Flatside

The fall colors in the Ozarks weren't the best this year, but luckily they still put on a good show in the rest of the state. So before the wind knocked the leaves off the trees, Zack and I decided to take a quick trip out to Flatside Pinnacle. If you've never been, Flatside has one of the best views in the state. And it's only an hour drive from Little Rock.

Flatside Pinnacle is a 1,526 foot mountain that sits in the Flatside Wilderness. The wilderness area contains nearly 9,500 acres of pristine forests, right in the middle of the Ouachita National Forest. From the top of the mountain you have a grand view of the rolling Ouachita Mountains, which roll and stretch off into the distance. Below is miles and miles of uninterrupted forest.

The trail to the top of the mountain is short but steep. And while Flatside is getting more and more popular as people find out about it, there were only a few other people out there that evening. We set up the cameras and waited for the sunset, which finally dropped behind the hills.

Clinton Library

We were entertaining some out-of-state visitors a few weeks ago, showing them around Little Rock. Which of course meant a visit to the Clinton Presidential Library, which just celebrated its tenth anniversary. I had only been inside the library once since it opened, so it was interesting to see how things have aged over the last few years.

While a few people poked fun at the library's architecture when it opened, the inside still provides a great view of downtown and the Arkansas River.





It doesn't really seem like the library has been around for ten years. Which reminds me, I should probably do a little post here about getting inside the library dedication ceremony to see Bono and The Edge play. I'll try to get that up soon....

Boxley Valley

The sun was just about to rise above the mountains, so I headed over to Boxley Valley to try to get a few more pictures. The road was lined with cars, as people were parked trying to get a good view of the elk herd that calls Boxley home. I usually don't stop here, but I pulled over to the side of the road this time. The field in which the elk were standing was white with frost. I joined the line of people elk gazing or taking pictures with lenses that were longer than my arm.



I parked by this old barn, where a few cows were hanging out.



Boxley Valley is very similar to Cades Cove in the Smokies, where there is a great collection of old homes and barns that are over a century old. But in Boxley, the original residents were allowed to live and farm the land in the valley. So places like the Baptist Church, which was built in the 1870s, are still being used.



I think this is an old root cellar, which sits at what is now the start of the Buffalo River Trail.



I tried to get a few more shots, but the light had gotten harsh. I love taking pictures in Boxley, it's such an amazing area.



I finally ended up heading back home, sleepily making the 3 hour drive back to Little Rock. I was looking forward to getting back home to my loving wife, crazy dogs, and a bed where I could take a nice nap.

Steele Creek

I wanted to make sure I got at least a few pictures of the Arkansas fall colors, so I decided to make a trip up to the Buffalo National River a few weeks back. The drive up there would hopefully coincide with the peak of fall colors in the Ozarks, which usually happens around the end of October. I didn't have that much time to spend up there, so I decided to hit one of the most consistently beautiful places on the river.

My original plan was to head up Friday night after work and camp in the Steele Creek campground overnight. But that Friday night promised to be the first really cold night of the year, with temps dipping below freezing. It left a conundrum. I could leave after work Friday night, getting to the Buffalo River when it was dark and then shivering in the cold all night. Or, I could leave early in the morning and get there in time for the sunrise. It would mean not having to sleep in freezing temperatures, but it would involve leaving home at 3 AM.

I decided to go for latter, intent on getting a little bit of sleep in a warm bed. It seemed like a good idea, except for our dogs. They decided it would be fun to wake me up every hour or so, just for fun it seems. I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted when the alarm clock went off. But I gathered the camera gear and got into the car, driving the three hours or so to the Buffalo River.

I got there with plenty of time to spare, about 30 minutes before sunrise. I took a short nap in the car, as some of the people in the campground started to wake up and make campfires. It had gotten a bit chilly that night. As I sleepily got out of the car, I noticed a thin layer of frost coating other cars, trees and the grass in the campground.

