Twin Falls

The Hike to Twin Falls
in the Richland Creek Wilderness is one every Ozark Explorer should try and find time for. I first found out about Richland Creek when I was roaming around Searcy County dirt roads in my little old `86 Suzuki Samurai. It was really hot in the summer of 2000 and swimming holes were at the very top of my list of places I needed to be. Richland Creek enters the Buffalo River above St. Joe and there are some great swimming holes around the area called "Woolum".

I decided to learn more about Richland Creek when I returned from Woolum and was excited to learn that much of it runs through public land. I was even more excited when I read Tim Ernst's description of the area in his book, "Buffalo River Hiking Trails". After reading up on the area and looking at topo maps, I decided to plan a day hike to the "Twin Falls" that Tim describes as an "Off Trail Bushwhack".

This hike had a few quirks that would surely make it interesting. For starters, I could not really find a map that had the dirt roads clearly marked for the area. For this, I had something new. A handheld GPS called the "eMap" from Garmin. I got this gizmo (after much begging) as a Christmas gift from my lovely wife, Jackie. I made a "Route" using Garmin's "MapSource Topo" CD-ROM and loaded it into the eMap. I wasn't too sure how well it would work out in the sticks, but it was better than just a map to start out with. The second problem was the weather. We were having one of the coldest winters ever in the Ozarks area in 2000-2001. Arkansas had experienced an ice storm that left over 400,000 people without power just a few weeks before. It had warmed up a bit since then and I was hoping that there wouldn't be any ice left on the trails or forest floor.

I called my trusty buddy, Randy, and my brother, Sam, to see if they'd like to go with me and we decided together that it would be more fun to spend the night at the Richland Creek Campground and hike in the morning after a good breakfast. The weather looked pretty good for the next Sunday evening, so that's when we'd go.

We left around 3:30pm and after stopping for some supplies, headed south on Hwy 65 towards the Buffalo River. I'd turned on the eMap and gave it to Randy so he could play around with it. Randy messed around with it for a few minutes and said "Hey, did you know that there won't be a moon out at all tonight? It's gonna be really dark. Do you think you know how to find the campground?". I told him I honestly had no idea how to find it, and that we were completely screwed if the eMap didn't show us the right way to go. The amazing thing is, is that the eMap worked perfectly. Every time we approached a turn, it would beep and an arrow would point the direction to go. In the complete dark of night, on dirt roads at least 20 miles from the nearest pavement, the eMap lead us directly to the Richland Creek Campground. I'm still very impressed, and so are both Randy and Sam.

We set up a fast camp and built a fire to stay warm. It can get pretty cold in an Arkansas hollow in the middle of January and we were surprised to find snow and ice still on the ground all around our camp. Randy set aside some hot coals from the fire and grilled some of the finest tasting Rib Eye steaks ever.

After dinner we took a walk down to the creek using flashlights to see the trail and then sat down and turned them off so we could experience the total darkness of a moonless night. As our eyes adjusted stars began to appear in countless numbers. Venus was shining brighter than we've ever seen before. Looking back at the campfire, the smoke was illuminated and drifted high into the treetops creating an eerie scene that seemed to invite spirits from a long distance past to dance and chant for favors from god. Film and digital images can never really portray a scene like this, you just have to be there.

The next morning our water bottles were frozen solid and a thick frost covered our tent. After stoking the fire and making some coffee and breakfast we dried and packed up our camping gear and hiked from the campground to the trailhead kiosk where we signed in by filling out a form. From there we headed down hill to where a small creek joins Richland Creek and looked for a dry crossing. There wasn't one nearby and so we decided to remove our socks and shoes and wade across. I've heard of hikers doing this before, wading across snow fed creeks in below freezing weather and I've always wondered just how tough a feller has to be to do this. Now, I can tell you. It wasn't as bad as you might think. Yeah, it's cold, but I had packed a washcloth just in case I might want one, and when I'd got to the other side, I did want one. So, as I said, it ain't that bad if you got something to get your feet dry and warm in a hurry. Otherwise, it's probably not too fun.

After crossing the first creek we followed a well worn trail along the left bank going up stream of Richland Creek. The trail was pretty well covered with ice almost every where and there were only a couple pair of footprints to be seen ahead. Apparently, not to many people had visited recently. But whoever made those footprints had been here when the area was in a rare and beautiful form. This creekbed is beautiful at anytime of year. But it is quite special to see it in winter after ice and snow storms have passed and left a crystal glaze on everything. I could only wish I had been with them because much of the ice had melted away by the time we got here.

We had been hiking for over an hour when Richland Creek turned sharply to the left and a dry creekbed came in straight ahead. I checked the map that Tim Ernst has in his book and Randy checked the eMap and we decided that we'd have to go across Richland Creek and straight up the dry creekbed to find Twin Falls. Richland Creek was running pretty fast but there were boulders strewn around that looked promising for hopping to the other side. We walked up stream until we found a good place to cross and all of us made it across completely dry.

We hiked to the dry creek and started upstream looking for a trail on the left side of the dry creek. The creek was not dry for long. Something that is common here in the Ozarks. Creeks and even some rivers will flow along and then just go underground only to spring out sometime later. We found a trail but there were no footprints on this one. We were the only people to be here since the weather had got cold and we couldn't help but feeling like we were seeing something very few will ever share with us. This creekbed is truly wonderful. You can't help but wonder how such big boulders made their way to the bottom of this gorge. You can't help but stare at the ancient limestone cliffs that rise like walls on one side then the other. Further up the hillside the cliffs look like castle walls and you have to strain to believe they're not.

This is a pretty tough hike. There's not much of a trail and sometimes it just seems to end on the side of a very steep hill. There was usually only one way to go when this happened. Up. I felt a bit like a Mountain Goat without the super duper traction more than once on this hike. It would have been easier if there had not been so much ice, but then, who wants it easier? This is about exploring places where most people don't go.

After another hour of hiking we caught our first glimpse of Twin Falls. Hidden in a cold, deep hollow where two creeks meet and fall over a limestone cliff into one crystal blue pool, we sat and enjoyed Twin Falls.

Seeing Twin Falls in the middle of winter, draped in icicles and carpeted underneath with crystallized water that looks like mounds of diamonds is something that Randy, Sam, and I, will never forget. Like the explorers of the past who got to experience something rare, something that they knew few before or after them would get to share, we were there to see it.

We lost a year 2000 gold dollar coin there. If you make it to Twin Falls let me know, if you find the gold dollar, please keep it and "Lose" something to replace it so we know you've been there too ;)

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