THE
RIGHT PLACE, AT THE RIGHT TIME, AT THE WRONG TIME
I’ve
wanted to check out the Ozark Mountains in northwest Arkansas for years. Christy and I have talked about taking a
Spring Break trip there several times, but we’ve always ended up going in a different
direction. I’ve been traveling for work
for 12 years now, but only once have I been sent to Arkansas. That trip was in Little Rock, which is still
pretty far from the mountains. A couple
of weeks ago I got an assignment in Russellville. That town is northwest of Little Rock, along
the Arkansas River just outside of the Ozarks.
It was the perfect opportunity to check the area out. I wouldn’t have time for a lot of hiking, but
I could at least do a short hike or two and see if the area would be suitable
for a longer trip in the future.
I
messaged my friends Spencer and Stephanie for suggestions, as they were getting
ready to depart on a trip that would include the Ozarks. I didn’t have much time to research the area,
but I knew they had studied it extensively.
Spencer told me that they would be in the general area while I was
there. He suggested that we might be
able to meet up for a hike one evening.
That sounded great to me, as they are great company and a lot of fun to
hike with. I wasn’t sure if we’d be able
to pull it off, as they didn’t have firm plans for the two evenings that I’d be
there. We decided to play it by ear and
try to meet up if we could. If that
didn’t work out, I planned to do a short hike to Glory Hole Falls. That is a unique waterfall, where a creek freefalls through a natural opening into a
cave. The waterfall is visible from
above and below. However, since it was
late summer, I was afraid that it might not have any actual water flowing.
I
flew out on a Tuesday morning and got a message from Spencer when I arrived in
Little Rock. They were hoping to make it
to Petit Jean State Park that evening.
That park is only 45 minutes from Russellville, which was perfect for
me.
The
drive from Little Rock was boring, although the shiny red Ford Mustang Avis
gave me was fun to drive. When I reached
Russellville I pulled into a truck stop to grab a sandwich from Subway. I went into the restroom and there was a guy
at a urinal with his pants and underwear all the way down around his ankles. Welcome to Arkansas! I kid you not, it was literally Butters from
South Park:
https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/butters-at-the-urinal.gif?w=650&h=401
I
left work at 5 and got a message from Stephanie just as I got into the
car. They were running behind schedule,
and suggested that I meet them for a short hike to the Tea Table Rocks in the
mountains to the north. Coincidentally,
that area is quite close to Glory Hole Falls.
Her timing was perfect, as I was just getting ready to drive in the
opposite direction. I headed that way,
up into the mountains. I passed a couple
of overlooks and numerous signs for natural bridges, waterfalls, and other
points of interest. I arrived at the
trailhead shortly after they did. The
“trailhead” was actually a grassy old road that was gated after a short
distance. It was really great seeing
them, particularly in such an unexpected place.
They were really upbeat and seemed to be having a great time.
Originally
I thought about only messaging Spencer about my plans, and asking him to keep
it a secret from Stephanie. How funny
would it have been if I had just popped up in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas
during one of their hikes? Stephanie’s
reaction would’ve been hilarious, but I don’t think there is any way we could
have pulled it off.
We
did a little catching up while we were getting our gear together. They told me about the first few days of
their trip, which had been fantastic except for one bad experience with seed
ticks. They were hiking through tall
grass towards a campsite when they began itching like crazy. They stopped, and noticed that their ankles
were covered in tiny black bugs. They
ran out of there and spent a good bit of the evening trying to remove
them. Fortunately, they were able to get
them off and they found another place to camp.
While
Stephanie was telling this story I started to notice that the grass we were standing
in was really itchy. I’m very sensitive
to grass, and the vivid details of her story must have gotten to me. We hurried down the old road, relieved to
finally get out of that grass. The only
remaining challenge was the numerous spiderwebs
blocking the trail. My trekking pole and
a stick Spencer picked up saved us from eating numerous spiders.
We
reached an open, rocky cliff and stopped for a break. Our ankles were itchy, and Stephanie was the
first to notice that she was covered in more of the tiny black bugs. Gahhh! We spent the next few minutes scrubbing our
legs. I used a bit of water from my
bottle, but I still had a tough time removing them. They were almost impossible to see,
particularly since they were disguised by the dark hair on my legs. I’ll blame the infernal itching for the
stupidity that followed. I suppose
everyone occasionally does something dumb, but this was a doozy. I took off my t-shirt, soaked it, and
scrubbed my ankles vigorously. Ahh, finally some relief.
