Triple Falls
Hammerschmidt Falls
March 28, 2004
There's only one thing to do when it's
Sunday morning in early Spring and the weather radar shows rain
covering most of Northwest Arkansas - plan a trip later in the
day to see some waterfalls. It looked to be a narrow window of
opportunity between the passing of the rain and the setting of
the sun, so I picked two easy waterfalls from Tim Ernst's Arkansas
Waterfalls guidebook. At
first I had Stacey and Melinda interested in going, but then I
told them the rain wouldn't let up until at least 2 p.m. and
we'd be driving four hours round trip and suddenly it was
another solo adventure.
The trip turned out to be rewarding and
memorable. As I was driving down the mountain past Mossville
toward Boxley Valley I started passing numerous small
waterfalls tumbling down the hills. I saw more of the same as I
crossed the Buffalo and started up the hill toward the turnoff
to Steel Creek campground. Many of these waterfalls would have
made great pictures, but I was short on time and didn't stop.
I knew I was in for a treat when I saw Shop
Creek rolling where it crossed the road downhill from Triple
Falls. I was a little hesitant about crossing it. The falls
were only a couple hundred yards down the trail. This was
easily the most powerful waterfall I've yet seen, but it's
impossible to describe. The air was filled with a roar, and
there was a mist-filled wind shooting outward in all directions
from the base of the falls for at least 50 feet. Luckily the
mist was going away from me at the bottom of the waterfall and
I was able to get the two shots below.
I hurried to the truck and drove back up
Sherman Mountain to the highway then hung a right toward the
headwaters of Indian Creek and Hammerschmidt Falls. I parked at
a deer camp site a few hundreds yards down a rut-filled road
off the highway. The creek was just a short way downhill. The
lichen-covered rock field above the falls was a really neat
area by itself, and I regret not taking any pictures of it. But
it was starting to get dark and I wanted to get down to the
bottom of the falls.
I wound up stopping to take pictures
anyway, because one series of cascades in the creek was too
nice to pass up. I then hurried, though cautiously, around the
top of the falls and found a way down to the creek below. There
was just enough light to see by on the short hike back. I took
the trail on the west side of the creek and found it a whole
lot shorter and safer, except for one place where the trail is
situated way too close to the edge near the top of the falls.
Near there I stopped and unpacked my camera one last time
because I liked the view of the top of the waterfall.
