We planned a 3 day, 2 night backpacking trip for the Boy Scout troop for the weekend before Thanksgiving. We decided to hike the Eagle Rock Loop in central western Arkansas. This loop is 26.8 miles and made up of three trails: the Little Missouri, the Viles Branch, and the Athens Big Fork. We spaced two of our shuttle vehicles about 4 miles apart in order to give us two exit options on the trail. Three others had to come later, and planned to park outside the Albert Pike Recreation Area and meet us on the trail.

Day 1:

We left at 7 AM Saturday morning and drove over to leave shuttle vehicles and eat lunch at the Little Missouri Falls trailhead. There is a very nice pedestrian bridge over the Little Missouri River at that trailhead. We started hike right about 1 PM Saturday afternoon. Our plan was to hike beyond the Albert Pike campground for the first night, as there is not any overnight camping allowed in Albert Pike. A few photos of the Little Missouri Falls area are below.

The trail follows the Little Missouri River, so there is not much elevation change on the way to Albert Pike. The USGS river gauge at Langley, AR showed the Little Missouri River level at about 3.5 feet, so although we had to make three wet crossings, they were not too bad. We pulled off shoes to cross the river in order to try to keep our feet dry this first day. River crossings did tend to slow down our pace. Here is a photo of one of our river crossings. We also took some time here to hydrate and eat a snack.

We covered the 6.3 miles from the Little Missouri Falls to Albert Pike in about 4.5 hours. It was just starting to get dark, and the other three in our group did not appear to be at Albert Pike yet. We had to continue hiking in order to find a campsite.  I was in the back of the group, and just as I started to head up the hill, I looked back one last time and saw headlights. I decided to hold up just a minute, and the vehicle looked like it might be Paul’s truck. Doug had the group hold up, and I walked back down into the campground and tried to let Paul know I was there. He drove up to the trailhead, and his two kids got out and joined the group. I rode back to help him park, and we had to hike back and catch up with the rest of the group who had made it to a forest road crossing in the dark. Paul and I decided that God worked out his timing, as they were praying that they would find us, after several wrong turns driving over. If we had hiked much faster, we would have completely missed them. It also turned out on day 3 that we really needed Paul’s vehicle to be parked near Albert Pike. The topo map looked like there may be some campsites further on down, so we hiked a little further as a group in the dark to find a place to camp. We did find a nice campsite about 1.5 miles past Albert Pike next to a small creek. This put our total miles for the day to be about 8 miles. A picture of our first campsite is below.

Day 2:

We got a little rain during the night, but not too much. We got up, packed up, ate breakfast, and were hiking this second day by about 9 AM. We quickly reached the Blaylock Creek crossing (another wet crossing), and then had two more wet crossings of the Little Missouri River within the first 3 miles of hiking that morning. A few pictures of our hike along the Little Missouri and one of the crossings are below.

After the second crossing of the river for the day, we turned west to follow the Viles Branch Creek. This was also a nice level hike, and we were able to do the crossings of this creek dry without removing shoes. It was 3.5 miles of trail from the Little Missouri to the junction with the Athens – Big Fork trail. So far, everyone was doing well, and although cloudy, we had not seen any rain to cause us any problems.  At the Athens – Big Fork junction, the trail turns north and UP the ridge! It was a strenuous 0.6 mile climb up to the saddle, and some of our group took the side trails to the Eagle Rock Vista. Once over the saddle, we had about a mile descent to end up hiking along the Saline Creek. We looked a little further on, but the trail started back up and there did not appear to be any camping or water beyond the creek, without going another 1.5 miles. It was bout 4:30 PM, so we decided to setup camp for the night at a site near the creek. It was somewhat crowded, but we did manage to find enough room for our tents. This location would leave us with about 6.5 miles to the end of the Athens – Big Fork Trail and our closest shuttle vehicle. We setup tents in the remaining daylight and made dinner with our alcohol stoves (ramen noodles). Everyone was in their tents by about 7 PM that night. Around 9PM the first sprinkles of rain started, and the rain and thunder continued for most all of the night. It was difficult to sleep with the loud rain, and I also would move around occasionally to keep an eye on the nearby creeks – watching them rise.

Day 3:

Morning came, and all of the creeks nearby were rushing. It turns out that we had gotten about 4 inches of rain during the night! We tried to pack up camp during a break in the rain, but the break was short lived and the rain started up again. Several scouts had wet tents and sleeping bags, and the wet packs made the load considerably heavier. We had to hike up the next ridge from our camp, and we decided it would be impossible to keep our feet dry, so we just hiked through the creek at all of the crossings. We crossed Brush Heap Mountain, and descended down toward Blaylock Creek. We had to cross one side tributary that was rushing fast. We positioned all adults in the middle of the stream to help our youth cross safely. It was challenging, but safe. After a short distance further, we crossed FR 106 and came to Blaylock Creek. It was obvious that this crossing might be difficult. The creek level was up considerably from the day before when we crossed downstream. The water was rushing quickly and the crossing was about 30 feet across. Paul waded out a few feet, and the water was clearly too fast to cross safely. At this point, we backtracked to the forest road (FR 106). It was continuing to rain on us as well. We actually met two other scout leaders who had hiked ahead of their group, as they had met high water as well. We decided that the best course of action would be to send a few of our group ahead on the forest road back to Albert Pike. From there, we could take Paul’s truck (remember I said we would need it later ?) to the other shuttle vehicles, come back down the forest road, and get all of our group out. We found a stone house with a porch to offer some protection to our group, so we left two leaders behind with our youth, and three leaders, along with the two leaders from the other troop, left our packs behind to fast hike the 6 miles on the forest road back to Albert Pike. Water was running across the road at several places, and the water was actually running over the low water bridge at the Albert Pike campground. By the time we got back to the group with our trucks, they had eaten lunch, some had changed clothes, and were doing fine.

