Jeff's Arkansas Hiking Blog: Upper Chinquapin Branch Waterfalls - Horsehead Creek Area - by Batson - Northwest of Clarksville

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.