Train Trestle Falls
January 18, 2004
It rained all day Friday and continued
until Saturday morning, when my rain gauge said 1.7 inches.
Time to go visit a waterfall. I got out my copy of Tim Ernst's Arkansas
Waterfalls and was reminded
that Train Trestle Falls looked interesting.
In the early 1900s a rail line was
constructed to haul timber out of the area, and one trestle was
located right on the edge of a 31-foot waterfall. All that is
left now are some concrete pilings and rusty nuts and bolts,
along with some deep cuts into the terrain.
Sunday morning Charles and Jennifer
followed me to Turner Bend where we left his SUV, then
took my truck to the Ozark Highlands Trail access point on
Ragtown Road.
The sky was overcast and the woods kinda
colorless, but halfway through the mile and a half hike we
passed a nice watercourse full of moss-covered boulders. We
crossed this little wash then followed it down the hill where
it formed a small waterfall. Even after all the rain it wasn't
running all that much. The trail came to a neat area just above
the big falls where the stream forms a series of cascades. I'd
like to return in the spring and hopefully get some pictures of
the stream tumbling through all the moss, ferns and hydrangea.
At this point we split up; Jennifer stayed
with Charles as he got out his camera and tripod for shots of
the stream, while I hiked up the trail a short way to see an
area where the mountain had to be cut out for the railroad to
pass through.
I went back the falls area and could see
that Charles had found a way down to the base of the falls. I
made it down too, but it wasn't easy.
The clouds all blew away about the time we
started the hike back, which made for some great views.