We were loaded and on the road by about 2:30PM, which was still close to our original plan. The group, consisting of 5 leaders and 9 youth, had hiked 18 miles during the trip. I hope that this was a learning experience for all of the youth. We made a plan, but safety was more important, and that should be a good lesson for all of them. This loop is a beautiful hike, and I suspect that we will be back again in an attempt to complete this challenging hike. One more photo showing some of the beauty of the Eagle Rock Loop. For your reference, here is a PDF on the Eagle Rock Loop. Happy trails!

The trailhead is just past milepost 210 on Arizona 87, about 21 miles north of the intersection of Shea Boulevard and Fountain Hills. It is marked, but you will need to be watching for the small signs.

The start of the trail can be done in a loop, as you will see on the GPS track at the bottom of the photos below.

Water can obviously be scarce, since you are hiking in a Sonoran Desert – notice the Saguaro Cacti along the trail. We went back into the wilderness about 5 miles to an old corral.  There was a flowing stream there, but I would not count on it much of the year.

We only saw a few people on the trail near the start, and nobody further back into the wilderness. Our total round trip distance was 10.2 miles in about 6 hours.

It was a great hike, and I will let some of our photos describe it for you. Click on any picture to see a larger version.

Happy Trails,

Shawn

We are excited to offer our Trail Guide for the McGee Creek Natural Scenic Recreation Area (NSRA) in southern Oklahoma. We have hiked every trail (many more than once), and created a GPS track of all trails in the area. We then created a topographic map, and a satellite map with the trails shown. We also wrote a 15 page booklet about the area, regulations, camping areas, trails, and more. You will receive the trail guide, and both 8.5 x 11 maps. Examples of the maps are shown below. The cost is only $5.99 plus shipping.

Visit our Store

On the way to the trail head, we stopped by the Turner Bend Store for a couple of fantastic sandwiches, as we did the last time we were through here. We left our vehicle at the Cherry Bend parking area on Highway 23 north of Cass, checked in at the trail register, and headed out around 5:30 PM. We were hoping to get to Hare Mountain, as we knew there was a lot of camping available up there. It was cloudy, breezy, and about 55 degrees when we started out.

We passed a group of about 10 or so scouts and leaders that were setup between mile 38 and 39. We made it to Hare Mountain around 8 PM, and it was already dark. There seemed to be a large group of campers on the mountain and many were even camped down near the start of the spur trail toward the top. It would be difficult to find a camping spot in the dark with so many others, so we decided to move on in search of a less crowded location. We hiked about another mile in the dark with flashlights and came to an area with a lot of pine trees near a logging road – around mile 43.5. We followed the old road away from the trail looking for a place to pitch the tent. A thick layer of pine needles is a great place to sleep, so we found a relatively level spot among the trees and setup the Tarptent. Nate and I planned to sleep under a tarp, while the girls used the tent. But since it was dark and we were not sure where we could setup the tarp in addition to the tent, we all squeezed into the Tarptent, which was supposed to hold three people! The location turned out to be a good choice. We were down off of Hare Mountain and out of the wind. The pine needles made for a soft bed, and the wind through the pine trees was quite soothing. We had covered about 7 miles this first day. The temperature dropped to only about 44 degrees during the night.

We slept in a bit past sunrise, but did get packed up and hiking again around 8:50 AM after we had breakfast. We hiked part way to Spy Rock, but decided to do this on the return trip, so we turned around and continued on the OHT. We stopped about 11:30 at a waterfall near Herrods Creek near mile 47.3. It was a wonderful waterfall in a secluded area, and we ate lunch and rested while we were there.

After lunch we continued on to Briar Branch (mile 53.7) and arrived around 3:30 PM. We had passed Williams Falls, Herrian Mountain, and Indian Creek along the trail today. There was a good campsite near Briar Branch with a nice fire ring. We setup the tarp and Tarptent, and then hiked through the Marinoni Scenic Area and to the jeep road at 54.4. This was a beautiful area with bluffs, waterfalls, moss covered rocks, and lots of beech trees. Nate even climbed out on a natural rock bridge. We returned back to camp and boiled water for our lasagna dinner. The kids played catch with a stuff football we brought. The weather for this day was great – 65 degrees and mostly sunny. The girls were in the Tarptent, and Nate and I were under the tarp. The sky was clear, the stars were out, and the sounds of the stream next to us lulled us to sleep. We had covered about 12.5 miles this second day.

