The Park Service calls Lost Valley the most popular hike in Buffalo National River, and its trailhead is near the Boxley Valley farms on Highway 43. The path leaves the parking area and winds up a box canyon under groves of American beech, with benches on the first stretch for resting and watching wildlife. Then it reaches an emerald-blue pool where an eight-foot waterfall pours out of a small opening in the bluff, a spot the Park Service calls the Natural Bridge.
Farther up the Clark Creek drainage is Cob Cave, a bluff shelter about 50 feet tall, 150 feet deep and 260 feet long. Clark Creek undercut a soft, soluble layer of rock and left the harder layer above as a ceiling. Archeological surveys indicate Native Americans used the shelter about 2,000 years ago, and University of Arkansas archeologists dug there in 1931, taking out stone tools, woven basketry and the small corn cobs that gave the cave its name.
The trail's finale is Eden Falls, which drops 53 feet down the bluff. A steep, rugged spur climbs to the cave behind it, where hikers crawl about 200 feet to a room with an underground waterfall. The cave has no path or lighting, and the Park Service advises at least three sources of light and clothes that can get wet and muddy. The agency also warns that Lost Valley is one of the river's most frequent search-and-rescue sites, because slippery rock and cliff edges cause falls every year. Stay on the marked trail.
The closest stops worth working into your route