the snow hitting the ground, and my coat. I have this automatic light outside the office that is motion activated and stays on for about a minute once I leave the area. That light got me out into the woods with no problem.

Once the light went out I was left standing there in the darkness, although it really wasn't dark this time. At least not black dark - more of a very dim grey dark. I stood there for a few minutes, and the trees around me began to appear and take shape as my eyes adjusted to the night. Yep, there was snow all around me for sure, and I could see it now.

I wasn't quite ready to go back inside just yet, so I decided to make a little detour and take the long way back to the cabin. It didn't take me long to feel like I was a part of the forest instead of someone just moving through it. I don't know, but sometimes I get to feeling like that - like I am the wilderness, and it is me.

I could feel the depth of the snow beneath my feet as my tennis shoes sunk in and made that sound that you only make when compressing snow with your shoes. My movement was fluid, effortless, and silent. I could see into the forest, yet I didn't really have to - I could move about as I pleased even with my eyes closed. And I did close them, and leaned up against a big oak tree and lifted my head upwards and let the snow fall gently on my face. There is no more delicate massage than snow. I always loved the imagery that the title of the movie "Snow Falling On Cedars" gave, although I wasn't all that thrilled with the movie itself.

No doubt I could have remained in this higher level of consciousness for quite a while, but I got the feeling that something or someone was looking at me. Certainly the trees were looking down and discussing this strange fellow in their midst, but it was more than that. I opened my eyes and looked around but no one was there.

Must be time to get back I murmured to myself, as I turned and took a small step into the grey. Then I was startled nearly out of my skin - there WAS someone watching me - it was Aspen! He was sitting there just a few feet away, at attention, staring right at me, with his shortened tail hurriedly swishing back and forth in the snow. I guess he had come bounding up while I was leaning against the tree, and the snow hid his advance. This dog loves to be out in it all as much as I do. I wonder if I was a springer spaniel, or a hawk, or a tree in a previous life?

So I followed my faithful companion through the forest, and soon a faint glow of light from the cabin came into view. From a distance the darn thing looked like a space ship. The light couldn't travel very far, as the snow was blurring and soaking it up.

As I got closer I could see the details of life inside our little log cabin home. The light from the fireplace created patterns of light and dark that danced on the walls and ceiling. Pam was upstairs in the loft, sitting in her favorite overstuffed chair, knitting a scarf for Amber. And far in the back of the main level, the screen saver on the big computer monitor was flashing scenes of Arkansas in the fall. There was a great deal of warmth coming from that old cabin, and while I absolutely loved being out in the snow, it was mighty inviting to stomp my feet, brush off the snow, and return home.

2/6/02 About 60 seconds after we heard that school was closed today, Amber was out the front door and into the snow. It wasn't even daylight yet. I was right behind her, still in my bathrobe, and we spent the next 30 minutes playing in the new snow. We only had maybe three inches on the ground, but it was pure white, soft and fluffy, and the snowballs didn't hurt too much.

Later in the morning we hiked up to Aspen's meadow for a bit of sledding. Just barely enough snow for that, but it was enough for a few runs down the steep slope. Even Aspen got into the act, or should I say onto the sled - he refused to make the entire run.

Aspen and Amber

Pam spent nearly the entire day locked up in Amber's room with her power drill. Those two together can be a dangerous combination. When she emerged there was a new towering white cabinet in there, six feet tall, with four doors. This would replace a large bookcase which held dolls and books and all sorts of stuff - now all of that would be behind closed doors. Pam is pretty darn good with that drill, but she was not amused when I suggested that we could use a couple more of the cabinets!

Pam and I went out for an afternoon hike into the snowy landscape. Aspen and Lucy almost immediately found a large flock of turkeys, and chased them back in our direction. Most of them took flight. Man, it was funny to see those giant feathered things way up in the sky overhead. Come to think of it, I was just a little bit uneasy about such a thing being up there right above me, and hoped that they would not drop out of the sky. We counted four or five gobblers and at least as many hens. One hen took refuge in a nearby tree instead of flying off. She watched over us for several minutes, straining her neck to see all that the dogs were up two, which was running and springing back and forth across the East meadow.

Lucy was especially playful today, and I do believe she has that springing thing down at least as good as Aspen. Two more happy dogs have never been created.

Lucy flying across the meadow

As we were walking down the lane just past the orchard, we came across some strange patterns in the snow. Come to think of it the spot was in the same general area where Pam had found those weird scraps last month. The only thing that we could come up with was that one of the turkeys had flown very low to the ground, with feathers dragging in the snow, although there were no turkey tracks in the immediate area.

Further on down the lane we did find a single set of turkey tracks. And this fellow must have been a monster! The stride was easily as long as mine, nearly six feet from tip to tip. Pam saw that one turkey last fall that she says was "boob" high, and I do believe this critter would fit that description. He walked along the lane several hundred yards all the way to the Faddis meadow.

After dinner I hiked on up to the office and worked for a while, then struck out in the dim light back to the cabin. The temp was about the same tonight as it had been last night, but for some reason tonight I was not warm and toasty and comfortable and ready to linger in the snowy dark woods. In fact, I made a beeline for the cabin. It was downright chilly outside. Perhaps it was the wind, which was blowing a little bit, or maybe I just wanted to get back to the cabin to see my girls.

