rocky waters

This picture sparked a discussion on Flickr about the blue-green water that's present in most of the Ozarks. I hadn't given it much thought other than knowing it was either something living in the water (doubtful since it's so wide-spread) or some sort of sediment suspended in the water. I, however, didn't know enough to claim to be an expert and post why.

I asked my on-call expert, Brian Cormack, about it. Here's what he posted:

The blue-green water in the Ozarks is from tiny suspended particles of limestone in the water. The minerals in the water cause it to reflect this particular wavelength of light back out of the water. The creeks and rivers get the bits of limestone from the rocks and cliffs that make up the Ozark plateau.

Anyway, if anyone wondered there's the explanation. This is Six Finger Falls which is created by Falling Water Creek. It's near the small town of Ben Hur, Arkansas. There's a few very pretty waterfalls along this creek. Most of which are viewable from the road.

getting low

I took my first trip to Falling Water Creek a week or so ago. One of the waterfalls along is creek is the aptly named Falling Water Falls. I love this area of the state. There really is something magical about being around a waterfall. I really hope it's a feeling that never gets old for me. Waterfalls no matter how big or small are relaxing. I love finding them, seeing them, and hearing them.

letters from the first lady

This is just down the road from Cunningham Falls (see previous entry). I was very confused by Brian's directions to Cunningham Falls. It's difficult to give directions to somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Finally he said it's near the Hillary Clinton mailbox. I knew right away I would need to take the Holga along!

This is scanned straight from the negative and not edited at all. There really is a mailbox near Bun Hur, Arkansas full of bullet holes with hand-painted letters saying Hillary Clinton. Does it get any better than that!?

water with a kick

Above is Cunningham Falls. It's named after an FC Dallas player - Jeff Cunningham. He is the 2009 MVP for FC Dallas, and narrowly lost the MLS MVP award.

It's located in rural Searcy County between two pretty popular waterfalls - Falling Water Falls and Six Finger Falls. They are all on the same road, which provides some awesome views of Falling Water Creek.

You can see this waterfall from the road, but to take pictures of it you have to slowly make you way alongside a very steep hill that's covered in years of leaves. When I was first told about this waterfall I almost completely refused to visit it. Then I got there, and it didn't look so bad. I did manage to slide a few times though. Usually I was close enough to a fallen tree that I could grab on and stop my slide.

At one point I started sliding without having anything near me to grab onto. Now the hill isn't steep enough that I would have broken anything on the landing, but I probably would have been scraped up and completely soaking wet from the rocks and water below. I thought fast (for once in my life) and stabbed the legs of my tripod into the ground to stop my slide. It's probably the closest I'll ever been in my life to being an Indiana Jones type.