Immediately following the spectacle known as Christmas, we launched down the
road for yet another visit to Arkansas and good company. We
had hoped the weather would be better than it ultimately turned out. However, the cold front
reached further south than it was supposed to have, leaving us with a
cloudy and chilly 7° C weekend. It is a good thing that is nearly perfect weather for hiking
about and discovering new places.
Hell Creek Natural Area has been quietly waiting on the to-do list for quite some time now. Timing is everything for this spot. Excessive undergrowth and reports of a militarized tick population generally prohibit access from March through October. Click the title above to read more. It was a good, quiet journey. There are not many folks out on the trail at this time of year.
While lingering about, a return visit to Woolly Hollow enabled solid exercise
though more calm and quiet forest. A bear bellowed in the distance at one point along this hike. Each attempt to record the racket failed. It was as if the beast knew of the effort through some sort of game cam of its own. I departed empty-handed, since there seemed no solid reason to stick around to learn more of proximity.
The courthouse consistently greeted us each evening in its best display. New lights bordering the windows caused them to stand out brighter than ever. The only thing missing from the scene, a light blanket of snow. We had left that at home, to clean up after itself, and it was due to be gone before we returned.
Emerging quietly from a natural spring in an obscure hillside, a small stream
scours a path through the surrounding oak and hickory forest on the outskirts
of Mountain View. Here, within the boundaries of Hell Creek Natural Area an
endangered space offers refuge for the endangered, in one of the few surviving
examples of the original natural landscape.
One would be lucky to have found a trail into this location at all, just a few
short years ago. Most passers-by would have simply overlooked the mostly
unimpressive branch trickling beneath a hairpin curve on Mountain Crest Road.
Even with a recently installed parking area and signage at the end of Sarah’s
Way, one still has to know what to look for. There is no official trail.
The most generally accepted track down to Hell Creek cuts a deer path
through the forest, northeasterly from the parking area. Half-way down the slope
an old fire road intersects requiring minor reconnaissance to pick up the trail
again. It eventually opens up a hundred or so meters later, offering two
potential directions for exploration, both easily accomplished together in under
an hour. However, that is hardly sufficient time to enjoy this distraction.
A choice in either direction unfolds an excellent display of the sort of
solution weathering continually reshaping most of the Ozarks over the past
million or so years. Minor caves, karst monoliths, and rock bridges, litter the
banks and bed of the creek.
In the winter environment of this observation, water appeared as book ends
on the formation. It suggests a persistent solution channel silently at work
beneath and between the rock layers, in spite of the dryness of this season.
Various reports identify water as much more apparent during the wet season,
evidenced through the variety of formations on location.
Hiking upstream along the trail, towards the previously mentioned hairpin
curve, then returning along the same path, enables a better view of the
transition downstream. Soft and muddy root entangled banks slowly give way to
slabs of rock beneath and flanking the channel. Stepping down gradually, digging
in a little deeper as it moves along, the creek relentlessly bores through
everything in its path.
The stream eventually spills onto private land a little less than a kilometer
north of the trail intersect, derailing any effort to continue downstream to
the White River. While the path is not obstructed, forging ahead could be
dangerous. Best practice urges respect for posted boundaries.
Ensure an equal level of regard for the wildlife here too. The site offers
refuge to more than just dwindling numbers of the gray bat (Myotis grisescens).
A namesake creature known as the Hell Creek Cave Crayfish (Cambarus zophonastes)
also makes home here. Both are listed as endangered species.
Hell Creek Natural Area appears equally endangered for Arkansas. Human
disturbance and environmental contamination top the list of impending dangers
to the wildlife and the area. Indeed, this particular visit noted visible
trash and accelerated development in the surrounding area.
Sincere efforts toward protecting the site began in in 1985, when Arkansas
Natural Heritage Commission acquired the land. In a partnership with the Cave
Research Foundation, the groups continue efforts toward a more thorough
inventory of this unique and imperiled ecosystem.
These actions often come as blessing and curse though. The more intriguing a
site for both science and citizen, the more it becomes trampled, quickly
losing any sense of the natural.
I did not want this installed. I did not ask for this to be installed. It does not permit me to disable notifications. It is annoying the hell out of me, recommending apps that I would never be interested in. What is the point?
This article helped me figure out how to shut it down permanently, though the steps are not exactly right. It refuses to permit uninstall of the app.
Here's my mod on the process:
- Settings
- Apps
- Find App
- Force Stop
- Disable App
- Roll back Updates
Magically, the app is gone now, along with its evil twin sister AppManager.
My new favorite GeoJSON editor that just enabled me to have another layer in a Power BI Azure map (and make it look how I want) without going through a lot of hoops.
Rarely read these listicles. This one was pretty straightforward though and gave me a new template for writing here. We'll see if it sticks ... click the image to read the entire story.
"Journal when you feel like you need to. And try to clarify your thoughts:
What is bothering me right now?
Why am I stressed or have anxiety about?
What am I feeling good about?
What am I feeling grateful for right now?
How I am feeling lately?
The purpose is to understand you better and process feelings and emotions."
Put together a little Date Conversion template for Power Automate Desktop that I need to save out. Copy/paste the quote block areas and you are on your way.
