October 28, 1995: Fall Trip to Arkansas: Day Three
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This morning, we got up early and took the tent down and, after taking showers, went back out to Arkansas Highway 14 and drove about three miles east to find a country cafe where we had some breakfast. The breakfast was good, but as breakfasts often to for me, it left me feeling full for much of the day. We then returned to the Blanchard Springs Campground to find the trailhead for the North Sylamore Creek Trail and we headed off to the northwest on an 8-mile hike.

Hiking the North Sylamore Creek Trail

The North Sylamore Creek Trail follows along the same-named creek, which is actually a federally designated scenic river. We encountered a wide variety of forested landscapes ranging from lower streamside elevations to high ridges- and lots of interesting rock formations.

At left you can see how interesting the trail is here, as it goes across a natural ledge in this cliff area. In other places, the trail goes off through the woods, but it always returns to the side of the river, giving you very good views for almost its entire length.

Here I am along another portion of this interesting trail. The first mile of the trail wound through the woods up above the creek, but then for most of the remainder of it, this was what the trail looked like- with lots of neat overhangs like this one.

I really enjoyed this hike today; the weather was almost perfect- just a bit on the cool side, enough to offset the hiker's natural tendency to warm up as exertion increases.

Fall Foliage on the North Sylamore Creek Trail I think this is one of the best pictures of the trip, but not because I'm in it. The foliage along this trail was the prettiest we had seen, and I think Fred captured its essence very well. Of course, pictures are almost always better if someone is in them, except for grand vistas, like the Grand Canyon. There, because the people are usually so small, they are more of a distraction than anything else. But here, putting a person in the picture lent perspective and interest. The whole trail was like this, with sun-dappled foliage the entire way.

Rock Overhangs on the North Sylamore Creek Trail Here was another very interesting portion of the river trail. This overhang continued unbroken for almost a quarter mile along the trail, and you could look down on the river, to the left, the whole way.

Between stretches of rock overhangs there would be forested area where very small creeklets would come down the slopes to join Sylamore Creek. A sign at the trailhead cautioned against drinking this water, of course. Many of these very small rivulets do flow year round, and they were flowing now.

A Stream Feeding North Sylamore Creek

(Picture at left) Near the end of the trail, where we planned to turn around, this stream flows into the river. Although there was not a trail along it, we went up its banks anyway. There was not a lot of water in it, although I would suspect that at other times of the year there is a great deal. But it was very pastoral and very pretty. This looks "up" the stream, with the trail and the river behind me.     (Picture at right) A couple of hundred feet or so up the stream, it had formed this pool against a rock outcropping, at a point where the stream made a right angle turn to head down to the river. The pool was fairly deep, and there seemed to be some minnow-like fish in it. There were lots of leaves on the ground, so you had to be careful that you were stepping on rocks, not water, around this area. This is another of the many places we have seen on our trips and hikes where it would be nice to just sit and enjoy the surroundings.

A Tributary Pool Along North Sylamore Creek

It is impossible in a narrative like this one to give you a real idea of what it was like hiking along. The smells, the sound of the river, the calls of the birds- all these things add to the experience. Of course, 1995 was long before I had my first camera that could take movies; that would have been a great thing to do here.

Here's another of those small streams. At the pool, the stream makes a turn and heads on up into the hills, and this shot looks from the pool up this portion of the stream. I would have liked to just blaze our own trail up the stream to see where it went, but we really didn't have the time to do that, complete the river walk hike, and get all the way back to Van Alstyne.

And here I am beside that same small stream whose course we followed for a ways. This was the last shot of this area near the stream.

The day was just perfect for hiking- warm but not uncomfortable. Actually, when you got into the deep shade in the forest, it was cool. We hiked to the end of the trail, which ends at a campground, and used the facilities there, then hiked back the two-mile return trip. Near the place where the car was parked, yet another stream flows down out of the hills into the river.

I mentioned that I would have liked to follow one of those little streams up into the hills, but that we didn't have time. Fred always likes to leave something undone for when we return to the same place, and maybe this will be one of those things we can look forward to.

Back near the trailhead, we stopped at a small dam that had a rather deep pool behind it. The dam was not on North Sylamore Creek; because it is a national river, such constructions are either forbidden or very much restricted. This dam was on a tributary coming up from the south. I'm not sure what the purpose of the dam was, but it was certainly interesting.

We had a snack, relaxed for a while, and then headed off home.

We followed Arkansas Highway 87 through Mountain Home, then Arkansas Highway 9 to Clinton, then US Highway 65 south to Interstate 40.

From there, we just retraced our drive four days ago home to Van Alstyne. We stopped in McAlester, Oklahoma, for a late dinner at just about the only place still open- another Golden Corral affair.

We reached Fred's house about eleven in the evening, after another wonderful trip. My hat's off once again to Fred for his excellent planning. After an overnight stay, it was finally home for me and back to work for Fred.

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	October 28, 1995: Fall Trip to Arkansas: Day Three
	Return to the Index for Our Fall Trip to Arkansas