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!
