Hurricane Ike dumped a bunch of water overnight Saturday so I set out about 9 a.m. to look for some rare September waterfall action. I planned to hit Murray and Senyard Falls off the Pig Trail north of Cass and then maybe check out the cascades below Lake Sequoyah on my way back home.
The hurricane remnants blew hard during the night but it was partly cloudy as I set off about 9 a.m. The winds did a number on the woods along Highway 23. There were about 15-20 places where trees had fallen across the highway. At one point I had to wait about 15 minutes as a crew cleared a tree from the road. At another spot I had drive way over on the shoulder to get around the crown of a big oak tree that the clearing crew hadn’t gotten to.
To get to the falls, you park at the Cherry Bend Trailhead for the Ozark Highlands Trail and plunge down the side of the mountain. But when I got there, the road-clearing crew had all their trucks parked there. Rather than park on the highway, I consulted the Tim Ernst waterfall guide and came up with a plan B: the High Bank Twin Falls about 15 miles south. Parking is at the High Bank canoe access on the Mulberry River. It’s a short hike up the creek to the falls.
The falls were running but they aren’t easy to photograph in the summer. The tree canopy blocks the view at various places so I couldn’t get an unobstructed shot. I might have pulled it off with a wider angle lens, but I made do. To make matters worse, I was shooting while the sun was high and the clouds were spotty.
After heading back north to Murray and Senyard, I found the parking area empty at the trail head. I headed down the trail and made a right turn where a huge tree had fallen across the trail. I thought I saw where the trail was down below and headed that way. Huge mistake. I soon found myself slipping and sliding down to the creek. It was steep, as in I would have to find another way up because I didn’t have any mountaineering gear with me. At the bottom i came across an old car body. I can only assume someone drove it off the highway. It had been there a long time. It looked to be early ’70s vintage. The whole front end was gone. Somebody had evidently salvaged the engine. I would have loved to see how they got it back up that mountainside.
I stumbled and slid my way down the creek. The woods were so thick I couldn’t see very far in front of me. The horseflies were thick in there and I was continually slapping at them. Going down is easy, of course. I was dreading the climb out. I thought about turning around and cutting my losses. I would pick out a spot and walk to it and evaluate the situation, but it’s hard to turn around when you’ve gone that far. I wasn’t that far from the road in reality. It’s just that the way back was straight up.
Eventually I hit a trail on the creek bank and followed it to the top of Murray Falls. (You can find much better photos on Flickr. Like this one.) It was the same situation as last week at Eagle’s Nest Falls. There was no clear way to the bottom. I could see the very top of Senyard Falls about 100 yards away but the trees were so thick I couldn’t see anything else over that way. I was out of time anyway. I had to be home by 2:30. I got a poor shot of the pour off and headed out. It’s a beautiful place, but the photo I shot there was even more lame than what I got at High Bank Twins.
I followed the trail out and up, and up, and up. I came across two snakes, one much larger than the other. I don’t know what they were doing so close to each other. Maybe they were going to make baby snakes.
The trail led back to where I started. I came to where the tree had fallen across the trail and had to bushwhack a route around it. I was sweating like a pig and felt like I was on the verge of stroke or something. When I got to the parking lot, three guys where just getting ready to go down. They had on hiking boots and long pants with their socks pulled up out of the boots and over their pant legs. They were dousing themselves in bug spray. Serious hikers, I guess. I stood there in my shorts and ancient tennis shoes with my legs all muddy and scratched and horsefly bit and warned them about the tree across the trail. They thanked me and I headed home. I got back at 2:30 on the button.
There are folks who are mostly interested in seeing Abby pictures. You know who you are. Go to Flickr to see photos from our afternoon outing.