Marty's Falls

It absolutely stormed over Memorial Day weekend, which isn't great if you're planning a cookout but is awesome if you like waterfalls. Luckily I was able to get up to the Ozarks on Sunday to meet up with my friend Zack, and a little group of us headed off to see a few waterfalls. The first one is called Marty's Falls, which sits just within the boundaries of the Smith Creek Nature Preserve near the Buffalo National River. It had been raining all day, but when we started the hike it started to storm. There was heavy rain, and some lightning and thunder that sounded uncomfortably close. Of course I forgot a rain jacket so I was thoroughly soaked by the time we reached the falls.

There is a nice little shelter under the bluff, behind the falls. Which came in handy because we actually used it to take shelter while the storm raged on.



And the shelter was large enough that there was plenty of room to take pictures from several different angles without having to worry about the camera getting drenched.



The falls are named after Marty Roenigk, who along with his wife donated this land to the Nature Conservancy (QuiVala Elise falls is named after her).



Just down the stream was another waterfall, which seemed to be flowing out from under a huge rock.



As far as I know, these falls are unnamed. But I think they should be called McFly Falls, in honor of another famous Marty.



We were going to hike along Smith Creek while we were there, but the creek became flooded after the storms. So we headed out to visit a few other waterfalls instead...