Foggy Downtown

I'm mad at myself, since I had other plans this weekend and totally missed out on the fall colors/waterfall awesomeness up in the Ozarks. But it has continued to rain every day this week, so at least the waterfalls will be running still. I have a vacation day on Friday, which I fully plan to spend dedicated to waterfalls. Of course, the first sunny day predicted for the week is Friday. Hopefully the weather people will be wrong on that one...

Since I missed out on the waterfalls, I wanted to get out and take some pictures. Luckily the rainy weather on Monday left behind a thick fog. I drove home from work as the fog began to grow along the river. I got home and grabbed the camera, and drove over to downtown Little Rock. The clouds were low that night, and the tops of the skyline were hidden by the fog.

I met up with Windy Richardson at the state capitol. It wasn't quite as foggy there as I hoped, and we ended up driving out to a few other places downtown.


Our first stop was a parking deck near Main Street. The top provided some nice views of the skyline, or what we could see of it. The rooftops visible in the foreground are of buildings along Main Street.


And a view incorporating the top of the empty and forlorn parking deck.


I had never been up on this parking deck before, and was pleased that it had some nice views. One of the more interesting things about it was the proximity of the old buildings along Main Street. One of the nearby buildings had a jagged brick edge running down the side of it. It looked like part of an old wall that had been ripped off, like a torn piece of paper. I'm not sure what this was, perhaps part of a building that had long ago been torn down, and replaced with the current building along Main? Why did they leave this curious bit of brick there? In the distance, enveloped in fog, is the Metropolitan National Bank Building.


And another view from the top of the parking deck, and the old Albert Pike Hotel.


We left the parking deck and drove along Markham Street past the Old State House. We decided to make a quick stop to get some pictures of the fountains in front of the Robinson Center Music Hall. I thought the fountains may provide a nice foreground, with the Pulaski County Courthouse and the Stephens Building in the background. There was a street light pointing right at us, which made getting pictures from there a bit difficult (along the heavy rain that began to fall).


We left and visited another parking deck, this one by the Bank of America Building. It was still raining, so we set up on one of the covered levels of the deck for some pictures. This was taken looking at the Metropolitan National Bank Building.


And the view looking north along Center Street. The road ends at the Old State House a few blocks away.


The parking deck also provides a nice view of the Union Bank Building. The building's signature yellow lights were reflected in the wet pavement of the parking deck...

Collins Creek

The thick fog drifting around the visitor center at Greers Ferry Lake had gotten my hopes up. I was heading off to visit the great Collins Creek, and wishful thoughts of foggy waterfalls drifted through my mind. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. The skies cleared and the sun even began to break through the clouds as I started on the short trail to the creek.

I was a bit surprised to see some welcome pockets of fall color beginning to emerge along the creek. While the landscape was still mostly green, there were a few random trees that had already began to change some.


I love Collins Creek. It's a perfectly relaxing little spot, and it comes with the benefits of having waterfalls that run year-round. I followed the trail further down the creek, and stopped at a few of my favorite spots along the way.


I've been here many times over the years, and began to feel like I was just going there and taking the same pictures again and again. So this year I didn't head up there as often, in fact this is the second time this year I've paid a visit to the creek. And the first visit was way back in the winter, right before a big ice storm was to hit.

But I missed the place, and it felt like paying a visit to an old friend. I have a feeling I'll be back up there soon when the trees are in their full autumn glory.




The waterfalls at Collins Creek aren't tall, but it makes for a scenic spot as the creek rushes over several small cascades and stair-step falls.


As it got later on in the day, a slight fog began to develop along parts of the creek. It would appear, and then disappear just as quickly. Some fog, or mist, had floated around the top of this shot, and I tried my best to get it included.


After that it was about time to head home, the end of a perfect day out in the woods.

Little Red River

It was cool and rainy earlier this week - the perfect time to head out to take some pictures. So I decided to pack up the camera gear and head up to Greers Ferry Lake and Collins Creek. It rained the entire trip up to Heber Springs, occasionally falling quite heavily. Luckily by the time I got there, the rain had slacked off a bit. But fog clung to the top of the nearby hills, and the rain left a nice refreshing feel to the air.

The first stop was Cow Shoals, a spot along the Little Red River that is maintained by the Game and Fish Commission. The main purpose here is to provide a spot for trout fishing, but there wasn't anyone out fishing that day. Instead a layer of fog settled over the river. This was taken by the shoal, with the fog-covered river just beyond the line of trees.


I got out the zoom lens to get this shot of these trees on the small island at the shoal, with the foggy river in the background. Some trees are beginning to turn colors, with a bit of yellow popping up on some trees across the river.


On the drive back to Heber Springs, I stopped on the side of the road for some quick shots of this old pink barn...


Near the dam at Greers Ferry Lake is the park visitor center, which has some trails that lead to a few overlooks. I was lazy and just drove to the overlook instead. But the road was covered in a thick fog, but the trees around here were still mostly green.


It felt great to get out and spend some time in the woods. And it was nice to next head off towards one of my favorite shooting locations - the great Collins Creek...

Boxley Valley & Sam's Throne

After leaving Kings River Falls, we drove off towards Boxley Valley. We had just been here a few weeks before, so neither Zack or I were really planning to stop (especially since we were looking forward to lunch at the Ozark Cafe). But we ended up stopping by this old barn, which just happened to have some of Boxley Valley's resident trumpeter swans strolling past.


