Holt Ridge Lookout (click image for slideshow)

The weekend before Halloween 2011 was appropriately spent, with me spending much of Saturday visiting Neewollah up in Independence, KS with friends and then driving to Devil’s Den on Sunday. I first visited this state park in northwest Arkansas the prior November, hiking about seven miles on the main trails with a sweeping eastward view of the Lee Creek valley. For this trip I studied the various park trails and decided to concentrate on the “strenuous” Vista Point bridle trail with a brief side excursion on the Butterfield Hiking Trail to Quaill Valley.

I’m always leery of bridle trails since the animal waste and churned mud are annoying, but the Vista Point trail promised two lookouts and I recalled the panoramic view from Yellow Rock last year and hoped for something similar this time with more fall color. I found a trailhead where both hiking and bridle trails intersected the main road and gave Trixie the GPS the coordinates. We arrived around 11 a.m.

A big sign correctly warned that the many trails would be confusing without a map, a point immediately driven home when two joggers ran up from the highway asking directions. I showed them my maps and they headed off down the paved road while I perambulated up the gravel Holt Ridge road to pass the Butterfield Hiking Trail, which would periodically intersect or briefly join up with my trail throughout the day. That rare loop backpacking trail follows part of the route of the Butterfield Stage of 1858-1861.

But I ignored the blue diamond blazons of the Butterfield trail, instead seeking the far less conspicuous green horseshoe blazons of the Vista Point trail. The trail maps were unclear if the bridle trail followed the road itself or ran parallel to it and hiking the road was so fast I overshot my first target: the Holt Ridge Lookout. I turned off to parallel the road on a bridle trail, but an old sign wasn’t very helpful and I walked south along the ridge until I realized my mistake, clambered back up to the road and reversed course, then cut down again. This time I followed the bridle trails northward to where the trees finally thinned and I could see the Ellis Branch entering Lee Creek below. I shot a panorama and worked awhile to capture a shot of one of three turkey buzzards circling the area.

Then I circled back to follow the Vista Point blazons over to the east side of Holt Ridge. I saw a couple walking some yapping weiner dogs as I approached one of the old quarries where CCC boys extracted rock for the park buildings. I let the weiners run on ahead while I clambered about the boulder field of a very rough creek intersection. If there’d been water for the falls, it would have been quite nice. Resuming the trail, I descended to the edge of an 80-foot high bluff over Quaill Valley leading into the larger valley of Blackburn Creek.

Along the way I encountered two trail riders, one astride a mule and another a horse. I strode off-trail to give them clearance and they stopped to chat for a bit and then moseyed on towards the horse camp over in Lee Creek valley.

I stopped to pose at a dry streambed, wearing my orange vest in case of any happy hunters although I never heard a shot all day. My trail linked up with the Butterfield and I followed it over to the entrance to Quaill Valley. Here a large section of Mount Olive broke free and slid about 100 feet into the valley, forming a high bluff and immense rock chambers. I followed the Butterfield trail down into the valley and went over to the big bluff to give it some scale. A rock pile told of a past fall as I walked the rift, creating a hemispherical photosynth of my surroundings at a blockade.

I then climbed back up to the bridle trail, which made a rough climb so it could run along the edge of the bluff. A tree had grown up several stories from the floor below to where I could grasp a limb and make the entire tree rock back and forth. Farther along the bluff I plopped down at a scenic spot to enjoy my QuikTrip turkey sandwich.

Not much farther was the wide eponymous Vista Point itself, which was a disappointment since the trees below had grown so high they blocked the view of the Blackburn Creek valley. I saw few flowers along the trail all day except for asters. A break in the trees finally afforded a small panorama of the ridge beyond and in the far distance I could see the top of a house poking up out of the fall colors.

The trail turned into an old road and I passed tall trees on my trek circling Mount Olive back toward the car. A side road caught my eye and although Trixie did not know about it, my MotionX app’s terrain map showed it led down the mountainside all of the way to Blackburn Creek. That I wanted to see.

Blackburn Creek

So I began the descent down the very rocky road. It was just as well that Trixie did not show the road, as it was thoroughly washed out in spots, although I was surprised to see two trucks back in the woods along the passable old roads this day.

