The Old Goats Hike the Goat Trail to the Big Bluff Viewpoint

We fixed breakfast burritos on our outdoor griddle for eleven people. We have learned that the hole in the griddle that was made to drain the grease, will also drain runny eggs right off the grill too. Oops! We started packing up camp; but first, the children wanted to show Gram and Grandude their "secret place."

The girls weren't afraid to get their shoes wet, so we explored deeper into the secret areas of Horseshoe Canyon than ever before.

Denisa was a little worried about the uphill climb out of Horseshoe Canyon, but our little pickup pulled our little trailer heroically up those dirt roads and through the water. They do warn when you make a reservation that a four wheel drive is recommended for vehicles pulling a trailer. Mark had it in four wheel drive mode the entire time.

We realized that we forgot to hand out the frozen pop ice treats to the kids while we were camping with them. It looks like Grandude was going to have to just eat them himself!

Out trip today was only 12 miles, because we're not finished with this section of Arkansas that we have never visited before. Floating the Buffalo National Scenic River has been on our bucket list, and we'll never be closer. We found that the campgrounds in this area were very expensive, and we can't really recommend the Centerpoint Horse camp where we moved this day. But it was the least expensive option, and it's right across the road from one of the top-rated trails in the area--the Goat Trail. After moving the trailer and eating lunch, we walked across the road to the Centerpoint trail head. Mark was stretching, because his back isn't sure he should be starting an eight-mile hike.

Since it's April, we were glad to see a few wildflowers to entertain us as we walked through the forest this afternoon.

The name of this hike is "Centerpoint to the Goat Trail to the Big Bluff Viewpoint."

We much prefer trails where we hike up to mountain tops, because we know that we will have the easier downhill portion when we are tired and heading home later. But this trail was taking us down first toward the river. We found the first mile to be quite easy, while the second mile was steep and rocky, and then the third mile was easier again.

After almost four miles in the forest, we finally started seeing the limestone ledges that this trail was known for.

We came to a shaded ledge with a nice seating area and a fun little hole in the wall. Interestingly enough, the trail took us back down and around instead of through that hole.

We finally made it to the highlight of the day--views of the Buffalo River from high above.

The rock ledges made a nice path across the face of the biggest rock bluff above the river.

No hand rails here in the wilderness, but we felt quite safe on these wide paths. We were blessed to be wandering His wonders this day!

This was called the Goat Trail, and we wondered about its origin. Could it be that it was named "Goat" because it was the Greatest Of All Time? I later asked a local, and he explained that a goat-farmer used to live in these Ozark mountains, and his goats roamed this area and made paths through the forest. When this trail was established, they simply followed the goat paths to this overlook.

We wondered if any goats (or careless hikers) stumbled off these rock ledges? It's straight down from here. Imagine how surprised we were when a guy on a bike passed us here. We can't imagine riding a bike on the trail we just hiked! He explained that he had hiked it last year, and decided that he would try it this year on his mountain bike.

The goats used these rock alcoves for protection from storms, and also for great views of the Buffalo River Valley far below.

This old goat ate his picnic here enjoying those same views from the Big Bluff. We could see the rapids in the water below, but it was a little late in the day to see too many kayakers.

We headed back towards the trailhead until we got to the hole in the rock.

Mark had hiked around this section, and was resting his back in the alcove that Denisa framed through that hole. Could she fit through that hole?

Yes, she could. It saved her a few steps on the hike back.

It was a gentle uphill climb back to the top, but we were still amazed that a biker did it. I wonder what he did to get his bike through this maze of fallen trees?

We were glad to see him again on his ride back up the hill. He was impressed at how fast we were hiking because it took him so long to catch up with us again. We took this picture in a smoother part of the trail, but we were still impressed with his mountain-biking skills.

Besides our secret place hike this morning, we added another 8.2 miles with 1,844 feet elevation gain from the Goat Trail this afternoon. We were ready to sit down the rest of the day. So we made the four-mile drive to the tiny town of Ponca to look around. Elk used to roam this river valley until they became extinct in the 1840s. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reintroduced 112 elk here in 1981. We went on a drive to find one of the herds, and with the help of other "hunters" we caught sight of a small herd. They were just dots in our cell phone camera lens, so we didn't even bother with a picture, but we did officially see the elk of the Buffalo River.

We also stopped in at the put-in spot for most river floats on the Buffalo River. It's quiet this evening, but we've heard there could be storms tomorrow, and the price to shuttle a vehicle is very expensive here. Should we try to float America's first national scenic river tomorrow?

Rock Climbing and a Brand New Smores Technique

We were camping at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, and we had even more good neighbors this morning. We fixed breakfast on our griddle for this hungry tribe. Besides our son's family joining us here, we also got to spend the weekend with their dear friends. The two young mothers in the picture below were each other's maid-of-honor when they both got married over a decade ago.

The hammock was very popular today, and very full of giggles.

It rained again last night, and the trails were even muddier. But this sturdy group headed out on a hike on the Bone Tree trail to see what we could find.

We eventually ran out of hiking trails, and had to loop back on a mountain bike trail. We didn't take pictures in the muddiest worst of it. But it's safe to say that each one of our shoes weighed three pounds more from the wet clay mud encrusted on it. We got a leg workout from all that extra gooey shoe mud.

We met more of the ranch animals on our walk. We found out that Horseshoe Canyon has llamas . . .

and a herd of cows with their spring calves.

But the real reason we were at Horseshoe Canyon was not for the animals or the hiking. We were here for the rock climbing! Eli has been asking, "How much longer 'til we climb?" every fifteen minutes since he woke up before 7:00 a.m. He could hardly wait until the 1:00 scheduled private rock climbing tour. The four climbers got geared up with their climbing shoes, helmets, and harnesses.

