Lost Valley

Lost Valley Trail

Well, we ended up not going to Mount Magazine afterall. It rained. Have I already written about this? I can't remember. Maybe I thought about writing this, or dreamed it.

On Saturday it rained. We stayed around here, catching up on laundry, buying groceries, doing so little that I can't even remember what we did and it was just two days ago.

But I do remember what we did yesterday. About a two hour drive away is the Buffalo National River, and all along this gorgeous river are many trails and special scenic spots. We decided to check out one of them: the Lost Valley trail. Tim Ernst has written several Arkansas hiking trail guide books, and we were enchanted by his description of this particular trail. At only 2.3 miles round trip, it seemed like a nice 'hot day in August' hike.


Here we are by the enormous limestone blocks that were strewn about like a long forgotten dice left by THE GIANTS, Arrrr! And, yes, it was pretty hot outside, in the upper 90's, at least, but it didn't feel awful as we were shaded by the trees.

This is a 'natural bridge' where I suppose the creek water travels under (through) when there actually is creek water. It's all dried up this time of year so we were able to climb up and through it. What a treat! Inside is a lovely flowstone cave formation, but you'll have to take my word for it as I didn't take any pictures for some reason.

It was hard picking out a favorite picture to represent the curvacious limestone bluffs surrounding us. This is part of the entrance to the tunnel, or natural bridge, above.

John shot this one, and it's my favorite picture from this hike. The boys are exploring the Cob Cave, just east of Eden Falls.