The Best Weekend of the Year
Octoberr 20-22, 2006
Stacey and I could go just about anywhere
for our weekend anniversary getaway and it would still be my
favorite trip of the year. To spend that weekend in Buffalo
River Country.. it just doesn’t get any better.
Friday morning we grabbed breakfast from
the McDonald’s drive-thru in Ozark, then enjoyed some
great scenes of sunlit fog over pastures along I-40. We tried
to find the Wal Mart in Russelville but wound up all the way in
Dardanelle so that Stacey could buy a fishing pole and a few
lures (we’d forgotten our gear at home).
As we traveled north on Hwy. 7, Stacey
listened to Roy D. Mercer on the nano I’d just given her,
and I listened to her laughing constantly! Our first stop was
at Falling Water Falls, which was running well, then we pulled
over at Six Finger Falls to explore a little. I hadn’t
timed things so great, and we were in the middle of nowhere
(actually Richland Creek Wilderness) with lunch time about to
end. We raided the snacks we’d brought along as I dug out
my state road atlas and tried to find a route along back roads
to Jasper. We truly got lost for a while around the upper
reaches of Cave Creek (at the foot of Lost Mountain no less!),
yet we discovered some fantastic scenery of green pastures
surrounded by Ozark mountains speckled with fall colors.
I was quite relieved when we reached a spot
named on my map, the Bass community. The great views continued
as we took Hwy. 74 to Mt Judea then Hwy. 374 through Vendor.
About a mile before we reached Hwy. 7, a military cargo plane
passed in front of us flying surprisingly low. We just knew it
was going to crash into the mountains! We actually asked around
about it later, but never heard anything about a plane crash.
The easiest place for our late lunch was
the Ozark Cafe in Jasper. I’m fond of the joint, but
we’d dined there three times last year! We were excited
to check out our cabin for the weekend, located along Spider
Creek just east of town. As soon as we were unpacked we got
back in the Tahoe and drove to the Steele Creek recreation
area. While Stacey fished, I waded across the river and found a
way up to the top of Roark Bluff. The best view of the
bluffline is at the end of natural rock wall protruding from
the bluff. On the left side it’s a 300-foot fall to the
river; the right side is just a bit less scary because
there’s a 20-foot drop to a steep slope BEFORE that same
300-foot drop. Worse, there is a 3-foot dip in the top of the
wall near the end. I managed to scoot along the wall, stand up
in the dip, then scoot to the very edge.
For dinner we got a fully-loaded pizza from
The Junction convenience store to take back to the cabin. We
came with a good supply of Pop Secret Homestyle and Wiederkehr
Niagara, but the cabin owners hadn’t yet put in a
microwave and a corkscrew was nowhere to be found. I had some
of Stacey’s Smirnoff Ice instead. We had to settle for a
Charlie’s Angels movie on the TV, yet I still treasure
that evening.
I got up early Saturday and drove to one of
the scenic overlooks along Hwy. 7 to watch a meteor shower
while waiting for the sun to rise. I could tell the sunrise was
going to be a dud so I drove down into the Big Creek valley to
find a picturesque barn we’d noticed on our drive in the
day before. While waiting for the right light, I drove
over to the Piercetown community and caught the first rays of
the sun illuminating Red Rock Point.
Highway 74 circled back to the lane leading
to our cabin. Thin fog drifted through the air, adding to the
beauty of a crisp fall morning. The little creek in front of
the cabin was lined with brightly colored trees shining in the
early morning sunlight.
Stacey had a nice breakfast waiting for me.
After some strong coffee and a cool shower I was ready to
embark on a day outdoors. First we headed for Triple Falls. We
“oohed” and “wooed” at the fall colors
at several places along the steep road down Sherman Mountain.
We spent a couple of hours hiking Ferny
Canyon. While I had to pick my route carefully to avoid getting
my feet wet, Stacey was wearing her “chicken boots”
and just plowed right across the stream whenever we had to
cross.
We decided to skip lunch and drive to
Harrison for an early dinner, though we went by the cabin to
change clothes first. The food and atmosphere at Colton’s
was just right. On the way back we stopped at the grocery store
in Jasper to pick up a corkscrew, but once we got back to the
cabin I realized I was so tired that one drink would most
likely knock me out. We watched Syriana on DVD then I hit the
sack.
I talked Stacey into getting up early for
another sunrise drive through the Big Creek valley. Then we
returned to the cabin to pack and check out. Traveling down
Hwy. 7, I thought we were headed home but Stacey
surprised me by asking if there were any interesting places to
visit in the area. We were almost to Hwy. 16 so Alum Cove was
the obvious answer. It was downright cold that morning, and we
had to bundle up. I had been to the natural bridge several
times, but didn’t realize there were so many cool rock
formations further down the trail.
We backtracked to Hwy. 7 then turned west
onto Hwy. 123 for a more scenic route. We pulled into Haw Creek
Falls campground and ran into Leslie and Heath as they were
about to leave after a weekend campout.
One last treat (for me at least!) was a
stop at the El Parian in Clarksville for lunch. Seems
like every time I’d passed by, their parking lot was
full, and I wanted to find out why.
