Longpool

Saturday was a perfect day for going out and getting waterfall pictures. A storm had passed by the day before, which meant there might actually be water in a few waterfalls. So the question was, where to go? I decided to visit a certain waterfall that I've been to several times before. But during each previous visit, I've never seen it really flowing.

That waterfall is Longpool Falls, in the Ozark National Forest north of Russellville. For some reason, I've had awful luck at these falls. Every visit, the falls would be barely flowing (even in the Spring when waterfalls should be running full-tilt). But I hoped the rains the day before would have the falls running, and I drove towards the Ozarks...

I arrived at the Longpool Campground and started on the short trail to the falls. The trail runs along a hill above Big Piney Creek, which was muddy and flooded after all the recent rain. I finally arrived at the Lower Longpool Falls, and was pleased to find a nice amount amount of water going over the falls...




I really like this small waterfall, I think it has a lot of personality even if it isn't very tall...


From here it gets a bit tricky trying to reach Longpool Falls. There isn't much of a trail, so you have to carefully make your way past the gauntlet of large boulders and slick rocks that stand between the bluff and the creek. The rocks around the waterfall are incredibly slick, so I slowly made my way past them and found a spot for this shot...


And another shot of the 44 foot-tall Longpool Falls:


I slowly made my way along a few boulders to get this shot of the creek just below the falls:


It was starting to get dark, but I stayed long enough to get a few more shots of the Lower Longpool Falls. This is above the falls:


And one last shot: