Adventures in Arkansas

Monday, Oct. 12, is Point 94.1 Dollar Day at the Arkansas State Fair. Admission is $1 per person. Parking is $1. Rides are $1 per ride. Now that is a pretty good deal. It does seem to rain a lot on Point 94.1 Dollar Day Mondays so keep your fingers crossed for a clear night. We have gone to the fair almost every year with my kids. This would be my parents, brother and sister-in-law, two nephews, my three kids – plus a few friends or two. It is great to have cell phones with groups this big to keep everyone in touch. Of course it is hard to hear a call there so keeping in touch with text messages is the easiest. As much as I love adventures in Arkansas, I really am not in to riding carnival rides but I do love going to the fair. Love the lights and PEOPLE watching. When I was a kid, I remember always going through the livestock barns and the Hall of Industry with my parents. Now the vendors at the Hall of Industry seem to be selling a lot of junk but there are some good spots in there. Take the kids by the Arkansas Game and Fish area. They will have their big aquarium set up. It is filled with all sorts of fish from the lakes, river and streams of Arkansas. Have you ever seen a Gar fish up close? Look for one in their area. YIKES! I also like to stop by the Arkansas Parks and Tourism booth too. They have some great guide books to events and areas of our great state. The Arkansas State Police usually have a booth there too. Little kids seem to love talking to the policemen in their uniforms. They usually hand out stickers too.

Fair food – need I say more? There is so yummy stuff there. Stuff that is best eaten in small portions and only once a year. I’m not in to getting the crazy friend food such as the new fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwich. Yeah – someone else can try that and report back.

Tags: adventures in arkansas, Arkansas State Fair, Fair food, fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwich, Little Rock, Point 94.1, point941.com

The Buffalo National River is famous for the many old barns and homesteads contained within its boundaries.  And if you travel to the put-in at Erbie, you can find several old barns and an farmhouse, including one of oldest structures to be found along the river.

The Parker-Hickman Farmstead contains a two-story farmhouse, which the National Park Service says was built in the late 1830s.  Surrounding the house are several old buildings, including a few barns and an outhouse.  The buildings are all well-preserved, and the Park Service has warmly invited all of us to go in and explore the inside of the farmhouse.  In some rooms you can find layers of old magazines and newspapers on the walls, which were used in the olden-days as a form of insulation.

To reach Erbie, drive up Hwy. 7 past Jasper.  There will be a dirt road that takes off to the west (there is a sign), about a few miles north of Jasper.  Follow this dirt road for about ten miles.  It will go past a river-access and the Erbie campground, but continue on until you reach the farmstead.  It’s an interesting spot to explore, and a great reminder to a quickly disappearing piece of our history.

Tags: Barns, Buffalo National River, History, Ozark mountains

Richard Johnston

Originally uploaded by {waynette}

Check out their site for details of the line up for this year. I do know that the festival is charging for the show now. ((by the way – their site stinks))  I’ve gone several years to the festival. I love the bands playing on the side streets in downtown Helena. Bring some money for parking and the gate admission and a little more for some good food. Hey – there is a very clean restroom for the public at the great blues museum downtown (hint – no icky festival porta potty). If you don’t have a room already reserved or know someone to stay with – then you are out of luck in staying in town tomorrow night.

Do you love to bring a camera with you when hiking? A small pocket camera, maybe your iphone camera, a dsl camera with a bag full of lenses and filters? It is very hard for me to only carry one camera when hiking. I usually use all of the above. Why? I’m a dork, probably. But I love to remember the places I have hiked to and go through them later. Some images are keepers and beautiful and some are just snapshots. Would you like to know how to shoot nature photography better – even with a point and shoot pocket camera? Arkansas nature photographer, Tim Ernst, has some great workshops lined up for this fall. I attended a weekend workshop several years ago and I am tempted to take another one. (click the link above for info on workshops)

Tim Ernst at Cloudland

On my recent trip to the Buffalo Region area of the Ozark mountains – I planned a visit to Ernst’s Buffalo River Gallery. I got to see giant canvas gallery-wrapped pieces of art from Ernst’s photography. I was lucky enough to see the workshop too. When I left I told Ernst that he was blessed. Blessed because of his talent. Blessed because of his family. Blessed because he is living in a beautiful area of our state. Blessed because of his beautiful view from Cloudland cabin.

I love to explore and use his guide books to find some of my adventures in Arkansas. Buy the books, then keep them in your car so they are never too far from your fingers when you are out driving. I own the (click on the book names to read more about each book) Arkansas Nature Lovers Guidebook, Arkansas Hiking Trails, Buffalo River Hiking Trails, Arkansas Dayhikes for Kids & Families, Swimming Holes of the Ozarks, Ozark Wildflower Guidebook, Buffalo River Handbook (plus the topo map that goes with this) and Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook.