Well, it was clear overnight, and the temperature dropped to 36 degrees. The girls got a bit cold, but mostly due to the down in the quilt shifting to the edges instead of being right over them while they slept. We fixed that for the third night We had our breakfast and coffee and were on the trail by 8:20. This was the turn around point for the out and back hike, so we headed back west toward Herrods Creek when we left camp. We saw two deer not far off the trail – right after Micah asked why we had not seen much wildlife! They were too quick to get their picture. We continued past Indian Creek toward the Spy Rock spur. On this return trip, we intended to take the Spy Rock / Redding Campground loop trail. Our timing worked out great again, because we were able to eat lunch at the waterfall near Herrods Creek near mile 47.3. After lunch, we took the turn toward Spy Rock and hiked to that overlook for a short break.

The views over the hills and into the valley from Spy Rock were great. After Spy Rock, we hiked the east side of the loop down to Redding Campground and arrived about 4 PM. Redding Campground is on the Mulberry River. Each campsite is primitive, but they did have a central bathroom with showers and toilets. We gladly paid the $10 camping fee, and most of us had a shower that night. There was also a group of Boy Scouts there for an annual backpacking event where they hike into Redding Campground. They had a campfire that night at the waterfront area, so we joined them to watch the skits and see awards handed out for scout skill competitions. We had Chili Mac for dinner and covered about 13.5 miles this third day. The first full day (yesterday) was a bit tough on the kids, but they had done just fine today.

We woke up feeling quite rested, and we all slept better last night than the previous two nights. It was only 45 degrees last night, so everyone stayed warm enough. The clouds had moved in, and it was overcast and misting. I met John, who had hiked all of the Appalachian Trail (AT) over 11 years with his two boys. He was about 60, and had finished the last of it the previous year. He loved to talk about backpacking, as do I, so we visited several times that morning. He gave me his card, and offered to send me information via email that might be helpful for the AT hike Jana and I are planning for this summer. We had breakfast, packed up, and were hiking again this morning by around 8:45 AM. Our plan was to hike about 12 miles to mile 39 or so, spend the night, and hike the last few miles out in the morning. We hiked the west side of the Redding Campground loop this time on our way back to the OHT. It never warmed up, and stayed cloudy, windy, and sprinkled some on us all morning. We stopped in a pine forest, as Micah calls them, for lunch. We also took the spur trail to the top of Hare Mountain to see it during the daylight. There were many good tent sites, and we found the hand dug well that was up there. Our hiking pace was very good, and our loads were much lighter with just a few meals of food left, so we decided to hike all the way out today. The weather continued to be cold, damp, and cloudy, so this seemed like a good decision. Everyone hiked well on this last day, and we reached Cherry Bend about 5 PM. We covered about 14.5 miles on this last day, and about 47.5 miles total for the trip. The kids did great and hiked at a good pace for most all of the trip.

Here is an overview of the route. We collected the GPS track with a data logger (Holux M-241). Click to enlarge.

The McGee Creek Natural Scenic Recreation Area (NSRA) in southeastern Oklahoma is a very convenient place for us to hike, since it is not far from where we live. The NSRA is located near Atoka and Antlers in Oklahoma, and it offers backpacking, hiking, and equestrian camping opportunities with many miles of trails.

I am working on developing a trail guide for the area, since little information is available. The brief trail map offered at the trail head is generally accurate as far as the trail location, but many of the distances are incorrect. I use a GPS data logger as I hike to correctly measure position and distance along each trail.

When doing a short hike with our kids back in December, the map at the permit station indicated that two new trails had been opened. We were anxious to try them out, and this holiday gave us that chance.

For this hike, it was just Jana and I with a light day pack. Temperatures was 45 to 60 degrees, and it was partly cloudy, which provided very good hiking conditions. From the trail head, we hiked north and then took the South Rim trail.

Before we reached Box Spring camp (near the junction of South Rim and Bog Spring trails), a new trail left toward the east. I will call it the Bog Spring trail, although no name is listed at the permit station. This trail provides much easier access to the east side of the McGee Creek NSRA, which had been a long hike north and around to a couple of camp areas on the southeast corner in the NSRA. The Bog Spring trail was in good condition, and allowed us to hike side by side for much of the trail. This new trail connects to roughly the middle point of the Hog Camp trail, near the equestrian camp E2.

We turned north onto the Hog Camp trail and followed it up until it came to a junction with the Hunters Cabin trail and short trail to the east which went to the east boundary. The boundary trail now is also open around the northeast corner of the NSRA boundary. We did not take this boundary trail, but it looks to be in decent shape and well blazed.

From the junction, we followed the Hunters Cabin trail toward the northwest. You will notice on our map a very small spur trail we took near the middle of the Hunters Cabin trail. This used to go to an old hunting cabin and outhouse. However, the cabin and outhouse have been demolished and removed. The area is now cleared, with two picnic tables and charcoal grills. I wonder if there are plans to put another equestrian camp here, but no information was available. The Hunters Cabin trail was in good shape, mostly double track, and nice hiking.

We continued on the Hunters Cabin trail until we came to the junction with the Coon’s Way Trail. This trail leads to the northern boundary of the NSRA, and it also connects with another trail called Wolf Creek as indicated on the state of Oklahoma map. However, as we hiked the Coon’s Way trail, there were no indications of the Wolf Creek trail, so it apparently is no longer marked or used. After reaching the northern boundary, we returned south on Coon’s Way, back to the Hunters Cabin trail and continued west on it.

