Jeff's Arkansas Hiking Blog: February 2023

Friday, February 24, 2023

Reeves Point Bluffs & Waterfalls - Arkansas Ozarks - South of Limestone - by Hurricane Creek Wilderness

1/15/2023 - Reeves Point Bluffs & More

GPS Coordinates: (Latitude, Longitude, Elevation)

Parking area 1 / Campsite: 35.74150, -93.27247

Parking area 2 / Campsite: 35.76014, -93.27886

Hanging Tree 1863: 35.76345, -93.27803

Rock Formation 1: 35.76335, -93.27772

Rock Formation 2: 35.76297, -93.27639

Arch: 35.76300, -93.27134

Feature 2: 35.76309, -93.27095

Feature 3: 35.76276, -93.27066

Feature 4: 35.76251, -93.27029

Feature 5: 35.76178, -93.26978

Shelter 1: 35.76152, -93.26967

WF 1: 35.76145, -93.26951

Shelter 2: 35.76152, -93.26938

Feature 6: 35.76171, -93.26907

Feature 7: 35.76178, -93.26896

Feature 8: 35.76204, -93.26898

WF 2: 35.76204, -93.26810

Feature 9: 35. 76232, -93.26747

Feature 10: 35.76248, -93.26760

WF 3: 35.76293, -93.26740

WF 4: 35.76262, -93.26687

Reeves Point Falls: 35.76232, -93.26674

Feature 11: 35.76217, -93.26703

Feature 12: 76260, -93.26637

Feature 13: 35.76274, -93.26646

Feature 14: 35.76314, -93.26653

Feature 15: 35.76352, -93.26673

Shelter 3: 35.76416, -93.26709

Feature 16: 35.76438, -93.26703

Feature 17: 35.76507, -93.26713

Rock Formation 3: 35.76542, -93.26722

Feature 18: 35.76578, -93.26672

Rock Formation 4: 35.76571, -93.26649

Lonely Falls: 35.76585, -93.26678

Feature 19: 35.76637, -93.26684

Feature 20: 35.76703, -93.26718

Feature 21: 35.76703, -93.26737

Feature 22: 35.76703, -93.26754

Rock Formation 5: 35.76806, -93.26818

Feature 23: 35.76813, -93.26805

Feature 24: 35.76844, -93.26825

Feature 25: 35.76902, -93.26901

Shelter 4: 35.76924, -93.26961

Feature 26: 35.76941, -93.26978

Feature 27: 35.76947, -93.26994

Cascade 1: 35.76578, -93.27118

Markers

Blue Waypoint = Named WF

Black Waypoint = Unnamed WF

Orange Waypoint = Cascade

Binoculars Symbol = Feature

Stone Symbol = Rock formation

Backpacker Symbol = Gravel road, old road and atv trail

Shelter Symbol = Shelter

Car Symbol = Parking area

Running Person Symbol = Access point

Level of Difficulty: This is a bushwhack hike mostly. There is no trail. The hike up to the bluff line is moderate. The hills are not that steep and you do not have to hike all the way up to the top of the hills. Hiking along the bluff is also moderate with the usual up and down hills that you have to go up and down. At time, you have to hike along the hillsides which is the toughest part of the hike. The hike downhill back to the gravel road is moderate also. The hike along the gravel road is easy.

Hiking Statistics for Loop: 3.69 miles / Ascent is 651 ft. and Descent is 662 ft.

