I had been wanting to shoot some waterfalls with all this rain we’ve been having and I finally had a chance on Friday.  I made the 2 hour drive out to Mount Magazine.  After all these years in Arkansas, this was my first trip to this place.  It’s beautiful!  The big problem I had though was that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  Nothing messes up a good waterfall picture like direct sunlight.  Oh well.  The picture above is the only real keeper from the bunch in my opinion.  I hope to go back on a nice overcast day to get some better photos.  These first pictures are from Hardy Falls.  This is a VERY easy waterfall to find because it is right along the road on the way to Mt Magazine. Actually, it is UNDER the road as this is a bridge.  The falls are named after the man hired to build these awesome bridges along the the way up the mountain. There are waterfalls on both sides of this bridge that are beautiful.

The picture below was kinda ruined by two things…. 1. the sunlight. 2. my wide angle.  My first instinct is to get an entire waterfall in one picture.  The result ends up being something far less dramatic than what you’re hoping for.

This next photo is still at Hardy Falls, but on the other side of the bridge.

Here is a close-up of Hardy Falls just before the bridge.

These next two are from the lower part of the falls.

So, the main reason I wanted to visit Mt Magazine is that they have an amazing double waterfall called Wildman Twin Falls.  They are INCREDIBLE!  Sadly, the photo below is the only shot I could get.  I was SO disappointed.  I should have read Tim Ernst’s book a bit before heading down because it gave direction on how to get to the base of the falls.  My mom and I on the other hand decided to play it by ear… literally.  We could hear the falls and just headed towards them.  This took us to a seriously steep bluff line with no foreseeable way down.  I trekked a long ways on a steep slant trying to find a way down with no luck.  Along the way I came across a snake in the middle of the narrow “path” I was following.  That was the end for me.  I turned around and left.  I can’t wait to go back someday with some cloud cover and I make it to the base of this beautiful location.

This is the view from the bluff when I was trying to find a way to the base of the falls.

Next up we made the short trip to Big Shoal Creek Cascades.  This one is super easy and is a great place to take the whole family.  You drive right up to it.  Yet again, the sun was directly overhead and ruined much potential for photos.

Notice the bridge alone the left on the photo below.  That’s how close the road is.

As we were driving around towards Mt Magazine Cascades, we saw this deer hanging out in the overlook area.

We didn’t have time to visit Mt Magazine Falls, but this is the cascades.  I was less than impressed really.  There isn’t much of a spot to get a nice photo and again, the sun was battling me.  Oh well, I did the best I could with what I had.  I must admit though, I’m amazed that these waterfalls have so much water since this is the highest point in all of Arkansas!

After our hikes we were headed out.  We happened to see these two guys getting ready to do some hang gliding.  Cool!  I’ve determined that you must be a little off in the head to do something like this, but hey, it was cool to watch!