Heading out early Friday morning with my waterfall chasing friend Kevin to Sweden Creek Falls which is 81 feet tall. I have been here one time before and was excited about the return waterfall adventure. Hopping onto I-549 North towards Fayetteville, going though the East side of Fayetteville and eventually picking up Highway 412 East to Highway 21 South. Coming into Kingston there is a locally owned convenience type store with gas, small grill for a burger or patty melt (the Best), fries, you get the idea. Continue on Highway 21 South for a few miles to Magnolia County Road 9/3260, turn right. You will also see a large Wilderness Rider Buffalo Ranch sign. Go down this dirt road which is a little bumpy in a few spots for 3 miles. You will see this sign and know that you have arrived. There is limited parking enough for 3 vehicles. You can go past the sign and there is more parking along a wide spot in the road.
Checked and gear accounted for and ready for this next waterfall adventure. You pickup the trail by passing through to the right of the metal farm gate. This is a wide jeep type road leading to the first creek which is your arrival point for the two trails of your choice. Depending on recent rain there can be 3 waterfalls here that you can explore and take pics. We took the upper trail to the left of these small falls which leads to the top of Sweden Creek Falls. This trail is family friendly as long as you stay away from the edge of the bluff line. There are blue markers nailed to trees on both sides so it is really easy to navigate.
Arriving at the top of a waterfall which is 81' is a great moment. The flow was not huge on this day but it was Ok to see and experience. My last visit I took the lower trail to the base of the waterfall. The andrenaline and excitement was showing up in my first pics I took with my camera. Slow down Kirk, slow down, HaHa Kevin made his way across the creek which runs though a small slot crevice through the rock. You see a pic of this in the Recent gallery (until I remove it) and is also in the Sweden Creek Falls gallery. I joined up with Kevin and started taking more angles of the top water flow. Kevin moved onto more exploring along the right side of the top of the waterfall. It is a great to have a waterfall chasing partner. Kevin spots things and points them out to me that go right past me because of my immediate focus at the time.
Kevin and I talked about our next trip to this waterfall that we would explore upstream the creek that provides the water flow. Time to turn around and go back to the lower trail to reach the base of the waterfall. Back at the small waterfall area the lower trail descends down around some trees and lots of rocks. We carefully made our way down this small gradual descent about 20' or so to pickup the lower trail. Again there are blue markers on the trees guiding you through the trail. The lower trail has a lot of smaller rocks to navigate and you will be following the bottom of the bluff line on your left. This trail goes between moderate to strenuous depending on the rocks you navigate on and around. There was also some bonus ooey gooey mud that is difficult to avoid. This just makes it a more realistic outdoors adventure. Wet and muddy just go hand and hand on a trail.
You could hear water running to the lower right in the forest however you could not see it because of the thick overgrowth of the small trees. Love the Spring waterfall chasing season, there was bright green everywhere. Continuing going left and around the bluffs we were ready to get to the base of this tall waterfall. These bluffs are very unique in their structure. There are many natural shelter areas that could be used in the event you were caught by bad weather. One more turn on the trail and we spotted part of the waterfall though the trees. This gets your outdoors motor running and the adventure clock really going.
Now at the waterfall I looked for the first place to position my tripod to capture the 81' height of this waterfall. Where's Kevin? I saw him for a few minutes taking pics and now he apparently went down stream in search of his own adventure. Talking later he discovered where the water from the base of the waterfall pool was going downstream as we would say in outdoors lingo. The water disappears from the pool and then reappears later downstream. Possibly a natural spring running underground. As Kevin was telling me about this the second time I realized I missed an opportunity for some pics of what I call creek life. I made my way closer to the waterfall and the spray of the force of the waterfall was quite an experience. Just image the water falling from the top of the rim of the bluff to the base and how fast the water is traveling. This causes some great spray and splash of water, you just have to move close enough to get wet, it's a must and you just have to do it.
This waterfall has many ferns growing around it at the base making for a beautiful scenic experience. One more drink of water and it was time to get back on the trail and return to the truck where lunch was waiting for us, plus my stomach was calling out it's Cheetos time. Coming back up the last section of the trail we saw two lady hikers making their way down the trail. We stopped and chatted with them and I asked them if they had been to this waterfall. They answered no and I then told them where to find the upper trail which takes you above the waterfall and the lower trail which takes you to the base of the waterfall. The hiking life is a friendly way to see and meet people.
Join me again as I share with you - Loving Outdoors Life adventures.
Kirk Hobbs
#LovingOutdoorsLife #LOL