We got a pretty good snow shower tonight, in fact it was coming down really heavy for a little while. We sat out in the hot tub and got snowed on. Back in my younger years we used to crawl out of the tub and go roll in the snow, then return to the bubbling waters, then repeat two or three times. These days I settle for rubbing a bit of the frozen stuff on my face while still neck-deep in hot water.

The snow total for the day was probably less than six inches, not counting any that may have melted. Another six inches on top of that and we would have some mighty fine cross-country skiing. Most of this will probably melt away in the next day or two, which is fine with me because that will help out the water table, and I need a high water table for good waterfall pictures. Keep those rain dances coming!

2/8/02 Lots of soft, subtle, beautiful colors at first light this morning. The eastern horizon glowed pink, which melted into hues of blue higher up. A tiny crescent moon hung in between. The wilderness below was dark, yet had some brightness to it. The warm temps and sunshine of yesterday melted all of the snow on any south-facing slopes. We look at north-facing slopes here, and they are still mostly snow covered. All of that white serves as a backdrop for the black trees poking up through them.

As the sun began to peek up over the horizon, the very tip tops of the ridges all around glowed orange, as did the snow on them. As the sunshine moved down the slopes, its color changed to yellow, and then to white, and all of that snow really begun to shine. Since it will get into the 60's today, most of that snow will melt away by dark, but there will probably be some left to hang on for another couple of days in the deep, dark hollows where the sun never reaches. It is kind of fun sometimes to go seek out those places in the middle of the winter and see what they are up to. I am like them at times - lurking in the far reaches of the wilderness, soaking up all the snow that I can.

Still lots of snow hanging around this morning

Speaking of snow, my young bride and I will be headed west to snow country tomorrow for a bit of cross-country skiing. It will be the first of several belated honeymoons for us. The cabin will actually be crowded while we are gone as a number of cabin sitters will be coming and going. Amber and her grandparents and the dogs and cats will be here as well.

PLEASE NOTE that this will be the last journal post until after we get back - so check in sometime after February 16th. I won't have any computer access while we are gone, and won't be able to answer e-mails. See you in a week!

2/16/02 The sun is moving rapidly to the north, and I am no longer shaded at sunrise when sitting in the hot tub - sunglasses are now required! It was just a week ago that the sun was behind the big red oak tree that grows in the middle of the deck, but today the sun was a foot or more to the side.

We just got back from a delightful trip out west, and our first honeymoon. We spent three days in the snow (and four days driving) - cross-country skiing at nearly 10,000 feet. But we also got in a bit of sight-seeing, and a great deal of fine eating. In fact, the highlight of the trip was an evening ride during Alpenglow in an open horse-drawn sleigh across a meadow and to a cabin in the forest where we feasted on a five-course dinner. Our good friends Roy and Norma went with us on the trip (it was their honeymoon too), and Pam's mom Judy stayed behind at the cabin to take care of Amber.

But now we are back to earth, and back to work. Pam had to run Amber up to Missouri, so I had the entire morning to myself. And it was a glorious morning indeed. The air and trees were filled with songbirds of all sorts, many enjoying the bird feeders that Pam has put up (we have six). Clear blue skies, bright sunshine, and warming temps. The river below was singing a lively tune too - the waters are quite low right now, but at just the right level to produce volume that reaches up to the cabin.

I took the long route to the office, out through the woods, across the East meadow, up the lane at the orchard, and then bushwhacked through the forest to Aspen's meadow and then finally down to the office. Aspen and Lucy were mighty glad to be out running around, and I bet covered five or ten miles before we were finished.

Part of my day was spent answering the 87 e-mails that made it through the SPAM filters. I hate to be out of touch that long, but don't own a laptop to take with me. And in this case, I really didn't want one. This vacation, though a very short one, was really the very first period of time that I have been completely void mentally of business dealings in a very, very long time. I wiped my brain clean of all book and photo thoughts (easier to do at 10,000 feet for sure!). There was only one breakdown in the system - when I came up with the idea in the middle of the night to label all photos in the waterfall guidebook as to how high the water flow was when the image was taken (normal, high water, or flood stage), so that readers could judge what the falls might look like at different times. It was great to concentrate on the mountains and the snow and FOOD and my darling wife.

Speaking of Pam, once she returned from Missouri today we went out for a hike around the mountain, seeking out a few select flat rocks to use in a new footpath that we want to build across the meadow to the gazebo. One thing we have a LOT of around here is rocks! Although we were looking for some very specific ones, and we managed to find several that fit the bill.

Then we went down into Fox meadow and spent the rest of the afternoon working. Pam gathered stones and cleared out the strawberry patch while I cut out several dozen young honey locust trees around the edge of the meadow. These darn things are pretty nasty to be around (covered with large and SHARP thorns), and can get quite serious if you don't get out of the way when they fall to the ground (I ended up with eight or ten punctures in my arms!). I also remodeled one set of gazebo railings so that we could sit in the swing without getting our feet tangled up. We had dogs and cats hanging around. It was fun to watch the cats explore this new territory - they especially enjoyed hiding from Aspen in a hollow log, and crawling out the opposite end. All in all it was a wonderful day back at Cloudland, and a lot warmer than at 10,000 feet!

