Emerging quietly from a natural spring in an obscure hillside, a small stream scours a path through the surrounding oak and hickory forest on the outskirts of Mountain View. Here, within the boundaries of Hell Creek Natural Area an endangered space offers refuge for the endangered, in one of the few surviving examples of the original natural landscape.
One would be lucky to have found a trail into this location at all, just a few short years ago. Most passers-by would have simply overlooked the mostly unimpressive branch trickling beneath a hairpin curve on Mountain Crest Road. Even with a recently installed parking area and signage at the end of Sarah’s Way, one still has to know what to look for. There is no official trail.
The most generally accepted track down to Hell Creek cuts a deer path through the forest, northeasterly from the parking area. Half-way down the slope an old fire road intersects requiring minor reconnaissance to pick up the trail again. It eventually opens up a hundred or so meters later, offering two potential directions for exploration, both easily accomplished together in under an hour. However, that is hardly sufficient time to enjoy this distraction.
A choice in either direction unfolds an excellent display of the sort of solution weathering continually reshaping most of the Ozarks over the past million or so years. Minor caves, karst monoliths, and rock bridges, litter the banks and bed of the creek.
In the winter environment of this observation, water appeared as book ends on the formation. It suggests a persistent solution channel silently at work beneath and between the rock layers, in spite of the dryness of this season. Various reports identify water as much more apparent during the wet season, evidenced through the variety of formations on location.
Hiking upstream along the trail, towards the previously mentioned hairpin curve, then returning along the same path, enables a better view of the transition downstream. Soft and muddy root entangled banks slowly give way to slabs of rock beneath and flanking the channel. Stepping down gradually, digging in a little deeper as it moves along, the creek relentlessly bores through everything in its path.
The stream eventually spills onto private land a little less than a kilometer north of the trail intersect, derailing any effort to continue downstream to the White River. While the path is not obstructed, forging ahead could be dangerous. Best practice urges respect for posted boundaries.
Ensure an equal level of regard for the wildlife here too. The site offers refuge to more than just dwindling numbers of the gray bat (Myotis grisescens). A namesake creature known as the Hell Creek Cave Crayfish (Cambarus zophonastes) also makes home here. Both are listed as endangered species.
Hell Creek Natural Area appears equally endangered for Arkansas. Human disturbance and environmental contamination top the list of impending dangers to the wildlife and the area. Indeed, this particular visit noted visible trash and accelerated development in the surrounding area.
Sincere efforts toward protecting the site began in in 1985, when Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission acquired the land. In a partnership with the Cave Research Foundation, the groups continue efforts toward a more thorough inventory of this unique and imperiled ecosystem.
These actions often come as blessing and curse though. The more intriguing a site for both science and citizen, the more it becomes trampled, quickly losing any sense of the natural.
Further Reading …