Zack pulled over to the side of the road, and I went to get my camera out from the backseat of his car. I thought to myself, "I wonder how long it'll be until someone else stops here to take pictures?" I was about to make that comment to Zack, until I turned around and saw that there was already someone else there taking pictures.

We drove a bit further down the road, before stopping yet again. This time it was to get some shots of the elk that call Boxley home.


The road here was lined with cars that had pulled over to see the elk - which were just off in the field eating grass. One of the elk here seems a bit weary of the paparazzi hanging out, photographing her every move...


We quickly drove through the rest of Boxley, and headed towards Jasper. Once there we joined about thirty bikers for a nice lunch at the Ozark Cafe. The potato salad I had with my lunch was delicious, by the way.

After a satisfying meal, we drove to the east along Hwy. 123. Our destination was Sam's Throne. Located in the Ozark National Forest, Sam's Throne provides some dramatic views of the Ozark Mountains. It is also a hugely popular spot for mountain climbers as well. I think Zack's car was one of only two cars there with Arkansas plates, the rest were from out-of-towners. There are several climbing areas at Sam's Throne, all with names like "The Outback," "Northern Exposure," "Hero Maker," "Valley of the Blind" and "Deliverance." I know any attempt of rock climbing would result in a certain long and tragic fall, so I'll leave all that stuff to the pros.

There are a few miles of trails at Sam's Throne, but we were short on time and only walked the short and level trail to the main overlook there. This shot was taken along the way there.


Sam's Throne is actually named after someone named Sam. Back in the 1820s, there was a local man named Sam Davis. He claimed that his sister had been kidnapped by Indians, which made him a bit angry. He would then climb out onto the rocky outcrop and give fiery sermons to all of his neighbors within earshot (much to their displeasure, I'm sure). Legend also has it that Sam buried some gold on Sam's Throne. But people have been searching for it in the 160 years since then and not found anything (that we know of!).

The view from the main overlook:


And the view looking towards Sam's Throne.


And one last shot of the nice view from up there:


I managed to lose the lens cap to my camera up there. So if you're ever at Sam's Throne and notice an Olympus lens cap lying on the ground, please let me know!

Kings River Falls

So Saturday rolled around and another little photo trip was planned with Zack Andrews. This trip we were going to head up to some more spots around the Buffalo River - Kings River Falls and Sam's Throne. I had been to Kings River Falls once before, last February. It is a beautiful little waterfall, so I was interested in going to get some more pictures of it.

The only problem was the weather that day - bright and sunny. That's the worst possible weather to attempt waterfall pictures in. But we set out in the hopes that some clouds might pass through...

Kings River Falls is reached via some dirt roads up in the Ozark Mountains. The dirt roads were, thankfully, in good shape. We ended up taking a different route to the falls than what I had taken earlier this year, and found several neat old barns along the way. We stopped at one, and then was pleasantly surprised to see this cool abandoned house next to it.




We walked inside the door here and had a quick look around. It seemed like the house had been home to a chicken coop recently, as evidenced by the large amount of chicken poo on the floor.


We eventually made it to the trailhead to the falls, which is located right next to an old house and barn. The trail runs through a gap between a small creek and a large field, overlooked by the old barn. The poor barn has surely seen better days. Now it looks like a bomb had gone off inside it.

It also reminded me of Back to the Future, where Marty goes back in time and messes up his parent's falling in love. The result is that his brother and sister start to fade out of the picture he carries with him. The barn looks like it's slowly fading away to nothing. Great Scot!

The trail to the falls is short and easy. And before too long, you finally reach the 10-foot tall Kings River Falls. It was still way too bright for my pictures to turn out, but I tried my best. I had borrowed a set of ND filters from Zack, and used every single one. But still, not much luck.

Eventually I left to take some pictures along a small creek that flows into Kings River. Finally some big puffy white clouds came along, shielding everything in shade. It was temporary, the sun would pop back out after a few seconds. After awhile the clouds seemed bigger, which would mean that the light was slowly getting better. So I hurried back over to the falls and tried to get a few more shots. The falls would be shaded for only about 30 seconds, so I ended up getting only a few good shots. This is the best of them:


I also dropped down and got some pictures under the falls. It was shaded there from the sun, so I was able to get pictures without worrying about the light. I saw this rock, with some moss hanging down from it, sitting under part of the falls.


The small creek that flows into Kings River had some nice little waterfalls and cascades too. Here are some shots from there, which was helped slightly by the fact that it was harder for the sun to get past the trees here.

Lots of fallen leaves already, too...

The creek spills over this set of boulders, making a cool little waterfall:


It was here that I turned back around to get shots of Kings River Falls again. Zack had gone up further past here and found another cool waterfall. But after taking more pictures of Kings Falls, I eventually made my way up the hill, and was taking pictures of this little waterfall when Zack was walking back down the hill.


It was getting late in the day, so we ended up leaving after that so we'd have enough time to get lunch and check out Sam's Throne. I'm annoyed with myself for not going to see the other waterfall there. Oh well. After all, it would have just been a different spot for me to stand while getting annoyed at the sun.