Photos of Arkansas

Last week I was able to get up to the Boxley Valley and do some shooting.  I had hoped to catch the fog at Roark Bluff, but on this morning there was no fog.   The skies were very overcast and really did not hold that much promise for photography of the Steel Creek area, so I headed back to Ponca and the millpond.   On the way, I found a smallpatch of fog, just as the sun was starting to come up over the bluff line and shot these two images.  Both feature a large post oak that was near Hwy 74 on the way down to Ponca.

Here is the 2nd image.

Both of these were hand held at around 1/30 of a second and I was glad to see that both came out OK.  There was a bit of noise in the darker areas which did surprise me since I was shooting at ISO 125.  However the shadows were considerably darker in the raw file, as I was more concerned about blowing out the highlight of the sun in the fog.  So far the Canon 5D MKII has been very forgiving in regards to noise as long as the ISO is kept below 2000.

After this series of shots, I headed over to the millpond.  Michael Dougherty, of ArkansasNaturePhotography.com had mentioned to me that there was a lot of wildlife activity around this area.  He was right!.  I spent the next 4 hours working around the millpond.  To those that don’t know where I am talking about, the millpond is about 2/3′s of the way to the Hwy 21/43  junction and is the pond that is associated with the “old mill” that is now off limits (I would love to get back there).

The millpond is known for the Trumpeter Swans that are permanent residents, but it also has an amazing number of other animals that frequent it.  While I was there, I was able to photography two types of hawk, some blue wing teal (amazing results), several song birds, hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, and a beaver.  In the winter eagles can often be found in the snags.  One of Michael’s best shots of an eagle was taken here last winter.

I had planned on shooting the Elk, but at this time of day, they were not out.  They have been frequenting the replanted fields near the Hwy 21/43 area, fields I know well.  So after working the Millpond I headed back to Steel Creek to see if the sun had come out on Roark Bluff.  The sun  was starting to poke out of the clouds at the millpond so I had high hopes.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to Steel Creek, the clounds were back and it was starting to rain.  I made a quick decision to go ahead and hike to the top of Roark, one of my favorite (and everyone else) spots.  The downside to this hike is ticks.  This year the seed ticks have been terrible each time I have hiked to the top of Roark bluff.  Really terrible,  around 100 or so visible on me by the time I got to the  summit.  The problem IMO is that the horse traffic on the trail along the Buffalo has given the ticks a year round supply of food.  Plus the area is so overgrown right now, with plants over my head, as you walk through there and brush up against the plants, the ticks  just drop off on you.  I dreaded the hike back, knowing I would have as many on me by the time I got back.  I am not sure what the solution is, as had sprayed a large amount of deet on my legs, neck, and arms.  If you have a dog,  I would not take them in this area right now as they will be misreable.

As I got to the summit, the sun started to back light the clouds so, I went ahead and set up.  I ended up taking a lot of shots as the light kept changing.  Here is a shot from the summit, time of day is around 2:30 pm, taken with a Medium format digital back. Right before the shot, 3 deer were down in the fields, but by the time I got ready to shoot they were gone.  Notice in the line of gum trees along the river, there are signs of leaves already starting to turn fall colors.

It actually rained on me again and then the sun broke out.  However the haze was really harsh and started to interfere with the scene.  The view behind me was much better, however even though it’s of Bee Bluff, the horse parking area and all the roads seem to detract from it.  I still have some really old 35mm slides of this area right after the park took it over and you can still see the huge horse barn and fences.   One other note, you can continue along the make shift trail on the top of Roark, however it’s not an easy hike and does involve some height exposure.  You can access the far end easily by crossing the river right below the camping area and hiking up into a small hollow which is visible in this image, look for the light brown bluff at the end.  There is a great waterfall here  however when it’s running, the Buffalo River tends to be too high to cross without a canoe.  To get to the summit from this end, requires one tricky move, one that 20 years ago I made without thinking, now I would want a rope.  But later in the afternoon, it’s a better spot to be as the sun is working with you.

After this I headed back to the Hwy 21/43 junction and found a nice herd of Elk.  The bulls have all lost the velvet and are getting ready for the rut.  The herd I was able to work, had one large bull, a 7×5, strange rack, and several spikes, and then at least 50 cows and calves.  The calves are still nursing and I was able to watch that drama unfold.  For the first time, I heard a cow call, it’s more of bark than the bulging sound of the bulls, but one cow in particular kept at this until her calf reappeared from some brush at the edge of the field.

It will be most interesting to see what and when the fall colors fully materialize.  A lot of the trees along the river are starting to turn fall colors and I saw some of this also up by the millpond.  I was surprised by this since it was the last week in August.

There is never a dull moment in the Boxley valley.

The colors in the far north Fayetteville area seem to be behind the Upper Buffalo Area. Last weekend, I found the areas around Ponca, to already have dropped their leaves or the trees were just turning brown. However the valley near Kyles Landing should be perfect this weekend as the oaks last week were just starting to turn. Here is a sunrise shot taken looking towards Kyles Landing from last weekend. As you can see, the oaks in the shots are just starting to turn and they are showing a good yellow color unlike the oaks up around Roark Bluff.
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Throughout the central part of Arkansas, Pulaski, Saline, and Perry Counties, the fall colors have yet to even begin to peak. Based on the colors that were showing at Flatside Pinnacle on Thrusday, I feel that it will be the middle of November before any real peak happens here and maybe as late as the 1st of November up in the Northern Counties. The small amount of rain that fell on Thrusday did not bring any of the local creeks up so my hopes of getting some fall stream shots are starting to fail.

I have yet to head up to Petit Jean but I feel that Cedar Falls will not have a very good flow. The evening skies do allow for some wonderfull sunset work as many nights the deep blue of the evening sky has really stayed out long after the actual sun has set.

Hopefully things will start to come together this weekend as there are only 2 left before the opening of modern gun season.

I had hoped that more rainfall would have occurred in the later part of September so that Richland and other creeks would be at a higher level in October. It has been 2 years now since there was good water in Richland Creek during fall.

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