Jeff's Arkansas Hiking Blog: Greasy Creek Waterfalls - Big Loop - Arkansas Ozarks - by Deer, AR

2/26/2023 - Greasy Creek Waterfalls (WF) / Big Loop - On Google Earth also

GPS Coordinates: (Latitude, Longitude, Elevation)

Parking Area A: 35.76814, -93.20545

Cascade 1: 35.75919, -93.20662

Cascade 2: 35.75899, -93.20669

Feature 1: 35.75483, -93.20511

Feature 2: 35.75453, -93.20498

WF 1: 35.75436, -93.20428

Feature 3: 35.75376, -93.20438

Cascade 3: 35.75351, -93.20386

Cascade 4: 35.75338, -93.20344

Cascade 5: 35.75296, -93.20291

Greasy Creek Falls: 35.75280, -93.20272

Cascade 6: 35.75258, -93.20200

WF 3: 35.75225, -93.20087

WF 4: 35.75217, -93.20058

WF 5: 35.75225, -93.20014

Cascade 7: 35.75223, -93.19899

WF 6: 35.75225, -93.19862

Cascade 8: 35.75220, -93.19836

Cascade 9: 35.75214, -93.19766

Cascade 10: 35.75253, -93.19745

Misty Falls: 35.75381, -93.19709

WF 8: 35.75451, -93.19702

Feature 4: 35.75460, -93.19691

Cascade 11: 35.75498, -93.19705

Rock Formation 1: 35.75020, -93.19566

Cascade 12: 35.74786, -93.19507

Feature 5: 35.74583, -93.19563

Tapered Bluff Falls: 35.74565, -93.19570

Cascade 13: 35.74434, -93.19495

Rock Formation 2: 35.74428, -93.19502

Spirit Pool Falls: 35.74404, -93.19497

WF 11: 35.74357, -93.19498

Cascade 14: 35.74289, -93.19505

WF 12: 35.73966, -93.19915

Cascade 15: 35.73911, -93.19973

Cascade 16: 35.73940, -93.20056

Cascade 17: 35.73913, -93.20147

WF 13: 35.73997, -93.20282

Cascade 18: 35.73978, -93.20330

WF 14: 35.74053, -93.20544

Cascade 19: 35.74046, -93.20581

Cascade 20: 35.74153, -93.20769

Cascade 21: 35.74192, -93.20840 .

Cascade 22: 35.74274, -93.20908

Rock Walls Shelter Falls: 35.74371, -93.20936

WF 16 : 35.74455, -93.21155

WF 17: 35.74498, -93.21275

Cascade 23: 35.74596, -93.21423

Cascade 24: 35.74727, -93.21574

Cascade 25: 35.74713, -93.21587

Markers:

Blue Waypoints = Named WF

Black Waypoints = Unnamed WF

Orange Waypoints = Cascade

Running Person Symbol = Access point

Backpacker Symbol= Gravel road

Car Symbol = Parking area

Binoculars Symbol = Feature

Stone Symbol = Rock Formation

Level of Difficulty: It starts out moderate with the hills getting down to the main creek not being very steep most of the way until you are just above the creek and it finishes easy to moderate with hiking along the gravel road at the end back to the vehicle. This is a bushwhack kind of hike. The first part of the hike along the creek has become more of a challenge lately with many more tree's down now. The hike is moderate mostly with some small hills to go up and down and creek crossings to the top of Greasy Creek falls. Once you start working your way along the hillside to get down and in front of Greasy Creek falls, the hike becomes strenuous and it will be that way mostly for the rest of the hike until you get back to the gravel road. You have to rock hop, climb some good size boulders in and along the creek and you have to go up and down good size hills along the creek to get around big boulders that are down. It is very challenging to hike the big loop that I hiked.

Hiking Statistics for Loop: 8.16 miles / Ascent is 1,118 ft and Descent is 1,109 ft

