My Summer in the Ozarks

This summer in Northwest Arkansas & around the Buffalo River was one of my most memorable to be outdoors yet! Creatively it was incredible refreshing & recreationally our hearts were full. If you saw my recent blog on our Two Days in Yosemite, you should know there was a break in our summer here in Arkansas, but this blog will follow my adventures chronologically with some 35mm film + digital photography intertwined.

I hope you can use this blog as inspiration for your adventures in all seasons & hopefully to plan ahead for summers to come! In my opinion we covered some of the best of what the Buffalo National River has to offer, so if you have any questions or print requests feel free to reach out!

Float the Upper Buffalo River

Most Arkansas summers start with a good bit of rain near the tail end of Spring & into early summer. This was the first year in a while that I got the opportunity to take advantage of the high water levels to float the Upper Buffalo from Steel Creek to Kyle’s Landing! My friends Jeff & Jordan came along with kayaks from the Buffalo Outdoor Center who also shuttled us. We made a couple stops at places like the Steel Creek Swimming Hole, Jim’s Bluff, Hemmed In Hollow, then hiked around Kyle’s Landing at the end of the stretch for sunset.

Waterfalls of Arkansas

It was technically too deep into summer by late June to be bushwhacking to waterfalls, but we had so much rain this summer that Jeff, Santiago & I couldn’t resist the urge! Our destinations for this hike were Stepp Creek Falls which is way more impressive in person that I expected, & the rarely visited Accord Hollow Falls. Accord Hollow was an extremely rugged area & we got in a nasty patch of poison ivy that stayed with me for over a month through the rest of summer. Pro-tip: Wear long pants & change after you hike out to avoid transferring the irritating oil onto carseats or anything else you might contact. Also learn from my mistakes & go to the doctor early than later! Several of these photographs were shot on 35mm Portra 160 film.

Fourth of July at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch

The Horseshoe Canyon Guest Ranch has notoriously one of the best fireworks shows out in the Ozarks purely by location. The fireworks are shot from the bottom of a valley & you can hike to higher viewpoints where it seems like you are even with the fireworks as the booming echoes off the bluffs surrounding you. We set up, snacked, & shot some long-exposures during the show! Several of these photographs were also quick film grabs plus a long exposure on film.

Wanderlust Cabin Weekend

We were super blessed with the opportunity to stay in one of the Buffalo Outdoor Center’s brand new treetop cabins for a weekend with a group of friends. The Wanderlust Cabin has an amazing sunrise view & a prime location to get to some of our favorite spots around Ponca & Compton. We spent the evening on Firetower Road, morning watching sunrise from the cabin, midday swimming at Steel Creek, then the next evening watching the elk in Boxley Valley.

Late Summer Waterfalls

Having enough rain in August to get the waterfalls flowing again is a rare occurrence, so when Hanna & I decided to go see some falls we made the wise choice to go to a more heavily trafficked & maintained trail to avoid the bugs & poison plants. Lost Valley Hiking Trail was the perfect place with a lot of bang for your buck. Most people visit this waterfall in fairly dry seasons, but I HIGHLY recommend going the day after flood-level rains to see the best of what the area has to offer. Most people never get to see it like this & it’s a real shame!

Labor Day Weekend Stargazing

We kept close to home for Labor Day this year with plans to go photograph the Milky Way. The forecast only showed one night that weekend with clear skies, so we recruited a few friends to go up to Roark Bluff with us & wait for the stars to come out. Unfortunately we all got covered in literally hundreds of seed ticks before we got to the top. We basically missed sunset trying to rid ourselves of the ticks before they bit. I was able to snap a few of these photos before we left. It was beautiful, but the ticks were anxiety inducing! Again - don’t bother bushwhacking between June-September in Arkansas. It is hardly worth the aftermath!

Luckily we were able to grab showers at the BOC’s RV Park where we decided to stick around until around midnight shooting the stars. The Buffalo National River was designated this year as one of the few “Dark Skies Parks” in the country. I’m extremely proud of our Park Service Branch for advocating for such a cool accolade to preserve one thing I love about the area so much. Even around lights from the RV’s, the stars are so much brighter out there!

Questions, comments, requests, & all the good things are encouraged! I hope you get inspiration for hiking, floating, & swimming seasons to come.

— Tanner