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Ouachita Trail

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    • Ouachita Trail

      Day 1
      The Ouachita Trail (OT) (formerly called the Ouachita National Recreation Trail) runs from Talimena State Park in Oklahoma to Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Arkansas (near Little Rock). For this trip I started out at Hwy 7 near Jessieville. I got a late start due to not wanting to wake my daughter up to early on the day after Christmas to shuttle me there (still much better than asking my wife to spend her morning shuttling me). Great starting out with weather in the 40s, and forecast had been for some rain, so when after it started I decided to stay at the shelter after 7 miles. I had not seen anyone on the trail all day.

      The OT has a dozen shelters built in the last 10 years or so, with a few more planned. One nice thing about the shelters on the OT is that no one ever seems to use them. I have never seen a person at one. I have also never seen a mouse at one, probably because there are not enough people leaving crumbs of food. So based upon this I set up my tent in the shelter, and had plenty of room to lay things out to dry (or at least I hoped they would).

      Day 2
      Forecast I had been checking prior for the trip was for today and the rest of my trip to be clear with no rain. Now things had suddenly changed and the rain that had been going since yesterday afternoon would go off and on through the rest of the day. Therefor I set my goal for the next shelter 15.1 miles away. Started out in the dark at 6:30am, so slow moving originally to make sure I was still on the trail. Once the day light came so did the rain again. While stopping at a road crossing for a break I noticed my pack cover had fallen off, so I had to walk back probably a half mile to find it. This is something that had never happened to me before (and hopefully never will again).

      The only people I saw on the trail today were a Boy Scout Troop. I guess everyone else with any sense knew not to be out in cold rainy weather. It was a long day with all the rain. Crystal Prong Creek which has boulders you walk across was mostly under water. I had to throw my poles ahead to the shore like spears as I jumped and crawled across. I wish I had taken a picture but I did not want to have dig my phone out of my pack at the time. It was raining hard and I wanted to get to the next shelter before dark.

      Day 3
      Woke up in the shelter to the wonderful sound of no rain. With temps down in the 20/30s unfortunately none of the things I had laid out had really dried. I did not have any bread bags with me so the previous day I had used a Walmart bag and a Jimmy Jam clothing bag to try to keep my socks dry from my wet shoes, they only worked for a few hours. Now the Walmart bag was full of holes, so since I really did not need my other clothing bag, since all of the clothes except what I had on were wet, so I used it. The night before it was getting dark when I saw the shelter so I made a beeline for it. Now I could not see where the trail was. So I decided to make as big of a circle as I could while still having the shelter in sight. This overall was a good idea but did not find the trail until about 270* later. Just wish I turned the other direction at first (then only 90*).

      I met a hunter in a pickup at road crossing and found out that these three days Dec 26-28 had actually been a special Holiday Hunt for deer. I guess I had not seen or heard any hunters the previous days due to the rain. I learned a valuable lesson about gloves. Do not use them in the rain, because they will be soaked and useless later when it is too cold to rain and you really do need them. Mine are weatherproof, I believe this means you can play in the snow with them, but not waterproof. I guess I should have bought some of Jimmy Jam’s, but at the time I thought I will not be out when it is cold and wet (right). I went 9.3 miles to Hwy 9 where my wife picked me up.

      Day 3a
      Back at the house washing and drying everything up. Wife was happy for me to help put away the Christmas stuff and clean up the attic. With temperatures heading down to 20s and even teens at night decided to go back with my 20* bag and leave my new Western Mountaineering HighLite at home (it is only 35* and I really bought it for the summer on the AT).

      Day 4
      Had my daughter drop me off and I met Déjà vu. You may remember him from TOS. He got that name from the way he did the PCT with 2 cars. He would hike from one car to the other, those hike both ways as he leapfrogged the cars. Thus other hikers would see him going both directions. His other name is Roadkill for the way he would takes naps on the side of the trail on hot afternoons. Great day due to no rain and did 13.2 miles and set my tent up in the woods.

      Day 5
      Lots of creeks/streams/drains to cross today. I did dozens on this trip. I feel like I could be a ballerina with all of the spinning around I did to look for where the blazes went (trail hard to see due to leaves everywhere) and skipping (jumping across stones). A couple of crossings today I had to take off my trail runners and socks and used my Vivobarefeet to cross. Near the end of the day went over a lot of finger ridges (up and down). Probably need to do this section a few times again in the spring to get ready for the Roller Coaster in VA this summer.

      Hiked 17.5 miles to finish the OT. I have now hiked 136 miles of the OT with 87 miles in the middle to go. By the time I got to Pinnacle Mountain State Park it was dark. I now had to walk a couple of miles in the dark on a road with no shoulder to get to Maumelle Campground. Not a great thing on New Year’s Eve. Fortunately a Park Ranger offered me a ride in the back of his pickup to the park.

