Mizumoto Japanese Garden (click image for slideshow)
The last day of Fall Break 2011 began, you guessed it, with a late breakfast at Hillbilly Junction at Willow Springs, MO. I then travelled west on US 60 to Springfield and stopped at the Nathanael Greene/Close Park. Its 113 acres boasts a Botanical Center, the Gray-Campbell Farmstead, Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens and the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden.
Strolling over to the koi pond I spied a blue heron over on an island in the big pond doing something which would upset the park staff: it was eating one of the expensive koi. Two little girls strode up and asked if I had change for a dollar since they wanted to buy some food for the koi. I didn’t have the right change, but I gave them a quarter and they happily bought food which the greedy fish sucked up. By then the heron had finally swallowed the huge fish and was trying to get it down its long esophagus.
Fall Break is over and tomorrow I’ll celebrate by taking my decade-old Camry, the best car I’ve ever had, to the repair shop tomorrow for service on the accelerator, brakes, shocks, and struts. The car has reached the 180,000 mile mark so I’ll also have the timing belt replaced for the second time. I need her in good shape so she can transport me to many more day hikes.
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 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 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.
On the first day of Fall Break 2011 I made a leisurely journey eastward on US 60 and I-44 to Springfield, Missouri. I stopped at Nonna’s near downtown for an Italian lunch and then headed over to the big Bass Pro store to buy a new pair of hiking boots and backpack. I’d worn out my first pair of Columbia boots some time ago and the second pair were cheaper RedHeads which aren’t worn out yet but have thinner soles and a clumsier feel. So I bought a new pair of Columbia middle-height Firelane OmniTech boots that provide a better trail feel.
My new day pack
I’d also worn out several cheap backpacks and had been using a Coleman hydration pack. I didn’t care for the plastic taste of the mouthpiece and how the first swigs of water in the tube were always warm until you reached the cooler water back in the reservoir, plus the hydration pack simply did not have room to hold a sandwich container inside. I didn’t want a full backpack for my day hikes, so I selected an Ascend H1250 hydration pack with more compartment room and immediately took out the hydration pack itself – I’ll carry an orange drink and water bottles in there instead.
With those decisions made, I bought a Halloween outfit for school at a nearby temporary costume shop and drove over to the rose garden at Springfield’s Phelps Grove to shoot the various flowers.
Flowers at Phelps Grove (click image for slideshow)
Then I drove on eastward on US 60 over to the Comfort Inn at Willow Springs. I had a late dinner at the McDonald’s since most of the restaurants in the tiny burg had closed. This was the most highly rated hotel in the region for my planned hikes near the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers. I planned to take things very easy this break with shorter hikes.
The next morning I found a layer of frost coating the car with temperatures in the low 30s. I had a late breakfast at the nearby Hillbilly Junction gift store and restaurant and then drove over to Rocky Falls where Rocky Creek tumbles over erosion-resistant volcanic rock. I shot a video of the falls, and then decided to skip the hike from there up to Stegall Mountain.
Alley Spring Mill (click image for slideshow)
I instead headed over to the Powder Mill campground to hike along the Current River. I chose a very scenic drive up Highway 19 to Eminence as my route. There are two trails here, one being a spur leading over to the Current River section of the Ozark Trail, and the other leading to Blue Spring. I parked by the Ozark Trail spur which led to the bridge over the Current on Highway 106 and then headed upslope.
The trail was in good shape, climbing the bluffs to ride below the ridge north above the east shore of the Current River. I saw a butterfly and tried to take a photo of it, but it dashed away and blundered into a spider web. I tried to free the poor thing, but it was too late: the spider had already claimed its victim and I only managed to capture the butterfly’s demise.
A huge tree had fallen across a trail switchbacks and I posed to give it some scale before I attempted the Limbo. The forecast had been in error, claiming it would still be in the 40s in the afternoon. I’d worn a sweatshirt in anticipation and it was living up to its name since the temperatures had climbed into the mid 50s. So I stripped it off and continued onward in my undershirt.
I backtracked through the creek beds and tall trees towards Highway 106 and my car, having only travelled 3.63 miles. There wasn’t enough day light left to take the second trail over to Blue Spring, so I decided to do that the following day and drove west to the photogenic Alley Spring Mill for the golden hour of shooting right before sunset.
The iconic red mill was built in 1894 and eventually closed because its turbine and steel rollers were designed to grind wheat to flour in an area where corn was the main crop. It is a beautiful setting, with a powerful stream fed by the 81 million-gallon-per-day spring.
