Days 5&6: We Keep Doing the Ozark Thing

It’s hot and it’s sticky!! But we are having a great time and have found ways to stay cool.  On Friday we hiked the Lost Valley Trail to Eden Falls and Eden Cave.  It was a 2.5 mile round trip hike.  The night before it rained pretty hard, making our camp a muddy mess, but we were hopeful it meant the waterfalls would be running strong.   As we started the hike we were surprised to see dry creek beds with no water to be found, even though the trails were damp from the heavy rain.  We pressed on, eventually coming to a waterfall that magically appeared from under a natural bridge.  

We learned from one of the trail side placards that the water in the streams routinely disappear and reappear from porous rock in the region, and the river only runs continuously at periods of high runoff.  After a short break we pressed on to Eden falls which was a beautiful multi-tiered fall to a small pool where we found a family with a young 12 y.o. girl in a swimsuit mortified by her mother swimming unabashedly in her underwear when we came upon them :). 

We left them to their swimming, and hiked up the steep hillside to the opening of Eden Cave.  There was some nervousness from some in the group (claire) and few tears from a bumped head, but we kept moving.  Annie also realized that when I put sandals on before the hike, I was the only one who had worn the right shoes.  Everything got wet.  We pulled out some headlamps and a few battery powered lanterns and made our way to the back of the cave.  It narrowed continuously, eventually forcing us to crawl on the damp ground before it finally, after about 200ft, opened up into a large chamber with……   a waterfall coming off the ceiling inside! (it doesn’t show up real well in the photo because it was not flowing that strong) 

 

We spent a little time in the cool air of the cave, then  made our way back to Eden Falls for a few  minutes before hiking out.  Some well deserved ice cream and then lunch at the Ozarks Cafe finished out the afternoon.  Claire and I shared the Excalibur Burger.  A hamburger with two grilled Cheese sandwiches for buns.  

 

The Next Day I woke up at 4:00 AM in hopes of capturing the sunrise at Whitaker Point.  When I started my drive there were no clouds in the sky (not the best news), but a nice layer of fog laying in most of the valleys.  I pressed on.   Lucy and I hiked the 1.4 miles in the dark to reach the site.  I got a few decent photos but due to flat light, nothing great.  I haven’t decided if it will be making the cut for my photography site, which is fine because it was a beautiful morning in nature.  Lucy and I hiked back to the car and drove back for breakfast. 

We headed over to Cotter, AR and the White River, where the fishing is supposed to be better.  Our camp site was river front, and was so peaceful we almost stayed another night.   A few hours of unsuccessful fishing in beautiful spots  along the river satisfied my itch and we settled into camp for showers and a riverside dinner before retreating in the face of a brief thunderstorm.  Lucy and I had a very long active day and we crashed early.  We have an early start tomorrow.