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A Spring Hike at Grand Gulf

© Renie Burghardt

Spring is the perfect time to get more up close and personal with Mother Nature, and while I'm out doing just that this spring, I thought I'd tell you about one of my favorite hikes, last spring, to Grand Gulf State Park.

Grand Gulf, also known as the "Little Grand Canyon of the Ozarks," is considered a geological wonder, and when I went hiking through its scenic, winding, vertical walls last spring, I was privy to its spectacular sights. The gulf was created by nature more than 10,000 years ago, when the roof of a cave system collapsed, resulting in a vertical-walled canyon almost a mile long with walls almost 130 feet high. And the Gulf is a true chasm, meaning that it is deeper that it is wide.

The geology of this area, like most of the Ozarks, is limestone and dolomite bedrock, which is very soluble in the mildly acidic groundwater that percolates down from the surface. As the water seeps into the fractures and fissures in the bedrock, over time those cracks get enlarged and turn into caves. The steep wall of the chasm is covered with beautiful greenery, and from the upstream end down the canyon gets deeper and deeper. A surface creek that drains about 25 square miles empties into the chasm. All of this water passes down the length of the chasm, under a 25-foot natural bridge and back into the canyon. The bridge, one of the largest natural bridges in the state, is the un-collapsed remnant of the original cave, measuring 75 feet high at the upstream end, and dropping to about ten feet on the downstream side.

Glancing down from the bridge to the floor of the chasm, we could see some of the tumbled dolomite blocks that were once part of the collapsed cave roof. Very scary for me, so I wanted to move on quickly! Finally, at the end of the chasm, the water enters the mouth of the remaining underground cave system, traveling about nine miles, and reemerging again at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. So part of the nine million gallons of water per hour that flow from Mammoth Spring, come from Grand Gulf.

At the downstream end of the chasm is the mouth portion of the cave that has not collapsed. Unfortunately, the mouth is blocked by mud and debris, barring human entry, but allowing water to go through. I read that in the early 90s, a robot vehicle equipped with a digging tool and remote camera did penetrate the cave for quite a distance. However, the camera showed a massive blockage, making it clear that it is impossible to access the cave.