Whitaker Creek
May 4, 2006
Compton’s Double waterfall on
Whitaker Creek has long been one of those icons of Arkansas
wilderness that I just had to see for myself. More rain was
forecast for the Boston Mountains so I went into work Thursday
morning prepared to leave shortly after noon if it looked like
the rain was going to let up in time, which it did.
The scenic drive through forest and
farmland up the Pig Trail was made even better by Jack
Johnson’s Brushfire Fairytales. Shortly after I turned
off Highway 16 onto Cave Mountain Road, what I first thought
was a burly dog jumped onto the road and galloped ahead of the
truck. When it turned and bound off into the woods I realized
it was a bobcat - only the second one I’ve ever seen in
the wild in all these years.
My hike followed the expert directions from
Tim Ernst’s Arkansas
Waterfalls guidebook. I was
determined to see all the smaller waterfalls along the way,
starting with Amber Falls on Whitaker Creek itself. I climbed
up out of the immediate stream valley to more level ground on
the north side of the creek and headed downstream. The area was
thick with pink Mountain Azalea blooms. I hadn’t gone
very far before I spotted a tall waterfall spilling off a bluff
on the south side of the creek. Too bad there wasn’t time
to go investigate! Continuing downstream up above Whitaker
Creek, I saw hundreds of creamy white Umbrella Magnolia blooms
in the tree tops nearer the stream.
The first of two side waterfalls was around
15 feet tall, though you’d never know it from looking at
the photo I took. I used a wide-angle lens which exaggerates
the effect of making distant objects appear smaller. Ferns and
a huge Beech tree in front of the falls compounded the problem.
I was surprised how quickly I made it to
the top of Compton’s Double. (Could that be cougar scat?)
The first order of business was to get my own picture of the
twin falls. I briefly scouted the area on the north side and
found only one location to shoot pictures from, and even that
spot was very dangerous. It was a short but steep slope above
the 40-foot cliff, and I was only able to slowly scoot a little
way down and place one of my feet on the base of a small tree
to keep from sliding. Still there were tree limbs blocking the
view of the falls, so I set the timer on my camera to count
down ten seconds and take a series of pictures, then held on to
the end of my tripod legs and lowered the camera into position
down below my feet. I did this several times and hoped one of
the shots would turn out.
As badly as I wanted to find a way to the
bottom of the falls, I was running out of time and didn’t
want to be out in the woods after dark like my last adventure.
Most of the hike back wasn’t too bad, though when I
reached Amber Falls I headed straight uphill towards the truck,
and THAT was tough, especially since this was my third
bushwhack in six days. There was just enough light to find the
truck without a flashlight. I was soaked from the hundreds of
times I’d brushed up against wet foliage, so I had to
change clothes as I scarfed down my dinner of lunchmeat,
cheese, and crackers. On the drive out I listened to more
Brushfire Fairytales while watching out for bobcats and
cougars, and in my mind revisited the scenes along Whitaker
Creek.