For those of you in northwest Arkansas, note that there will be an article about Pam and I in the society section of the Sunday Democrat-Gazette paper (February 17th). I don't know if it will be online or not. It was Pam's first big interview with a reporter, and I can't wait to see how they wrote it up. She is a natural at it, although just a bit nervous about it all right now. On the day that we left for our trip out west a week ago she did a television interview while leading her OHTA Otters kids hike on the Shaddox Hollow Trail (it will be shown on Arklahoma Outdoors sometime later this spring - channel 5). My wife the media star! Anyway, I hope some of you get to see the article.

Another highlight of our trip out west was the fact that while we were dashing through the snow, many of the world's greatest athletes were just a few ridges over performing some incredible feats. I've never gotten into the Olympics like I have this one - we spent at least a couple hours each day watching the television coverage. Being up there in the snow nearby gave us some sort of connection to them I guess.

It is late and dark here now, and I have just experienced one of the most terrifying moments of my life a few minutes ago! While I was sitting here in the corner of the cabin typing away, both dogs let out bloodcurdling howls and raced outside. I had no idea what they were after, but followed them into the darkness. I brought along a powerful narrow-beam flashlight, and quickly scanned the forest for any signs. It didn't take long to see what had our pups upset - there were several pairs of eyes out there, big eyes, and they were focused tightly in my direction. The light only picked up their eyes in the thick woods, and I could not tell if they were dogs or coyotes, or... Our dogs began to chase them, and I moved deeper into the woods after them (I have no idea why).

Then the night went quiet, and all I could hear was the sound of the river far below. I turned around to seek out the comfort of the cabin lights, but could see none. I was alone in the darkness, and perhaps had wandered a bit too far out there in my slippers and bathrobe. It hit me that perhaps this pack of savage coyotes or rabid dogs had lured me out into the middle of the forest, and was now surrounding me and had planned an attack - that thought sent a chill up and down my spine, and caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand straight up.

I frantically waved the strong light back and forth until the beam came to rest on two pairs of eyes - one pair shown orange on the right and green on the left, but the other pair was bright RED - yikes!!! Aspen and Lucy were no where to be found. I could almost feel teeth ripping at my flesh.

Just then Aspen and Lucy raced up and confronted the beasts - turns out they were two other dogs that we had seen wandering around the mountain several times in the past month. I began to breathe once again. We've never been able to get very close to them, so I have no idea of their disposition - and I had no intentions of making that inquiry of them tonight. I was able to get Aspen and Lucy back on my side and sent away towards the cabin. Then I backed away slowly and retreated into the warmth of the logs. Ah yes, home sweet home once again. Whew. Nothing like being scared to death to get your blood flowing.

2/17/02 Another warm sunrise this morning, and the temps continued to climb, topping out in the 50's. Pam found what we thought were the leaves of a trout lily wildflower on our hike yesterday. With the abundant sunshine and warm temps I figured the first flower of spring would not be far behind. So I set out this morning to find it.

The sunshine was bright and the leaves underfoot dry and noisy as I hiked along an east-facing slope where I knew trout lilies popped out early. I had put my mind and eyes into a state of green - any spot of green color on the brown forest floor would catch my attention. I searched and searched and searched but found nothing but a few ferns and moss-covered rocks. But I knew they had to be there, somewhere. I could FEEL them all around me!

I decided to lay down in the leaves and let that warm sunshine wash over me. I was down low enough that the sound of the river did not reach my spot - it drifted on up and over my position. The forest was absolutely quiet - there was no wind at all. I closed my eyes and soaked up the warm rays.

A nuthatch landed on a nearby tree and began to run up and down the trunk, upside down, of course. I heard him stop and peck at an insect in the bark. He made a few noises, and then flew away. The air was so quiet that I could hear the sound of his little wings beating.

My mind drifted, and I thought about butterflies, all of those 250 million monarch butterflies that had just been killed in Mexico by a freak winter storm. Many of them had passed through Cloudland on their journey from Canada to Mexico last fall. They were so delicate and beautiful as always, and now so many of them were gone. It will be interesting to see how many of the 70 million or so that apparently survived will pass through here later this year. I bet they come back strong.

I got to thinking about butterflies because I saw one flying in the trees above me. This one was dark blue, with just a touch of yellow on his wing tips. Looked rather out of place here in the middle of winter, but, of course, it was nearly 60 degrees! I closed my eyes again and thought that I could actually hear his wings flapping for a moment, but it was probably the wind. Oops, there was no wind. Hum. Does a butterfly make a sound when he flies?

And then I SWEAR that I heard something else - it sounded just like the sound a wildflower would make as it popped up through the dry leaves to greet the sun. Yes, I'm sure I heard it. In fact, I thought I heard it several times. I was laying right in the middle of where hundreds of colorful trout lilies first come up in the spring. I rolled over and began to search the forest floor, examining every leaf with my eyes. Then I got up and crawled around on all fours, down low to make sure I didn't miss anything (hope no one was watching). I got up and walked around. They were toying with me now. Not a single green leaf or bloom in sight. No problem. When the first one does finally show its delicate flower, I will be along shortly to admire the view.

