The View Of Tanyard Creek
GOLFING LEADS TO NATURE HIKE
For a sportswriter and a substitute teacher with no sports or school, the daily grind has turned into the daily ungrind.
Today was a trip to the driving range at Tanyard Creek in Bella Vista.
But first, I had to feed my habit — a Diet Pepsi with crushed ice. The ice is just as important as the pop, so I have to make a daily trip to the convenience store.
This is my only bad habit. I don’t drink or smoke and I gave up chewing years ago after 35 years on the day; I found out an acquaintance had died of mouth cancer.
I do cuss some, but I don’t consider this a bad habit. An old-school coach I knew said some of the best adjectives were cuss words.
Anyway, while at the convenience store, I practice the six-foot social distance rule except when I pay for my drink. I don’t drink any until I go back home and wash my hands. Then it is time to watch the news and drink my pop and crunch my ice with my dog Norton on my lap.
My dentist told me years ago not to crunch ice, but I really think he is fine with it since I paid for most of his new house.
It’s off to the driving range, but when I get there, I realize it’s ‘hit off the mats’ day. Since it was really windy and only hitting off the mats, I decided to save my six bucks and just practice my putting.
I was at it for about 45 minutes, steadily increasing the length of the putt. It was going good until I lined up a 30-footer to a pin about 15-foot from the edge of the green. My first try whizzed past the cup, off the green and down an embankment only to stop farther away from the hole than when I started.
My second attempt to the same hole came up 20-feet short after I hit more ground than ball with my stroke.
I had enough putting practice. It was then that I decided to take a hike at the next-door Tanyard Creek Nature Trail.
I do a lot of walking. I take Norton every afternoon to the Lanagan City Park. He gets so excited when I am getting ready (how he knows we are going for walkies instead of me just going out is beyond me) I can’t hardly get my shoes on because he is all over me.
I have gone hiking at several area trails. I even made it to the Eye of the Needle at the Buffalo National River on a 95-degree day in July that included a 3½-mile loop due to a wrong turn.
But despite the many trips to Tanyard Creek, I had never hiked the Nature Trail.
I never knew what I was missing. The trail offers some great views of the beautiful Ozark scenery, including many plants and trees that are identified with trail markers.
The trail basically is divided into three separate loops. This day, I chose to take the waterfall loop because who doesn’t want to see a waterfall.
Crossing the Dave Wiemer Bridge, I headed right to follow Tanyard Creek. The trail was a relatively easy walk along the creek, including a view of the rapids as Tanyard Creek flowed down the hollow.
Instead of backtracking after viewing the rapids, I took the Sugar Mountain Bike Trail around the waterfall before rejoining the Tanyard Creek Trail at the top of the waterfall. This route gives you a great view of the overflow from Windsor Lake.
Climbing down the hill adjacent to the waterfall is a bit tricky, but after getting to the bottom I made a left turn for an easy hike back to the start.
The loop I took was about 2 ½- miles, so I decided that the rest of the trail and its views could wait for another time.
Even though I had just seen a small segment of the Nature Trail I needed to get home.
It was time to take Norton for his walk.