We took Parker Ridge Rd which is a gravel road down to where the Rock Creek area is in Tim Ernst's waterfall book from the town of Deer, AR. You eventually have to take the road to the right which is a rougher gravel road just before you reach the bridge that crosses over The Big Piney Creek. Parking area 1 is just before that road crosses Rock Creek. There is a campsite there and many rock climbers park there. If you have a high clearance vehicle and feel comfortable driving through Rock creek or you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can go through it and park at Parking area 2. If you have to park at Parking area 1, your hike will be 3.5 miles longer. Those 3.5 miles will be along the gravel road. Parking area 2 is right along The Big Piney and there is a campsite there also. We parked at parking area 2 and hiked from there. This is mostly a bushwhack / off trail hike except for when your hiking on the gravel road. There are waterfalls along this hike but we need a good amount of rain to heavy rain for them to be running good and some to be running at all. The falls were not running that good that day and some were not running at all. We started hiking to our left from the parking area along the gravel road. A ways down the road, we'd seen an open area to our right and that a tree had a marking in it. We went to it and seen the marking carved into it says "Hanging Tree 863". We decided to start heading up hill from there. We passed by a couple of rock formations while working our way up the hills. We also came across a couple of very old roads while we continued to work our way up to the bluff line. We reached the bluff line at coordinates 35.76259, -93.27176 and then we started following the bluff line to the left. We first came across a nice Arch. We took some photo's and then kept hiking along the bluff. We passed by 4 more nice features after we left the arch. We could see on our gps that we were getting close to a drainage so I was thinking there may be a WF off the bluff there. We came to a nice shelter and took a snack break there. When we left there, we then came across the first WF. I took some photo's and then we hiked some and came across shelter 2 very soon. After we left the second shelter, we could see some features up the hill to our right so we went uphill some to see those. When we were done up there, we went back downhill and kept working our way to the right along the bluff. We came across another feature before reaching WF 2. These waterfalls need a lot of rain to be running. As we were working our way along the bluff, we seen another couple of feature up to our right so we headed up to those and then back down to continue along the bluff. WE were coming to one of the bigger drainages now that intersects with the bluff line. We could hear a little water running so we headed down hill at an angle to the left and we reached WF 3. After I took a couple of photo's, we kept heading up the drainage towards the bluff and we came across WF 4.Then we kept working our way up the drainage to where we were right along the bluff again. We were on the left side of the drainage but I had to go check the right side just under the bluff to see if a WF was there and that is where Reeves Point Falls is. I told my friend to come over and he did to the falls.. I climbed up above that to go see another feature and then climbed back down below Reeves Point falls. When we were done there, we continued to the other side of the drainage where we were first and along the bluff line. We are below the bluffs here most of the time. We came across another 4 nice features while working our way along the bluffs. We are hiking up and down hills and at times along the hillside here while working our way along the bluff line. We then came across shelter 3. You can't just walk in it, you have to get down low and then you can stand up inside. You can go in one and out another but you have to be on your knees to get in and out of both. We spent some time there and took another break. When we were done there, we continued hiking along the bluff line. We came across another 2 nice features before reaching rock formation 3. I could see that there was another WF past that but also could see some features above that rock formation to my right so I climbed up and went above the bluff line to another nice rock formation up there. I passed by another feature while working my way to be back down below the bluff. It is not a tall bluff at this point so it was not hard to get up above it and back down. My friend decided to wait for me down there though while I climbed up and back down. He waited for me by the WF. When I got back down below the bluff, I continued to the right along the bluff to Lonely falls where my friend was waiting for me. Lonely falls is a nice waterfalls and the bluffs curves around in a nice way where your partially under the bluff for a ways. We then came across another feature. A little ways after that, we'd seen a feature up to our right so we went up the hill just a little ways to that and then back down. We kept working our way along the bluff line and then came to 2 more features. A ways along the bluff line and hillside, we came across another rock formation and 2 more features. After that, we came across another nice feature before reaching Shelter 4. We spent some time there and then kept working our way and came across 2 more nice features. I then looked at my gps to see where we were and we decided it was time to head back down to the gravel road. We kept heading downhill at an angle to our left to get back into that bigger drainage we were at the tip of earlier by the bluff where we'd seen those 2 WF's and Reeves Point falls. When we got back to that, we took a right and were following that drainage back down to the gravel road. When we reached that drainage, we were already more than halfway down the hill back to the gravel road. The very low part of that drainage that flows into the Big Piney and goes through the road is on private property so we had to cross over the drainage and go uphill to the left a little and hike the hillside to to where we could finish going downhill to get back on the gravel road and skip the private property. Once we got back onto the gravel road, we took a left and hiked along it back to the parking area. The views of the Big Piney there at the parking area are beautiful. I took photo's of it there and we spent some time there relaxing by it before we drove off and headed back to my friends house.

Shelter 1

Arch

Crevice

Feature

Shelter 2

WF 1

Feature

WF 4

Feature

Reeves Point Falls

Feature

Shelter 3

Lonely Falls

Feature

Rock Formation 4

Feature

Shelter 4

Feature

Cascade

WF 2

WF 3

Parking area 2

Big Piney

My Track

Track with Waypoints

Part of track

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Upper Chinquapin Branch Waterfalls - Horsehead Creek Area - by Batson - Northwest of Clarksville - North of Horsehead Lake

4/3/2021 - Upper Chinquapin Branch Waterfalls (WF) - On Google Earth Also

GPS Coordinates: (Latitude, Longitude)