Tags: adventures in arkanas, guidebooks of arkansas, hiking, nature, photography workshops, Tim Ernst, waterfalls, waynette traub

This waterfall is in the Buffalo Region of the Ozark mountains. It is easy to find but it is a slow steep ride down to Camp Orr to see the falls. From Jasper, go west on HWY 74, take a right turn at the Camp Orr Boy Scout sign. Follow the steep dirt road down to the bottom of the valley. You don’t need a 4 wheel drive car/truck to drive this but it would be helpful to have something that can slip in to low gear. This area is another no cell phone coverage area of the Buffalo Region (although there are very wide pull over spots on  HWY 74 that you can get a few bars of connection on your phone if you need to check messages or send a text)

So at the bottom of the steep road is the sign for Twin Falls – yes it is called Twin and Triple Falls – yet the sign says TWIN FALLS. It is a very short and easy hike to see another beautiful waterfall in the Buffalo River region. At high water flow you can see triple falls but most times I have gone there were only two flowing. The water was a beautiful emerald green when I photographed the falls last week. The high mineral concentration in the water reflect the color from the sky – thus the emerald green waters. If you want to get some cool photos of these falls, crop out the very top of the falls that show the sky. To expose the image with a long shutter speed, you need a tripod. I set my camera to a timer too. This makes it easy to click – wait – then the camera shoots. This way you will have no movement when you click.

Tags: adventures in arkansas, buffalo river region, explore Arkansas, hike arkansas, Triple Falls/Camp Orr (Twin Falls), waterfall, waynette photography

Country cooking from the friendly owner Willa Kerby.  I had a roastbeef sandwich, a Mexican Corn Salad and a wedge of something sweet with pecans in it. OK – I don’t bake much and I forgot the name of it. And no it was not pecan pie – it was like a pecan pie bar.

This shop and cafe was filled with antiques, bargain shopping for foods plus a good lunch too. The lunch special on the Wednesday I visited was lasagna and a eggplant parmesan dish. I saw the plates of the special and it did look good but I was hungry for a sandwich. Next time I visit – I will try the special.

Map to the Country Rooster

Tags: country rooster green forest AR, waynette photography, willa kerby

I had met the Osage Clayworks artist, Newt, several times at the Arkansas Craft Guild show. This is a fabulous Arkansas craft show held in Little Rock around the first weekend of December. Keep your eye for this show because it showcases talented Arkansas artist. Pottery, photography, jewelry, delicious treats, yummy smelling soaps… So every year, I buy a piece or two from Osage Clayworks at the show. And every year they tell me “if you are in the area, please stop by.” So I made a point to drive to Osage this past week when I was driving from Ponca to Eureka Springs. I met Newt and got the grand tour of his historic building in  Osage, AR on HWY 103.

The pottery is wonderful here. I bought my dad a great coffee mug from them last year for a Christmas gift. I bought a huge mug for myself this trip plus a Christmas tree ornament. Newt has dinner ware that would look great in a rustic cabin or something fun in an eclectic home.  He is a very friend fellow to chat with at the store if you visit. He showed me some of the things he inherited when he purchased the building. One was a store credit book with each family’s name listed, then their purchases and how they paid. Boy – living was much cheaper back then but I also saw that some people would get paid $1 for a days wages. OK OK – it was cheaper to live back then but life was a lot harder too.

Newt at Osage Pottery

Ledger from the old general store

Osage Clayworks

Map to Osage Clayworks

Tags: Newt, Osage Clayworks, pottery Arkansas, waynette photography

A small but pretty camping area. The water at the Haw Creek Falls was more than I imagined for this time of year in Arkansas but I was really hoping to see more water since we had just had several weeks of nonstop rain. I had been told before my trip to the Ozarks that the falls were already running low and to be prepared for trickles of water instead of rushing water. The drive to this camping area and waterfall is beautiful on HWY 123. I was driving from HWY 7 so I got to see the Big Piney Creek steel bridge not far from this camping area. This camping area would be nice to spend a few days at with family and friends. Hiking, beautiful scenery, waterfalls. What else can you ask for? This campground is no cell coverage – so know that you will be unplugged from calls, emails and text when you are staying here.

Map to campground and falls.

Info on the camp grounds

Tags: adventures in arkansas, camping in arkansas, Ozark mountains, waynette

Originally uploaded by {waynette}

Located on HWY 123, this historic concrete and steel one lane bridge is beautiful. It was built in 1931. I saw the bridge for the first time this week while driving to Haw Creek Falls.

 Map of bridge

Tags: adventures in arkansas, canoe Big Piney Creek, Ozark mountains, waynette

Originally uploaded by {waynette}
I hiked to Kings River Falls this week. The place is easy to find and the hike is very easy plus very pretty. This is a great hike for kids. A small stream runs next to the trail for almost the entire time until you reach the Kings River. It was low enough that I could wander in and out of stream with no problem. When I finally made it to the falls – it was sweet. I got to see some beautiful mountain blue water making two big falls and one small one.

While you are hiking to the falls, keep your eye out for portions of an old rock wall. In the distant field, there is an old barn and farmhouse – plus a family cemetery plot. That area is private land – so only look from the trail.

Directions to the falls: From the community of Boston on State Highway 16 (between Fallsville and St. Paul), go north on County Road 3175 (dirt) for 2.1 miles; stay right as the road forks onto County Road 3415. Stay on this road for 2.3 miles until you come to a “T” intersection with County Road 3500. Turn left, and go across the creek and park along side of County Road 3500. The trail head starts at this parking area and it is clearly marked the entire way to the falls.

Map to drive to the trail head.

 More info on the area.

Tags: adventures in arkansas, camping in arkansas, explore Arkansas, hiking, Ozark mountains, waynette