Dad and I drove down to the Buffalo National River and hiked to Whitaker Point and visited Hawksbill Crag, perhaps the most photographed natural feature in Arkansas. On the drive down we encountered a huge thunderstorm, part of a swarm of storms in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas that killed a bunch of people. We pulled off under a tree when the hail got too bad. As we started off down the trail, we heard the ominous sound of thunder. We planned to visit Upper Haley’s Falls and then go on to Hawksbill Crag. Tim Ernst named the falls in his waterfall guidebook after Haley Zega who got lost in the area in the 2001. I suggested that the waterfall probably had a huge overhang — because most waterfalls in the area do — and we could take refuge under it if need be.

We got to the waterfall just in time and there was a huge overhanging shelter that kept us dry as the storm raged over us. Unfortunately, my camera didn’t fare as well. As I was setting up the tripod to take a detail shot of the water splashing into the rocks, I turned my back and the tripod fell over and the camera landed right in the waterfall. The lens broke off and water got all over the camera and inside it. By some miracle from Allah, the sensor inside apparently escaped all moisture. The lens, however, was trashed. Pieces broke off and the zoom ring won’t even turn. This is the picture I was trying to take. I used one of my other lenses.

Mountain azaleas were scattered along the trail. I’d never seen these plants before, but I had seen a picture of one of these plants about a week before, so I knew what they were when we saw them. Check out my Flickr site for more exciting shots of this trip.

Boxley Baptist, originally uploaded by dldailey32.

Before we headed up to Whitaker Point, we stopped in at Boxley Baptist Church. There are innumerable photos of this church on the Internets and elsewhere, most of them better than this one. It’s a pretty cool place with a neat cemetery. As you can see from the photo below, some people don’t want to let things go.

The valley below the crag was foggy and misty. Very cool.