Hunters Cabin connects to the northern end of the South Rim trail, and there are good backpacking camping areas there as well (B5 on the state map). We took the South Rim trail south to return us back to the parking area. The South Rim trail is also in good shape, with easy double track hiking through pine trees. The trees at the edge of the Bugaboo Canyon were too tall to see much from the overlook, but it was still very enjoyable as we made good time along the trail.

There had been some rain the previous week, so most of the creeks and streams were flowing, which is somewhat unusual for this area. Water sources are often limited to the lake on the west side of the NSRA, the Box Spring near Box Spring Camp, or the permit station at the trail head.

Our overall hike was 12 miles. We saw a few horses near the trail head, but once on the trail, we did not see anyone at all. Another great feature of the NSRA is the wooded environment. The tree cover helps to keep the hot sun off of you when hiking in the warmer months. The NSRA also does not have large elevation changes, so hiking with your family or kids would be an option as well.

Click on either graphic below to see a larger overview of our route on either a topographical or satellite map.

Happy Trails,

Shawn

We decided to take advantage of the trip out and the great weather to get in some good hiking in the Phoenix area. First, we stopped by the Arizona Hiking Shack. The helpful folks there provided some great advice. They also sell maps and other hiking and adventure gear. The Shack is well worth a stop when in Phoenix.

Our first hike was at the Phoenix Mountains Park and Recreation Area. We wanted to get high enough for some great views of the area, so the Summit Trail to Piestewa Peak (formerly Squaw Peak) was our trail of choice. This 1.1 mile (one way) trail from the parking area to the summit at 2608 feet was steep but manageable. We saw people of all ages hiking up and down from the summit. As you can see in our photos, the view from the summit was great!

For our second hike that day, we chose a trail with less elevation change, but very representative of the desert environment and landscape. The North Mountain Preserve area offers some trails to higher peaks, but many of the trails are fairly level. This allows hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers of all ages to enjoy the desert surroundings. We hiked portions of a few trails resulting in a 2.35 mile outing in this park.

Between the previous two hikes, we stopped by REI for some quick bargain hunting (I’m in the market for new trail runners). The next morning, we headed to the west side of Phoenix. White Tank Mountain Regional Park on the west side of Phoenix offers 25 miles of trails ranging from less than a mile to about 8 miles in length. The nearly 30,000 acres include peaks rising to about 4000 feet from the desert below. We would have loved to hike some of the longer trails in the White Tanks, but due to time restraints could not do lot of hiking that morning. We decided to try out the Mesquite Canyon trail. Although the trail can be hiked for many miles, we ended up doing a 2.1 mile round trip hike. The morning air was cool, and the sun was shining. Once we started up the canyon, it felt like civilization was far away.

We had a great few days in the Phoenix area, and we would love to have had more time for hiking and shopping We discovered Trader Joe’s food store, and we ended up buying a bag to carry back some of the items we purchased there! We bought a daypack by ChicoBag. It is a uniquely designed daypack made of 89% recycled content, and it weighs less than 6 oz. Not far from Phoenix, Arizona are many other hiking opportunities including the Prescott National Forest and Coconino National Forests north toward Sedona and the Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix.

Happy Trials,

Shawn

As with many longer trails, if you are not backtracking or hiking a loop, then some sort of shuttle or extra vehicle is necessary to return to the starting point. We did not want to backtrack or drive two vehicles, so we researched our shuttle options. I contacted both Paula White at White Rock Mountain and the Turner Bend store. Paula was available, so we had her reserve a slot to shuttle us on Saturday, November 21, 2009. Her shuttle pricing is one dollar per mile driven. We also called Paula the day before to make sure that all was in order for the next day.

We left our vehicle at the Cherry Bend parking area on Highway 23 just north of Cass, Arkansas. Coming from I-40, the Turner Bend store was on our way to the parking area, so we stopped and had a couple of wonderful home made sandwiches there Saturday about noon. The Turner Bend store has been open for many years, and only closes on Christmas. We highly recommend a stop there when traveling Highway 23. Paula met us at the Cherry Bend parking area and shuttled us back to the Lake Fort Smith State Park visitor center. The Ozark Highlands Trail starts behind the visitor center, and it was well marked with a sign next to the visitor center. We had a nice visit with Paula during the drive of more than an hour. She has been running the White Rock Mountain area for 19 years now. On several occasions, she has been iced in or lost power up there for weeks at a time!

We started hiking about 2:30 PM, hoping to get well past the north end of the lake by dark. The weather was overcast, but around 60 F, so it turned out to be wonderful hiking weather for the afternoon. The original start of the trail was at the old Lake Fort Smith State Park site, so not a lot of information was available about this new route. The trail runs north along the lake to the north end of the lake, where it crosses Frog Bayou. Since it is not very far from the lake, the elevation change is minimal for these first several miles. We passed two old rock chimneys fro

m old homesteads within the first two miles of the beginning. We passed a couple of day hikers on this stretch, and almost thought that their large black dog was a bear when we first saw it from a distance! The crossing at Frog Bayou (about 2.5 miles in) was wide, but not too deep. The water was quite cold – somewhat expected for late November. This would be a difficult or impossible crossing if the water was very high. The trail then turns south and follows the lake shore again, but not as close this time. Before long, the trail turned back east and left the lake. We did enjoy seeing a beautiful sky and sunset as we hiked into the Jack Creek drainage.

