Just Another Rainey Day

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Fall Colors Starting To Show

My friend Bill had a couple weeks vacation and he has a very nice full frame Nikon camera. He wanted to go out and just test and play with some of the settings, Of course Bill is an excellent photographer, much better than I. We decided to try and cross Cecil Creek and walk back to the old Rainey homestead. We tried once before but were defeated by water. So on October 12th at about mid-morning we set out for the Buffalo River Park. It was a sunny day and promised to warm up quite quickly.
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Still Plenty Of Green Out There
We drove over to the Erbie area and parked at the Caver's camp. That is an excellent spot and has a vault toilet, picnic tables and fire rings. We ambled down the main road and enjoying the weather. We didn't need our jackets and t-shirts were fine. Walnuts were on the ground and the trees had just started to turn. There was still plenty of green but when you got up close you could see the start. Skirting the barrier blocking the old road we turned down the still grassy path that parallels the creek. The sky was blue as Bill stopped often to take shots of stuff along the way, changing his settings then taking another shot. My style is to just set the camera on program mode and let fly. I figure the camera is smarter at taking picture than I am.
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Approaching The Crossing
Cecil Cove trail is a 7 mile loop trail that crosses Cecil Creek several times and passes historic sites and homesteads. You’ll find the trailhead and parking just above the Old Erbie Church. My friends and I have spent quite a bit of time on the upper river section. It has the most interesting features, and the Erbie area is quite close to my house. As we approached the crossing we were again disappointed. Although the water was not rushing, there was enough to soak your feet to the ankles. After a little consultation we decided that next time we would bring towels and just ford the creek. I wandered up and down the creek a bit, while Bill took some quite interesting pictures. He has a unique eye for the subtle and different.

After finishing with our photo shoot we walked back to the camp area and had a nice snack and drink. We talked about other places to visit in the coming months. Bill confessed that with his working nights and sleeping days, his chances to go out and explore have diminished. As we prepared to leave a vehicle drove up and asked us how to get out of the park and onto a highway. We told them to follow us and we led them to Hwy. 206 and pointed them in the direction of Hwy. 7, where they could go north to Harrison or south to Jasper, and headed back to town.
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Bill Always Sees The Cool Stuff!
I was distressed to read about planned development of the Buffalo National River Park into a preserve so that rich people can buy up the surrounding properties and ruin what has been a pristine river. I encourage everyone to contact your senators and congressmen to protest this blatant breach of the public trust. It looks to me like it is a done deal with our lying, Trump loving governor getting into bed with the Waltons.

Time to make plans to visit the Buffalo National River Park before it becomes just another trashed out, overdeveloped, under maintained public access. I am sure you will then have to pay to walk around or visit it. The founders of the Ozark Society are turning in their graves. Sad.