Up to the Buffalo River

Last week, Caroline and I decided to celebrate our fifth anniversary(!) by renting a cabin for a few days up by Jasper. It was a perfect location - quiet and peaceful, and just close enough to the Buffalo River and to the Ozark Cafe and the Low Gap Cafe. So we first drove to Searcy to deposit Jonah with family, and we headed up into the Ozarks on a bright and sunny day. We were both pleased to see that the fall colors grew more intense as we headed up higher into the mountains.

We drove up Hwy. 65, and made the short detour to Gilbert and then to the Red Bluff Overlook. The view there is incredible, showcasing a horseshoe bend along the Buffalo River.



We headed over to the river at Gilbert, where the recent rains had gotten the water up high enough to float. It looked like a few people had taken advantage of the water and had recently finished a float.



From there we headed further on, and eventually crossed the river again at Hasty. We got out and stretched our legs here, and headed down to the river. Here's a view of the fall colors, reflected in the river.





And here's a non-ripply view of the river and the fall colors, with some people walking along the river thrown in for scale.



From there, we headed over and finally arrived at the cabin. The cabin sat along Hwy. 327 which heads southwest out of Jasper towards the small town of Parthenon. Of all the times I've driven around Jasper, I've never been on this road and I was surprised at how amazingly scenic it was. The road follows the Little Buffalo River, passing by farms and fields and a valley carved by the river. One definite highlight were these tall bluffs along the Little Buffalo, jutting up above a pasture.



Just down the road was this view, of another pasture with a tall mountain looming over it.



The next stop was Parthenon, a small unincorporated community. In the middle of Parthenon is the old General Store, which I assumed was abandoned but I later read that someone actually lives there (I have no idea if that's true though).



The store managed to survive an EF2 tornado that passed right through Parthenon last year. The twister destroyed the post office, which you can see the rebuilt one in the background of this picture.



After this we headed into Jasper for dinner at the Ozark Cafe, and then I'd wake up the next morning and head out to a foggy Buffalo River for a few pictures. More on that soon....