There were not any mileposts after mile 3, so it was hard to know exactly how far we had gone. We hiked until just after dark, hoping to find a good camping location. We boiled water on the alcohol stove for our dehydrated meal, and then setup the tent while the meal cooked.

Once inside the tent, we made notes about the day and looked at the maps and trail guide again. We were using the OHT Guide edition #5 by Tim Ernst. This guide is a must have for anyone hiking the trail. Both Tim’s guide and a few other things I found indicated that the new start of the trail was about a mile shorter than the original trail start. Based on the guide, our topographical map, and looking at the terrain around us, we estimated that we made it to about milepost 7.5 – or about 6.5 miles of hiking. Once back at home, the GPS track we took showed 6.43 miles of hiking this first day in about 3 hours – not a bad pace. Since it was dark so early, we turned in about 8 PM to try to go to sleep.

It was not hard to wake up early the next morning, having gone to bed so early the night before. It had gotten down to 39 F last night, but we stayed pretty warm under the Jacks R Better down quilt. We had also purchased two ¼” insulating pads from Gossamer Gear that we used under the Therm-A-Rest Neo Air pads to insulate us from the cold ground. We started to pack up about 6 AM, while it was still dark. I boiled some water for hot chocolate, while Jana packed up what she could in the tent. There was some condensation on the inside and outside of the tent, so I shook the water off as much as possible and stuffed it into the stuff sack for travelling. We finally got back on the trail at 6:50 AM, and it was getting fairly light. The clouds lifted during the night, and it was now clear this morning. Our plan was to hike nearly 17 miles to camp at Spirits Creek for the second night. We were not sure we could cover that distance with the short amount of daylight we have in November.

Soon after starting, we passed milepost 8, indicating that we had camped near milepost 7.8 the night before. So, it appears the new trail start is a little more than a mile shorter than the original route. All future milepost references will be relative to the trail markers, not our actual distance travelled, which will be slightly shorter. We were able to cross Jack Creek dry by rock hopping at milepost 9.4. We met a father and two sons who had camped there the night before. There were a few nice tent spots near the creek. From Jack Creek, the trail climbs about 500 feet in the next mile or so to cross FR 1007 near Dockerys Gap. There is a small parking area here if needed to access the trail. The trail immediately drops off the ridge again, losing the 500 feet over the next mile or less to reach Hurricane Creek. We met two other backpackers at Hurricane Creek that had camped there the night before after hiking down from White Rock Mountain. We managed to cross dry here as well on some rocks, and we started the 1000 foot climb over the next 2 miles on our way to White Rock Mountain. We definitely had to slow our pace for this climb, as many short sections were quite steep. Once we had reached an elevation near 2200 feet, the trail continued to have short up and down sections as it worked its way around the south side of White Rock Mountain. We stopped at milepost 17 for lunch that day. We could see the bluffs, still high above us, through the trees that had lost their leaves. Although the leaves were gone, and there was not much fall color, the leaf off did provide nice views out across many valleys and hillsides.

After lunch, we continued down the trail, encountering a Boy Scout group of about six people near milepost 18. They had stopped for lunch, so we talked to them briefly. They were here from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The day had warmed up nicely, and it was 60 to 65 F and sunny for much of the afternoon. We did not need to actually hike up the spur trail to the White Rock Mountain campground, so we continued on the OHT at the spur trail and headed downhill toward Salt Fork Creek. We are now on section 2 of the OHT, as described in Tim Ernst’s guide. The trail descends about 1200 feet over less than 2 miles to the crossing at Salt Fork Creek.

This was a wet crossing, so we removed our socks and insoles to keep them dry. We refilled water, which had been exhausted by now, and started up toward Potato Knob Mountain. This is a climb of about 1100 feet in 2 miles to the crossing of FR 1510. After a break here at the top, we started our descent back down toward Spirits Creek. It was on this section of trail about 18 months ago that we saw a black bear cub in a tree and heard the mother in the bushes below!

We did not see any bears, or other large wildlife for that matter, on this trip. In fact, with so many leaves on the ground, I am sure that animals could hear us from a mile away. It was also deer gun season in Arkansas, so we wore blaze orange while hiking, just to be safe.

The trail down to Spirits Creek was not too difficult, and we arrived at the creek crossing at milepost 24.6 at 4:45 PM – so it was still light this time! We found an established campsite not far from the crossing with a rock fire ring, so we setup camp there. This is a wonderful area with the creek down in a small valley, and many rock ledges and shelves all around. Many of them had water trickling over them, which then fell ten or twenty feet into the creek below. If the water had been higher, there are several waterfalls nearby, but this area had not had much rain in the last week or more, so the waterfalls we had seen were barely running.

We boiled water for our dehydrated meal, and I started a fire in the fire ring to dry out our damp socks and shoes. It also was nice to have the fire going while we ate dinner and took care of our tasks around camp. According the GPS track, we had covered 16.6 miles today in 10 hours of hiking. Jana’s knees were feeling much better after this day than they did on the Ouachita Trail last spring. We had been more diligent about taking glucosamine for several weeks before this trip, and we were taking ibuprofen at our meals as well. We went to bed again about 8 PM, with plans to get up at 5:40 AM and be on the trail the next morning at 6:30 AM.

