Mountain View, AR

About 26 single RVers met at Sylamore Creek RV Park, Mountain View, AR, for a week of the Ozark Folk Mountain experience. Mountain View is considered to be the Folk Music Capital and is the home of the Ozark Folk Center. It has exhibits of the Ozark Lifestyle about 100 years ago, including broom making, basket making, weaving, wood carving, and of course the making of musical instruments. Some exhibits even allow you to participate.

 

This is how they used to wash clothes.

This is how they used to dress.

Feeding the mules.

Listening to some Ozark Folk music.

Usually the mules pull the merry-go-round, but it was muddy, so we were pushed by human power instead.

But there are other things besides the Ozark Folk Center at Mountain View. Round the town square every evening you can find musicians gathering to jam. Here are some sitting under the eaves at Aunt Minnie's Pickin' Porch. You can listen, have some ice cream or fried green tomatoes.

Blanchard Springs Caverns are also nearby. This cavern is listed among the top 10 in the nation for its beauty. I would agree. I have seen several caverns this past year and this is really one of my favorites.

Do you see the ship?

Geocaching was also on the agenda. We had to hike about 1/2 mile along the bluff of Sylamore Creek to find this cache.

The start of the hike was here at Gunner's Pool. This dam was built by the CCC back in the 1930s.

We took the long way back along some rural roads. They showed the devastation from the winter ice storms. It looks as if this tree exploded from within. Most of the trees had the tops broke off at the least, if they weren't broken over from the weight of the ice and the winds. They are just now clearing some of the roads.

We heard about a parade and Pioneer Days at Melbourne, AR, about 20 miles away. Although it was raining we still decided to check it out. In the rain and all, the parade went on. We had some great cajun food and grilled corn.

Because of the rain I did not go kayaking (a few did one day), but those who did not went hiking instead. You can see I was prepared for the water with my rubber boots.

The five that went hiking the Mt. Sylamore Biking Trail.

The campground owner always provides us a BBQ, with ribs and chicken. We bring all the fixin's.

And of course we had to have campfire, even with all the wet wood and the rain.

Because of all the rain it was inevitable that some would get stuck. Here Phil is getting pulled out by Charlie. I guess some thought this was great entertainment.

Curt was very helpful trying to get Joanne out. But even the campground tractor couldn't pull her out and she eventually called for a tow truck.

Here Bill is getting pulled out by the campground tractor.

And Jim had to also call a tow truck to get out.

At Taylor's Mountain Music Show

But one experience we repeat every year at Mountain View is Taylor's. Taylor's is a Mountain Music Show every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. We went out twice. It is a family show with John Taylor playing the fiddle, banjo and guitar; his son J.W. plays the guitar and sings, his youngest son also plays the guitar and sings. The drummer is a young lady who also plays the harmonica and sings. I even bought one of their CDs. Bluegrass, country and gospel, they do it all.

 

Some get out and clog with the music. Barb, in the red blouse, was one of our group and she could keep up with the locals.

Phil, Joanne and Max are trying to look like they are locals. Do you think anyone might just think we were tourists trying to play hillbilly?

We had sunshine one day and the three of us decided to hike the 4.8 mile White River Bluff Trail.

It was beautiful on the bluff overlooking the river.

We found these surveyor markers and realized we really had found our corner of the world.

It looked as if these rocks had been cut just for the trail.

And this moss covered rock formation caught my interest.

There were also wonderful wildflowers blooming.

The colors were just so vivid.

Although it rained most of our stay and we did not get to do the kayaking like we usually do, as you can see, we still found lots of things to keep us busy. I'm finding that no matter where we are, and no matter the weather, we can have a good time.