3-27 My First Waterfall Hunt - Kings Bluff Falls

My kids were on spring break, so my wife wanted to take them to see their grandparents in Fort Smith over the weekend.  I decided that it would be a great opportunity to go on my first waterfall hunt.  I packed my camera gear, borrowed a friends GPS unit, got out my Arkansas Waterfall Guidebook and took off.

It was a bright sunny day, fairly cool, and I was excited.  I left the house about 10 AM and headed to Atkins, got off the interstate and went up Hwy 105 to Old Arkansas 7, which was about 20 miles of dirt road.  I got to the trailhead for Kings Bluff Falls around noon.  (That's one of the hard parts about hunting waterfalls from Little Rock:  it's a two hour drive to just about anywhere in Arkansas with waterfalls!)  It was an easy 20 minute walk to the top of the falls.    Kings Bluff Falls is the fourth highest waterfall in Arkansas at 114 feet tall.

This being my first waterfall to photograph, I just set my tripod up and started shooting.  Since it was just after high noon, my pictures were very contrasty. (1/3 sec, f-29, ISO100)

Next, I went around the western side of the falls to see this little cascade.(1/2 sec, f-29, ISO100)

It looked like a big waterslide. (0.6 sec, f-22, ISO100)

This is the view from the other side of the creek, looking east. (0.8 sec, f-22, ISO100)

I then went down to the bottom of the falls. (1/2 sec, f-22, ISO100)

As I was working my way around the bottom of the falls with my camera in one hand and my tripod in the other, I slipped and fell HARD on my butt.  I certainly didn't want to hurt my camera on my first hunt!  It made for a painful hike back up to the top of the bluffs, and back to my truck. (1/6 sec, f-22, ISO100)

There is another waterfall on the east side of the bluff, near the path down to the bottom, but I didn't get any good shots of it.

This waterfall is in the Pedestal Rocks Scenic area, and on the way around the other half of the loop trail, you can see why.  The trail from here on out is pretty easy, fortunately for me and my hurting heiney! (1/60 sec, f-5.6, ISO100)

This was the best picture I captured of this waterfall. I dodged the bluff on the right in order to get more detail from the shadows.  I even caught a nice little rainbow!  (1/3 sec, f-29, ISO100)

I wasn't done for the day, either.