Spring Snapshots
May 29, 2006
The first waterfall chase of the season was
a run up to Artist Point with Joey after work on Thursday,
April 6. The only protection I found in the truck against the
persistent light rain was a youth rain slicker. Good thing
nobody was around to see me!
The recent rains weren’t enough to
get the falls going, and I learned that I’d not outgrown
trying to eke out a falling water picture from a deficient
stream.
One week later we headed south toward Mount
Magazine to catch the full moon rise. We weren’t really
sure where we would find a good location to perhaps take some
pictures, but settled on Cove Lake after driving to the top of
the mountain.
Sunday evening, April 30 the boys went with
me to Lee Creek Park. Grant found a piece of rebar at the
river’s edge and picked it up and started playing with
it. As long as they didn’t fall in I didn’t pay too
much attention to what the boys were doing. When it was time to
leave I turned around to holler at the boys and started
laughing uncontrollably at Grant. His face was covered with
black mud... somehow he had repeatedly rubbed his face with
black muddy hands.
A thunderstorm rolled through Tuesday
night, May 9, and I captured my first decent lightning picture
from the safety of our garage. I took off work the next day to
hunt waterfalls. After dropping Grant off at school I headed
down the interstate. Somewhere past Alma I notice I’d
left my tripod at home, and had to turn back. When I got home I
felt a strong need to take a nap, so I didn’t get back
out of town until almost noon.
I chose as my destination Tea Kettle
Falls in the Madison County Wildlife Management Area. I hiked
the route that follows Warm Fork Creek. I saw some great
scenery - a bit different than what I’m used to in the
Boston Mountains - but I was groggy all day from that nap
earlier and I didn’t take any pictures except inside
Kettle Hollow. I couldn’t have been more wrong about how
much rainfall the area got. Tea Kettle Falls was a mere
trickle. I look forward to returning, though crossing the creek
might be impossible if there’s been enough rain to make
the falls run.
A couple of the other many sundown trips to
Lee Creek park were well worth the effort. Saturday evening,
May 20 saw an orange sun setting behind the mountains northwest
of the Arkansas River. And Memorial Day ended with some very
blue clouds suspended over Fort Smith to the southwest.