Parking Location: 35.61534, -93.59903

Cascade 1: 35.60833, -93.59550

WF 1: 35.60789, -93.59564

WF 2: 35.60787, -93.59574

WF 3: 35.60663, -93.59590

WF 4: 35.60566, -93.59677

Cascade 2: 35.60582, -93.59716

Cascade 3: 35.60570, -93.59741

WF 5: 35.60530, -93.59825

Marie Dore Falls: 35.60533, -93.59854

WF 7: 35.60494, -93.59914

Cascade 4: 35.60523, -93.60201

Cascade 5: 35.60613, -93.60228

Cascade 6: 35.60699, -93.60217

WF 8: 35.60824, -93.60246

Cascade 7: 35.60941, -93.60210

WF 9: 35.60981, -93.60185

Moss Freeman Falls: 35.61066, -93.60236

Mabry Double Falls: 35.61163, -93.60262

Cascade 8: 35.61202, -93.60214

Sidekick Falls: 35.61228, -93.60322

Slick Rock Falls: 35.61329, -93.60390

WF 14: 35.61406, -93.60406

Markers

Blue Waypoint = Named waterfall

Black Waypoint = Unnamed waterfall

Orange Waypoint = Cascade

Car Symbol = Parking Area

Backpacker Symbol = Gravel Road

Running Person Symbol = Access Point

Level of Difficulty: The part of the hike up high along the gravel road is easy to moderate. While you bushwhack up along the top of the ridge, the hike is moderate. The hills that you go down to get down to the main branch are steep and strenuous. Working your way up the first drainage is strenuous with steep hills so you will need to take breaks. This hike is challenging.

Hiking Statistics for Loop: 3.58 miles / Maximum Elevation is 2,295 ft and Minimum Elevation is 1,155 ft with Ascent of 636 ft and Descent of 620 ft.

