We headed south to the Ozark Cultural Center in Mountain View, Arkansas. We visited the Craft Village since we couldn't get tickets into the sold out Bluegrass Festival for the day. This is a wall of bricks surrounding the outdoor kiln at the pottery cottage. I thought they looked neat.
One of the old cottages in the village. My favorite store was the broom makers. The old ways of doing/making things are alive in this village, but many of the crafts and skills are dying. These folks are trying to pass along the skills for things like paper making, apothecary, printing, weaving, quilting, woodworking, pottery, leather tooling, blacksmithing, knife making and forging, toy making, herbal gardening, and such.
We got tickets to the last day of this bluegrass festival. The performers were generally clad in jeans and overalls, t-shirts or plaid shirts. No Hollywood attire here. Instruments were the guitar, mandolin, fiddle, bass, and banjo only. No drums or pianos. We had a good time and got a few laughs from the performers, but a full day of bluegrass music was enough. Still, folks gather at local shops for impromptu pickin' any day around here.
This is Kody Norris, one of the performers, in one of his unique, outlandish, and colorful outfits.
A far cry from the jeans and overalls of others on the stage.
We went to Blanchard Caverns and took a walk along the water to Mirror Lake. This great blue heron kept a wary eye on us as we walked past.
The falls at the end of Mirror Lake. There were also some ruins from a mill along the downstream trail.
The water was so clear almost everywhere we went.
Looking through the water as is flows over the bedrock at Blanchard Caverns Rec Area. The cracks in the rock made for some interesting lines underwater.
Mid-November and we were still seeing bright fall colors, like this tree along the riverbed at Blanchard.
Blanchard Cavern
The pretty color of the water tells me it comes from a spring. This one is Gunner's Pool, not far beyond Blanchard Caverns along a dirt road.
Our YOLO van crossing a one-lane bridge beyond Gunner's Pool, to head up to a dirt road turnoff for the night.
I think these purple beautyberries are so cool looking!
A broken tree trunk, shattered by a break. Had to be quite the wind to leave this behind.
Some pretty pieces of chert I found along the dirt road near the Buffalo River.
Karen capturing some water from the falls above on one of our hikes to Indian Rock House.
An opening in the ceiling at one end of the Indian Rock House, a giant cave we hiked to. It was easy to see why Native Americans used this cave for shelter as it was roomy and had a creek flowing through it.
The surrounding area had lots of smaller caves, too.
The back wall of the cave showed interesting erosion patterns.
A view from one side of the cave opening to the other. That's Jason reading the sign about the cave. The creek would be behind me.
Karen in front of an unusual rock structure in the middle of the cave.
The water has worn a smooth gulley through the rock along the waterway we followed on our hike beyond the Indian Rock House.
A sweet gum leaf, such a pretty starburst of color.
Pretty leaves floating along the waters of a creek along the way. The rock in the riverbed has been smoothed by years of erosion.
The layers of rock are quite evident here. This was a quarry for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) back in the 1930's. Fossils can be found between the layers around here.
An overlook in the Buffalo River Campground. We could see tire tracks from vehicles that had driven along the gravel beds along the sides of the river.
The Buffalo River Campground was now free from fees, as the season was pretty much over. They still had one working water pump so we had access to water for drinking and showers. It was warm enough to take an outdoor shower, but the water itself was so cold it made my head hurt when I washed my hair in it.
More hedge apples/osage oranges along our hike.
Red oak leaves added a nice splash of color.
A rock retaining wall in the Buffalo River Campground. I like the rounded rocks just stacked on one another, no mortar required. Simple, yet strong.
Looking along the cliff above the Buffalo River at the Buffalo Point campground.
The Buffalo River is a National River and is one of the few rivers left undammed in our country. The high grey sandstone bluffs provide a dramatic backdrop to this popular canoeing river. This part of the bluff is along Tyler Bend. We stayed at quite a few of the campgrounds along this river.
Strange scrawling marks on a rock. I don't think they are petroglyphs, but they look unusual.
Interesting growth of mushrooms/fungi on this log; they looked almost blue.
Looking down the Buffalo National River from a cliff overhang.
We hiked to the Sod Collier Homestead, dating back to the mid-1800's. This was their smokehouse.
The main home at the Sod Collier homestead, up on the bluff top.
A covered well at the homestead, an unusual bulging shape.
The front porch was covered in leaves, but the home was open so we could wander through it.
The fireplace in the main room inside the homestead.
The walls and ceiling were plastered with old newspaper. You can still recognize a few of the ads for brands that we still use and know today.
The ceiling in the cabin was covered with squares of wallpaper that must've come from an old sample book as no two pieces were the same.
On the hike back to the campground, we found a bird's nest that had been blown out of the tree.
Some interesting pieces of chert from the area. I especially liked the blue veins in some of the rocks here.
More colorful chert pieces.
A probable fossil in a rock along the road or path we hiked.
The conchoidal chips along the edge of this rock made me think it might've been worked by a native to be used as a tool. More likely, it's a rock that has been chipped over the years by other rocks banging against it along the riverbed, but it fit nicely into the hand.
Cold temps overnight created these icy growths on a certain kind of weed along the edges of the road. The frosty growth seemed to grow from the ground up, along the stems of this one type of plant. From a distance, it looked like cotton or trash that had been blown into the weeds.
But up close, it was very delicate strands of frost, layered into a silky- looking cocoon that looked like angel hair. We named them 'weed-sicles' since they reminded us of Pop-Sicles on a stick.