Today was a day for hawks - they really liked the warm sun and the air currents that it produced. I watched several pairs and a three or four other individuals - all looked like red tailed hawks to me. The pairs would start way down low in the valley, just above the river. They flew tight circles around each other as they gradually gained altitude, soaring ever higher with each revolution, yet without a single flap of a wing. The higher they got, the wider their circles got, until they were high above the cabin. Up there they would separate and each go in opposite directions.

While I was gazing at a pair up above, another single or pair would begin the process all over again down low, gradually making their way up above the ridgtops and into the blue. I have no idea where they went once they got up there. I never saw one swoop down for a mouse or to investigate a movement. I really think they were simply enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Oh yea, there was one hawk that did make a beeline for something. He began to soar just above the river like all the rest - way on upstream a mile or more. But then he changed direction and headed downstream, on the level, and at a high rate of speed. He came racing past the mouth of Whitaker Creek and continued on downstream and out of sight.

I got to spend some quality time up on the tractor this afternoon, moving rocks and sand for the stepping-stone walkway down at the gazebo, and doing a bit of road repair to the driveway. Pam spent much of her day reading - an activity that she doesn't get to do enough of these days. Then she came out into the sunshine herself and gathered rocks in Fox meadow before driving back up to Missouri to pick up Amber. It was a fine spring day at Cloudland, oops, I mean winter day.

The article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette came out today. The headline read "An Ozark Hike Led Couple To A Natural Wonder: Love" There were pictures of us on our wedding day last spring, and one taken here a couple of weeks ago. Pam was quoted quite a bit, and even Amber got her name included. The details of my proposal while playing a John Denver song on my guitar as the full moon was rising was told. This series is about couples meeting and being in the right place at the right time, so there was lots of that mushy stuff. It was a very nice article - Pam's first as a true wilderness woman!

2/18/02 It was a VERY PURPLE sunrise this morning! And rather warm. The wind was howling and the trees were thrashing all over the place. I spent most of my day in town getting a load of new Buffalo River Hiking Trails guidebooks (just a reprint, no major changes, but the price is higher). When I got home the wind had really picked up and had been tossing various pieces of deck furniture around.

I just got back from a short hike in the darkness this evening. It is quite eerie outside, with all that wind and BLACK skies, and the temp is still up in the low 60's. The wind is from the east, and combined with that warm temp it can only mean one thing - RAIN!!! They are calling for a good blast of it tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow night. I sure hope it all comes true - I need a LOT more waterfall pictures for the new book. And as luck would have it, I am scheduled to do the TV5 noon news on Tuesday so I won't be able to get out in the woods and shoot until late afternoon - perhaps only time for one waterfall.

Pam and Amber are in town at girl scouts and the cabin was completely black as I approached it in the woods. I did not take a flashlight with me so had to feel around a bit to tell where I was going. I don't mind doing that in the woods - in fact rather enjoy it when I have the time to enjoy it all like I did tonight. But when I am moving around the outside of buildings there is no telling what I might run into!

2/19/02 We had some rain during the night, but not all that much. Lots of roaring wind though. As I drove into town to do the television show the skies opened up and it poured for nearly an hour - that was a GREAT sign! Only problem was that I had to be in town for a couple of hours instead of out in the woods chasing waterfalls.

The live television spot went well, and would be the last one that I would do with Kelly Kemp on her noon show - the powers that be are changing the format of her show to all news in a couple of weeks so she won't be having any more in-studio guests. I've been doing her show several times a year for many years, and it has been the main place that I have showcased new books, hiking info, and general outdoor information. That format will be missed by her viewers I'm sure.

Kelly Kemp on the air during the live noon news

As soon as the bright studio lights cut off I jumped up and ran out the door, heading for Rattlesnake Hollow. I had always wondered about this spot on the map that I had gazed at for many years - the Ozark Highlands Trail runs right next to it. Although some maps show Rattlesnake Hollow as Devils Hollow - they have them switched. Anyway, I found a picture of a waterfall on the Ozark Whitewater web page that showed a kayaker going over this waterfall - either a gutsy or insane move depending on how you view these folks.

The roads into White Rock Mountain from Combs were the worst forest roads that I had driven in a long while, and they were quite slick too. The rain had stopped, and the mountain tops were shrouded in thick fog. I made it to the parking spot down an even worse logging road with only one minor episode of sliding into the ditch.

The waterfall was easy to find and get to. It took me nearly 30 minutes to set up the camera and get a good shot with me in the picture for scale (Pam, I need you!). The falls were running pretty good, but not nearly as much as when the kayaker went over - those guys make their runs at absolute flood stage.

Rattlesnake Falls, 32 feet tall

Next I had to measure the height of the falls. This would prove a wee bit tricky. I could not see over the edge from where I put the measuring tape over next to the top of the falls. I decided to cross the stream that fed the falls and make my way back down to the bottom of the falls to position the tape in the proper spot below. The water was running FAST across a slab of rock, but it was not too deep - only three or four inches.

