Boxley Valley

After breakfast at the Ozark Cafe, we took the kids around to show them some places around Jasper. We stopped at the river access points at Hasty and Carver, and then went on to Sam's Throne. The fall colors at Sam's Throne were almost nonexistent; the trees were still almost all green. But since we had a six-year-old who was obsessed with elk, we headed over to Ponca to visit the Elk Education Center. The little museum is run by the state Game and Fish Commission and has exhibits on the elk and other local wildlife. It is not, sadly, a school for elk to attend where they have an elk teacher (which was what Elliott assumed it was). 

 Afterwards we drove through Boxley Valley, and the kids ran around one of the old barns there.



We went back to Boxley that evening, trying to see if the elk were out. We passed by a bunch of cars parked alongside the road (some legally parked, others not), with some people sitting out by their cars in foldable chairs. But the elk must have been camera shy because they did not grace the waiting throngs with their presence. We drove on through the valley, keeping an eye out. We didn't see any elk, but it did give me a chance to take a few pictures of some barns.



But Elliott still wanted to see the elk, so we both got up before sunrise and headed off in the dark towards Boxley Valley. There were already cars lined up alongside the road when we got to the valley. But of course, the elk had other plans. We drove on, heading deeper into the valley that had a nice amount of fog in it. I used the lack of elk as an excuse to stop and take a few pictures as the sun began to rise over the mountains.





I stopped again to get some pictures of this field, which had some cows instead of elk. I set the camera up on the tripod, and used the LCD screen on the back of the camera to zoom in on the cows to set the focus. It was good timing, since the cow I was zoomed in on decided this was the perfect time to start pooping.



There was some nice color in the sky from the sunrise, which lit up the sky above the old Boxley Baptist Church (built 1899).



And then we drove on and finally found some elk, grazing in a field near the old church.



Elliott was very excited to finally get to see the elk, after all this time:



After a while the elk began to move to the far side of the field where you couldn't really see them that well, so we headed off to get a few pictures in the valley. 



We drove by the old steam-powered sawmill, which is slowly collapsing upon itself. I stopped to get a few pictures, since it might not be standing for too much longer.



And then one last shot from Boxley, of the old schoolhouse/cabin near Lost Valley.

Back To The Buffalo

So this little blog just celebrated its twentieth anniversary, with the very first post being about a trip to the Buffalo River. So I guess it's fitting that this next post would be about another trip to the Buffalo. So here goes: Last weekend we made a family trip up to the river, in the hopes of catching some fall color. I wasn't sure what to expect. It has been so hot and dry this summer that I was worried we wouldn't have any fall colors at all.

And it is definitely a weird year for colors. Some trees had already turned a dull brown, the leaves looking dry and wilted. In some places the trees are still green and haven't changed at all. But there were a few places, especially along the river, that had some decent color. We drove up in the mountains, and then drove through Boxley Valley to see if the elk were out (Elliott has become obsessed with the elk and was desperate to see them). Of course we didn't see any, but we did stop by the low-water bridge at Ponca and looked around.



We then headed over to Jasper where we had a place for the weekend, and got a good dinner from the Jasper Pizza Company. The next morning I woke up before sunrise, and drove through the darkness towards the Steel Creek access along the river. It was still dark when I arrived, the river and the campground were quiet. A thick fog had developed overnight, adding to the sense of stillness. I set up the camera along the river, waiting for the early light to start fading in.



The river was really low, which wasn't surprising since we've hardly had any rain all summer.





The fog drifted and moved along the river, and along the tops of the mountains.



The sun was rising, but it hadn't managed to break through the thick fog yet.



And the view from a different part of the river, where Steele Creek meets up with the Buffalo (or where it would normally if the creek wasn't completely dry).





The sun was finally able to break through the fog as I was heading out. I stopped for a quick few pictures (and only a few, a truck appeared on the road behind me so I jumped back in my car). After that it was time to get some breakfast at the Ozark Cafe.

20 Years!

So today marks a big date for this little photoblog. It was on this date, twenty years ago, that the very first post was written here. It was back in 2006, with some pictures from a trip up to the Buffalo River.





I can't remember why I decided to start a blog, other than it was the style at the time. Lots of photographers had their own blogs in those olden days. And back in 2006 I finally had time to get out and take pictures again. Earlier that year I had finally finished writing my thesis and graduated with a master's degree in Journalism from UALR. Which meant that I was done with night classes and having to go to lectures on media ethics. And I also had a job with normal hours - the years before I had been working at a few different TV stations where I worked every weekend and on overnight shifts. Which didn't leave a lot of room for hiking or just taking pictures.