The fall colors weren't the best this year in the Ozarks, but there was still some good color along the river. And on this cold morning, there was a layer of mist hovering over the water. It looked almost like it was flowing down the river like it was caught in the current.



This is my favorite spot along the Buffalo River. It's very close to the spot where my wife and I got engaged.



I hurried over to the put-in by Steele Creek to get a few pictures before the sun came up.



I walked along the shore to this spot, which I remembered from our Buffalo River canoe trip earlier this year. The rocks in the picture below look quite wholesome and innocent when viewed from the shore. But when you're in a canoe, they are dangerous, treacherous and menacing. We had just started our canoe trip when we rounded the bend and encountered these rocks. By which I mean, we slammed right into them and flipped the canoe. If you look closely on the rocks, there are blue scars from the paint of countless canoes that have been walloped by these rocks.



As I was walking back to the car, I saw a few other photographers taking pictures in the trees by the trail. I then looked down at the ground to see what they were trying to take pictures of - frost flowers. I had never seen a frost flower before, mostly because it's a phenomenon that occurs only a few times of the year. Another big reason I'd never seen one is because they only last for a short time in the early morning hours, the time I prefer to be sound asleep.

Frost flowers usually form after the first hard freeze of the year, when the ground temperature is still warm enough for a plant's roots to be working, but the air temperature is cold enough to freeze water. The water in a plant's stem freezes, and then expands. The water is drawn out through thin cracks in the stem, freezing on contact with the air. As more water is drawn out, it freezes and forms more layers of ice. Eventually the ice grows into formations, which can look like flower petals. The frost flowers don't last too long, and quickly melt when the sun comes up.

I tried to take some pictures, careful to not step on any of the frost flowers on the ground.



The sun was quickly rising, so I tried to hurry on to another favorite spot on the river for a few more pictures....

Hot Springs

A few days after we got back from our trip to the Smokies, I left work early to run an errand in Hot Springs.  It was a rainy and foggy day, which luckily was pretty good conditions for taking pictures.  Since I had a few hours off to play, I took the camera with me.

It was a bit different going from one of the largest national parks in the east, to the smallest and quirkiest national park in the country. By most park standards, Hot Springs is tiny. Unlike the sprawling and vast national parks in the West, Hot Springs only contains 5,500 acres. It’s also the only national park that has been extensively commercialized. The actual hot springs here have been capped and the water diverted to bathhouses, and there aren’t any herds of wild animals roaming the lands (unless you count the tourists walking down Central Avenue).

Hot Springs National Park is one of my favorite places to take pictures. There is a lot of history and unique architecture in the park. Including this old electric mill, which was built in 1921. The mill would take water from a nearby lake and use it to turn the huge wheel, generating electricity for a nearby home.



I've been wanting to get a shot of this place for a few years, ever since seeing a picture of it online. I've probably driven by it a hundred times without knowing it was there. Next to the bridge is an old stone bridge that crosses the creek above a waterfall.



While Hot Springs National Park is nearly surrounded by the city of Hot Springs, there are a lot of places to escape into the woods. Several trails and roads head up across and over the mountains. I headed up one of the drives, as fog drifted through the trees at the tops of the hills.



Next I ended up walking along Bathhouse Row and Central Avenue. Across from the park, the road is lined with small shops, boutiques, galleries and an occasional wax museum. Most of them seem to be locally owned, which was a big change from the sprawl of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. In fact, I heard later on that Ripley's Believe Or Not wanted to build here (and even take over one of the bathhouses) but was denied.

This was taken looking down Central Avenue, and I think the old building was once a hotel.



Down the road is the old Medical Arts Building, which was the tallest building in the state when it was built in 1929. Like some other buildings along Central Avenue, only the first floor is currently occupied. The rest are empty and vacant, which caused the Medical Arts Building to be listed as one of the most endangered historic properties in the state. There is a lot of potential for anyone wanting to redevelop it in the future. I'd love it if someone would let me go and take pictures from the top floor sometime....