To get to the parking area, I take Hwy 103 either from I-40 from the south or Hwy 215 from the North. I then turn onto CR 4160 heading west off of Hwy 103 which is paved to the parking area which will be on the left. A photo of the parking area has been provided below and the coordinates for the parking area have been provided above. I and some friends started hiking down the gravel road and seen a rougher gravel road that is more like an atv trail to our left just a little ways down the gravel road. We took a left onto that and then went a little ways. I could see that there was a field up ahead if we staid on the atv trail like road but looked at my gps and could see that if we went to and through that field, that we would have to hike downhill into a drainage, cross it and then hike up the other side and we did not want to do that. We took a left off that atv trail like road and started bushwhacking a little ways before the field at coordinates 35.61378, -93.59858. We followed the ridge of the mountain top where the terrain is mostly level and went around that drainage . Once we were on the other side of that drainage along the mountain top, we started working our way downhill to our left at coordinates 35.61044, -93.59650. We worked our way down slowly to get down into the main chinquapin branch. These hills are steep so take your time and be careful while working your way down. Once we got down into the main branch, we took a right and worked our way along it downstream. While hiking along the branch, we first came across cascade 1. I took some photos and then we kept hiking downstream along the water. Parts of this branch get narrow on the sides with hills that you either have to go up and down to get around or below cascades and waterfalls in the branch or you have to cross the water many times. We tight roped the side of the water at times, crossed the water at times and had to go up and down hills at times to continue our way downstream along the water. We then came to a point where I could see a waterfall to our left and another waterfall to our right, which are WF's 1 and 2. I took photo's and videos of both waterfalls and then we kept hiking downstream. A little ways down, I could see WF 3 on my left so we hiked up to it away from the branch. I took some photo's and then we headed back down to the main branch and took a left to continue heading downstream. A ways down, I could see another waterfall on my left, which is WF 4. We hiked up to it, I marked it on my gps and we took some photo's. When we got back to the main branch and continued hiking downstream, we came across cascades 2 & 3. After we were done at those 2 cascades, we continued hiking downstream and came across WF 5. It is a nice little waterfall. After we were done there, we kept heading downstream and could hear the water running even louder up ahead of us and it looked like there was a bigger drop off in the branch up ahead. We then came to the top of Marie Dore Falls. We went up the hill to the right of the falls and hiked along the hillside until we found a hill to get down that was good. We started heading downhill at coordinates 35.60532, -93.59866 to get down in front of the falls. We took a break there while taking photo's and I was marking Marie Dore falls on my gps. We then kept heading downstream after we left there and came across WF 7. I took some photo's and then we kept hiking on. I looked at my gps and could see that the long drainage that I was planning to hike up on our right was coming up soon. Once we reached that drainage, we took a little break because I knew that now we were going to have to hike up the steep and strenuous hills that we had hiked down earlier. There is some private property down there so you can go up the hill to your right along the main branch, go around the private property and then drop down into the drainage. The property is way down there so we just staid along the water and took the right turn to head up the drainage. A little ways up the drainage, we came across cascade 4. It is a nice one and I took some photo's of it. We then came across cascades 5 & 6 while working our way up the drainage. The hills start to get steeper here where each time you get in front of a waterfall, you have to backtrack some to find a hill to get up above it. With how steep the hills are there, we decided that we would take a break at each waterfall before working our way up the big hill to get above each waterfall. After we passed the 3 cascades and the hills are getting steeper, we arrived at WF 8. We spent some time there taking photo's, videos and marking it on my gps as well as giving our bodies a break before climbing that hill next to the falls. When my body was ready to get up that hill, I checked with the others and they said that they were ready so we went up the hill to the right of the falls at coordinates 35.60824, -93.60230. We eventually got up high enough where we could start working our way to the left along the hillside and then back down into the drainage right next to the water. You don't want to go too high up but having to go up higher than you would like to and then back down to be at the top of the falls and in the drainage is how it is with steep hills. After we were back down in the drainage by the water, we continued hiking up it and then came across cascade 7. We took some photos and then continued hiking up the drainage to WF 9 on our right. After we were done there, we continued hiking up the drainage and then came to a very nice waterfall called Moss Freeman Falls. There is moss all over the bluff there. Some friends and I climbed up right next to the falls on the left side of it to get to the top of it but I suggest you to backtrack some and find a good hill to go up and work your way up and along the hillside and then down to the top of the falls where your back in the drainage like a couple of friends did. While backtracking, they found a hill on their right to go up. I went up the hill from the top of the waterfall to check on them to see if they found a way up and they did while the others waited for us at the top of the falls. When we got back down the hill to where we were right above Moss Freeman falls with the others, we all continued heading up the drainage. A ways further up, we came to Mabry Double Falls named after a couple of my friends who were with us on this hike. I got some photos of them in front of it. We took a long break there. Some people were getting tired now with us being a 2/3rds of the way up the drainage and the steep hills. When we were ready to go, we had to backtrack to find a good hill to hike up to get to the top of the falls. We hiked up a hill to our left at coordinates 35.61129, -93.60245. As we reached a certain point on the hill, we started working our way to the left and along the hillside. When we were working our way along the hillside and where we reached the point where it was going downhill, we came to a small drainage in front of us that has a cascade up it to the right just a little ways. We hiked downhill into that small drainage and went up it a little ways to the cascade. When we were done there, we went back down to the top of that part of the double falls and crossed over to work our way along the hillside to get to the main drainage where we were at the top of the bigger part of the double falls. We then dropped back down into the bigger drainage and kept working our way up it along the water. We then came across another nice waterfall, which is called Sidekick falls. We were 3/4 of the way up the drainage now. We spent some time there taking a break, photo's and videos. When we were ready to get going, we had to backtrack again and try to find a good hill to use to get up above the falls. We found a hill on our left and started hiking up the hill at coordinates 35.61211, -93.60294. We again eventually reached a point where we started heading to our left working our way along the hillside. Once we got to the point where we could see that we could head downhill to where we were back in the drainage just above Sidekick falls, we headed downhill. Once we got down there, we continued hiking up the drainage. Next, a ways up the drainage, we reached Slick Rock Falls. We took another long break there while taking photo's and videos. When we were ready to go, we once again had to backtrack to find a good hill to use to get up above the falls. These hills are steep so we had to backtrack at 4 of them to find ways to get up the hills and above the falls. We found a hill on our right and started heading uphill at coordinates 35.61256, -93.60361. We eventually reached a point on the hill where we could start heading to our right along the hillside. When we could see that we could start heading back downhill to where we would be in the drainage above Slick Rock Falls, we started heading down at an angle. We were most of the way up to the top of the drainage at that point. We kept hiking in the drainage and working our way up it. We then came across WF 14 a little ways up. We stopped there and took some photo's and videos. We then worked our way up the hill just to the right of it to get above it. After that, we started hiking uphill at an angle at coordinates 35.61459, -93.60419 to our right away from the drainage since we were pretty much at the top of it toward the gravel road that we first started out hiking on from the parking area. The coordinates to where we got back onto the gravel road are at 35.61539, -93.60369. We then just hiked along the gravel road back to the parking area.