I drove to the town of Deer, which Hwy 16 goes through and then turned onto Parker Ridge Rd, which is a gravel road. I drove that and parked at Parking area A, which is a little campsite by the road. I hiked down the road just a little ways and seen a Wilderness sign to my left and decided to get off the road and start bushwhacking form there. I worked my way down the moderate hills at an angle to the right where I was going downhill but also towards the creek. When I got to where I could see the creek down the hill and had one more hill to get down, I took my time with that hill being steeper than the hills before it. I hiked a ways along the creek before I came across the first 2 cascades. After that, I hiked another descent ways down before reaching a couple of features and the first WF. While hiking, I noticed that there are many more tree's down now to have to get over, under or around than the 3 other times I had been there, which makes the hike tougher now. It had been 2 years since my last time hiking there. After I was done taken photo's of the features and of WF 1, I continued my way hiking downstream along the creek. I then came across another feature before 3 more nice cascades in the creek. I took some photo's and then just a little ways down the creek, I was at the top of Greasy Creek Falls. I remembered that each time that I had hiked there in the past, I went to my left and along that hillside to get down below Greasy Creek Falls. Over time, with more people hiking there, a trail is forming slowly along the hillside to get down below the falls. I went down at coordinates 35.75291, -93.20219 to get below the bluff and in front of the waterfall. This time, I'd seen 3 huge pieces of plastic used like tarps set up in ways to protect gear, a fire pit and people to sleep there. No one was there though when I got down there. I wish the people who put those there would take those with them when they are done there and put them back up when they go back instead of leaving them there when they are not there. I worked my way below the bluff and passed those to Greasy Creek falls. I spent time there taking photo's videos and a snack break. When I was done there, I continued hiking downstream and then came across another cascade. After that, a little ways downstream, I'd seen 3 WF's. After I got photo's, I continued hiking downstream. I could see on my gps that I was close to that drainage on the left that I had never gone up before. the 4 previous hikes here. My first hike here was in 2016. I passed by 2 more cascades and another WF before I reached that drainage. I remembered that there was a nice cascade at the beginning of that drainage coming up from the main creek. There are small bluffs on both sides of that cascade so you would have to backtrack a ways or go further down the creek a ways to find a way to get uphill and hike back over to that drainage in order to hike up it from down in the main creek. Water was not running great so I decided to just get my feet wet and slowly work my way up the wet and slippery rock on the side to get to the top and to continue hiking up that drainage instead of what I said in the sentence before this one. If water was running much better, I would have had to go a ways in either direction to find a hill to get up. After I got to the top of the cascade, I started hiking up the drainage and as I was hiking, I had to go over and around tree's as well as up some hills to get around big boulders. I then came across another nice cascade when I was right in the drainage. After I took some photo's there, I continued hiking up the drainage. I had to deal with more tree's down, rock hop some and climb some bigger rocks. A ways up that drainage, I could see a nice size waterfall up ahead of me. This waterfall is called Misty Falls, which is named by Allen Smith who was exploring this area with another guy I know about a year ago. I took a break there for awhile. I took photo's and a video. After my break was over, I had to work my way up to the top of it. I looked at the hills on both sides of the waterfall and seen that the hill on my left was the better way to get up to the top of Misty falls. I was working my way up at coordinates 35.75377, -93.19714. After I got up a certain ways, I had to start hiking to my right along the hillside until I'd seen a hill I could hike down to be right at the top of Misty falls and back into the drainage. When I got back into the drainage, I started hiking up it and came across a waterfall and nice feature. I took some photos and then got myself up above that falls to another cascade. I took some photo's and then decided that I had gone up that drainage enough and that it time to work my way back to the main creek. I didn't want to deal with the tree's and boulders again so I tried to stay up high on my left side for as long as possible. The hills are steep so I was going along steep hillsides and my feet got tired of that so I headed back down into the drainage and dealt with the tree's being down and rocks again. I went down on the same side of the cascade that I went up earlier. After I got down that, I was back in the main creek. I took a left and continued hiking downstream in the creek. As I was hiking, I could see that there was even more tree's down at this part than the last time I was than and earlier during this hike that made the hike even tougher. I had to go around some boulders also. I first came across a rock formation on my right and then a nice cascade in the creek. I stopped and took some photo's. When I started hiking downstream again, I could see that there was a nice Bluff and a possible waterfall up the hill on my right so I hiked up the hill to . This WF is called Tapered Bluff falls because the bluff tapers. After I spent some time there, I headed back down the hill and into the creek. I continued downstream and reached the nice cascade that I remembered that were right before Spirit Pool Falls. My first hike here was quite the experience. It was raining lightly raining my first time there like it was this past Sunday when I did this hike. During my first hike there, by the time I reached Greasy Creek Falls, it went from lightly raining out to a downpour. I was soaked when I reached that falls. I kept chugging along in the heavy rain but by the time I reached Spirit Pool Falls, It was thundering out and I'd seen lightning a few times and was saying to myself that I have to get out of here now and back to my car. I was at the top of