Buffalo Point, AR May 12-19

I just love this sign.

We had a grill your own potluck over at Cory's site. She was located on the bluff overlooking the river. We also celebrated several birthdays.

Just north a ways down the road is Rush. It is a fun place to hike and look at the old buildings and machinery. Rush was settled in 1880 as a zinc mining town. It peaked 1914-1917 with over 5000 people living here. After WW1 the zinc market dropped and the mines started closing. Now all that is left is some buildings and an old smelter.

See the mosquito nets? The bugs were terrible. All the rain had the gnats and bugs out in force. They were so bold they would fly right into your mouth and eyes.

Along the hike are several of the old mine openings. And of course, boys will be boys. Even though the sign says to stay out, as Max puts it, "The sign doesn't say 'Max stay out'." The bars across the old mine shaft does keep people from venturing into dangerous areas though.

This was once the general store. It was actually used until the 1960s as a post office and store.

The smelter here was built for silver. Some of the founders thought they had silver, not zinc. It was used only once and after they discovered they did not have silver, it was abandoned and never used again.

There was even a large hotel. This is the foundation of one part of the hotel which burned in the 1940s. Part of the building was actually used as a ranger residence until a few years ago when it was finally destroyed by a flood.

On the way home from the hike we stopped here for lunch. Last year this was a dry county, but since then they elected to allow beer and wine sales. In addition to Buffalo burgers, then also sold Elk burgers, so of course I had to try one. I thought it was good. Some thought the elk to be a little dry because it was so lean.

On Friday and Saturday nights they have live entertainment. Several guys from Yellville played. It started out bluegrass, then turned to country. We stopped by both evenings to hear them play.

Mark hauled our kayaks to the river access.

Buffalo River is known for its wonderful bluffs all up and down the river.

There are even places where you can kayak into and hide, waiting to surprise those coming behind you.

Friday night we went to the Front Porch Restaurant in Yellville. They feature a seafood and frog leg buffet. Some of our group had never had frog legs before.

Saturday we headed to Harrison for a festival.

Of course, if you are at a crawdad festival, you have to have some.

These young musicians ranged in age from 13-15. They were selling CDs to raise money so they could go to some National Bluegrass Music competition in Orlando, FL. Last year in Nashville at a Christian music festival they won 9th. We thought they were pretty good and even bought one of the their CDs.

 

One of the events was the 'burnout'. We wandered over to see what was going on. They would pull a vehicle up, block the front tires, then proceed to burn rubber until a whistle was blown. We don't know why, whether anyone won this event, or how it was judged, but it was loud, smokey and smelled terrible. This truck blew a tire and pieces of rubber went everywhere. It sounded like a gun went off and when it did, I ducked. Good thing too since a piece flew right over my head.

The blown out tire.

One of the pieces picked up near me afterwards.

The big event, at least according to the radio and papers.

Sadly, there were only 2 entries. The entire boat had to be made of cardboard and they had lots of rules about what you could or could not do. The boys in the blue boat had a lot of trouble.

Kayaking again on the Buffalo. Pictures just don't do the bluff justice.

Here I am looking behind me at some turtles on a log. There were turtles perched on the banks and every log we passed.

Our last day had us traveling down to Buffalo City. That is the confluence of the Buffalo River and the White River. At one time it was quite a logging town since logs were floated down the Buffalo so they could be transported further down the White River. Now there is nothing there except this resort and a river access.

Here is where the two rivers actually come together.

On the way back we stopped at this park along the White River.

We have a fellow RVer whose last name is Cotter, so we had to take pictures of these signs for him.

This is the bridge spanning the White River.

Tyler Bend, Silverhill, AR May 6-12

This is the river access point at Gilbert, AR. Usually you can drive down where the water is because it is a large sandbar. There you unload the kayaks and prepare to float the river. But not today. The river was about 16 feet above flood stage and at 12 feet above they close the river. They expect the river to crest at about 18-20 feet above flood stage. Hopefully it will go down quickly once the rain stops.

 

The Buffalo River above flood stage.

The town of Gilbert consists of a restaurant which is only open on weekends, a general store which is also a river outfitter, a post office, several bed and breakfasts and a few private residences. But I loved this sign.

Here we are several days later at Tyler Bend river access point, getting ready to float down the river. Once the rain stopped the river dropped quickly, like 5-6 feet overnight. Today it is still about 8 feet above flood stage and it is recommended that only experienced floaters get on the water. We had no problems and I thought the river was actually easier to navigate than normal because of the high water.

Since south Texas, I have seen more goats than I had previously in my entire life. I started wondering what do people do with all these goats? I've never seen goat meat for sale in the stores (although I do know from personal experience that goat meat is edible and not too bad), most are not angora goats so there is no hair for goat wool, I pondered....

Then while driving around Yellville, AR, I saw this sign. Yes, it looked familiar. I've seen that sign on cans of goat milk sold in the store. So, maybe all these goats are being milked for commercial use. This goat milk processing plant shows it has been there since 1934.

Of course we found someplace to hike. At the campground there is an old homestead. We actually hiked over a mile from the campground just getting to the trailhead here. I believe in all we hiked around 4 miles this day.

As you can see some still had raincoats on. I believe it has rained some every day for the past several weeks. I wish the sun would come out.....

The trail leads along the bluffs above the Buffalo River.

We found this old tree along the bluff. One of the limbs actually sticks out over the bluff, but no one was brave enough to go out on it. But we did perch on it for the picture.

Waiting for the rain to stop and river to go down, one day we headed to Lost Valley about 50 miles west. Lost Valley is located at the west or upper Buffalo River. Along the way we stopped at a place just south of Jasper. I believe every state has some place that they try to claim is the 'grand canyon of......'

It was a beautiful view. We climbed up a tower to overlook the entire area. But 'Grand Canyon of Arkansas'? I think that is stretching it a bit.

Down the road was a restuarant which was recommended for the view, not necessarily the food. No tables on the deck, but we did come out after lunch just to sit a while.

Looking straight down from the deck was this little creature scurrying along the logs. Actually there were several enjoying the sunny weather.

We are at the start of Boxley Valley, where Lost Valley is located. This is the original home of 'Beaver' Jim Villines. His father, William, built this home in 1850. Jim moved across the road and built his own home in 1880 after he married. This home was utilized in some fashion through the 1940s. The last use was as a barn.

We had to hike across the road to see 'Beaver' Jim's farm.

His home was occupied by his family until the 1940s when it was finally abandoned. There was also a barn, a cellar (which was full of water from all the rain), another storage shed and of course, the outhouse.

Finally, our destination. I had visited this place back in the 1970s, while on a vacation. Camped here before it was even a National Scenic River area. All I remembered was it was a pretty place with a cave and a waterfall in the cave.

This is along Clark Creek. Clark creek only runs about 3 miles but has a wide variety of formations along the way. This water fall has eaten its way about 50 feet through the limestone creating a natural bridge.

The water cascades down 170 feet creating Eden Falls.

Above the falls is the entry to Eden Falls Cave.

Here we are entering the cave. Several of us braved the cave by crawling a distance to arrive at the interior cave. Yes we are on our hands and knees.

Here are a few of us inside the interior cave. It is located about 200 feet from the entrance. It has a 35 foot waterfall, hence the spots on the picture. But because of the darkness, the flash just wouldn't illuminate the waterfall.

 I was initially not going to crawl in because of my fear of small places, but yet, I really wanted to see the waterfall again (I crawled in here over 35 years ago). Nancy, who is next to me, egged me on, and together we crawled back to the cave. Thanks Nancy. I never would have done it without your encouragement.

 

Here are the 7 of us who crawled inside.