Bluff Spring Journal
March 30th
As I make this journal entry we’re taking a few days of vacation. Many of you have noted that the journal has not been updated recently. It's been a challenging couple of months that have included a surgery and a difficult time with a special dog who has entered our lives.
First of all the surgery went fine and I'm back to hiking a couple of miles without much pain. It's good to be back in the woods again among the wildflowers, streams and wildlife. I'm hoping to get some good photos this week as we are taking a few days to recharge our lives.
Second, I have some sad news that Rusty-our recent rescue Corgi has gone gently to a better place. I have put Rusty’s story on a separate page. If you want to read about this great dog I do need to warn you that it concludes with the end to Rusty’s life. Click here if you wish to read his story. If not, I don’t blame you. Sadness is not something that sets well with any of us.
Ozark Wake Robin
April 20 th, 2007
1:08 am. It’s all still in the cabin except for the quietly insistent pawing of Sid, newest member of the herd. Sid came to us about 2 weeks ago courtesy of his dad, Rooster Cogburn and mother, Josie Whales. Here are a few pictures of Sid. As you can see, he is a tri-color Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He’s 12 weeks old now and doing quite well with obedience training and house breaking. Annie, our other Welsh Corgi is also training him up right, letting him know that she’s still the head canine of the house. Right now his pawing means he needs to go answer the call of nature. And, I’m the guy who knows how to open the door. Getting Sid outside is no easy task. I don’t want to disturb the dreams of my beautiful bride, so I quietly gather up Sid and tip toe down the steps from the loft. Of course I plant my foot on the part of the last step to the landing that creaks and I grimace thinking I’ve woken her up. Listening I only hear a bit of rustling covers. Not enough to indicate that my efforts were in vain. Slowly I descend the remaining steps, Sid and I have to talk to mother nature and I hurry across the floor and out the door.
So many new smells. Sid’s mind must be exploding with all the new scents in these woods. After doing his business he wants to explore everything. I smile as I watch him examine every little pebble and leaf as if it were the 1 st one he’d ever seen. I make a mental note that maybe I should take a little more interest in the nature I encounter. No telling what I’m missing by hurrying through the ‘usualness’ of my walk through life.
Quietly we make our way back inside and I remember that creaky step laying in wait. Not chancing awakening my lovely bride, Sid and I retire to the couch. What a beautiful site. As I lay down I can see through our wall of windows into the night sky which is sparking with stars. I am reminded of the nights I’ve gone to sleep under this luminescent blanket, camped somewhere along a singing nameless creek . Was that also the smell of dying campfires or just my sleepy mind merging reality with past memories? Sid and I slept soundly for the next few hours. Momma even had to wake us up to ask what we wanted for breakfast. Mmmm, toast, ham and a beautiful sunrise. It doesn't get much better.
7:30 am. Off to the woods to do a bit of hiking. We’d never hiked from Steel Creek to Ponca and we figured the out and back would be some good exercise. This trail basically follows the bluff line along the river as you ascend from Steel Creek to walk along the hillside. Three weeks ago we had started from Ponca end of the trail on a wildflower search and had not even had to go more than a quarter of a mile before we found the flower I was looking for. Today was a different story. Because of the cold snap that had occurred in the interim, a lot of the trees were looking kind of sad. Their leaves were brown due to the killing cold that had settled in the valley. We did notice that near the river the vegetation looked a lot better. My resident scientist wife surmised that the moisture laden air would cool at a slower rate and perhaps protect the vegetation near the river.
We did find a few wildflowers that had survived. And I was glad to take their pictures to documents their tenacity.
We only saw two other people of the trail. We were surprised because the campground at Steel Creek was full. I guess they were mainly floaters and campers-not hikers. Upsteam from the campground the waters were calm and the reflections were nice.
We made our way back to the cabin and after a little work my old friend the couch was calling. Naps all around as Annie, Sid and I added our snoring to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees outside our window. All is well.
April 22 nd, 2007
5:20 am and other sunrise starting to make its way through the windows of our cabin. I don’t have to worry about waking up my lovely bride. She’s been up for a couple of hours working on project that’s due this week. So much for a lazy Sunday morning. As I make my outside to allow Sid to answer the call of nature I encountered a fair size Luna Moth on the side of the cabin. Not only is he staying put as I observe him, he’s also perched right next to our porch light. Just enough light to provide a good depth of field for a photograph.
10:30 am The cabin chores are done and it's time to take the dogs to the river. They seem to know something is up. They don't care what, they just love to go anywhere. Annie can't hardly wait and she is constantly dancing around on my lovely wife's lap or sticking her head out the window to pretend she is flying.
After descending the some 3 miles down a dusty road to the river we can finally 'release the hounds' and let them romp in the water. There were several other dogs and there were plenty of sniffs all around. Everybody behaved and seem more interested in having fun than trying to prove who the boss of the day might be.
