Blaylock Creek Falls Umpire, AR 71971

"It was beautiful as always. Going into fall the weather was brisk but just right, not to cold. It's a great place to get away for just a day or a weekend stay. They have trails for hiking, camping off trail to experience nature in a natural environment along the trails from small wildlife to waterfalls, fun and recreational for everyone to enjoy. Take a back back with some outdoor essentials and get ready to enjoy an open fire & some real outdoor camping. Great place to go."

"I hate to give this spot a low score, but only because so many people are disappointed to drive out of their way to see a waterfall and there isn’t one. I have camped this location many, many times over the last 10 years and rarely is there a waterfall. 99% of the time it’s a slow trickle. We have seen a waterfall on several occasions, but only after very heavy rainfall. Seems to be an overflow from another creek."

"Easy walk/hike aside from the people too lazy to park and walk that I thought were going to run me over or splash mud all over me driving their side by side. They made me trip and I ended up cutting up both my hands and my knee. ATV’s aren’t even allowed. Don’t side by sides qualify as an ATV?"

"One of my absolute favorite spots in the area. It is quite secluded although very close to the main road that comes through. When first turning in, there is a clearing that is a popular spot to camp, followed by a path a little deeper into the woods along the creek. The dirt path is washed out quite a bit, with some quite sizable dips and holes you have to navigate to get through (although you can park and take the relatively short walk to the waterfall). Once there, the clearing where people often camp (this is a pretty popular spot, we only manage to find it empty about 1/5 of the time) is pretty big and there are several spots people have made their fires, and a couple of tree hooks and a line has been ran. Most of the time, people do pretty well on picking up after themselves, but occasionally it is left pretty messy. With regards to the "waterfall", if the weather is dry, don't bank on being able to see it running. In the last year, we've been by this spot 6-10 times and the water was falling only twice. If it rained that morning, or had very heavy rains in the days before, you are much more likely for there to be water. Aside from the large clearing and the beautiful "rock walls" of the southern face of the creek, one of my favorite features of this spot is the way the creek has pooled into a deeper-than-average swimming hole. Like so many other places in the forest, the water is crystal clear and almost always difficult to determine the depth of the water. Most of the water isn't too deep, but there is a good section near the center of the water that is often (depending on the water level) around 6 feet deep. There is a "community" effort on the left (eastern) edge of the creek where a rock dam has been built. Our first trip during the summer of 2020 it was completely gone, but we worked on rebuilding most of it back up, and in the time since (month and a half), others have clearly contributed to the effort as well. The little bit of additional rock there definitely helps keep the flow of the water in the swimming hole part less intense as it would be otherwise, and helps maintain some of the depth of the pool."