The Farthest Source
January 8, 2005
Last winter I bought a book on the Buffalo
River and one of the first things I read was that the river
begins its life as a small spring high in the Boston Mountains.
A picture appeared in my head, and I told myself I'd like to
visit that place some day. That book was The Buffalo River in
Black and White by Dr. Neil Compton. Then last summer I picked
up another great book, The Buffalo River Country, in which
Kenneth Smith gives a rather poetic description of the very
same spring. Suddenly, finding that spot became something I
just had to do.
Both those books state that the spring is
located at the base of Buffalo Knob, which happens to be the
highest point in all the Ozarks. But a more-recent publication,
the Trails Illustrated map of the Buffalo National River, for
which Smith designed the map and wrote the text, goes a step
further and pinpoints the farthest source on the topographic
map. Armed with this information, I set out Saturday morning to
see the area for myself.
I got up early enough so that I could be at
Buffalo Knob for a possible sunrise photo op, but when I
arrived there was heavy fog. The temperature was below freezing
and the fog had frozen as heavy hoar frost on everything, but I
didn't see anything I wanted a picture of except the tall fire
tower.
I next drove back down off the knob and
parked along the sharp turn on Cave Mountain Road about a third
of a mile northeast of Roberts Gap. According to the Trails
Illustrated map, the farthest source of the Buffalo River was
about 500 feet up the hill, with the stream destined to grow
into the magnificent river on the downhill side. There was no
stream on the uphill side, but sure enough the watercourse
below the road was babbling away with a steady stream of clear
water, no doubt thanks to the 5 inches of rain that fell
earlier in the week.
I started bushwhacking downhill beside the
stream. To be honest, it was nothing special; just plain ol'
Ozark hardwoods with lots of downed trees and sticker vines to
cuss and stumble through. About 300 yards down the hill a
similar stream converged from the east and the water volume was
doubled, then was doubled again 200 yards later with another
stream from the east. The babble had been replaced with a
constant rushing.
At .6 I came to the confluence of the
stream that originates just north of the fire tower. At this
confluence was an overgrown field, and a jeep road took off up
the hill to the northeast.
Downstream from there was some interesting
scenery in the surrounding hills, with small icicle-draped
bluffs to the east and some mansion-sized boulders to the west.
The stream also took on some character, occasionally forming
some small pools or cascades or dodging moss-covered boulders.
At 1.1 I met the second small stream coming down the mountain
from near the fire tower. From there it was only one third mile
to my destination, a point according to my USGS topo map where
the stream I was following should converge with two other major
streams from the west. Just upstream from the confluence was an
old 100 yard-long rock fence. I boulder-hopped across the
stream to see what was behind the fence, and found a jeep road
cutting through an area that obviously had once been cleared
but was now overgrown with young trees, shrubs and vines. At
the confluence the road turned north to follow the middle
stream upwards. I left the road and went downstream a short way
to find where the stream from the west joined the middle stream
from the north. Only 50 yards away the streams joined at a
wide, shallow area. The river split briefly to run on both
sides of a natural rock median with mature trees growing on it.
I could see where the two halves joined back up a short
distance downstream.
At this point it was after 1 o'clock, I'd
made it to my intended destination, and the fog was giving way
to a sunny blue sky. As I began my trek back I wanted to
consider the amount of water flowing in each of the individual
streams as they merged with the main stream, similar to what an
early explorer would do if he were trying to determine the
farthest source of the Buffalo River. At every fork there was
no doubt my path was along the main stream, and it was
satisfying to follow that stream all the way to its birth as
little more than a trickle down a leaf-covered ravine.
1, 2 600
yards below its farthest source, and again at .8 miles, the
Buffalo shows a bit of character.
3 At 1.0,
the stream had widened to 20 feet across.
4 The rock
wall at 1.2 miles.
5 The
Buffalo doubles in size again at 1.5 miles, where a stream
comes in from the north. For a short span the river is divided
by a median. The northern stream has just merged with one from
the west.
6 The old
road bed beside the northern stream, and a small waterfall
guarded by a giant sandstone boulder
7
8
9
10 At .6
miles, the stream that originates just north of the Buffalo
Fire Tower.
11 Running
water 500 feet below the farthest source.