It wasn't until I got out into the middle of this fast-moving water that I realized the rock was coated with slime and VERY slick. My feet slipped out from under me and within an instant I was spread eagle in the middle of the creek. This is not normally any cause for alarm, but the rock was SO slick that I was not stable and the force of the water was actually pushing me downstream, and at a rapid pace. No problem - all I had to do was squirm around a bit and make it to the far bank. But the more I squirmed, the more I slid, and the wider apart my limbs got, and before long I was nearly face down in the water, and STILL moving. Since the water was so shallow, that was not a big problem either, except for the fact that I was getting ever closer to the EDGE of the waterfall! YIKES, now I was in trouble!!! I really put it into high gear and slipped and slid and squirmed and rolled and finally reached the far bank of the stream - I was within ten feet of the edge. About the only thing that was going through my mind during all of this were the last words that my dear wife told me this morning - PLEASE BE CAREFUL - YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE! Boy, if I had gone over that edge I would have been in big trouble with her!

I made it to the bottom of the falls and secured the tape, then climbed back up to the top and made a second - and this time much more successful - crossing of the creek (a little farther upstream, just in case). The height was 32 feet - an impressive falls to go over in a kayak for sure!

I still had daylight and cloud cover so I drove on over to a second location. My target this time was a pair of waterfalls on the Shores Lake to White Rock Loop Trail. It was a 1.5 mile hike down the trail to reach the first falls. This particular waterfall has some significance to me because it is the very first one that I ever photographed with a person in it for scale - and that was back in 1979. BACKPACKER magazine used that photo in two different articles.

I had to hurry and photograph this first one because the light was fading. It is located in this tiny horseshoe canyon that is just wonderful - a miniature wonderland of rock and ferns and water.

White Rock Falls, 31 feet tall

The second falls was just down the trail 1/4 mile and on White Rock Creek. The trail crosses the creek just upstream of this falls, then crosses back just below it. The water was too high for me to cross, so I made my way downstream on the other side, having to do a bit of serious scrambling to get around the bluff on the near side of the waterfalls. I was not able to get myself in this photo for scale, so getting the picture was a lot quicker. This falls was only ten feet tall, but nearly 40 feet wide. And the pool that it forms is a great swimming hole, even in the summertime.

White Rock Creek Falls, 10 x 40 feet

The light was really fading fast now, so I put it into high gear and hiked back up to the first waterfall, which I had never measured. These days I take the picture first, then get the measurement last, just in case I lose the light. No problem getting the measurement this time, although I was a little bit surprised at how tall this waterfall was - 31 feet!

When I turned to hike up the trail it was beginning to get dusky dark. I kicked it into high gear, leaned into the hillside and moved as fast as I could. The trail is kind of steep here, but noting like hiking up from the river at the cabin. But it is a LONG, sustained grade, and in one spot sort of demoralizing. They laid out the trail so that it is in a straight line for 1/4 mile, and that sight line is UP the hill! You just keep going and going and going and going and going, up and up and up and up. I believe it is the longest straight and continuous uphill climb in Arkansas. I made it to the top and back to the truck before it got too dark. Actually that quick climb out felt pretty good, and I was glad to have been able to get three new waterfalls photographed on a day when I had to be in town!

2/22/02 A bright sun rose into a clear blue sky this morning. With it came news that a good friend had been taken by cancer. She was one of the good people of this earth. I first met Maurine Hostler a dozen years ago when she volunteered to spend a couple of weeks way back in the wilderness cooking for our volunteer trail crew high in the mountains of Wyoming (she had to make a difficult 17-mile trip on horseback to get into camp!). Her husband, Bob, had been a longtime trail worker, and was with us. Maurine had the toughest job of the trip for sure - feeding us hungry folks with often not much to work with. I tried to help her out all that I could, which included trapping a record 33 mice in the cook tent in one week! She no doubt is the reason why Bob has been such a prolific hiker, volunteer and photographer all of these years (he was given the first ever volunteer of the year award for the state of Arkansas from the Arkansas Trails Council), and is why we even allowed her Texan husband to enter the state in the first place. Maurine spent a lifetime giving to others, and in fact sent the very first Christmas tree ornament to be hung here at Cloudland (handmade, of course). She was also an avid Journal reader. The last e-mail that she sent me was just a couple of weeks ago and talked about how she was "Anxious to hear your Mom's stories of Tim Ernst:  The Early Years." She was a saint living among us on this earth, and will be missed terribly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bob, who has for years maintained one of the longest stretches of the Ozark Highlands Trail, often coming up from Texas to spend a week or more working on the trail.

2/24/02 Both of us rolled over early this morning and exclaimed "Oh Yea!!!" at the same time - the eastern horizon was on fire with color, and an awesome sunrise was on the way! I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to find the camera, then stood out on the loft deck in my undies freezing and trying to hold onto the camera while the 40mph wind tried to blow me away.

Pam has installed a finch feeder on one of the loft windows, so now we awake to a swarm of gold finches. None of them were on the feeder this morning, but there was one brave soul holding onto a nearby branch for dear life. He just sat there, with his tiny claws dug in, and his back to the gale. The limb was thrashing back and forth but this didn't seem to bother him one bit. We wondered why in the world this little guy would want to take that much abuse, and why he was the ONLY one to be sitting there waiting. I guess he heard that bit about the early bird and the worm, only in this case the "worm" is there all day so he could sleep in!

It has been several days now, but I must tell you about a bit thunderstorm that rolled through here last week. Pam was here at the cabin alone when the storm arrived. Black skies and thunder and lightening and hard rain were the order of the hour. Then there was a terrific explosion that rocked the cabin and made her hair stand on end. It shook up the two dogs pretty good, and shut down the computer. The power remained on. Yesterday Pam told me that one of the bluebird houses in Fox meadow had been torn apart by something. I immediately thought of the lightening bolt. Sure enough, we found that the big bang was indeed very close to the cabin - it hit the largest pine tree in the area, and exploded the poor little bluebird house near the base of the tree. Roy says that the current probably went down through the tree, found the nail that had attached the house to the tree, and exited through that nail, blowing up the house (the parts went everywhere). There is a pretty good strip down the outside of the pine tree, but it did not explode itself and seems to be healthy - we will just have to wait and see if it continues to live.

Today is moving day. We will be in town to help move the Pack Rat Outdoor Store into its new digs. If you have not been by to see this work of art I highly recommend that you do so (it is in Fayetteville, just around the corner from their now old location). The new Rat is a 15,000 version of Cloudland, built out of the same logs and by the same folks as our cabin. It is a stunning example of what man and Momma Nature can produce together! They will have a small army working all day today to make the move. I'm not sure if they will be open tomorrow or not, but their grand opening will be this coming Saturday. The inside of this place is just as incredible as the outside, and includes an ICE climbing wall in addition to the massive rock climbing wall. Anyway, I highly recommend that you stop by for a look the next time you are in town.

We have been doing a bit of remodeling here at Cloudland this past week. We begun work on the last room in the cabin. I have always wanted an exercise room w/sauna and full bath downstairs in the basement, and that is what we have been working on. Unfortunately one of the causalities was our 128-bottle wine rack which was sitting right where the sauna needed to go. I have been doing my best to empty that rack these past couple of months, but there were still several dozen bottles left. We're not sure where that rack is going to live now - I'll probably cut it in half, especially since my tastes run more toward boxed wine these days (I still enjoy a good bottle of wine, but am perfectly happy with a glass of the cheap stuff!).

In order to afford a nice sauna, we decided to build it ourselves instead of getting one of those pre-fab kits. Actually what we got was a kit of sorts, but we had to do all the work to put it together. First we had to build all of the stud walls and put in a drop ceiling. Then insulate them. I had to go to seven different places to find the correct type of insulation (since a foil vapor barrier is installed over the stud wall and insulation, you have to use unbacked insulation, and these days most people use some sort of vapor barrier-backed insulation).

Yesterday morning, we installed the foil liner. Man, you should have seen the inside of this little room - all we needed was a revolving strobe light and a bit of music and we would have had a great disco dance hall!

We spent the rest of the day and into the night installing the special pre-cut Norwegian White Spruce boards, one at a time. And then we put in the four benches. Everything was pre-cut to our exact dimensions, and I mean EXACT! The boards and benches didn't have ANY extra room. I was beginning to doubt some of these cuts, but in the end everything fit exactly as ordered. We still have to install the heater and do all of the wiring, then finish the floor, but by the end of the week we plan to be able to sit back and get really heated up. We saved nearly four grand doing three days of work ourselves.

The next step will be to build the bathroom. I spent a great deal of time finding a special toilet that would flush UP into the sewage system, and wound up finding one that was sitting way back on the shelf in the warehouse at Lowes (someone had special ordered it six months before and never picked it up). Just this past week I bought the shower stall. I knew it was an inch too wide to fit through the outside door, but thought I would be able to wiggle it back and forth to get it in. Nope. I ended up having to get out the skill saw and cutting off the upper lip of the shower - then it fit perfectly through the door! It will probably take another week or two of work to get the new bathroom up and running, but the next time we have overnight guests, they will be able to flush in the middle of the night without having to negotiate the dark cabin to get there!

Just one more note about all of this construction stuff. Well, actually two notes. First, we have pretty much been locked inside the cabin - and the basement - all week, and have been unable to get out and enjoy the delightful February weather that we have been having (temps up into the 50's and 60's with plenty of sunshine). That's just the price you have to pay sometimes. And the other thing is that is has been WONDERFUL to be able to work with Pam on all of this. She loves building stuff, and especially working with power tools. You should have seen the look on her face when I introduced her to the DeWalt compound miter saw! It has been fun. I sure did pick the right one (wife that is, although the saw is pretty nice too).

2/25/02 Perfectly still at first light today - no wind, or sound, or movement outside. Finally the 40mph+ winds had blown themselves out - or blown something else in. There was just a bit of drizzle, but that was about it though. They were calling for rain and snow today, but it never materialized. It is late at night right now, and the moon is shining brightly through a thin layer of clouds. It is a bit on the chilly side at 31 degrees, and I suspect it will drop a few degrees cooler tonight, but it just doesn't FEEL like anything much is going to happen.

