Little Bluff Cabin cam February 28 - breakfasst on the prairie next door (clear, warm, and calm at dawn) - HAPPY TUESDAY TO YOU! 8pm update - it's still FEBRUARY and the temp is 70 degrees tonight!

Journal updated on the 21st and 22nd

• March 11, 2023, 1pm at the Ouachita Center in Mena (UofA Rich Mtn.) - Free and open to the public.

• I'll be on hand beginning about 12:15 selling a selection of Black Mat Prints ($60) and a limited supply of both the picture books (Arkansas Nightscapes and Rare Quality of Light - $30 each). Credit cards accepted, but there's a discount for check or cash (preferred).

• This will be a double-feature, and I'll be showing both the ARKANSAS NIGHTSCAPES and RARE QUALITY OF LIGHT slide programs - these are my two most requested programs. Q&A following, with a total program time of about 90 minutes (including Q&A).

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Our CANVAS GALLERY is available for appointments most anytime - click for info.

02/21/23 Yesterday my lovely bride and I finally realized a dream we’ve had for nearly 20 years - to ride our trikes on the Katy Trail in Missouri! It wasn’t easy, nor cheap, but we finally managed to get some tires on the trail. This is the longest rail-to-trail project in the United States (more than 200 miles), and runs from Clinton, Missouri to near St. Louis following the abandoned Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail line (MKT, or Katy - though I’m not sure how they got Katy our of MKT).

Neither of us can ride a normal bike (bad bikes), so we have a pair of recumbent tricycles, plus a trailer we tow the pups in. Seems like I can never do anything simple, and oh my goodness you should see all the stuff we’ve put together just so we can go ride our bikes/trikes! Great exercise, nice scenery, and a lot of history along the way.

This was just a shake-down trip for us to see if we’d be able to manage everything. We drove up to the beginning trailhead at Clinton, Missouri, and were a little surprised to find out we were all loaded up and ready to roll in less than an hour - yippie! It was a nice sunny day with temps in the 50’s and not much bike traffic on the trail - in fact no traffic at all, other than a hiker and dog or two. The trail is generally flat - or IS it? (not really) Well, at least there are no steep grades, which was a good thing because I struggled a bit with my bad knees and about 140 pounds of pups and other stuff in the trailer.

Pam on the other hand did really well, and I spent most of my time looking at her behind since I was behind her all the way! Which lead to what’s perhaps the best biking gadget we’ve bought into - there’s a communication system built into our helmets - we have open mics and are able to carry on a normal conversation with each other even though we may by hundreds of yards apart. This turned out to be GREAT!

The trail generally ran across lowlands of fields and farmlands, often next to a highway, and frequently through a tunnel of trees. Quite pleasant all the way. After a few miles we turned around and rode back to the trailhead, then off to find some PIZZA for dinner! (just a slice of Casey’s pizza - they seem to be everywhere in this part of Missouri - and we love Casey’s pizza)

The Community Center in Clinton allows bikers to park or camp in their parking lot (or at the fairgrounds next door), which is where we spent the night. Needing to walk off some of that slice of pizza, at sunset I took the pups on a long, rambling hike through fields of waist-high broomsedge grass - which they LOVED! Me too. Only problem was that Wilson kept stopping to roll over and rub his back - with the biggest grin on his face - that boy loves to roll in tall grass!

Next morning we drove on over to Windsor and rode another section of the Katy Trail. Only took us 29 minutes to get all loaded up and on the trail this time - gettin’ getter! We probably could have done that quicker but we had to stop frequently to wave and watch Amish/Mennonite buggies go by.

Temp was OK but the crosswinds were really STRONG! And this section of the trail was not as hard-packed as the previous day’s was, so our wide-body recumbent buggies bogged down a bit, making progress slower. Once again Pam took and kept the lead and I followed as best I could. More nice countryside all along the way, including a line of what we later learned were original telegraph poles - they have mostly been covered up with trees and other vegetation, but it was nice to have them alongside for company.

We saw a couple of bikers, and several hikers - almost all of them with dogs. Our pups have never learned how to behave around others, so passing one is always a chore, and rather loud. We managed to rig up a more-open trailer ride for them though and I think they enjoyed the day a little more (we’re trying to stop at least once an hour to get them out of the trailer to walk, which it turns out is also good for our ailing knees).

Soon we headed back, packed up, walked over to the Casey’s next door to the trailhead for another slice of pizza, then headed home. FYI, there seemed to be a constant line of those Amish/Mennonite buggies stopping there also - and we wondered if they liked the pizza too!

Our first visit to the Katy went well and we’re hoping for many more to come!

Our camper van - our trikes and the pup's trailer are inside the trailer

Sorry, but I didn't get any photos of the pizza...

02/22/23 Even though we got more than a half inch of rain this morning, when I checked the Buffalo River water flow gauge at Ponca I discovered the level was low enough for me to safely wade across the river to see about taking a few pictures of Roark Bluff.

Only problem was, I started to cross at the wrong place - should have gone just a little bit downstream and then angled across just above the edge of whitewater. One of my “Angela” boots was flooded with river after only two or three steps. But that didn’t matter - I had good light on the bluffs and a beautiful Buffalo River before me.

I spent the next hour taking pictures (I figured maybe 20 minutes tops for this trip) - even though I’ve photographed this bluff literally hundreds of times over the past 40 years, I continue to be drawn to it - and in fact have never taken pictures from this vantage point across the river before - so there’s still a lot more pictures to take!

I also got to measure the spot where Roark Bluff Falls pours over the bluff - at 186’ it’s the second tallest waterfall in Arkansas, and indeed mid-America (only flows at flood stage, but when it does, it’s pretty nice).

As the last rays of sunshine swept across the bluff I packed up and started to wade back (this time in the correct-depth water). Oops, there was just one more nice scene from out there in the middle of the river. Then two, three, four - well heck I spent the next 30 minutes standing in the middle of the river taking pictures in all directions!

The sun was long gone by the time I finally made it across, then I spent another ten minutes taking just one more shot. OK, so I took about 40 more, but who is counting When I finally packed up the gear for good, I just stood there, gazing in awe at the incredible spot. I recon I’ll be back again.

Kind of funny, to get to this section of the river I had to sliver down a steep rocky section of the bank, but when I headed out I opted to hike downstream a bit where the hill was more gentle. It was, but then I ended up in the middle of a thick stand of river cane - much of it had been bent over and all tangled. Getting darker with each struggling step, I finally broke out into the open field, and there was my van, shining white in the twilight on the other side. Happy camper here!

 

02/27/23 It was a beautiful sunrise today - lots of weird light early but a delightful start to the day...