By Shelley Smart, on February 2, 2012 
 [This post was originally published on June 14, 2011 on "A Hiking We Will Go."]
This past weekend, we headed back to the Buffalo River to see the famed Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls. We had our friend Dan join us. Since there were two cars, we opted to park on at the Compton Trailhead and hike back to the other car at Steel Creek campground, thinking we would avoid the dreadfully steep climb back up to Compton.
To ensure an early start, we camped Friday night at Steel Creek. I went for a walk back up the road into the  camp and got to spend some time watching a doe having a little dinner in the field.
After a rather sleepless night due to the raucous and rowdy behavior of other campers in the park, we were up at 4:30 a.m., and decided to grab a bite to eat in Ponca while the tent dried out from the dew condensation.
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By Shelley Smart, on January 24, 2012 
[This post was originally published on March 15, 2011 on "A Hiking We Will Go."]
 The Buffalo River Trail (BRT) in the Buffalo National River is a 36.5-mile trail that goes from Boxley to Pruitt. The Buffalo National River was established as a National Park in 1972 and is administered by the National Park Service.
We decided to hike the BRT from Ponca to Kyle’s Landing, about 10 miles. Camping is allowed in the wilderness, so we broke the hike up and camped one night in the back-country. Dogs are not allowed on the trails, so Buster and Katie had to sit this one out.
We drove up on a Friday afternoon and camped the first night in the Steel Creek campground. Initially, we were going to stay at Lost Valley, but the campsites were so close together and the bathrooms were locked.
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By Shelley Smart, on August 31, 2011 
[This post was originally published on January 23, 2011 on "A Hiking We Will Go."]
View of battlefields at Pea Ridge from the East Overlook.
Yesterday, we took the opportunity to spend the afternoon hiking one of the many hiking loops at Pea Ridge National Military Park in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. It was a nice day for a hike with temperatures reaching close to 40 degrees.
There was still some snow on the ground from the recent snowfall, but by the time we made it back to our car, it was really beginning to melt off.
The battle of Pea Ridge was in March of 1862 and was a pivotal battle in the Civil War, keeping Missouri in the Union. The park covers 4,330 acres and has a tour road with 10 stops along the way.
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By Shelley Smart, on July 24, 2011 
[This post was originally published on May 8, 2011 on "A Hiking We Will Go."]
This week we backpacked the first section of the Buffalo River Trail from Boxley to Ponca, a total of 11.1 miles. We had originally planned to do this hike with a couple of friends, but alas, Mother’s Day interfered with that plan.
Since we’d already tried twice before to hit this trail and been delayed by Easter (oops, thanks Denise) and the huge flooding (ugh, thanks Mother Nature), we went ahead and took off Saturday morning.  The planned leave time was 5 a.m. Time I got out of bed? 6:30.
We still managed to make the drive and get to the Buffalo Outdoor Center by 10 and arranged for our car to be shuttled.
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By Shelley Smart, on July 12, 2011 
[This post was originally published on April 17, 2011 on "A Hiking We Will Go."]
April 16-24, 2011 is National Parks Week, and in celebration, the fees at Pea Ridge National Military Park in Pea Ridge, Arkansas are waived. We took advantage of the freebie and the absolutely beautiful day to check out a little more of the hiking trails in the park.
 Pea Ridge has an 8.7 mile hiking trail, but there are several loops that can be taken to make a shorter hike.
We got there about 11 and weren’t really prepared for a hike quite that long, so we opted to hike a loop that starts at Elk Horn Tavern and passes the Clemens House site and the Williams Hollow Hospital site.
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[This post was originally published on June 14, 2011 on "A Hiking We Will Go."]
camp and got to spend some time watching a doe having a little dinner in the field.