Today was filled with finches - dozens, no make that a hundred or more of them surrounded the cabin, feasting on the many feeders around the place. Most of them were goldfinches, but we also had a purple finch or two. Plus many nuthatches running up and down nearby trees. And the ground was nearly black in places - juncos everywhere! It is indeed a bird paradise here these days. Most of the birds were all puffed up and protected against the cooling temps as the day wore on. It is so funny to see a little bird like a finch doubled in size with his feathers all fluffed up!

Speaking of birds, upon closer inspection I discovered that the poor little bluebird house had been blown 24 feet away by that bolt of lightning the other day. The pine tree had a lot of bark missing on one side, and I'm sure there is a good-sized crack in it, but otherwise it appears to be OK. Only time will tell though. This stately pine sure does add a great deal of color and character to the winter landscape around here, and we would hate to see it go.

While I was down in meadow I found one of our metal shelves - it had been on the back deck awaiting transplanting to the tractor shed, but it got blow away by the wind of the past couple of days. It landed more than 100 horizontal feet and about 35 vertical feet away. It is still usable, but got its share of dents and bent parts.

I spent a good part of my day researching a waterfall that my good friend Nancy Williams sent me a picture of. It is called Rocky Falls, and is an impressive cascade that I just had to go see. The picture was published in COUNTRY magazine back in 1996 (a BEAUTIFUL magazine), as part of an article about Arkansas. Something about the photo looked a little strange to me though - it just didn't LOOK like an Arkansas waterfall! Seems that either the writers or the magazine staff tried to pull one over on us, and I discovered that this waterfall is actually in Missouri. I absolutely LOVE the internet, and this episode is a perfect example of why. While I did quiz many friends and associates about the whereabouts of this mystery waterfall (none had heard of it before), it only took me fifteen minutes online to locate a photo of "Rocky Falls" in a Missouri Natural Area that matched the one in the magazine perfectly. Things are not always as they appear. Now I wonder about the accuracy of the rest of that article.

For those of you who are interested, I have posted a listing of all the waterfalls that I am working on for the new guidebook at http://www.cloudland.net/ArkansasWaterfalls.html. If you know of a great waterfall that is not on this list, be sure to let me know. I just discovered tonight that I still have nearly FIFTY waterfalls to photograph this spring before I can finish the book and get it printed! I sure do need a TON more rain, so please dance on for me.

Still no wildflowers at Cloudland yet, although I did see a few daffodils in bloom this afternoon around an old homesite. I suspect those little wildflowers will wait until the jetstream bends back up north and the temps warm up a bit for good. I have had several reports of scattered wildflower sightings elsewhere in the Ozarks, so spring is not far away.

2/26/02 The jet stream arrived sometime in the night, and the temp dipped to mid-teen at first light. We just had a little bit of snow on the ground, but it was coming down pretty good. The flakes were the sort that are large and fluffy, but don't weigh anything - they just seem to float forever. Although this morning they didn't float all that much because there was a great deal of wind to go with the cool temps. The wind chill was at or below zero.

Amber's bus didn't run, so I took her on down into Boxley Valley to catch her second bus. While we waited a minor blizzard blew in that was quite exciting to watch, especially from inside the truck. This stuff was blowing completely horizontal across the fields - nothing but straight lines of white.

I spent most of the day indoors, keeping the fireplace stoked and the hot tea coming. Pam created a work of art in Amber's room while I sat at the computer and wrote our hiking club's newsletter.

It was one of those days outside when you really didn't know what to expect when you looked out the window - and I looked out the window a lot today. At first, we had blowing snow and dark clouds. A little while later the sun popped out with lots of blue all around. Then more blowing snow. Then sun. Etc. The funny thing was that more than once today the white that covered the ground completely vanished, only to be replaced again within an hour. I think what was happening was that it really was not snowing at all, but rather the winds were simply picking up the old snow on the ground and moving it around. At certain times all of the snow on the ground rose into the air and became flying snow in the wind. Then when the wind let up, the snow fell happily to the ground, covering a new spot with white.

After many hours of this and too long at the keyboard I had had enough and bundled up and headed outside. Actually I said I was going up to the office to get something, but when I finally made it up there I realized I didn't have a thing to get there, so turned around and hiked back down to the office empty handed. But I did get a little hiking done in the meantime.

I decided to go see if any little trout lilies had tried to pop out yesterday in the warm weather and were being froze to death today. I just knew there had to be some of them out, at least their leaves. So I struck off in search of frozen trout lilies.

After scouring the known locations for them, I left the trail and worked my way up the steep hillside. My eyes were tuned in to GREEN, and while I did see the odd fern or greenbrier leaf, I could not locate any trout lilies. Thinking that my vision had been blurred just a bit by the blowing snow, I actually got down on all fours in the leaves and continued my search. My pace slowed down to a crawl (literally), and my eyes covered every square inch of that hillside. Still no trout lilies. The frigid air did not seem to bother me at all, even though I only had one wrap on. I think being so close to the ground kept me warmer.

