Little Bluff Cabin cam February 29 - still below freezing this morning but the wind has died down so not quite as quick of a pace needed to hike to work to stay warm. HAPPY LEAP DAY THURSDAY TO YOU!

Canvas Gallery will be open this coming weekend for walk-ins, Sat-Sun, March 2 & 3, 9-5, and other days by appointment anytime - click here for info and directions.

Journal updated February 18th

Print Of The Week Special "A" (above) - click here

02/01/24 My dad was born 111 years ago today. I began his day working with a camera at midnight, taking pictures of an old cabin next to a pond with a sky filled with a zillion stars - probably one of them was him looking down with amusement (I didn’t get home until after 2am)! He often worked long hours, weekends, and holidays, but seemed to always have time for us.

A couple of days ago we had lunch with my sister, which brought up a bit of family history. My dad was from St. Louis - a star athlete there in several sports (one which led him to an invite to be on the USA Olympic Team). I’ve always heard the tale about how Judy Garland once came to their house, but I just learned more of the details. The house my dad’s family lived in during the 1940’s was the house made famous by the novel “Meet Me In Saint Louis.” His parents were living at 5135 Kensington, which was the address of the fictional family home in the film (the movie version of the house was MUCH grander). My parents (living in Springfield, MO at the time) were visiting home for Thanksgiving in 1944 when a group knocked on the door - turned out to be none other than Judy Garland - who was in town for the premiere of the movie MEET ME IN ST LOUIS - she wanted to see the house the book and movie were based on. It had been reported that a “pregnant lady” was at home and gave them a tour of the house. Turns out that was my mom, and she was carrying my sister - who was born a few months later in 1945. I only visited the actual house once - my brother salvaged a brick from the house that we have when it was being torn down.

Yesterday I didn’t get home until after 4am - was out taking pictures again most of the night. It began by meeting up with a friend whose camera system I’ve borrowed this past year. We set up and shot images of a moonlit historic Boxley Baptist Church glowing white out of the darkness. Later I packed up and headed to Lost Valley and hiked a mile on in hoping to photograph Eden Falls in the moonlight. When I started my hike the waterfall was still in darkness, but by the time I got to it the almost-full moon was shining brightly on it - perfect! I set up and spent the next couple of hours trying to get a good shot - the waterfall was absolutely radiant in the moonlight - but the camera could never do it justice. None the less it was wonderful just being there to witness.

Once the bluffs and boulders around the waterfall were all lit up by the moon I packed up and headed back for the quick 20-minute hike (almost all downhill) back to the trailhead. The moon was so bright that I didn’t even need my headlamp so I turned it off. Oh my did the forest come ALIVE when I did that! The trail is wide and mostly level, winding through a forest of mature trees of all shapes and sizes. The moon was high and off to my right, and the trail was covered with shadows of naked trees - making the path a myriad of endless patterns. But lots of other trees were glowing orange with dried leaves still clinging from a colorful fall - young beech trees lined the trail on both sides.

No way I could ever even begin to capture with a camera the feeling of hiking through this magical scene, but at one bend in the trail I just had to stop, backup, and get my camera out. I spent about 30 minutes shooting the light, shadows, and color of this spot - where the trail turned away from a bench where untold numbers of folks paused on their journey to and from the waterfall. I know it sounds odd to be out in the middle of the night hiking, but I can highly recommend it - especially on a trail like this one that’s so wide and easy to follow. It’s probably a trail my dad would have loved - HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP!

02/08/24 It was still dark when I headed out the door a couple of days ago. I suited up and hit the trail just as dawn began to happen. It would be all downhill for a full mile to a spot I wanted to take a quick look at - the Eye Of The Needle. Actually I just needed to get a GPS fix on a particular spot before reaching the Eye, but just in case, I brought along a lightweight camera setup.

The morning was cool but not cold, air still refreshing, and the ground underfoot soft and easy to follow. I soon reached the top of Hammerschmidt Falls, stepped across the creek that feeds it, and continued on along an old horse trail that’s almost faded away. Hammerschmidt was thundering as I passed (most folks hike around and down to it on the opposite side of the canyon), but I had not planned to take any shots there so just gave a nod and kept going.

Nor far beyond, the old horse trail left the top of the bluff and headed STEEPLY downhill, weaving back and forth along the slippery slope. (THIS was the point a couple of weeks ago where I got “cold feet” and turned back when the trail was covered with ice and snow). Down, down, down it went, eventually landing on one of the many “bench” roads in the area below. This old road has been a horse trail for decades now, although a landslide took out a large chunk of the road where it crosses Indian Creek and so horses almost never use it now.

While it was out of sight, I could clear hear Indian Creek running wild and free - VERY steep terrain makes for spectacular scenes of whitewater tumbling over boulders, and I knew there were a hundred spots I probably should have gone over to investigate and take pictures of. But my target was along the old road, and just ahead.

Someone had put up orange flagging tape on a few trees at the point where you can turn off the road/trail for access to the bottom of the Eye - that turnoff was what I needed to pause for a few minutes to get a good GPS fix on. (it takes a little while to get a very accurate signal) By this time they sky above was all lit up by the approaching sunrise, yet the surrounding forest would remain in deep shadow on this side of the canyon. This was all part of the Ponca Wilderness that was set aside by the National Park Service back in the 1970’s as part of Buffalo National River. No vehicle traffic in the area since then. I stood and soaked it all in - the solitude, the silence, the stark beauty.

I’d only been on the trail for about 30 minutes, so after getting the GPS coordinates I decided to go ahead and continue my trip down to the Eye - just to see if there was any water flowing (been a long time since there has been). Normal access to the Eye is either the long route from Kyles Landing miles below, or from the same spot I started at, but following in the creek the entire way down to near the Eye - both of those routes are difficult and dangerous, though quite scenic - in fact some of the most spectacular scenery in all of the midwest. But those routes can get clogged with hikers and flip flops (many of them unprepared for a long and difficult day in the canyon), and are much longer than the “shortcut” I’ve figured out a couple of years ago.

It had been a year since I’d been to the Eye, and oh my goodness, it seemed my aging body had picked up speed in that process since then - it was a YIKES moment almost each and every step down! This is the sort of slope that is SO steep that you really can’t really stand up - literally. You have to almost constantly have a hold of a rock or sapling or something, otherwise gravity will force you DOWNHILL, which could easily get out of control. So I spent much of my time on my butt, grabbing out and holding on for dear lift a few times. Took me ten minutes to reach the bottom, with a big SIGH OF RELIEF!

The Eye was running well with clear, pristine water. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to get a good shot. Funny thing about this part of Indian Creek. The entire drainage can be at flood stage - like it was just weekend before last - yet the Eye (which is part of the creek) can still be dry. Somewhere just above the top of the Eye the creek drops out of sight into a deep cavern - and eventually exits at Arkansas Cave several hundreds yards downstream. That cavern needs to be not only full but overflowing before the Eye will flow. And when it hits this level the Eye will usually flow for a while - until the water level in the cave drops below the top of the Eye, then the Eye will fall silent again until a series of rainfall events fills it all up again - once or twice a year maybe, for a day or a week or a month at a time.

There ya go - much more than you ever wanted to know!

Eye of the Needle, 59' tall (just the falls - the top is 120' high

Turns out there is a group of folks who “run” the Indian Creek Canyon several times a year (on foot). That’s right - runners use what has been called the most difficult and dangerous hike in Arkansas - as just another challenging section of a long run, and of course love every mile of it! Several weeks ago as I was comparing notes with a couple of these folks, I learned there is another quick access point to the Eye they sometimes use to run up and out to loop back. I’d been up this very spot a year ago (while waiting at the Eye for the sun to move into the right position), but never knew until hearing it from them if it was possible to get completely out of the canyon that way.

So guess what - I decided to have a look at that route for my return trip - and son of a gun, not only did it WORK, it was actually an easier, less dangerous exit (though still very steep and difficult), and soon I was standing back on the same bench road/horse trail, but on the opposite side of the canyon - I was a HAPPY CAMPER! While I don’t mind climbing back UP and out the previous route, I’m not a fan of the more dangerous slide DOWN into the canyon. In the future I will probably go down the new route and back out the old route

Another bonus to this new route for me is that it passes by one of my most favorite waterfalls in the Buffalo River watershed - it’s just barely in sight from the trail - Evangeline Archer Falls. So I had to make a detour.