I descended 440 feet to finally reach the creek bed where the drought had stilled its flow into large pools. I decided the long climb back out of this hole would be worthwhile as the creek bed was quite scenic. Downstream I found a large rock which resembled a bed, and stretched out on my bedrock to relax before climbing back up.

I then sweated my way back up to the road and followed it to Highway 74 where I followed a side trail past a memento left on a tree by a forest princess to what I presume were the foundation stones for the old Mount Olive School. Not wanting to return to the car quite yet, I followed the bridle trail back to the southwest to climb Mount Olive and then followed the Butterfield Trail back to the highway.

I’d stretched the trail out to a 10.5 mile hike with my little sidetrips and was ready to head home. Big I-540 shot me northward through the hills past Fayetteville and along Highway 412 into the setting sun.

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike

Blue Spring (click image for slideshow)

My third day of Fall Break 2011 was like Groundhog Day: I again had a late breakfast at Hillbilly Junction and drove over to Powder Mill Campground to hike, followed by Alley Spring. In my quest to escape the time trap I did try to impose some variations.

I began by ordering French toast instead of pancakes with my bacon and egg. And, like Bill Murray in the movie, I threw in a good deed: helping a lady and her daughter, who were stuck in their SUV, by giving it a jump start. Then I bought a bland turkey sandwich at a convenience store rather than a tastier one at a grocery store deli. I skipped Rocky Falls and drove straight to the campground at Powder Mill Creek and hiked the 1.5 mile trail south to Blue Spring rather than the north trail to the Current River overlook at Owls Bend.

The south trail was a fairly straight flat shot along the riverbank, compared to the vertical oscillations up and down the bluffs the day before. I posed on a pedestrian bridge across a dry feeder and the trail drove through much undergrowth along the riverbank. I spied a few big rocks projecting from the Current and after 1.3 miles reached the Blue Spring Branch feeding an average of 87 million gallons of water daily into the Current, as told by the signage.

The spring certainly earns its name, with water gushing out of the deep blue 310 foot deep fissure. It pours out and over a rocky barrier towards the Current, with much greenery growing in the clear waterway. I posed and ventured out on a lower walkway to peer down into the blue fissure, where I could spy several large fish. Climbing to the upper platform, I spied a couple who had walked up to the spot where I’d stood a few moments earlier.

The surface of the pool was covered in tiny circular ripples. It looked like a shower was in progress, but the ripples were bubbles rising up through the water from the green growth below. Several large rocks poking up out of the branch were festooned with greenery as well.

As I backtracked I encountered three fit gentlemen wearing wader boots. Their attire and athleticism were explained a bit later when I spied three kayaks now pulled up along the shore. A butterfly along the trail was feasting on flowers, but I resisted the berries.

I then drove back west to Alley Spring, arriving about three o’clock to have a light late lunch by the Alley Branch and then tromping over to the mill, which was open this time. I did not find the interior displays very enlightening, although they had all of the old equipment, albeit not operating.

I took a 1.75 mile overlook trail up to where I could see the mill and Story’s Creek School building far below. The trail led along the ridge before descending in a series of switchbacks to a sweeping set of stone steps at the south trailhead.

I thought that would finish out the day, but on my way eastward I stopped off at Flat Rock Lookout Tower, one of the typical high Aermotor fire towers of these forests dating back to the early 20th century. I was charmed to see that, unlike like its cousin the Sugar Camp tower I’ve climbed so many times, this one was still kept in shape and there was no discouragement to climb up.

Well, only two discouragements: a swarm of yellow jackets at one of the upper landings and the padlock on the cab’s trapdoor, protecting what appeared to be a still-active antenna. From up there the rolling forest looked almost flat, but through a gap in the tree cover I could see the undulations of the highway I’d just travelled. The sun was lowering in the west as I descended and drove over to The Hungry Moose at Summersville. The menagerie inside the entrance made me wonder what sort of food would be on offer, but I had a traditional chicken fried chicken meal and left as stuffed as the animals adorning the establishment. I didn’t spot a groundhog in the bunch.

I haven’t hiked much distance this break, with only about four miles per day instead of my typical six and up. But I’ve enjoyed myself nevertheless. Tomorrow is another travel day to return to Bartlesville for laundry duty, but I plan to stop off in Springfield for more garden photos, this time at a large park on Scenic Drive, which sounds promising.

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike