2009 Springtime report on Upper Buffalo River Valley

paul — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:52:00 +0000

I made my first Springtime trip up to the Boxley Valley and surrounding areas. The drive up was an eyeopener due to the tremendous amount of damage to the trees from the January 2009 ice storm. I had seen some of the damage earlier in the year on Hwy 65 north of Clinton, but the damage to the trees along Hwy 7 near the Rotary Ann Overlook is considerably worse. I was glad to see that loggers were working this area as to not allow so much downed timber stay on the ground and create a fire hazard. I am sure that over time this will all disappear and in fact once the trees get to their full summer leaf out, most of it might be hidden, however all those broken tops will have to either break due to wind or rot and fall to the ground. The roads will be trouble for years to come as these trees continue to fall to the ground and block passage. The morning fog was quite thick and lasted until almost 9:30 am.

Foggy trees on the Buffalo River.

The Spring seems to have come early to Little Rock and considerably late to the Boxley Valley. I was still able to see redbuds in full bloom. The dogwoods that were not damaged by the 3 or 4 hard freezes were putting on a wonderful display. Plenty of macro subjects.

Macro shot of moss.

However the Spring colors were just not there. I have traditionally loved the early Springtime in the Ozarks. You can get some just amazing colors due to the various shades of green as all the trees leaf out. I call it the powder puff effect. As you can see from this shot of Roark Bluff, the tops of the ridges look as if they are still in full winter and you can only see some very very slight budding out with the trees along the river. In this photo see if you spot the campers.

Roark Bluff

The Buffalo River was running around 126 cfs which is a good enough level to float. By the time I came back to the crossing at Steel Creek, there must have been over 200 canoes either launching or waitng to launch. It was good to see that many people coming up to float.

I briefly drove through the Boxely valley to see where the Elk might be. I found one large herd of cows at the field closest to the Ponca put in on the Buffalo. I spoke to Michael Dougherty later in the day and he mentioned that there were a few Bulls in the smaller fields closer to the Hwy 21 bridge.

Besides the dogwoods and redbuds, I felt it was considerably too early for the photography I like to take of this region. Hopefully the water will hold through full springtime so the waterfalls and streams will be at their best levels. This is a time of the year I love to work as Dogwoods are one of favorite subjects. I am always looking for a new angle on their beautiful blossoms.

A single Dogwood, captured near the upper Buffalo River.

I also stopped by Broadwater falls to work some HDR images of the falls, which I hope to post on my website later this month. The waterlevel at Broadwater falls was a bit low, but there were signs everywhere of how high it had been just the week before when the Buffalo was over 1000 cfs at Boxley.

Photos of Arkansas » Broadwater Falls

2009 Springtime report on Upper Buffalo River Valley