There's nothing nicer than the woods, as far as I'm concerned. Especially the Arkansas woods!

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More Camping

Tom is cooking bacon. It is making me VERY hungry. Yesterday, we went up the road to a little store and replaced some of the food the coons helped themselves to. I adore campfire breakfasts and from the smells coming from the cook stove, this one is promising to be delicious.

Last night we sat toasting our toes by the campfire and yakked until we decided to crawl in the tent, about 9:00PM or so. Tom had some funny stories about his Boy Scout days and we swapped stories about our hippie days as well. Out here, with no computers or TV to occupy our attention, we entertain one another quite well. I never tire of Tom's stories or the sound of his voice. He has a good voice.

We hiked the Falls Branch Trail this afternoon. It was only about a two mile hike, and a relatively easy one. Still, I had to stop and catch my breath a few times, especially after climbing the steep parts. Where the trail was really steep, someone had carved boulders into steps for us. Each stair was a foot or eighteen inches higher than the previous one, so they weren't the easiest stairs to maneuver, but still MUCH better than scrambling up would have been.

The first part, the trail was a slight incline, meandering along a little creek, the Little Canyon Creek. It went from bank to bank and there were wooden bridges wherever the trail crossed the creek. After about half a mile, the trail doubled back and took a high ridge, climbing steadily all the way. After about three quarters of a mile, we crossed a small meadow and the trail started back down the slope toward the lake. Another quarter mile and we reached a waterfall (water trickle was more like it) at the Falls Branch Creek. We followed the larger creek over to Lake Catherine, then followed the curve of the lake shore back around toward the campgrounds. There was an old suspension foot bridge with rusty chains suspending the boards that crossed back over near the trail head. Lovely thing.

Tom is fixing the campfire just *so*, getting ready to heat us up a pot of gumbo. Yum! There won't be any leftovers after tonight's feast.

My legs are really, REALLY, REALLY sore from all the mountain climbing we did this morning. Tom says we only actually climbed about a hundred feet in elevation, but from looking at his contour maps, I think it was closer to two hundred.