Delayed Spring Arrives

Water is up, and has been for about 8 months now, if it rains on a regular- normal basis, there is water in Osage Creek Gorge. Went for a quick hike yesterday, and took these pictures just below our house.

Crazy Weather Spring

It's May 3rd, my daughter Whitney's 29th birthday, and it's snowing up on the mountain---HARD. Happy birthday Whit, have an awesome day. Hope the trees survive another crazy event, I would sure hate to see them all lose their leaves like they did a couple of years ago after a very hard freeze. I was hoping that Jeff and I would get a Hailstone run on saturday, but snow doesn't run off fast enough to create big water so it looks unlikely, I will still hold out hope though. Good God, I am tired of the cold weather, give me some warm temps and deep water baby. I mean what a crazy scene, green and white landscape. It needs to warm up so Matt and I can get in the river and practice with his new kayak with a skirt, man-skirt as he calls it. He can't run the river until he knows how to get out of his boat and skirt if he goes upside down. It becomes more serious with a enclosed boat, more fun, but more serious too. We will spend all summer at the swimming holes practicing rolling and wet exits, so when next paddling season rolls around, he will be ready to step it up a notch. I have been working on the last of the french drain, and the front porch, and we built the hot tub deck last week. Getting close to completion on the whole house, and have started working on the grounds. Before that, I had been working on the trail down in the gorge, which is going to be stunning. It will take another year for me to complete the first phase of development on our property, which includes a gear barn and trails above and in the gorge, but big things are planned for this place

Hailstone Run Finally Conquered

Saturday April 28th. 2013, will always be remembered by me, on this day my friend John Sagars and I paddled the Hailstone run in the Upper  Buffalo Wilderness at 4.5 on the Boxley gauge. This has been adventure goal #1 for me for at least 15 years, and to finally get the opportunity was awesome to say the least. 15 miles of waterfalls and rapids and beautiful scenery, definately one of the most fun days ever on the river. Of course, we had an incredibly late start at 2 in the afternoon, but I saw the opportunity and had to take it. John was convinced we would be staying overnight on the river, but I knew we had to get off by dark, or be in trouble. The trip was not without mishaps, and both John and I took swims after being thrown from the raft. I took two swims within 100 yards, the last one causing me a injury when I was tossed into a boulder just under the surface. My new raft is made for small creeky rivers, it's only 9.5' long, and performed awesome while taking a pretty good beating. We really needed about 3" to 6" more water, because the run was very technical. We also experienced a couple of issues while making poor decisions on lines through the rapids, and I ended up on top of a boulder midstream once and had to make a long jump to get back with the raft. Huge smiles were plastered on our faces all day long as we would look back at what we had just gone through and sometimes see 10 waterfalls pouring into the river within our view. We broke all of the rules with our late put-in, single boat, no safety equipment, and no prior experience on the river, but that only added to the adventure. Not that I want to go so unprepared ever again, but I was not going to miss this run for any reason. This trip is highly recommended for any person who ever gets the chance, and hopefully I can provide that opportunity to many of my friends and family. I also paddled the next two days, Sunday with the family, and Monday with a group of folks I had never met on the Boxley run. More rain is on the way, let's hope it comes up again. Yahoo, The Hollowhead.

Blue Winter and Cold Water

Pictures to wet the appetite 

Man, this March has been as cold as it was hot last March, and I'm going just a little crazy. It's snowing right now with nothing showing on the radar, and it has snowed at least 8 days in March so far.  But, we have not gotten a really good snow, mostly just pretty to look at because the Gorge looks awesome dressed up in snow. I guess we were lucky to squeeze out 4 days on the river this past week during spring break, although I would have liked more. The wind has been ferocious since last thursday, and combined with temps in the 30s, have made going outside unpleasant. I need to get out bad, going crazy in this house, guess I'll just bundle up and drop into the Gorge, where a man can escape the wind. Hoping to get a big enough rain to test out the new raft on the Hailstone run on upper Buffalo soon, that would get me going. April can't come soon enough, it's time for the blue winter to be over, and the beautiful Ozark spring to begin. I need sunshine and water!!!!!! the Hollohead

Spring Break Fun

So, just got off 3 day trip on the river with the kids, last hour was in a driving snowstorm, I tell you these kids are tough as nails. Of course, Scott and I had taken our sweet time getting on the river, wouldn't want to risk our reputation as the crack of afternoon club,  but the odds caught up with us as the storm was already late. I had forgotten my rain gear, and I became soaked to the core quickly, a dumb mistake that could be serious in the wrong situation. By the time we were getting off the river, it was snowing in huge flakes that was building up on all the boats and gear and ourselves. Everyones hands were cold, but mostly everything else was dry so the kids did fine and impressed me greatly. At Steele Creek on tuesday while Scott and I prepared to get on the river, several   people made comments about how the kids were obviously very experienced outdoorsman, and on the river Matt and Cooper make big impressions on folks in their blue kayaks. They are getting better all  the time and are starting to have good enough boat control to run the meat on purpose. Kinda humorous  to see folks who just had a unintended swim watch the boys run the same little rapid that made them swim, with no problem.  Folks will ask, "how long have they been coming to the river?" and I reply, " Matts first overnight trip was when he was 18 months old, and all of them started around the same age",   that always brings a smile to peoples faces and the overall sentiment seems to be "so cool". They are completely comfortable and adaptable to the outdoors, running around in shorts and barefooted even in 40deg. temps, made me cold just watching them. I never miss an opportunity to teach them a lesson about the woods or river, and they soak up all that, and the history of the river especially. Our hike on the river took us to Granny Henderson's homesite,and they were fascinated. Matt always asks me "is there any history on this hike?", makes me happy because I love history so much. We also  went up  Sneeds Cr. and checked out the cool bedrock rapids, Cooper  said, " we got to run this, we can't just say we are", and I agreed. This is an adventure I can't miss, I am making arrangements with Charles Clark to shuttle boats and overnight gear down the 3 mile trail into the canyon, I WILL bag this one. Unfortunately, the rest of the week has sucked for weather, and we have been stuck inside most of the time. I am really ready for spring, and have grown tired of winter, I need good weather to complete all of the exterior projects of the house, and I'm ready to get it done. I'm getting antsy and restless, which for me always signals that it's time for another project, and I have them lined up and ready to go. one thing that I am becoming determined to do is to get a CD recorded, the music scene up here SUCKS,   and I am quite sure I am the only person who likes music other than country. Also, the musicians up here are not supportive of each other like they were in Little Rock, every time I hear someone playing anywhere I always tell them how I'm enjoying them and offer some encouragement, never has one of them said anything to me about my picking or songwriting or well anything . NO ONE likes original music unless it's country and sounds exactly like other country. I have got to find an avenue to perform, Eureka Springs and Fayetteville are probably my best chances, but I'm getting a little perturbed by folks telling me about these incredible musicians only to hear them and say to myself," no originals, strumming guitarists, twang voice, and song selection from the 80s". Not saying that is bad, just wondering, is there anything else they enjoy? Guess not. It's up to me to find my audience. Well, enough complaining, spring is coming and everyone needs to get out and enjoy. Later, the Hollohead