We slept better this second night, and got up fairly easily at 5:30 AM or so. The temperature only dropped to 49 F last night, since clouds had moved in during the night. As a result, we did not have any condensation on the tent in the morning. I again boiled water for hot chocolate, and we started packing up gear from the tent. However, with the cloud cover and being in the valley, it was not light enough to start hiking at 6:30 AM. We waited a little longer, and were able to see well enough to hike by 6:50 AM. We would have to cover approximately 12.5 miles in order to reach our vehicle at the Cherry Bend parking area.

From Spirits Creek, we had to climb again up, but only about

600 feet this time to FR 1509 (Ragtown Road).  A few miles later we are at the start of my favorite trail section so far – and not just because it is flat and level. At milepost 27.2, we are at the start of a section of trail on old railroad bed. Yes, I said railroad bed – even in the middle of the Ozark Mountains! Back in 1915 or so, there was a Cass to Combs railroad spur. This was a narrow gauge railroad line that was used for logging in this area in the early 1900s. The rails are gone, and the ties have been removed or have rotted, but you can clearly see how the railroad bed was built up or cut down through the hills. At milepost 27.2 where the trail joins the railroad bed, there is a wonderful rock retaining wall, and many concrete piers and large bolts from the trestle bridge, which are still visible as you hike around a ravine to join the railroad bed. We follow this old bed for more than 2.5 miles, leaving it occasionally to go around an area that used to have a trestle bridge.

The hiking is still pretty good after leaving the railroad bed, but does work its way downhill and a good pace sometimes on the way to Fane Creek. At mile 31.6, we came to Fane Creek. We did look around for rocks to cross on, but even when low, this creek turned out to be a wet crossing. Where the trail meets the creek, there are large slabs of flat rock. So, we decide to just cross barefoot on this flat rock, rather than get our shoes wet. We wanted to keep them dry for the big climb coming up later in the day. We did take a short break here to enjoy the creek, refill water bottles, and snack on trail mix.

Soon after leaving the creek, we cross FR 1520, and begin the 1500 foot climb up Whiting Mountain. It turns out that this climb is broken into two parts. After about 700 feet of climbing, the trail does run generally level for about a mile, before turning up again for the last 800 feet of elevation gain. We stopped for lunch at milepost 33, which was in this generally level area. While enjoying our tuna on crackers, we did encounter another day hiker and his beagle. He said he would drive his truck out and park at a trail access point, and then he would hike out so far and turn around and return. He had done several portions of the trail this way.

We finished lunch and headed off again – dreaming of a fresh sandwich from Turner Bend! The additional climb this afternoon was strenuous,

but manageable. However, there was one area of the trail, near mile 34 to 35, that was very overgrown and in worse shape. There is an area that I would definitely not want to hike in the summer when the weeds were growing well! By mile 35 the trail had improved. It was obvious that some major work had been done to trim things back. Before long, we could hear Highway 23 in the distance.

Our last interesting landmark was a rock house shelter at mile 36.7. This is a large overhanging rock shelf that had been enclosed by loggers in the 1920s to serve as some sort of shelter.

Soon after this pause, we arrived at the spur trail to the Cherry Bend parking area. We were at the truck at 2:30 PM, exactly 48 hours after we started! This last day turned out to be 12.11 miles from Spirit Creek back to our vehicle. Very soon, we were stopping again at the Turner Bend store for bottles of soda pop and a turkey sandwich. We were tired, but not exhausted – success!

I always like to take a look at our hiking speed, including breaks, as this allows for better planning on the next trip. I compiled the table below to summarize our three days.

I am a tester for backpackgeartest.org, so I took a few items on this trip that were being tested. These were the PROBAR fruition bars and the Montbell Extremely Light Down Vest. See the link above for more information on those tests.

After the trip on the Ouachita Trail last spring, Jana was not sure how she would do on these long backpacking trips. Our first day last spring was very hard on her knees, so there was some concern about this trip. However, it seems that the glucosamine and ibuprofen help tremendously, and we both did very well regarding our knees and legs. I also wanted to reward her for her willingness to travel with me, so I arranged for a night at the Beland Manor Inn Bed and Breakfast in Fort Smith. I knew that a shower and hot bath soon after leaving the trail would help both of us to feel much better. This was a great alternative to just jumping in the car and driving for several hours after hiking. For those of you with a spouse that may not be as enthusiastic about backpacking, consider a night at a hotel or bed and breakfast after leaving the trail.

Mike and Suzy at the Beland Manor Inn were wonderful hosts and very understanding of hikers. Mike told of some other great hiking locations in Arkansas that we plan to check out when we can. Suzy made a wonderful breakfast with fresh fruit, sausage, and French toast with homemade bread, maple glaze, and pecans. Delicious!

If you are considering a hike on the Ozark Highlands Trail, I can certainly recommend it as a beautiful hiking destination – after all, the journey is the destination. In fact, we are planning a hike with the whole family, kids and all, on the OHT early next spring. Maybe we will see you in the woods sometime!

