In search of waterfalls in the wilderness
Locating Bumpers Falls in Arkansas proved to be a bit of a task the first day out. I had looked over the maps the previous night, and had a general idea of what I was looking for; however, I neglected to take into account that I might have no signal in the area I was headed for. The Arkansas Waterfalls map I put together proved to be worthless in the first field test.
The falls (Bumpers and 3 others) are located just ½ mile off of AR-341, also known as Push Mountain Road. The trailhead to the falls is 8.9 miles north of AR-14 in the Leatherwood Wilderness Area in the Sylamore Ranger District of the Ozark National Forest. It is indeed wilderness. Make no mistake. There is very little out there, except AR-341 and a lot of forest.
About 5 miles up along AR-341, I realized that I had no mobile signal. Turning around seemed too much of a bother after all the twists and turns, so I decided to forge ahead on memory alone. It was not exactly the best idea, but it had merits at the time.
A trail at the end of a guard rail appeared soon after that, and I decided it had potential. There were even a couple of other cars parked there to aid in the illusion of accuracy. Slipping down the trail, the first thing I stumbled across was a huge beast of an Elk, which immediately thundered off into the forest before I could raise my camera enough to shoot him. I wish I would have had a sound recorder though, because it sounded like a freight train crashing through the trees, and the ground shook under my feet.
Undeterred, I continued along and descended towards a dry creek bed, tempting me further into unknown territory. I probably passed a mile or so, when it met up with an equally dry stream, which I followed along for another mile and a half before I finally decided I was not making any more significant progress than increasing my chances of getting lost, getting eaten by something larger than me, or both.
Getting lost was really minimal risk though. I had GPS signal on my phone, and was running My Tracks. I referred back to that on occasion, as wound my way back towards the car. It worked out rather well, even though I had also forgotten to turn it on until meeting the first dry creek bed.
The final scene in this comedy of errors occurred while making my final ascent to the roadway. I stumbled upon a guy out hunting, and noting his glowing orange cap and vest, immediately realized that I was not exactly dressed for such an occasion. In spite of my lack of attention to dress code, he spoke with me anyway, and informed me that I had missed the falls by a couple of miles.
I could have gone on up a ways and figured it out, I suppose. It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny and in the mid-60s, but getting late in the day. There were other things on my agenda too, with more specific locations than a mule trail at the end of a guard rail. Someone told me about a good spot near Shirley, on the Little Red, that you could put-in and paddle down into the lake. I wanted to scout that out for a future excursion, so got in the car and began the trek south.
The falls were discovered the next day, trickling in the exact location they were supposed to be. They journey in to view them was brief and uneventful. Lesson learned. Disaster averted.
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| US National Forest Service Map of the Leatherwood Wilderness in the Ozark-St Francis National Forest |
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National Forest Service
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