A Short Hike At Lost Valley
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It has been another really fine week of weather here in the Ozarks and in keeping with my attempt to begin hiking again, I got together with a couple old friends for a slightly longer hike than my first attempt. Since we are all on the injured reserve list we decided that a flat hike is what we wanted and so on Wednesday, October 15, 2015 we headed over to Lost Valley. Our plan was to hike the flat part and then back again. We figured it would be maybe 1.6 miles or so round trip.
None of us had been to Lost Valley in some years and we were curious to see how it looked after the spring floods. Lost Valley was completely washed away this past spring and the park service has done a most excellent job of rebuilding the place. |
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I left Harrison and drove to Ponca and Boxley Valley, stopping at the overlook to see Arkansas Grand Canyon. We met at the parking lot and began to amble down the trail. We had to stop and rest on several occasions, thank goodness there were benches along the way. We also met folks coming back down the trail. One group was from the Bergman High School. They looked like they had a good time. Once we got to the end of the flat stretch we just rested where the big pool of water used to be. None of us could ever remember seeing this place so dry and the pool completely gone. While sitting there we met several couples from different parts of the country. There were folks from Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and even Bella Vista in NW Arkansas. They were all out to enjoy the fine hiking weather and the beginning of the change of colors. Once well rested we rose and ambled back. This was a good, short hike for us and especially for my knee. It started to ache a bit near the end but I was fine once I got to sit down again. It was a pleasant drive back to town.