I drove away in the fading light, briefly stopping at a highway overlook before returning to Willow Springs for some yummy pizza and a late night of blogging. Tomorrow I will head back to the same areas to see Alley Spring in the morning light and hike at Powder Mill campground, heading south instead of north this time to visit Blue Spring.
My colleague Betty Henderson wanted to go for a day hike while her husband was also enjoying the fall weather on his treasured mule – she, like me, is no rider. So we headed to Oologah Lake. Two years ago I tried to hike to what I thought was Kite Hill along the first part of the Will Rogers Centennial Trail, but was turned away by a morass of churned mud at the entrance to this equestrian trail. Recently the award-winning Bartlesville-area conservationist Phil Lorenz contacted me via email and shared that one could avoid the muddy start of the trail by parking off a nearby road. It seemed like a great time to try out his suggestion.
We parked in the spot Phil had pointed out on a map beside a car with an environmental tag and headed north along an old road straight toward Kight Hill. I had wondered why a fully forested hill would be called Kite Hill as it surely was a terrible place to go fly a kite. Well, I found out later it is actually Tom Kight Hill, named after the founder of Oklahoma Military Academy in nearby Claremore, which is now Rogers State University.
Soon we encountered a fellow I recognized from internet photos as Phil Lorenz himself, hiking along at age 91. We introduced ourselves and Phil kindly said he might show me some caves near Osage Hills in a few weeks. Then Betty and I headed on for about a mile, passing flowers and the goldenrod along the bedecked pathway toward Kight Hill, which projects out into Oologah Lake and in high water can become an island. It has been far too dry to worry about that problem.
We ascended the hill and took a side trail over to the east shore, then followed a trail marked “5” on around the south side. A side trail from it descended to the shore, where the dried mud had cracked into stonelike slabs. Back on the trail we heard voices and spied a couple out enjoying the lake with a powerboat and jet ski. The trail turned back around and we began to regret that both of us had completely forgotten to bring along any water. Our trail “5” later intersected a trail “3” and we took it since it was leading back to the entry, but then the evil trail turned back and made a big S shape leading up around the upper ridge of the hill.
Betty was becoming quite parched but still pointed out a small patch of fall color across the way. The lack of autumnal hues here was in sharp contrast to what I saw in Arkansas last week. Betty posed by a large tree up top which had decided to mostly branch out in one direction.
Increasingly dry and exasperated, we broke through dozens of large spider webs. Only once did I get one of the arachnids on me, and Betty was kind enough shoot a video of my surefire spider removal technique.
We passed a tree with a small pool of water in its open base but despite our thirst were not tempted to partake. We reached a large campsite on top of the bluff on the island’s southeast corner, but saw no way down to our vehicle. So we reluctantly tramped on westward. Up here there were nice views of the lake shore through the trees.
Betty correctly insisted we turn about, despite my petulant reluctance to backtrack, and I finally spotted a trail making a steep descent. Despite her dehydrated state she made good use of trekking poles on the way down the treacherous slope. Thank goodness we brought those even as we foolishly forgot our water – a lesson learned for future outings.
Our wandering about the hill over 5.5 miles made us a bit late for an evening engagement to meet Betty’s husband, who had spent the day astride his mule in far greater comfort. We all joined some friends for dinner and a movie, and the expedition to Kight Hill was great fodder for laughs as they pictured us panting about on a hill surrounded on three sides by untold millions of gallons of water.
Contrary to their on-screen personas, Oliver Norvell “Babe” Hardy was the easygoing one in real life, while Arthur Stanley “Stan” Jefferson was the idea man who wrote most of the gags and was often the de facto director despite on-screen credits. And it is true that after his retirement Stan Laurel was still listed in the phone book and fans would call up, amazed to reach him. He personally answered all of his fan mail and was such a close friend of Ollie’s that he refused to perform ever again after Hardy passed away in 1957.
Dick Van Dyke befriended Stan in his late years and famously imitated him on his television show. He later talked to Stan about the homage and Stan pointed out some inconsistencies in the costuming, including how the brim of the hat wasn’t flat. Dick confessed he couldn’t get the hat to look just right and Stan said, “Why didn’t you ask to borrow mine?” Dick was flabbergasted and it is fitting that he would give the eulogy at Stan’s funeral in 1965.
In his will Stan left his hat to Dick and as part of the eulogy, Dick Van Dyke read The Clown’s Prayer:
As I stumble through this life, help me to create more laughter than tears, dispense more cheer than gloom, spread more cheer than despair.
Never let me become so indifferent, that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child, or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.
Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people, make them happy, and forget momentarily, all the unpleasantness in their lives.
And in my final moment, may I hear You whisper: “When you made My people smile, you made Me smile.”
Meador Manor 