Each time I visit this waterfall I find she has a different personality, and a new composition immediately comes into view. That was the case this day, and I ended up perched on a steep sidehill looking through some mossy trees to the beautiful, silky falls. THIS was worth the trip alone.

I hated to leave, but knew it might not be my last photo stop as I would work my way on up Indian Creek a ways further before turning away to make the final climb out of the canyon, around Hammerschmidt Falls. And I did stop a time or two - so many lush scenes with the boulder-strewn creek bed filled with the brilliant green of moss and pure, clean white water. Never enough time in this place!!! It’s a tough canyon to be in - any step has the potential to snap an ankle, or trip you up and hit your head on one of those mossy boulders (I always wear my bike helmet just in case). So caution is required always.

Twenty minutes later I was back at the van and on my way home. This was a successful trip for me, not only for the new intel and photos, but also realizing that I’ve grown at least a year OLDER than my last trip to the Eye - my bones and muscles were screaming! I’ve been spending way too much time sitting right here at my desk rather than being out in the woods looking for new scenes and routes, and chasing ladies in the mist...

02/9/24 Here's one of my favorite trees in the yard - a maple I think. SO much contrast, detail, and character. I sat and watched lots of lightning before dawn today - looked at the radar and saw a line of t-storms with lots of red and orange - the storms were south of Little Rock - 100 miles away?

02/10/24 Here's one of the first heirloom daffodils near the tiny historical homesite here is testing the atmosphere to see if it is time to BLOOM yet. I sat down and had a little chat with this young lady on my way to work today and tried to impress upon her to wait another week - SNOW and freezinig temps are on the way

02/14/24 This photo below was my view coming home to our cabin at dawn today after being out much of the night taking star photos (my cameras got covered with heavy frost).

02/17/24 21 degrees at dawn but these heirloom daffodils don't mind a cool morning and are beaming joy to the world and happy to still be alive - these are probably 100 years old. (Oops I just noticed Wilson's feet!)

02/18/24 It was a chilly 21 degrees when I stepped outside a few minutes later and oh my goodness - it was FRIGID out there with high winds bringing the wind chill down below zero. Good thing I was prepared for it with four warm layers on. Normally I would just then begin to set up my photo gear for what would be a short shooting session - stars begin to fade away about 90 minutes before sunrise. But knowing how LONG it seems to take me to do anything these days, I’d spent an hour last night setting up two tripods, star-tracking hardware, and other associated equipment that would allow me to use two different cameras for this first-of-the-season chance at the Milky Way. I even staked down one of the rigs to the ground in case of high winds - YEA for that one!

Somehow - and I had no idea how this could have happened - everything WORKED! The sky was perfectly clear - not a cloud or smoke anywhere in sight - it was a spectacular CLEAR and cold night, just want I needed. Even with all of my advance preparation, and the fact that I was set up in the back yard and only had to walk about 200 feet to reach the camera gear, it still took me until 4:10 before I took the first shot. AND there it was - the “Galactic Center” of our own Milky Way galaxy just beginning to rise above the distant mountains.

Of course, it had to rise out of a MAJOR light dome beaming brightly up from the Arkansas River Valley (40-50 miles away?). That was expected, although I’d hoped that most folks down there would still be asleep and not as many lights on, but the population continues to increase, like in most places.

I spent the next hour and 20 minutes working with both camera setups trying to get a good shot, or rather as many as I could. It’s been a while since I’ve done all of this and as always I’m using some new gear and techniques and ways of doing things - my photo life continues to be a learning experience each time I turn a camera on, and that will probably never change.

At 5:30 as the stars began to fade away I ceased shooting and started to take down and pack up all my gear, returned to the couch in the cabin for another half cup of Iceland java, and counted a few more cars down below heading out to work. Then I crawled in bed and took a much-needed 15-minute nap before heading up to the gallery to work. I LOVE being out in the darkness, especially on clear nights. If I ever get a good shot out of it that’s just a bonus. I’ve included one of the first shots from this morning just to give you and idea what I was looking at.