No telling how long I was down on the ground, but at some point I finally gave up and got up to go when, just for a split second, I realized that I had no idea where I was! It didn't take me long to establish my location, and I was at a spot where I probably had never set foot before, but I was not all that far away, and finding my back was an easy task. Although, once I stood up and began to walk again, I got really COLD!

Pam noticed an odd thing with the birds. We started out with flocks of gold and purple finches, juncos, and nuthatches. "Trees filled with yellow tennis balls" as Pam described the puffed-up finches. The all took turns feeding and resting and feeding and resting, with several serious discussions about whose turn it was to eat thrown in there. And then all at once, they all vanished. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! I don't mean that they flew away for a few minutes because a dog ran by, but I mean the left and did not come back! There was no strange weather going on at the time. That was a couple of hours before dark, and they never returned. The only thing that we can figure is that either they simply all got full at once, or that someone on the next ridge put out some premium bird seed!

The high temp for the day was 18. The fire in the fireplace never got below a roar. The sauna at 160 degrees felt extra nice tonight.

2/27/02 The official low just before sunrise was 9.7 here - the weather folks nailed it right on the head! Jasper schools were going to start two hours late because of the cold. It was a wee bit on the nippy side, although the wind was not blowing so it wasn't too bad.

I spent another couple of hours at the computer working on our hiking club's newsletter, then sped off to town to get it to the printers.

Soon after I got home and just after the sun went down a big, bright full moon rose over the eastern horizon. It was a clear night, and one of those times when the forest grew dim slowly, but then lit up again as the moon rose into the night sky.

Later in the evening, just as I was about to crawl into bed, I got a hankering to go take a short hike. I was already out the door before I realized that I still had my bathrobe on. No matter - I'm sure the critters of the night didn't care.

I just sort of wandered on up the hill, with no particular route in mind. The air was completely still, and the only sounds were the hushed roar of the river back behind me, and the crunch, crunch, crunch of the frozen leaves as my slippers landed.

The moonlight was really bright and I could make out nearly every detail in the forest. It was funny though how some ordinary things took on different shapes and meanings. There was this one pile of branches that looked exactly like an octopus, laying upside-down on the forest floor. Upon further inspection it turned out to be an actual pile of branches. I just love roaming around in the nighttime wilderness.

And then there it was - a motionless, BLACK, silhouette of a bear, just up above me on the hillside that sloped down to my position. I gasped as quietly as I could, and no doubt my heart skipped a beat. And then I realized a split second later, of course, that it was indeed the silhouette of a bear - the plywood one that I had installed in that very location! But just for an instant, it could have been a live bear.

That got me to thinking about bears, and why these critters, who have easily the thickest and warmest fur coats in the forest, take to their dens when the temps begin to fall. And why the very same guys venture out once it begins to get warm, and in fact are out all summer long when the heat is really, well, unbearable. Come on guys, why don't you dig into the hillside and spend the SUMMER in your dens, insulated from the heat!

Before long I had found my way back to the cabin, and I bid the bright moon farewell.

2/28/02 When the alarm went off at 5:40am, I could already see the logs at the far end of the cabin. Just last week we had to turn on lights in order to see to walk around at that time of the day. Then a moment of terror came across me - it was getting LIGHT, which meant that the SUN would be up in a short time! While that is not normally a big deal to most folks, it was to me this morning. I had planned to hike down into Dug Hollow and photograph the ice formations there, and once the sun go up and shined on the hillside, my picture would be ruined (too contrasty for film to handle).

So I leaped up out of bed, ran downstairs, and was out the door. Of course, I had to return to the cabin in a few moments to grab my camera - sometimes you don't think too clearly that early in the day!

I quickly made my way down the very steep hillside into Dug Hollow, racing the approaching sunshine with every step. I knew there wouldn't be too much water running, but that was fine with me - I was not after waterfalls this time, but rather the incredible ice formations that form on the walls of this unique canyon.

When I reached the canyon I did beat the sunshine, but the ice flows were not nearly as large as I had hoped. And even though it was 20 degrees, the canyon walls were actually DRIPPING - they aren't supposed to do that at 20 degrees! One reason why this canyon produces such nice ice flows is because it does drip quite a bit, and you really need lots of drips to form walls of ice. But it was not to be. I guess we needed several more days of single-digit temps.

I did set up my camera and shot a few images, just to prove to Pam that my mad dash out of the cabin was not in vain.

Still clear blue skies now at midday, with warming temps, but the wind has picked up. They are calling for rain tomorrow. I'm getting to the point where I really need a LOT of rain over a period of time in order to get the waterfall photos that I need for the guidebook (are you tired of hearing that yet - OK then, GET BUSY with that rain dance!).

By the way, for those of you in the viewing area, there will be a report about Pam's recent Otters Kids hike on KFSM TV5 (Ft. Smith/Fayetteville) this coming Saturday night at 6:30pm - it will air on the Arklahoma Outdoors show. We don't get any local television stations out here, but am hoping to find someone to tape it for us.

March 2002 Journal

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