      Day 6
      Took the Arkansas River Trail to the North Little Rock Greyhound station. The Arkansas River Trail is really more of a bicycle trail with highlight being going over the Big Dam Bridge the longest pedestrian/bicycle bridge in North America. Ended up doing 15 miles, the second half in the rain. Checked in with the bus station and then went on to grab some food. While walking under Interstate 30 I had interesting encounters with the local “homeless” guys. I was soaking wet with my backpack on, big slit in my pants leg from briars, and had not shaved in a couple of the weeks. The first guy was younger and appeared to be concerned I was invading on his turf and asked where I came from, so I just told him Jessieville and kept walking. Then I ran into an older guy who asked if I had eaten today, then he pointed across the street and said there was chicken in the dumpster behind KFC.

      I will try to post some pictures later, but I did not take that many since most of the best views were blocked by rain and clouds due to the weather.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Astro ().

    • Day 1
      Started at Big Brushy Recreation Area. Got a late start, but just glad to be back out after four months off. Got back from the AT in mid August I took off a month for my sore shoulder. After it did not heal I finally went to a see an Orthopedic Surgeon, who sent me to get an MRI. Based on that he determined I had a torn rotator cuff that he would mend back together in 5 places on September 25. He was surprised that I had hiked over 6 weeks on the AT with. So after working hard at Rehab less than 3 months later I was finally cleared to hike with a backpack again.

      Rain was forecasted for that evening so with the late start I decided to just stop at 6.5 miles and stay at the Fiddlers Creek shelter. The creek is actually .1 miles straight down hill, but it was great to have water close by (especially after the drought I went through in NJ and NY). The great thing about the OT shelters is that they are new and hardly anyone uses them. Therefore there are no mice, and on a cold or rainy night you can set your tent up in them with out worrying about anyone else showing up.

      Below are pictures of the Fiddlers Creek Shelter and Fiddlers Creek.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Day 2

      Even though going over several mountains and having mountains on surrounding me on both sides, due to the trees and fog is was hard to get a good picture to do them justice. So instead I guess I ended up taking more pictures of the water. Did 10.5 miles this day and the forecasted rain was not that bad. I was sitting down and taking a break after getting water and beautiful hawk flew over me. It stopped briefly on a tree limb, but before I could get a picture it took off again. The last picture is of a turn that I guess they really did not want you to miss. In addition to 4 slanted blazes on the second tree, there is a white side with an arrow.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Day 3

      Woke up in the morning to below freezing temperatures, which made putting my tent away at around 7am pretty cold. But at least this was the one night it would not rain. In order to cut back on weight I did not bother to bring a glasses case, and just placed them in the pocket in my tent when I went to sleep. After packing up and starting to walk I realized I didn't have my glasses (I am nearsighted). So I had to unpack my tent, and fortunately they were not damaged. Did the 10.5 miles back to Fiddlers Creek Shelter. A short section there reminded me of PA with the rocks, but fortunately it was not too long. I thought the sign warning about limbs from the 2000 ice storm was interesting. 15 years later I am sure the limbs have fallen if they are going to, but the material that sign is made out of must be pretty good.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Astro ().

    • Day 4

      I was glad to be back in the shelter last night as the rain beat down on the metal roof. And in the morning I was looking to start out at 7am, but there was a serious thunder storm. I tried several times to catch a picture of the lightening, but with out any luck. By about 7:45 the thunder and lightening appeared to be getting farther away and in the opposite direction, so I took off in the rain which also slowing down to a drizzle. Tried again to get some pictures of the mountains. Made it back to Big Brushy and then drove to eat Catfish for lunch in Jessieville. This got me back home early on Dec 23 to get ready for Christmas with the family. I picked up the other 10 miles I originally planned to do in another week and half (will call Days 5 & 6). Another reason I was glad to get back home was to wash my hair. I definitely will continue to nearly shave my head in the summers (number 1 on the clippers). It has got to be tough for women and men with long hair going 5-7 days without washing their hair, especially in the summer.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Astro ().

    • max.patch wrote:

      would you really have missed the turn without that giant sign?

      and if someone missed the turn do you have idea where they would have ended up?
      Don't think so. And if so, after a while of not seeing any more blue blazes I would look around and then start tracing my steps back (happened more than once with the white blazes on AT for me).

      Actually I believe they would have either ran into a Forest Service road or a Creek, which should have clued them in to turn back.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Day 5

      Jan 2, started out at Hwy 27 near Story to pick up the 10.5 miles to complete this section. Got a late start after driving around 3 hours to get there, but that meant it had warmed up some by then. Overall pretty nice weather, but lots of rain prior to this (flooding in various parts of AR and MO) left a lot of the dry drains flowing and the creeks higher than normal. I remembered to bring my orange Astro cap this time. Heard so many gun shots last time, so I decided to leave the orange hat permanently in the trunk from now on. Pleasantly surprised that the Fitbit was pretty accurate on the mileage (it always comes up short on the treadmill in the gym). Got down in the 20s at night, but no problem with my 20* bag. Did not run into anyone on this trip.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Day 6

      Jan 3, now I got to hike back out to my car again. Interesting little cave. I guess you could take shelter there during the rain (fortunately none this trip). One picture I took was of a "hanging tree". That is not something you see everyday. I got a little bit of a rainbow over the Story Creek. Yesterday I had switch to my Vivobarefoot shoes to ford it, but today it had gone down enough I was able to hop across the rocks (and I course if I failed the risk was not as bad being my last day). I thought Womble was an interesting trail name.

