Haw Creek Falls Recreation Area & Pack Rat Falls

Haw Creek Falls Recreation Area

Pack Rat Falls

Haw Creek Falls and Pack Rat Falls are at the same location between Pelsor and Hagarville, Arkansas, in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, in the Boston Mountains subregion of the Ozark Mountains of north-west Arkansas. From Hagarville, drive 14 miles north on Arkansas 123. From Pelsor, drive 12 miles west on Arkansas 123. This is purely Ozark territory!

There is a primitive campsite at Haw Creek Falls. I could hear the falls from our campsite all night long! I loved that. Haw Creek Falls is right next to the campground. The water flows over a natural rock ledge. If we were there on a warmer day, I might have gotten in the water below the ledge. The waterfall is only about 8 feet high, but it is about 40 feet wide which makes it impressive.

The trail to Pack Rat Falls is at the end of the campground. The trail is very short to where the bottom of the stream from the waterfall begins, and .7 mile, with an elevation gain of 150 ft to the falls itself. Then it was .7 mile back! It was not an easy hike for me, as an older woman with two small dogs that required constant picking up and placing over rocks, but I managed. It would have been better without the dogs. I did have to use my hand a lot, as a short and unsteady person, to climb up and down over rocks. I would do it again though! I was thankful for the help of others in navigating with the dogs. The waterfall is 24 ft. tall. There were small cascades with that beautiful flowing water sound along the stream on the way up and back. I read that the falls are better in wetter seasons of Spring and Fall.