A Little Closer To Heaven

Last Saturday, an arctic chill blew into Northwest Arkansas bringing temps down into the low 20’s to mid-teens. If that’s not enough, the wind chill made it feel like a balmy 1 degree fahrenheit. Perfect hiking weather if you ask me!

My wife didn’t feel the same way, but she reluctantly went along. We layered up and headed out for a 6.8 mile out-and-back on the Buffalo River Trail. Our destination: a beautiful overlook of the Buffalo River. We started at the Ponca low water bridge and hopped on the BRT. After a couple of pretty easy miles and some tight squeezes between boulders, we arrived at Steel Creek campground. Most tourists/campers choose this campground, but I absolutely hate it. It’s very noisy and prone to drunken fights. I’ll take a backcountry site any day.

After stopping to use the bathroom, scarf down a PB and J, and downing some precious water, we headed towards the bluff. The hike from Steel Creek to the bluff is a very pretty hike, especially in the leaf-off. It begins with a little elevation gain and some pretty views of Roark bluff before heading deeper into the woods and following beautiful Steel Creek. After crossing the creek, we headed for the overlook on an unnamed bluff (which is the prettiest overlook in the park in my opinion). The trail is pretty steep here and there are definitely some places you don’t want to lose your balance. Nothing fatal, but serious injuries could occur. It follows the side of the ridge for a while before emerging onto the bluff.

Once we arrived at the bluff, we were treated to some tremendous views of the river below. We sat down for a while and took it all in, I downed a Snicker’s marathon bar, and we headed back after about 15 minutes. That was about as long as we could stand up there because the wind just cuts right through you on that bluff.

We retraced our steps back to the campground and it was pretty uneventful except for my wife slipping on some loose rocks and sliding down the ridge only to catch herself on a downed tree (Thank God for that!). Oh yeah, and the group of 35 college kids that made more noise than I’ve ever heard in the woods. That reminds me, we let the kids pass because they were trucking along. One of them must have thought that we were heading in the opposite direction of them because when we stopped to take a break, we saw him coming around the corner with a trowel and a look of nervousness on his face. When he saw us, his face turned beet red and I guess he decided he could hold it because he hustled back to his group! Man, that gave me quite a laugh. I would guess by his face that’s he’s not taken too many dookies in the wood!

All in all, it was a great day to hike and my wife and I are glad we went despite the cold. If you are ever in the area and need a good hike, this is one of the best.

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