Long Pool Falls
April 29, 2005
Careful timing allowed Joey and I to see
what I consider to be the last good waterfall of the rainy
season, in the Ozarks at least. It seems the area around Long
Pool campground on Big Piney creek has gotten more than
it’s fair share of the rain this spring. A small storm
system fired up Thursday night above Long Pool, then another
storm blessed the region the next morning so we took off early
from work in search of falling water. Long Pool Falls
wasn’t exactly high on my list of waterfalls to visit,
but beggars can’t be choosers.
We parked the truck at one of the picnic
spots and headed up a trail on the east side of the creek. This
was my first trip to the woods since things had completely
greened up, and it was a pleasant shock to the senses. In less
than 10 minutes we arrived at the spot where the trail crosses
a small stream coming down the hill from the right. The smaller
of the two Long Pool falls was just up the hill.
Next we followed a worn path up to the left
and above the small waterfall, zig-zagging through moss-covered
boulders to the base of the tall 44-foot fall. I had explored
the huge horseshoe hollow back in the winter of 2003, and it
was nice this time around to see the falls running and the
trees filled with green leaves. My lens was fogged up when I
got the camera back out to snap a shot of Joey shooting the
falls. While I was waiting for it to clear up I looked through
the viewfinder and liked the effect so I did a quick handheld
shot.
We didn’t stick around long
‘cause we got greedy and decided to drive up to Haw Creek
campground to see how the falls were running there. Haw Creek
Falls were amazing alright, but not because of a huge amount of
water. Rather it was the fact that although we were only 10
miles away from the beautiful running waterfalls at Long Pool,
Haw Creek Falls were just about as dry as I’d ever seen
them. Good thing we have all these weather radar images to help
us figure out where to go waterfall chasing.