April 28th, 2007
8:20 pm Time to crawl in the Honda and head to Arkansas. Strange time I know, but I've got some furniture to deliver to the cabin and a group of fellow photographers to meet in the morining. After packing the Honda with all the 'crap' I need for tonight and tomorrow, I'm beginning to think that there should be an eaiser way to get ready to go on what should be an ejoyable trip. Every time I do this I think that the next time I'll have a big plastic box packed with all the things I need every time I go, and this won't be such a chore. And again I make myself the same promise. Next time.
My first stop is for coffee and a couple of doughnuts just to keep me awake. I use the trip to catch up on family gossip, cell phones are great. My mom is her usual spunky self. At 74, she's subsitute teaching and loving it. She retired from social services a few years ago and now she'd staying young by being around young people. It was good to talk to her about the usual small things of life and together we are looking forward to a Mother's Day Celebration at the cabin with brothers and sisters. Of course she won't come to Springfield and ride down with us to make the trip easier on herself. She wants to accept the challenge and drive from West Plains to Jasper, Ar. Not that it's a long distance, but it's like the service station attendant who says, Miss, you can't get there from here. So.. I'm writing up the directions, which include about 7 Highways and about 8 different turns. But, who's counting, she's my mom.
I arrive at the cabin by 10:15 and hoss the night stand and chest of drawers into the cabin. After setting my alarm for 4:30, I settle into the big bed in the loft, which never felt so good.
April 29th, 2007 4:30 am
My phone is playing the theme from Andy Griffth for an alarm. I'd like to skip that phone across a pond like Opie did right now. Oh well, getting up early for a good day is not such a chore. Where's my coffee? About 45 minutes later I've finished what was left of the doughnuts and have reached my target heart rate with coffee. Packing all my photo gear into the Honda I headed out to meet my photography gang at the Autumn Breeze cabin. We're planning to hike into the Smith Creek Preserve and get some great photos. It's about a 25 mintue drive from Jasper to the end of Boxley Valley and the cabin. Only, in my case I make it a 45 minute drive because I missed the turn off to the cabin. The directions I have point me to a turn off 5 miles south of the 'the church'. I took this as the chuch at Mossville, which of couse it wasn't. By the time I back tracked and finally found the cabin it was just getting to be sunrise. If you know anything about photographers you'll know that sunrise is way too late. The gang had already ready left, which is what I would have done. Great photographs wait for no one. So.. what to do. I could try to find the crew, but this is some big country and I could trek around all day before finding them. I go to plan b and head over to the Old Mill Pond which is always good for a backup. Hope you enjoy the photo I stumbled onto as Plan B.
May 5th, 2007
It may be a little too late but we are starting in earnest to prepare for a week of hiking on the Appalachian Trail. So… today we are hiking the Buffalo River Trail from Steel Creek to Kyles Landing, about 8.4 depending on which signs you believe. We were sleepy heads and stayed in bed till 7:30. Can’t remember how long it’s been since that happened. Our usual getting up time of 4:30 or 5:30 am went and pasted as we decided to take advantage of a good bed and a cloudy morning.
By the time that we had taken care of the dogs, ran to town to buy a few supplies and stopped by a local outfitter to arrange for a shuttle, it was 10 am before we got on the trail. We did get by chance to meet Margret who was helping out with the outfitter. Turns out we know each other from work. It’s a small world. Margret was great and set us up to have our vehicle shuttled to the ending point of our hike-Kyles Landing. Our starting point was Steele Creek where we were glad to leave about 80 canoes that were still on racks and no telling how many that were already on the river. Saturdays this time of year get really crowded on the river.
Upon leaving Steele Creek, the Buffalo River Trail heads uphill very quickly. My description to persons about this trail is that they shouldn’t worry about the first part of the trail. It’s very steep, sometimes narrow and will make you want to stop for oxygen occasionally. The rest of the 8.4 mile trek also has its moments.
Occasionally we would look at each other and comment, “We have to stop going up sometime!”
The trail makes it way in the general direction of the river with occasional glimpse of the Buffalo. We only saw one other person on our 5 hour hike and she was riding a mule on a trail that crossed the BRT. The mule’s name was Easy. The lady said she name her mule Easy, because that was all she said to him as she was riding-“Easy, Easy.”
Along the way we crossed several small streams and found a great place for a waterfall picture in high water. I’ll have to go back after a few days of heavy rain to try and bag this photo that I could see in my mind.
We also saw some gorgeous wild azaleas and several beautiful butterflies.
And, we did finally start down as we descended to Kyles Landing across the dry Indian Creek and into the campground. As promised Margret had our SUV waiting for us. Back at the cabin my beautiful bride rustled up some of the best tasting steaks that we enjoyed in a cool breeze out on the deck. I know the Appalachian Trail is supposed to be great, but I don’t see how it can compare to this great stretch of the BRT.
The next morning we slowly made our way around the cabin nursing a few sore muscles. Out on the deck having our morning coffee, we were greeted by one of our cabin friends.