Happy Trails,

Shawn

PS: Topo and satellite maps follow for those interested

Birds are common along the trail, and waterfowl can be frequently seen on Dick’s Pond, including herons, ducks, and geese. This is an easy family hike and taking children along for the hike is not a problem. The trail has minimal elevation change, and the wooden walkway and overlook provide an interesting break in the hike.

Travertine Creek, a major park feature, is fed by many springs, some of which are mineral and sulphur water springs. Our hike followed Travertine Creek toward the east from the Travertine Nature Center. We hiked a total of nearly 4 miles on trails including the Antelope and Buffalo Springs Trail, the Prairie Loop Trail, the Tall Oaks Trail, and the Dry Creek Trail.

The trail to Antelope and Buffalo Springs is a wonderful, wide, and easy walk. These two springs produce a flow of about 5 millions gallons a day that flows into Travertine Creek. Branching off of the Antelope and Buffalo Springs Trail are 3 other trails to allow a wide range of hiking distances to be taken.

Buffalo Springs has a circular rock walkway and seating built around it (by the CCC), while Antelope Springs is unaltered, coming directly out from the rocks in the hillside.

The Prairie Loop Trail crosses the Travertine Creek and up the hillside into an area that once was a large mixed grass prairie. Most of the dominant vegetation  now is hardwoods and cedar.

The Tall Oaks Loop Trail also crosses the creek and meanders through an area with stands of cedars and hardwoods, including oaks, elm, sycamore, and others.

The Dry Creek Trail crosses a large rock bridge built by the CCC and up through limestone covered slopes and into an area with patches of mixed-grass prairie and invasive cedars.

Nearly all of these trails are in the shade under wonderful hardwoods, and the proximity to the creeks provides a cool walk in the morning hours, even in the summer time.

I have hiked this area many times, and there is always something new to see. Our trip today did not provide any views of big wildlife, but we did encounter several turtles, frogs, and small snakes. If you are ever near the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, it is definitely worth a visit. The spring-fed creeks are even good for wading and a few deeper swimming holes are waiting to be enjoyed.

Happy Trails,

Shawn

Being in the south, and at low elevations, the weather becomes too hot and dry for July and August overnight hikes, so plan to hike the ONRT in spring or fall for a more pleasant experience. Water sources can completely dry up during the summer months along this trail. On the plus side, if you like solitude, this trail is just for you. It is very lightly used and is rarely close to civilization along the entire route.

The best, and perhaps only, trail guide for the ONRT is by Tim Ernst. Check him out at cloudland.net.

Jana and I recently did a backpacking hike of the first 2 sections of the ONRT in May. It was a tough hike to cover 50+ plus miles in only 3 days, and we only saw six people (a group of 2 and a group of 4) on the entire trip.

Sunday, May 17, 2009:

We left our vehicle at the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge after filling out paperwork at the reservation desk inside to let them know our trip plans. We called Jim Fite for a shuttle back to Talimena State Park in Oklahoma. We had talked to Jim some weeks back to let him know when we needed a shuttle for this backpacking trip and to make sure that he was available. We started hiking at Mile 0 on the trail around 6 PM. I was disappointed that the trail registry in the park was empty – no pencils, forms, nothing. It was my understanding that the forest service used these trail registry forms to help determine use of the trail, allocate resources, etc. We took a break for dinner around 6:50 PM after hiking about 1.6 miles. We tried a new meal for this evening: Hula Wraps. The ingredients included tortillas, tuna, cream cheese, dried pineapple, and various spices.

We continued hiking after dinner, and stopped about 8:10 PM to setup camp near mile 3.4. I really prefer to eat dinner along the trail, which keeps the strong food odors away from our tent and campsite. Although the trees did not allow for many good views out over the valley, there was a good view about mile 3. Most of the climb at the start of the trail is in the first couple of miles, so we had most of the initial climb behind us on this first evening. I was hoping for a good sleep, since I had a new Therm-A-Rest Neo Air to try out. This was a new sleeping pad for me, although Jana had one on the last trip. As I fell asleep, I watched fireflies landing on the tent, and listened to an armadillo rustling in the leaves.

Monday, May 18, 2009:

We awoke about 6:15 AM to slight daylight and a temperature of 50 F. We had breakfast – bagel, peanut butter, and coffee – and we were on the trail by 7:10 AM – not bad! We took a break near mile 4.9 at a campsite with a fire ring at 8:00 AM. We refilled our water bottles near mile 7.4 around 9:30 AM at a nice stream. Water can sometimes be a real problem on the Ouachita Trail, but we have had so much rain in the last few weeks that water was plentiful during our hike. We reached Deadman gap – and crossed the Scenic Drive highway about 10:00 AM. We stopped for lunch near mile 9.9 at 11:15 AM next to another nice stream. The overgrowth was much worse on the this (north) side of the mountain. There was a nice campsite near mile 15 where we took a short break. We had just passed four other hikers, which was the first people we had seen on the trail so far. We reached Horsethief Springs about 5:40 near mile 20. There was water, but it did not look too good. I carefully collected some, and it did not look as bad in the bottle – I had been quite careful to only get clean water when filling it. We ate one of our freeze dried meals here – Sweet and Sour chicken. Horsethief Springs is also a stop on the Skyline Drive, so there were picnic tables and pit toilets – real luxury for today!