The bluff along the Buffalo River at Hasty Canoe Launch site.
We stayed at many of the sites (more than half) all along this river in the Ozarks across northern Arkansas. It was a pretty amazing area.
I chipped off a piece of chert and got a sharp-edged rock that I used to scrape the bark off my walking stick and smooth the wood under it. The wood had winding wormholes in squiggly tracks all along it.
This perforated leaf caught my eye while I relaxed in the sun. Jason had taken a long walk and found a local working on an old SUV. He started up a conversation and ended up helping him until dusk.
We saw a turtle come up to look at us as we walked along the river here. You can see where the big chunk fell off the face of the bluff and landed next to the water.
While Jason was napping, I walked along a river path and saw what I thought was a wooden bow, like from a bow and arrow. It was caught on some rocks on a gravel bank and I would have to wade cross some water to get it. Seemed like a treasure waiting to be gathered, but I wouldn't try to cross the stream without someone there to back me up. When Jason awoke, we came back, I changed to 'river crossing clothes' and waded across and get the bow. Only it was just a long stick someone had cut and peeled, not a bow. Leaves that had caught on the middle of the stick had looked like hand hold leather. Nope, it was just a stick, so I got wet for nothing. At least the water wasn't that cold.
You can see the layers of bedrock in the river here at the Erbie camp ground, another site along the Buffalo River.
We hiked from the Erbie Campground to the Parker Hickman Homestead, another remnant from the 1800's. Amazing that the buildings are still standing.
The screen door still had screen in it.
Those are some huge, heavy blocks of stone that make up the chimney. Jason wondered how they ever moved them into place.
Looking at the wall construction from the inside of the cabin.
The door handle was an old wooden thread spool with a nail through it.
A little lean over time....and not much left of the yellow paint.
A tin of some chemical and an old leather patch still sit on a shelf in the barn.
Wood and log construction of the main barn, still standing since the mid 1800's.
More weed-sicles. These form overnight in the cold weather, but melted during the day in this warm autumn weather. It's difficult to capture the feathery frost features, but they are an amazing formation, I think.
The view of the river from the Parker Hickman homestead land on the bluff.
Stopped at an Elk Information Center, but it was closed. However the grounds had some activity sites for kids and this tic-tac-toe set of painted rocks was one of them. We got some water from here and moved on to a camp site at Ozark Campground.
Roark Bluff at Steel Creek Horse Camp.
The striations drip down the rock faces and discolors it. When a chunk breaks off, you see the lighter rock.
What a decorative backdrop for this stretch of the Buffalo River.
Walking along the rocky shores of the river. There were gravel/rock/sand bars all along the river and some folks said they'd never seen the water so low.
A family out for a day ride at Steel Creek Horse Camp. Their mounts included a mule, too.
Textured rock surface along a hike to a big cave and waterfall in Hidden Valley.
Fossils of some plant or animal captured in the rock
There was a cave with a stream running through it. We hopped the creek and got far enough into the cave that we needed a light to continue. The small tunnel required crawling and our hands were already full of a walking stick and phone, so we turned back. This was Jason jumping across the stream.
Looking back out of the cave.
A selfie on the trail to the Hidden Valley.
This Cave Mountain Cemetery had more flowers than any other we'd seen. And the folks down south are big into their cemeteries. We met a mortician who'd been in the business for over 40 years and he pointed out a headstone he remembered bringing up here in 1986. He was a fun character to talk to.
After climbing steeply up the worst road we'd been on so far, we reached the trailhead for Whittaker Peak/Hawksbill Crag, supposedly the most photographed point in Arkansas. We kept one step ahead of the undertaker on our trip down, figuring we'd stay ahead of death.
Karen out on one of the rocky outcrops near the Hawksbill Crag. It was a rugged 45-minute hike down and an hour back up.
Look closely and you can see people standing on the rocky overhang that is known as Hawksbill Crag. At least one person a year steps too far and plummets to their death about 150 feet below.
Another view of the Hawksbill Crag.
Karen on the overhang of Hawksbill Crag. Jason wouldn't get anywhere near the edge here.
We had a great parking spot just across from the trailhead, and it was quite level. We didn't want to drive down that terrible road in the dark, so we decided to just camp here for the night. There was already a fire pit built, so we got out our wood and watched the folks coming and going up and down the trail. They were even starting at near dusk and returning in the dark. We met another van lifer couple and we stayed up til midnight telling stories.
We took a local rancher's advice and followed the road out the opposite direction and headed to a campground in Ozone. It was a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) settlement known as Camp Ozone. This pine tree next to our camp site oozed blue sap.
We hiked down the to hill the Ozark Highlands Trail and followed the steep trail for a while. We reached a burn site and I used my water to drown out a smoking smoldering log. A little further on, we spotted this tape between two trees and realized the fire was intentionally set as a fire control effort.
Along the trail, I gathered a pocketful of hickory nuts.
The hickory nuts and a huge oak leaf, bugger than my hand. I spent a long time bashing open the hickory nuts. They are hard and flavorful, much like black walnuts.
The Oark General Store, the oldest continuously run general store and cafe west of the Mississippi.
This grease vent makes me wonder if it has been ever been cleaned since the opening in 1890?? Dark grease is overflowing from the tub below the vent.
Lots of stickers displayed on the windows. The store was closed and the stickers were so neatly and precisely placed that I didn't want to disrupt the orderly display and didn't leave one of our stickers for them.
A iconic old store for sure.
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