Faulkner
Member
With all the snow melting runoff in the Ozarks most of the waterfalls in the Ozark National Forest are at full flow. I decided Daisy and I would take off early Saturday morning and hike up to one a few miles from our homestead. I loaded up my daypack and strapped on my S&W 3 inch M65, and off we went.
There is a trail that follows along a small tributary to the main stream that the waterfall is on. Although it's much prettier in the summer and fall, it's still pretty scenic this time of year. At one point I spied a downed tree across the small stream and decided I'd take a few moments to work with Daisy on how to cross a stream utilizing the tree. Unfortunately, try as I may, she just didn't get the concept of using the tree when she could just walk across the stream in the water. I finally walked out halfway on the tree trunk and sat down and called her. She happily walked down the tree trunk and sat next to me, but as soon as I stood up on the tree, she jumped into the stream and went on across. I may need a more substantial training example next time.
After about an hour and a half we finally made it to the rolling water at the foot of the waterfall. I suppose it is less of a waterfall and more of a water chute running down off the bluffs but the water volume in the small stream was much more than normal . I've hunted in this area many times and although I've never seen the stream completely dry, it is little more than a trickle except after a hard rain, and of course times like now due to the rare snow melt runoff that we seldom get.
Daisy and I climbed up to a point where the path required us to cross over the stream. That's usually no more than stepping on dry stones to get across, but with the swift water and slippery rocks I decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, so we stopped here for a break.
I enjoyed just sitting outdoors and listening to the water flow down the bluff. Daisy seemed fascinated by the swift flowing water and I had to call her back a couple of times as she ventured out into the stream. After our break, Daisy and I backtracked a short ways and then took a different path back around the bluff and then back down the plateau. There were a couple of streams too swollen to cross at the path and we had to get creative to get across, but Daisy stuck with me all the way and seemed to understand that the water was too swift to be playing in she jumped rock to rock as I did getting across the streams.
About halfway back a rain shower moved in so I stowed my camera gear and didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but all in all we enjoyed our morning outing in the Ozarks.
There is a trail that follows along a small tributary to the main stream that the waterfall is on. Although it's much prettier in the summer and fall, it's still pretty scenic this time of year. At one point I spied a downed tree across the small stream and decided I'd take a few moments to work with Daisy on how to cross a stream utilizing the tree. Unfortunately, try as I may, she just didn't get the concept of using the tree when she could just walk across the stream in the water. I finally walked out halfway on the tree trunk and sat down and called her. She happily walked down the tree trunk and sat next to me, but as soon as I stood up on the tree, she jumped into the stream and went on across. I may need a more substantial training example next time.
After about an hour and a half we finally made it to the rolling water at the foot of the waterfall. I suppose it is less of a waterfall and more of a water chute running down off the bluffs but the water volume in the small stream was much more than normal . I've hunted in this area many times and although I've never seen the stream completely dry, it is little more than a trickle except after a hard rain, and of course times like now due to the rare snow melt runoff that we seldom get.
Daisy and I climbed up to a point where the path required us to cross over the stream. That's usually no more than stepping on dry stones to get across, but with the swift water and slippery rocks I decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, so we stopped here for a break.
I enjoyed just sitting outdoors and listening to the water flow down the bluff. Daisy seemed fascinated by the swift flowing water and I had to call her back a couple of times as she ventured out into the stream. After our break, Daisy and I backtracked a short ways and then took a different path back around the bluff and then back down the plateau. There were a couple of streams too swollen to cross at the path and we had to get creative to get across, but Daisy stuck with me all the way and seemed to understand that the water was too swift to be playing in she jumped rock to rock as I did getting across the streams.
About halfway back a rain shower moved in so I stowed my camera gear and didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but all in all we enjoyed our morning outing in the Ozarks.
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