We had hiked 16 miles so far, and Jana’s knees were pretty tired. It would have been best if we could camp here, but the mountain side was too sloped for a tent, so we decided we had to move on. We hiked a couple more miles, but the hiking, especially the descents, were painful for Jana. We took a break at a forest road, and decided to hike along the Skyline Drive for the next two miles to reach Winding Stair Campground. The Skyline Drive was still hilly, but the smooth grade was easier on the knees. We arrived at Winding Stair Campground, which would allow us to tent camp for a fee. However, we discovered that there was a very nice backpacker’s camp setup just outside the Winding Stair Campground for Ouachita Trail hikers at mile 23.7.

It had a pit toilet, but the water at the camp was turned off. We just walked a short distance to the campground next door to get water.

Note that in winter, Winding Stair Campground is closed and no water would be available at either area. The backpacker’s camp was quite nice. The view into the valley to the north was great, and it had several good tent sites and picnic tables. We were really tired after hiking 20.5 miles that day!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009:

We woke up as it started getting light around 5:40 AM this morning, so we decided to go watch the sunrise. We took our down quilt with us and walked a short distance to find a good place to sit down and enjoy the sun coming up of the hills.

We ate breakfast, washed out some clothes at Winding Stair Campground, filled up on water, and headed out around 8:00 AM. We had a moderate climb ahead of us, and then an amazing 33 switchbacks on the descent, so we where hoping that our knees would be better today. It was 8:45 AM when we reached the top at 2451 ft – the highest point so far on the Ouachita Trail. This was the location of an old fire tower, and you could still see the concrete foundation blocks on the hill. There was also a very large rock cairn constructed on the top. We took a break here, at about mile 25 – almost half way through our planned hike. We descended the other side of the mountain through the 33 switchbacks down to a saddle and nice camping area near mile 26.3 – we took a break here, since we were about to climb again. We had an early lunch around 11:00 AM near Red Spring – at mile 27.4. The spring water has so much iron that it has turned the ground all around it a bright orange. We had started to descend again and would be working our way all the way down to Big Cedar Creek and Highway 259. We had been following the Skyline Drive for all of yesterday up on top of the mountain, but today we would be dropping down into the Kiamichi River valley – far removed from the Skyline Drive along the ridge of the Ouachita Mountains. We crossed Big Cedar Creek at 12:45 PM at mile 30.3. It was definitely a wet crossing, as the creek was really flowing.

We met two other guys hiking that crossed just ahead of us. They had taken time to try to dry their shoes, but I knew it would take a long time, so we changed into dry socks and pushed on. We were hoping to go up and over Wilton Mountain, so that we could camp near the Kiamichi River tonight. That would put us ready (we hoped) to make the big climb up Rich Mountain on Wednesday – our last day. We found that Wilton Mountain was poorly blazed, very rocky, and in some places extremely overgrown. It was a lot of work to get to the top, but we made it around 5:30 PM and made another of our freeze dried meals – Chicken Stew. There was a campsite up there that would have been good, but water is not available up top – it would have to be hauled up. We continued on, down Wilton Mountain, towards the river valley below. Our knees hurt worse when descending than they did when climbing, so it was not much faster than the climb up. By 7:30 PM, we were next to the Kiamichi River at mile 39.5. We found a good campsite next to the river, so we called it a day. We had covered about 16 miles today. The cold water was very refreshing as we tried to clean some of the trail dirt off. We hung our food PCT style (an easy and secure bear bag hanging technique), and let the sound of the river lull us to sleep.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009:

We woke up around 6:00 AM to a temperature of 47 F. We ate breakfast in camp, then packed up and were on the trail by 7:15 AM. We knew that we had a big climb up Rich Mountain today, so we wanted to get an early start. We made the first crossing of the Kiamichi River at around 8:00 AM, and crossed the river for the 8th and final time around 9:30 AM. Wet shoes were unavoidable this morning. We did take a break to dry out our shoes and insoles somewhat, and to change into dry socks. We took breaks every so often during the climb, and decided to eat lunch once we had climbed half of the elevation gain for today. Lunch was at a nice saddle area at 11:20 AM near mile 45.3.

We finished the climb and reached the Oklahoma / Arkansas state line at 1:00 PM. This is the highest point on the Ouachita Trail at 2610 feet.

The weeds and brush were really thick along the top of Rich Mountain, although the grades were fairly gentle. We reached Queen Wilhelmina Lodge right at 4:00 PM – check in time! We had reserved a room, so we knew that a hot shower and good meal would be our reward at the end of this trip. We had hiked 13 miles today.

The official mileage for our trip was 51.6 miles, but with reroutes and detours around downed trees, etc. our GPS track showed that our total mileage was 54.4 miles on these two sections of the Ouachita National Recreation Trail. We made detailed notes of trail conditions, missing mile markers, and other issues along the trail. This will allow us to report to the ranger districts responsible for these trail sections as well as the Friends Of the Ouachita Trail organization that organizes volunteer trail maintenance.

We put a lot of equipment through some good testing on this trip, and I plan to have more equipment reviews coming soon. This trip was long and challenging due to the mileage, but the experience and information coming out of it will be very useful down the road. I hope that if you are near the ONRT sometime in the future, you will take the time to hike a section or two of this remote trail.