the falls and slipped to where I was falling off and there was nothing I could do to prevent the fall into the water. I pushed with both feet like I was diving to get me clear of any of the rock bluff and I landed in the pool of water there. It was like 4 times deeper than in the photo I provide here. I remember how I felt and was seeing when I came up from being under the water and I gave it it's name from that experience. Now, back to this specific hike. I spent some time taking photo's and a video of the cascades above the falls. There is a neat rock formation there also. It is quite the spot to take a break and just enjoy the area. I provided photo's of that area. After I was done there, I hiked up the hill to my right and then along the hillside to where I started heading downhill at coordinates 35.74392, -93.19528 to get in front of Spirit Pool Falls. I spent time there enjoying the waterfall and thinking of my first experience there. I took many photo's from all angles and took my longest break during the hike at that waterfall. When water is at the level it was during this hike, there is a shelter over to the right of it. I provided a photo of me under that shelter while taking a photo of the waterfall from the side. When I was done there, I continued heading downstream. Once again, there were many tree's down to get over and around. There also were boulders down to have to get around which made me have to go up and down more hills that I would have liked to have done. I knew I was getting close to the other part of the creek that was going to be to my right. The start of that from the high point is close to the gravel road so my plan was to follow that all the way to get me back to the gravel road. Let me tell you this, this part was just about twice as tough as what I had hiked so far along the other parts. Many tree's being down, big boulders and steep hills I had to deal with. I had never been on this part before so it was new to me. After I started hiking up it along the water, I'd seen a little WF to my right but it was not running well. Then I came across three cascades in the creek. After those aways further up the creek, I'd seen another WF up to my right that was not running well. All this time while working my way up this part of the creek, I kept having to climb up big rocks, over and under tree's that were down and up and down steep hills. I felt like I was on an obstacle course a lot. It is very challenging and tough. I then came across another cascade in the creek and another small wf, this time to my left. I eventually reached a WF in the main creek that was very nice. I took some photo's and then was ready to move on. The hills by this wf gave me some problems and my biggest problem of the entire hike. I looked at the hills on both sides to see which side had the easier hills to get up. The left side looked much easier with how steep the right side was. This is with me looking at the WF. I went up the hill to my left and had to go up higher to get around a big boulder. When I got around it along the hillside to see how I could get down and back into the main creek, the hill on my side was much tougher to get down the the hill on the other side. I could not keep going at that level with how steep the hill was in front of me. I was right above a bluff that was at an angle towards the bottom. I thought that if I try to slide down this, I could go too fast and lose control and land in a position where I could be hurt. I then thought that I already made the decision to go this way based on the hills that I had to get up. I'd seen where I was, that there was one of those wood-like vines right there that I could maybe use to slow down my speed when sliding down that bluff. Those vines are strong. After I made the decision to do that, I threw my hiking stick down at the bottom and grabbed onto the vine. I had to break that slide up into 3 parts so I had to hold onto that vine very tightly to keep me from falling all the way down. I was able to hold on tightly enough to break my drop into 3 parts like I was hoping to. It was nerve racking as I was doing this. I had never done anything like this before. I eventually got down safely and then took a break and regathered myself . Then when I was ready to move on, I continued hiking up the creek and for a ways, I came across 4 cascades. After those, I could see some nice bluffs on both sides. I'd seen a small drainage to my right so I decided to hike up the hill to that bluff and found a nice size waterfall up there. It has a nice shelter there and I'd seen 3 rock walls that were built there by someone who camps there at times. I decided to name it Rock Walls Shelter Falls. I spent some time up there checking it out and taking photo's. After I got back down and into the main creek, I could see on my gps that soon I would be close to where it was time to head up hill to get back to the gravel road. I then came across 2 more wf's while working my way up the drainage. After those, the terrain was getting much easier and more level. There were level areas on both sides of the creek to hike on and it felt moderate now. I looked at me gps and seen that I was close to where the main creek goes to the left and that there will be a drainage to the right. I originally planned to follow the main creek to the left back to the road. I came across another cascade in the creek and when I reached that fork with the main creek on my left and the drainage in front of me there was a cascade on both parts. I took photo's of both and then looked at the hills right in between the two. It looked like a moderate hill to get up so I decided to hike up those at coordinates 35.74740, -93.21627 instead of going to my left and staying in the creek. I could see if I kept going up the hills straight in front of me, I would eventually get to the gravel road. I slowly kept working my way up each hill. I ended up going more to the right as I worked my way up instead of staying right in the middle. I eventually reached the gravel road. I was very tired by that point and was so glad that I was back on the gravel road now. I started hiking up the road towards the parking area. While I was hiking along the gravel road, I'd see an atv like road to my right and I looked at my waypoints on my gps and thought that I and others could park here and hiked a shorter loop in the future. I took a photo to mark it. I then continued hiking back to my car. I finally got back to my car and was exhausted by that time.