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This past weekend, March 30-April 1, I was invited by my friends Rob and Christine Neall to join them for a canoe trip, hiking, and possibly some caving near the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas. The place had previously been discovered by another mutual friend, Amy Clark, who also joined us, along with a friend of hers, Megan Smith. Our hosts were Will and Eve S., a very gracious retired couple who gave us free lodging in a guest bunk house, and provided expert guide service as well.

Our group came together from two directions: The others from a few hours farther south in Arkansas, and I from Illinois. The driving distance for me was a little farther than I expected, just under 400 miles, or about 7 hours. There was no perfect route to take: It was either navigate through a maze of little country roads, or go far out of the way and stick to major highways. I opted for the shorter route, and went up and down hills, around 25 and 35 mph hairpin turns (lots of them!), and through dozens of little towns strung out along the Missouri-Arkansas byways. The spring scenery was beautiful, though, with dogwoods and other trees in bloom, and the variety of roads (I traveled at least 10 different highways) broke up the monotony of hours alone behind the wheel. Such journeys are always opportunities for extensive contemplation for me, since my Jeep’s radio and cassette player have been broken for years. (I seldom used them even when they did work, although these days I would be tempted to play podcasts I’ve downloaded.) They also afford a fine opportunity to work on my fake Eastern European accent: “Eet eez zo beauteeful here, no?” If I get on a roll, I can entertain myself with such monologues for … I don’t know … seven hours?

The weather was perfect: Maybe in the 50s at night, in the 60s or 70s during the day. We had a nice breeze, and mostly clear blue sky. Friday night we all arrived quite late, so there wasn’t much time for anything more than a little chit chat before going to bed. Rob and Christine shared an enclosed porch, I had the living room, and the two girls had the bedroom. It was a nice little bunk house, complete with a small refrigerator, camp oven, and high speed internet (though only Megan had a laptop — a cool MacBook in black).

Sabbath morning we had a yummy waffle breakfast. Then our group of nine — the five of us friends, Will and Eve, and their daughter and her boyfriend — drove out to an old country church, where we had a Sabbath school program. Rob led the study on Ecclesiastes 12, and we had a really good discussion. Later we walked around an old homestead that is now a historical site.

Rob and Christine with their dream home:

Afterwards, we hiked in towards a couple caves. Along the way we passed over a beaver dam, and enjoyed a simple lunch of sandwiches we had prepared earlier.

We explored two caves: Walnut and Waterfall. Not counting walk-in caves, I had been caving only once before. The entrance passages were very low, the kind where you have to get down and crawl through. They were also both very muddy. In Walnut, there was a long, steep, muddy incline down to the bottom. It was tricky to keep your footing and not go sliding into the darkness below. Fortunately there were rocks and other things to hang onto. In Waterfall, we had to slide along on our back or chest to get through the first part. It was very slow going! However, both caves opened up into large caverns inside. Walnut had amazing stalactite and stalagmite formations all around. Waterfall had a beautiful waterfall inside. We saw a few bats, some hanging, others flying around.

For practical reasons I did not take my camera inside. Some others did. Later I may post some photos taken by others from inside these two caves.

Three smiling spelunkers (L to R): Amy, Christine, Megan:

By then it was evening, so we returned to Will and Eve’s home. They treated us to a delicious haystack supper. I tried a juice blend I had never had before: white grape, blueberry, kiwi. It was really good. In the evening we visited a little, but we were all tired and soon went to bed.

The next morning after eating breakfast and packing another lunch, we set out. We took four canoes, with our group of nine split between them (Christine, Amy, and Megan shared one canoe; Rob and I another; and the other two couples each had one).

We canoed the Buffalo River. Although people said it was lower than normal, still it was very navigable. And it was a beautiful river to canoe, with incredible views of bluffs along the river, all the spring colors, and fish swimming below in the clear water (in places we could see down as far as 10 feet).

My worthy companion, Rob:

The three girls (the competition):

A look back:

Some of the bluffs over the river: