June 14th-16th The Narrows & Skull Bluff

On Monday we moved the RV up river to to a campground outside of Harrison, AR. There we decided not to float but to Jeep and hike around. Who knew that this area would remind us of the Smoky Mountains - the mountains and very low clouds. This was on the morning that we set out to take the Jeep to The Narrows (a.k.a. The Nars).

Tuesday: We were so close to reaching our destination (which was the red circle on right with the green flags) when we were stopped by a big yellow gate(within 1 mile...the red circle on the left with the red flag), ... no entry for us. After trying to get there for four hours we gave up and went into Jasper for lunch (an elk steak and a buffalo burger, please).

But we did see a neat access point at the Ozark access.

Wednesday: We got up early and made a 2nd (successful) attempt of reaching The Narrows and Skull Bluff by Jeep and hiking (the easier method would be to float by both locations).

We drove to the Woolum access area and had a hard decision to make... attempt to drive across the river to get closer to the Narrows or hike. "Lars go check and see how deep the water is!" We eventually opted to hike the rest of the way since we didn't know how long it would be if we needed to be pulled out of the river.
We hiked to the backside of the The Narrows, scaled up the side and then enjoyed a great view from atop the trail. The reflection of the sky on the placid pools of water below were quite serene.
We continued to the top...

From here we could look down on Skull Bluff, where floaters could pass through the eyes of the sunken skull. We will have to come back some day and do that float.

Close up of the eye sockets.

Hey what are those?

Well of course those are turtles taking a morning (around 8:00am) dip.

We are off to Eureka Springs next.