A lot has changed over the years. I no longer work at a TV station, or with anything to do with journalism or the media (so really putting that master's degree in journalism to work, ha). And hardly any photographers have blogs now, that sort of thing migrated to Facebook and Youtube. Instead of writing a post, it's more popular now to just make a TikTok or Instagram reel instead. But this little blog has continued on, and now has a total of 1,430 posts. And over the years I've tried to keep it the same - I'm not changing things to appeal to whatever Google says is now best for search engine optimization. I'm not using it to try to sell a product or Lightroom presets. 

So thank you, whoever is still reading this, for putting up with me and my bad grammar and typos over the last 20 years. I appreciate y'all, and hope that you enjoy your time here. And hopefully there will be many more years of photos posted here, I intend to keep going as long as I can (or as long as Blogger is active, at least). Thanks again! 

Cotton Plant

The rain continued to fall as I headed further east. The farms and fields seem to have mostly been harvested, and the grasses and vegetation had already started turning an autumn-like golden hue. Along the way I passed by this old tractor, collecting rust beside a field.







And then down the road was this old farm building, surrounded by a wall of overgrown grass.





And then I made it to the small town of Cotton Plant. The town dates back to the 1840s, and there was even a small Civil War skirmish fought nearby. And as the town's name suggests, the town grew and prospered due to cotton. By the 1900s, Cotton Plant was home to several cotton gins, sawmills and factories. It was considered to be the "cultural center" of the area, with the town even having an opera house. Cotton Plant is best known now as the birthplace of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the "Godmother of Rock and Roll."

Like many Delta cities, Cotton Plant's population began to decline after the mechanization of farming meant fewer workers were needed to pick cotton. And in the 1960s, many white families left the town to avoid desegregating the schools. Cotton Plant peaked with a population of about 2,000 people in the 1950s. Today the population is around 500 people. And also like many other Delta cities, the town has struggled. Most of the old buildings on Main Street are abandoned and falling apart. The roof of one building, which used to be a store, has finally collapsed.



Here's the same spot, taken on a previous visit in 2019:



I wonder whatever happened to that dust-covered merchandise that had been sitting there on display?





And then a few other buildings in Cotton Plant:







It was time to start heading home, so I turned south towards the interstate. But before joining the slow traffic on I-40, I stopped by this old sharecroppers cabin. There must have been thousands of these old cabins across the Delta, but not too many of them are still standing.



I tried to get a few pictures while wiping raindrops off the lens.

A Rainy Day In The Delta

I have finally reached that part of being in your 40s where (and sorry if this is too much personal information) I hit the recommended age to have a colonoscopy. And so I did, and luckily all went well. But to make up for the indignity of the "prep," I treated myself to an extra day off from work. And since it was raining, I headed out to get a few pictures.

I headed east into the Delta, and soon stopped at the old Johnson Chapel Methodist Church, which was built in 1871. Services were held there for nearly 100 years, and the old building still looks nicely maintained.



It had rained heavily overnight, which gave the drought-parched landscape a good soaking.







The road headed further east into the small town of Des Arc, which is the home to the Lower White River Museum State Park. Next to the museum is this historic dogtrot cabin.





There were a few other old building scattered around the grounds:



Des Arc is an old city, established in the 1850s along the White River. And the oldest building in Des Arc is the old Frith-Plunkett House, which was built in 1858.



Due to its strategic location along the White River, Des Arc was a busy spot during the Civil War. Which meant that over the course of the war, most of the buildings in town were burned or destroyed. But the Frith-Plunkett House was spared, since it served as a hospital for Union troops.





The old house is empty and quiet, its windows and doors hidden behind plywood boards. There is a faded sign in the yard asking for donations to help restore the old home.



A few blocks down the road is the Prairie County Courthouse, which sits on a low hill above the river. The courthouse was built in 1913.



And just a few blocks away was this old home, which also seemed to look empty and disused. The yard was covered with a carpet of pine needles. I got a few pictures before heading out, crossing the bridge over the river and heading further east into the Delta.



*** So my apologies to anyone from Des Arc who might be stumble upon this blog while doing something innocent like looking for pictures of their hometown. Sorry you had to first read about a colonoscopy **