It was a half-mile hike to get to the first climbing wall of the afternoon. Even though it seemed quite tall to the grandparents, the guides called this the "kindergarten wall." Gram thought it looked more like a high school wall to her. In the picture below you can see our granddaughter starting near the bottom while our grandson was already to the top.

It was fun for them to have their mother to climb with them!

Five-year-old Eli was so excited about this rock climbing that he couldn't wipe that grin off his face. Normally Grandude would be climbing too, but his back was bothering him. Likewise, our son's shoulder was hurt. Gram had no excuse, other than her arms were weak and she's a big chicken.

After scampering up the kindergarten wall a couple times each, we moved deeper into the trail for a tougher climb. Climbing rocks are graded based on their steepness, and the availability of places to hold on with your hands and feet. This second wall was a 5.6.

Eli was still smiling after that climb. The owner would tell us later that he heard about the "five-year-old that was crushing it" on the walls. That was Eli!

The third wall was a 5.8--harder because it was almost smooth except for that diagonal crease. When you're only 42 inches tall, it was especially hard to find anything to hang onto. The guides had names like "high leg move" and "double knee hold" for the moves that Eli was naturally using to climb up that wall.

This area of Arkansas was lovely, and we were blessed to be sharing this day with loved ones while we were wandering His wonders.

Seven-year-old Carter was trying to find something--anything!--to help her up that wall. How did Mark get such a good picture?

Well, he was standing right beside the wall and she wasn't very high yet. She was having to do the splits to find feet holds! It would take Mark a long time to look through the 600 photos he took this day.

Both children have climbed many times at the rock climbing gym a few miles from our house. But this was their first time to tackle a real wall with no artificial hand and feet holds. It was like figuring out a puzzle to find a route to the top.

Both children have obviously inherited their climbing ability from their mother. Jordan made it look easy.

After a full four-hour guided rock climb, we would say that Carter really liked it.

But we would say that Eli really loved it!

We had another campfire, with hotdogs and brats for dinner. Then it was our second night of s'mores to celebrate our last camping night together. Instead of using graham crackers and chocolate bars, we usually make it simple and bring fudge stripe cookies. Mark whittled a forked wooden spear for his marshmallow roasting. Then there's always that messy step of transferring the roasted marshmallow onto the fudge stripe cookie. Well, we have a new invention. We found that if you thread the cookie through its center hole onto the skewer before the marshmallows . . .

you can lift the cookie up the stick and push those toasted mallows right off. I think we should patent this new s'mores cooking technique. Another advantage was the cookie's proximity to the fire made the chocolate melty and especially tasty. Remember: you saw this life-changing technique here first!

All this gooey s'mores goodness and rock-climbing fun had brought smiles to everyone's faces! A good time was had by all!

Horseshoe Bend to Horseshoe Canyon--Isn't that confusing?

We left Horseshoe Bend Campground this morning and headed towards Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Campground this afternoon. Having campgrounds with such similar names was really confusing when we put this trip together.  Both are in northwestern Arkansas. The road between the two is only 78 miles, but the drive took us almost three hours. One should never underestimate the roads through the Ozark Mountains. Our little pickup got a serious workout pulling our trailer up and down some of the steepest roads we've seen. It doesn't compare to the elevation of the Rockies, but does compare to the steepness of the road grades in the Rockies.

These Arkansas roads might be more crooked than the roads in the Rockies. You can see road signs that warn you to keep right, and then keep left, and then watch out for a hair-pin turn, all in the same photo. You get the picture that it was a tough drive through the Ozarks this day.

The last couple miles were on a muddy gravel road that took us off the mountain and into the canyon where we would be staying the next two nights.

We drove through a water crossing as we headed steeply down. All the time Denisa was wondering if our little pickup was going to be able to get us out of here if it continued to rain over the next two days.

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch really does have animals. We were greeted by sheep and goats as we got closer to our campground. It took us a while to get backed into our site, which was far from level and had a very steep grade on the approaching road. We wouldn't have any water, electric, or sewer hookups for the next two days. One would expect such a site to be cheap, but we will say this was the most expensive no-hook-up camp site ever for us.

But it was lovely at Horseshoe Canyon. Besides the farm animals, we were greeted by this butterfly at our site.

So why would we be staying at such a hard-to-get-to-expensive-no-hook-ups campground? It's all about the neighbors! Our oldest son and his family arrived later in the day and set up their tent in the site right next to us.

We must say that we had two of the best camp sites in the entire campground.

This family loves to climb, and Jordan had been rock-climbing here at Horseshoe Canyon many years ago. She wanted to share that experience with our two rock-climbing grandchildren.

After setting up camp, we set out on an evening hike. This ranch features a whole system of mountain bike trails, and a few hiking trails as well. It was great fun to have company as we got to wander His wonders while holding a child's hand.

We loved that our camp sites were situated right beside the babbling brook. That's the kind of white noise that we love!

This place was between the two tiny towns of Jasper and Ponca, Arkansas. Have we mentioned it was very remote? We had absolutely no cell phone service. So we walked up through the pasture to get to the office to use their wifi each evening.

The office was already closed that first evening when two tired young guys on motorcycles arrived. It seems we weren't the only ones that could get confused with the similarly-named campgrounds in Arkansas. They had reservations at Horseshoe Bend (where we were last night) but had mistakenly put Horseshoe Canyon (where we were tonight) into their GPS. They were glad to find that there were some first-come-first-served camp sites available here, because there was no way they were going to ride three hours further to get to their reserved site. We would have to agree that we wouldn't want to tackle that road in the dark this evening either. There was a little part of us that was glad that even young folks were confused by these campground names!