Boxley

Our next stop was Boxley Valley, which is truly one of the prettiest places in the state. It was a rainy morning, and fog and mist clung to the tops of the mountains that stand tall over the valley. We made a stop by the old grist mill that sits in the middle of the valley.



The first mill here was built way back in 1840. That mill actually was the center of a small Civil War skirmish called the Battle of Whiteley's Mill. The current mill was built in 1870 and operated until the 1960s. The mill has been restored and occasionally the interior is opened for tours by the National Park Service.



We then took Cave Mountain Road, which runs steeply up the side of the mountain. But we did make one stop at Hedge's Pouroff, where a creek tumbles over the bluff into the valley below. The pouroff is notoriously difficult to photograph, but the view from there is amazing. The trees were a deep and vibrant green from new Spring growth (actually had to desaturate the colors a bit in the pictures). I was careful to not get too close to the edge for this picture, since the bluff here is about 100 feet tall.



The bluff is guarded by an ancient cedar tree, which has enjoyed this view for many many years.

Out In The Woods

It's amazing what you sometimes find while out driving through the woods of the Ozarks. The other weekend I had met up with my good friend Zack, and we were driving off to go hiking to a waterfall. We took the scenic route, and went by this nice view of a field surrounded by mist and fog-covered mountains.



We then headed down a dirt road, and passed by a large two-story wooden structure. It was an old double-dogtrot building, with weathered and faded wooden boards that were being covered with vines.



It was part of a small complex of abandoned buildings. It turns out that we were by Diamond Cave, which used to be a popular tourist attraction. The cave has been described as being a "natural wonder," with "stalactites, columns, and stalagmites running many miles into the mountain." The cave was opened for tours in 1925, and would soon be home to a hotel (which was the two-story dogtrot building), a campground, a restaurant, an outdoor pavilion and even a skating rink.





The cave has also been called one of the prettiest caves in the state, and it operated as a tourist attraction until the mid-1990s.





The land is now apparently privately-owned, and the cave is closed in order to protect its environment. It's amazing how quickly nature can assert its dominance, and how even the most popular of attractions can be left behind and forgotten.

Longpool

I was heading up to the Ozarks, and decided to make a quick stop at Longpool on Big Piney Creek. The Big Piney is only about 67 miles long, but it packs in a lot of great scenery. It's no surprise that it has been designated as a National Wild & Scenic River (one of 8 in the state that have that designation, which includes Hurricane Creek which is a tributary of Big Piney).

Longpool is a Forest Service campground, and it has a nice swimming area that is guarded by a collection of large boulders sitting in the emerald water.



And the road that curves through the woods, by a few camping areas. This is a great place to camp...



There are also a few waterfalls, and I made the short hike to check them out. But there wasn't much water there, but since I made the effort I took a few pictures anyways. These are the lower falls, which are pretty even if there wasn't much water going over the mossy rocks.

On Broadway

 This parking deck, which sits in the shadow of the Regions Bank Building in downtown Little Rock, was completely empty. Which wasn't surprising since we're in the middle of a pandemic and it was also a Friday night and any workers would have long since headed home. It was still a bit eerie driving up the ramps past hundreds of empty parking spaces (at least I didn't have to pay to leave, which was nice). But the parking deck did have this nice view looking south, as traffic headed through the intersection of Broadway and Capitol Avenues.



And then the view looking north, with the lights from cars heading to and from the Broadway Bridge...

Down By The River

Amazingly, I managed to not slip and fall into the river the other night while trying to navigate the pointy rocks that line the river below the sidewalk in Riverfront Park. But at least it did provide this view of the Little Rock skyline, framed by the branches of an old tree that leans out over the water.