SUNDAY APRIL 8TH
After a great Easter with my family, I left at 5p for the Ouasita Mountains to hike the Eagle Rock Loop. Chris and I from Jacob's Ladder Camps when to check out the area. We plan to go back to do a guided trip with some guys sometime soon. Eagle Rock is the longest loop-trail in the state of Arkansas. The trail lists at 26.8 miles. We did some 30 miles on our trip. I broke in all my new gear. We faced all kinds of weather and had a great hike! We arrived at the Albert Pike Recreational Area about midnight. Gettin' there to the National Park is a challenge in the dark. It is about 15 miles of single lane gravel road from HWY 8 to the park. A couple of racoons watched as we set up camp. Back-Packer's Pantry is my new friend.That night we suffered thru on some Saffron Rice and Paella and a cup of hot tea. My girls and I watch Man vs. Wild all the time. They thought I was going to be looking for bugs and eating raw fish. The hardest part of our gourmet meals was waiting the 2.5 minutes on our Jet-Boils to heat the water.
MONDAY APRIL 9TH
Monday morning we hit the trailhead and hiked 2.8 miles up to Winding Stairs and Viles Branch Trail almost to Eagle Rock Vista before we made our first camp. One mile into the trip the boa system in my shoe broke. Chris got line out of his pack and we "re-engineered" my shoe. We did alittle over four miles our first day. We found a great spot on the Little Missouri River. We stopped for two hours to fly-fish and have some lunch. That night we dinned on Peanut Thai Curry, coffee, and Tiramisu. Chris dehydrated some great fruit and beef jerky for the trip.
Lunch Time!
Little Missouri River
Camp on the Viles Branch Trail
TUESDAY APRIL 1OTH
Tuesday was BRUTAL. It rained all day. We were soaked. Our packs were heavy. We crossed three mountain ridges and ascended over 1000 feet each time. There were several steep climbs, but we also saw two lush green meadows right before we made camp. We had planned to do about 8 miles a day so that we could have an easy day on Thursday and get in some more fishing before we headed home. At the end of the day we had done 13 miles and were at the end of the Athens-Big Fork Trail. What a day! We were whipped! Everything we had on was soaked as well as everything around us. A half-hour later, Chris had gotten a fire going and tarp up between the tents. Another gourmet meal, hot tea and a wolf howling across the ridge. We hung our food bags away from camp when the rains started up again. We got in our tents and the thunder-storms began. Felt more like a monsoon! It rained solid from 10p to 2a with lighting and thunder cracking all around us above the ridge. Our tents light up and the hair on the back of our necks stood up! The marble sized hail began soon after. When we woke up the next morning, tents still standing, there was hail covering the ground. What a night! It was the worst storm I had ever experienced. It is great having good gear!
Camp near Spirit Rock Vista
WEDNESDAY APRIL 11TH
Wednesday started with the sun shining. It took til 11:00am for our clothes and gear to dry out.
Come On SunShine!
We did another 10 miles this day, but the weather was georgous. Along the hike, the scenery and wildlife was breath-taking. Owls, Squirrels, Egrits, Gray Fox, Wolf, Racoon, Hawks. We saw fresh bear tracks and skat, but saw no bears. Also didn't see people for three days. So much of the area reminded me of parts of Northern New Mexico or Colorado.
Spirit Rock Vista along Athens-Big Fork Trail
Welcome to the ROCK!
Thought they told me this gear was "Ultra-Light"???
THURSDAY APRIL 12TH
Thursday was the easiest part of our trip. It was mostly flat and follow the Little Missouri River. If you make this hike, make sure you bring your Chacos. I would not have made it without them. We crossed rivers and streams atleast three dozen times in water ranging from anke deep to almost waist deep. We hiked in them most of Thursday.
Crossing Little Missouri River
Little Missouri Falls is an amazing site, especially after the big rains that we had. The last 8 miles of the trip levels out and is realitively flat and very scenic all the way back to Albert Pike. We then discovered the final two miles back to the truck were all up hill.
Little Missouri Trail
Two More Miles to Albert Pike....Almost There!
Note to self, park on the North end of Albert Pike to begin your hike. Nothing like finishing strong with two miles of up hill at the end of a 30 mile hike.
Little Missouri Falls
We did the trip in 3.5 days. Don't think that you could do it in much less time. If you like fish or want to spend some relaxing time after you set up camp, 5 days on the trail would give you more time to fish on the front and back end of the trip. We banged it out and also fought some weather, but had a fabulous time. We made it off the trail by 1:45p. Showed, on the road by 2:00p. Ate the best Subway Sandwich that I have ever had in Mena, and home seeing my wife and 3 beautiful girls by 8:45pm!
We are considering taking a few guys in June to hike in the Sangre de Christos along the Rainbow Trail. We have a tenative date set for June 25-July 1. Let me know if this might be of interest. We may have a couple of remaining spots available.
I have taken alot of day hikes with friends and from my time taking students to Colorado on Young Life trips. Nothing compares to having 4-5 days way in the mountains or backwoods. It was an amazing trip. We took the road less traveled! One which we plan to take again with guys from the ranch or JL Camps. Would love for you to join us!
Back at the Truck 3.5 days later
