Buffalo National River - April 1-3, 2011

Buffalo National River: Miles and miles of backpacking trails, canoe ready river, and beautiful bluffs the whole way.  This trip was the first backpacking trip that I made along the river and as such made it with my good friend Jeremy.  With my new gear packed and ready to go, we headed down to the river after we got off work.

We got to the Horse Camp at Steel Creek where we intended on spending the first night.  What we didn't know was that it costs $10 to spend the night at this camp and we, of course, did not have any cash.  We decided that we could setup a small camp in the parking area for the Old River Trail and wouldn't have any problems as long as we were up early enough to tear down camp.

Horse Camp at Steel Creek

 Unfortunately, we were wrong.  The camp host came around at about 10:30 PM and informed us that we needed to tear down camp and move outside the Horse Camp -- at least 1/2 a mile outside the horse camp.  So, at 10:30 PM, we had to tear down camp and move outside the camp.  We only had two options -- one was to go ahead and make the first river crossing and start down the trail, or to hike up the hill behind the Horse Camp to find a new area to setup camp.  Given the time of night and limited visibility (due to the darkness), we decided to find a new area to setup camp behind the Horse Camp.  We found a flat area that was clear of brush and setup camp -- what we failed to realize was that we were less than 500 yards away from the Horse Camp (a lot less than the 1/2 mile requirement).  It was very late before we were able to go to bed that night and it got very cold that night -- the new mummy bag came in very handy in keeping me warm that night.

Beautiful Fog Covering Bluffs Around Horse Camp

The next morning there was a very beautiful fog over the bluffs surrounding the Horse Camp.  We ate some instant oatmeal for breakfast, cleaned up, and then hit the trail.  As soon as we had taken about 3 steps into the river for our first river crossing, we both immediately agreed that we were glad we weren't doing this in the dark!  Since we were hiking this trail in the spring, the river was pretty deep -- nearly 3 feet at some crossings and it was flowing at a very quick rate!  A lesson that I learned about river crossings is that you need proper footwear to safely cross the river.  I had decided before we left that in the name of being lightweight, I was going to take a pair of flip-flops to use for the river crossings.  This sounded good in theory until the flew off my feet in the middle of the river and I was left will having to cross the river barefoot!  This particular trail crosses the river about 10 times.  The other challenge that backpackers face while crossing the river is that the Old River Trail is also a horse trail and as such, you have to yield to horses crossing the river too -- even if you are in the middle of the river.  As we hiked further along the trail, there were several signs that during a good flood, that the water levels would be well above our heads on this trail.

Evidence of Possible High Flood Waters

Some River Crossings Were Very Deep

There were several old shelters and in some cases an entire old homestead on the side of the trail.  These were fun to explore as we came upon them.  

An Old Shelter of Some Kind

Another Temporary Shelter of Some Kind

 
We made good time and setup camp at a section of the River called Horseshoe Bend.  This is a section of the river that makes a big upside-down U shape with a chunk of land between the "legs" of the U.  The water got very deep at some points of the U and what was very entertaining was all of the canoes that seem to tip over at this point.  Even more entertaining where the ones that tried to flip the canoe back over in deep water by trying to lift up the canoe.  We were lucky enough to find a campsite that already had a good pile of firewood just waiting to be burnt...and of course, we had to burn all of it! :)  After we setup camp, we had plenty of time to fly fish the river around us.  I got lucky and pulled out a good size small-mouth bass!

Camp at Horseshoe Bend

The next morning we got up and headed up the Hemmed In Hollow trail to see the Falls.  Apparently, this is the tallest waterfall between the Rockies and the Appalachians.  It was pretty impressive with how tall the falls were -- it would have been more so if there was more water actually coming over the falls.

Hemmed-In-Hollow Falls

The Falls were cool, however, it also meant nearly a 2,000 foot change in elevation over the next 2 miles in order to get back to the truck.  This elevation change was mostly a stair step climb at several points making it even more challenging!  To top it all off, this was also the first day of the year that the temperature got up above 80 degrees.  Needless to say, it was probably the toughest climb that I have had to do so far with a 30lbs backpack on.  It took a lot of time, sweat, and water consumption, but we finally made it to the Compton Trail head at the top.  I came out of this one on the verge of heat exhaustion, but I finished none the less!

Compton Trailhead