Stephanie then let me borrow some bug spray, which I used to coat my
ankles. Hopefully that would keep any
other tick larvae from hopping onto us.
I put my t-shirt back on and we resumed the hike.
Did
you just smack yourself in the forehead?
I did.
We
followed the line of cliffs out to another point. Below us was a deep narrow chasm. Just beyond was a pair of rock towers. There was no way Spencer or Stephanie could
pass them up. Stephanie backtracked a
bit, scrambled down, traversed the edge of the chasm, and made the short climb
up one of the towers. Spencer took a
more direct route and climbed the other tower.
I thought about joining them, as the scrambling didn’t appear to be
outside of my comfort zone. Ultimately I
decided that I’d rather stay put and get photos of them.
We
headed back by the same route. The map
suggested more cliffs and possibly even a waterfall in the opposite direction,
but it was getting dark and the waterfall would certainly have been dry. On the return we spotted a pair of glowing
eyes up in a tree. It turns out that
they belonged to a racoon. Once back at
the trailhead we dashed through the tall grass to our vehicles. Spencer and Stephanie followed me into
Russellville, and we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. It was our best option, mainly because it
seemed to be the only place open at 9:45.
Afterwards Spencer and Stephanie swung by my hotel to take showers, as
they really wanted to make sure that they got all of the ticks off.
The
ticks were miserable, but the overall experience was still worth it. I always enjoy hiking with Spencer and
Stephanie, and it was an honor to be a small part of their trip.
At
that time I thought my seed tick related suffering was
limited to itchy bites on my ankles. Boy
was I wrong. Despite thorough scrubbing
in the shower that evening, I didn’t get rid of them all. I woke up frequently due to tickling and
itching sensations on my legs, arms, back, and neck. At the time I thought it was just due to the
itching from the bites I’d already sustained, or my imagination. Now I know that I still had ticks on me. I’m not sure if they survived the shower, or
if they had gotten into my room on my clothes.
I’m sure there were lots of hitchhikers on my socks and t-shirt. Either way, I had more fresh bites the next
morning on my legs, chest, arms, and back.
I noticed some bugs on the bed sheets, too. They were tiny, like fine grains of
pepper.
That
evening I did another after-work hike.
Spencer and Stephanie had hiked at Petit Jean State Park that
morning. After they left, Stephanie
messaged me with some suggestions. That
was extremely helpful, as I had 4 or 5 possible hikes in mind, but I only had
time for one or two of them. She
recommended Bear Cave Rocks and Cedar Falls, so that is what I did. Her recommendations were excellent. The Bear Cave Rocks are sandstone cliffs with
narrow, twisting passages between them.
It reminded me of The Channels in southwest Virginia, though this area
isn’t quite as extensive. The loop hike
through there was short, but I took my time and got a lot of photos.
I
barely had time for the 2 mile round trip hike to
Cedar Falls. The descent from the
parking lot at the lodge was steep and rocky.
I crossed a bridge over Cedar Creek and followed the trail
upstream. It led to a large pool at the
base of the falls. The waterfall
freefalls into a sandstone amphitheater with impressive cliffs. The flow was thin, but it was better than
most waterfalls in the area, which were dry.
Apparently there is a lake upstream that regulates the flow of Cedar
Creek.
The
damage from my tick bites peaked on Thursday.
My ankles had so many bites you couldn’t tell where one stopped and the
next one began. They were swollen, too,
probably due to an allergic reaction to the bites. I had bites up my legs and on my chest, arms,
back, and neck, too. Luckily those bites
were more spread out. It was impossible
to count, but I easily had hundreds of tick bites. Maybe a thousand. I was pretty miserable on Thursday, and
slathering on the Benadryl cream only provided limited relief. That evening a couple of beers and two
Benadryl at the Little Rock airport helped me survive the flight home. By the weekend the itching started to ease
and the swelling in my ankles receded. I
may recover, unless I contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Lyme Disease
or Vampirism or some other horror.
If
I don’t die I’ll definitely explore more of the Ozarks, but not in late
summer! I think early Spring would be
ideal. There will be a lot more water in
the streams, and hopefully fewer ticks!
Back to Arkansas
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!
