[outdoors] Whitaker Point / Hawksbill Crag + Glory Hole Waterfall

The Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area has no shortage of hiking trails. Especially good day-hiking trails...which are right up my alley. D might be of another opinion, as overnight backpacking is more his cup of tea.  Me? Well I'm happy to have a day exploring the great outdoors capped with AC and a down comforter.

The Upper Buffalo Wilderness (part of the Ozark National Forest) is one of 154 national forests, operated by the U.S. Forest Service. Most of the trees here are oaks, hickory and pine. In the 12,108 acres of the wilderness, the only official trail is the one leading to Hawksbill Crag. This area is remote and pretty uninhabited!

Check out this cool National Forest locator map.

We set out with a pretty ambitious agenda for our day. Knowing we wanted to see Hawksbill Crag / Whitaker Point , we decided to tack on a hike to Glory Hole Waterfall (let's take a moment to get our giggles out of the way).

See why we were set on seeing this? Beautiful.

// flickr // exploretheozarksonline.com //

After a pretty hour and a half drive over hills and into valleys (with a couple large coffees and breakfast), we hit the Glory Hole Waterfall trailhead. It is NOT marked from the highway, so use GPS coordinates (35.828473, -93.390474). Understand that there isn't any designated parking here, so pull over onto the generous shoulder off the highway at your own risk. The trail starts as a jeep road that we didn't feel like testing our Outback on - a bit muddy and rutted out. With the extra 1/4 mile to the trailhead, it's a 2.5-mile round trip. The trail winds down along the unfortunately named Dismal Creek and dumps you at the base of the overhand and Hole. It's a 30-foot fall that bore straight through the limestone rock overhead. Pretty fun to take some time exploring inside the overhang and watching the water rush out.

Overall, it's a quick, fairly easy hike to a unique waterfall that's absolutely worth it...all jokes aside.

// our pics //

Next up...one of the most iconic places in our state, Whitaker Point. Outside of Boxley Valley, Cave Point Road took us waaaaay up a dirt road to the trailhead. When I say 'waaaaay' I mean about 5 miles. At the top there's some parking and a dedication to Governor and Senator Dale Bumpers who was dedicated to preserving Arkansas' natural beauty. Seems it's aptly placed!

Check out these awesome photos from the interwebs. Isn't this place amazing?!

// fineartamerica.com // thousandwonders.net // buffaloriver.com //

The hike to Hawksbill Crag is about 1.5 miles (3 round trip). You wind down through a forest and creek and hit Haley Falls below you. It's a wide, trickling fall, so you could easily miss it! We opted to continue along and get to the Crag - next time it would be nice to hike down around the falls. But we pressed on, followed the bluff line and kept anticipating the view of the Crag. At last we got to see our first glimpse from an overlook - breathtaking. Made me wish we had come at sunrise or set for that beautiful light. Next time. And there definitely be a next time.

// view from Hawksbill Crag // our pics //