Falling Water Creek

After delivering the pictures all safe and sound to Clarksville, I still had a few hours left of my day off to spend looking at waterfalls. And luckily that day, the waterfalls were absolutely roaring. This was after the recent snows had melted, and after about two inches of rain had fallen. There was water everywhere.

I drove up to Haw Creek Falls, but wasn't able to cross the low-water bridge into the campsite. That's because the low-water bridge was currently under a lot of high-water. I could see a few people were camping there still, and wondered how long they would have to wait until it was safe to get out. I've been to Haw Creek many times over the years, and I've never seen it with this much water before. 



Further down the road is the old Hwy. 123 bridge over Big Piney Creek, which was built in 1931. I ran out in the rain to get a quick picture.



Most of the mountains were covered by thick fog.



I met up with my good friend Zack Andrews, who lives nearby and is always up for going to see waterfalls. We didn't have much time, so we decided to head over to Falling Water Creek. As the name suggests, Falling Water Creek is home to a good number of scenic waterfalls. And they were definitely running full-tilt that day. Here's the view of the popular Falling Water Falls:



For a comparison, here's what it usually looks like:



And a few more shots of the falling water at Falling Water Falls...





There were still some icy spots along the road, but we were able to get around just fine. We stopped at an overlook, which provides a great view of the creek and the foggy mountains.



And then we made it to Six Finger Falls:



For a comparison, here's what it looks like when it's not at flood stage:



The falls are named Six Finger Falls because if you were to look at it from above, it supposedly looks like a hand with six fingers. Here's one last shot from there:



We drove down Falling Water Road all the way to the Richland Creek campground, and were kinda surprised we didn't see anyone there kayaking. It would have been the perfect day for it (even if the water would have been so cold!).

Haw Creek

Haw Creek is a classic Ozark stream, which meanders for several miles before emptying into Big Piney Creek. The most popular spot along the creek is Haw Creek Falls, which has a pleasant campground that offers access to several waterfalls. At the end of October I drove by Haw Creek while trying to get a few pictures of fall colors, and made a stop at Haw Creek Falls. The falls aren't all that tall, but they are almost always scenic. Plus it's really not that often that we get fall colors and waterfalls flowing.





This year doesn't seem like it's going to be the best for fall colors. But the trees along the creek were showing off a little bit.











I walked up the creek for a bit, careful to not slip and fall in the water (SPOILER: I would do that the next day at the Buffalo River).



Since I had the infrared camera with me, I thought I'd bust it out to see how the fall colors looked in infrared:



I sat the camera bag down by this old tree, which has roots growing out on the exposed rocks long the creek. The roots looked like an octopus grabbing onto the rocks.





I walked back to the car, and then drove across the old Hwy. 123 Bridge over Big Piney Creek (built 1931). I stopped for a quick shot before driving up the hill towards Hwy. 7.

Haw Creek

From Hagarville I headed further up into the Ozarks, which was right at the peak of fall colors. I crossed over the old Hwy. 123 bridge over Big Piney Creek, which was built in 1931. 

The narrow, one-lane bridge bridge is always fun to drive across. The creek below was high and muddy after a recent storm dumped a lot of rain. 

All that rain was actually enough to get waterfalls flowing, which is a rare treat in the Fall (especially when the trees are at their peak). I met my friend Matt, and we set out driving to a little waterfall along a bluff near the Big Piney. We headed down a dirt road, but made several stops to get pictures of the trees... 

 

We did a short hike to the waterfall, only to find that it wasn't really flowing all that well (it was in a small drainage). So even though we had told each other that we would avoid the big touristy areas on the trip, we ended up heading over to Haw Creek Falls. The falls are popular because they are always reliably scenic and pretty. They are also a favorite waterfall of mine - I went to college in Clarksville and these falls were just a short drive away. I made several trips up here to take pictures back in those olden days (this was before Tim Ernst published his waterfall guidebooks, I had no clue there were lots of other waterfalls nearby). 

 
Haw Creek Falls is a short waterfall (only six feet tall), but what it lacks in height it makes up for in length. The falls tumble over a massive slab of rock, and can stretch out across the creek when the water is really high. 

 

There is a small campground at Haw Creek Falls, but the Forest Service has floated the idea of closing it and converting this to a day-use area. Which would be a complete shame, since this is one of the best placed campgrounds in the state. 

And the front view of the mighty Haw Creek Falls... 

And finally, one last series of shots from Haw Creek. Just downstream from Haw Creek Falls, there is a nice spot along the creek where it shoots over a little waterfall and then rushes by a huge boulder.