The water comes out of the rocks after emerging from its source deep inside the mountain, where the temperature is a constant 58 degrees. in the summertime, when air temperatures are warm and the relative humidity is high, a veil of fog forms over the creek early in the day, before the sun is strong enough to burn it away. For a few hours, there is magic in the little valley at Blanchard Springs, near Mt. View, Arkansas.

The little bridge and some of the major landscaping was done back in the 1940’s by the Youth Conservation Corps, but the majestic caverns weren’t completed until the 1960’s. I visited there often as a child, because my grandparents lived in Mt. View. As children, we swam in the creek and ate fried chicken on Sundays after church.