      Please notice the rocks in the last picture. In AR this is something you walk across. In PA this would have been trail you would have followed for the next half mile. :)
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • My first thought when you wrote 'hanging tree' was an execution site. While living in NC, an acquaintance showed me several such sites. He had such a tree on his property where at least two lynchings occurred in the early 1900s.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC
    • Dan76 wrote:

      My first thought when you wrote 'hanging tree' was an execution site. While living in NC, an acquaintance showed me several such sites. He had such a tree on his property where at least two lynchings occurred in the early 1900s.
      No not a lynching, just a dead tree trunk hanging in the air.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • TrafficJam wrote:

      Congratulations, that is very exciting!

      And the beard looks great.
      Thanks, just when my beard starts to fell good to me, my wife always tells me I need to trim it.

      Hey, in just another 6 days it will be NoShavember! I guess I could use that as justification for not trimming it. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Pictures from the day I finished the Ouachita Trail back in October. I felt what I thought was a leave in the back of my shirt, so I reached back to grab it, but it was a spider. My instincts were to throw it down immediately, unfortunately it was brown and blended right into the leaves. So another time when I sat down to take a break I put my hat down on the ground. When I went to pick it up I saw what I guess was mama spider and her her future offspring, so I got a picture of that one.

      Hiked over 9 miles from Foran Gap to Eagle Gap, but instead of walk back the same trail I decided to try catching a ride. After about a mile an old couple stopped and let me ride in the back of their pickup for several miles until a fork in the road and they were going the opposite direction. Walked a few more miles and then caught a ride with a guy from Texas looking for a 4 Wheel Drive road/trail. We found it just before he got me to Foran Gap, so a win/win for both of us.

      While I do not know that I would plan a thru-hike of the OT if I lived somewhere else, it is a nice trail for me to hike on with out having to drive too far. One of the best things is the shelters of which they recently built 12 in last few years, giving them 21. While unfortunately most are not near water, they are mostly new and seldom ever used. During the rain (or cold weather) you can set you tent up in them without impacting anyone else. Also due to the low usage (and newness) unlike the AT I have NEVER seen a mouse or any other type of rodent. I guess they would starve to death if they hung out there.

      The pictures do not do justice to all of the mountains I walked through.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Here are some pictures from a prior hike on the AT back in January 2016.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • A few more from that trip.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • JimBlue wrote:

      Great pictures !
      Thanks, that really is not my forte. Probably more like the blind hog finding the acorn. God made such beautiful scenes even I couldn't mess them up. :)
      My wife is a semi-professional photographer, so other than when I am hiking she always takes the pictures. I used to be the video guy when the children were growing up, it is much more forgiving.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • jimmyjam wrote:

      I hope you squished that spider. They give me the heebeegeebees. Nothing worse than fall hiking and walking into one of those orangish brownish spiders in their sticky web.
      I guess I missed an opportunity to make the world a better place there.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • <snip>


      ‘Something out of the Lorax’: Homeowner allegedly cut 100 trees on national trail to improve lake view




      According to the Pulaski County Sherriff’s Office, a hiker saw six men taking chainsaws to trees on the Ouachita Trail last week.

      Central Arkansas Water, which owns the land through which the portion of the trail runs, says a homeowner whose property backs up to the trail contracted the work to be done.

      Lawson said she has received around 50 emails and dozens of phone calls from hikers upset about the damage.

      She said they believe 100 trees were either cut down illegally or had the tops of them shaved off because the homeowner wanted to view Lake Maumelle, which was blocked by the trees.


      ozarksfirst.com/local-news/som…ontent=link&ICID=ref_fark

      I also learned from watching the video on the webpage that I've mispronounced "Ouachita" my entire life until now. :)
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      <snip>


      ‘Something out of the Lorax’: Homeowner allegedly cut 100 trees on national trail to improve lake view




      According to the Pulaski County Sherriff’s Office, a hiker saw six men taking chainsaws to trees on the Ouachita Trail last week.

      Central Arkansas Water, which owns the land through which the portion of the trail runs, says a homeowner whose property backs up to the trail contracted the work to be done.

      Lawson said she has received around 50 emails and dozens of phone calls from hikers upset about the damage.

      She said they believe 100 trees were either cut down illegally or had the tops of them shaved off because the homeowner wanted to view Lake Maumelle, which was blocked by the trees.


      ozarksfirst.com/local-news/som…ontent=link&ICID=ref_fark

      I also learned from watching the video on the webpage that I've mispronounced "Ouachita" my entire life until now. :)
      On the other hand when I finished the east end of Ouachita Trail near there, there were probably over a hundred trees down and being cleared out due to tornado.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General