Ouachita Trail/Ouachita National Forest

[lynn523]

Now that I'm living in north central Texas instead of Northern Virginia, I find myself longing for mountains with deciduous forests. Last weekend we discovered that the western end of Ouachita National Forest and the Ouachita Trail were within a 5-6 hour drive, and offered the mountains, fall foliage, and deciduous forests I've been craving. We hopped in the car Friday afternoon, had a wonderful weekend up there, and are looking forward to exploring it a bit more. I'm wondering if anyone else out there on WB has experience with the area and can recommend any particularly good locations to explore. Has anyone hiked the whole trail? (It's about the same length as the John Muir Trail.)

[Lyte-w8-hyker]

Now that I'm living in north central Texas instead of Northern Virginia, I find myself longing for mountains with deciduous forests. Last weekend we discovered that the eastern end of Ouachita National Forest and the Ouachita Trail were within a 5-6 hour drive, and offered the mountains, fall foliage, and deciduous forests I've been craving. We hopped in the car Friday afternoon, had a wonderful weekend up there, and are looking forward to exploring it a bit more. I'm wondering if anyone else out there on WB has experience with the area and can recommend any particularly good locations to explore. Has anyone hiked the whole trail? (It's about the same length as the John Muir Trail.)


I used to live in Shreveport and wet hiking there all the one in the fall and spring. Check out te eagle rock loop and the buckeye trail. Both are amazing. Www.ouachitamaps.com is a good source of info. Also the buffalo river trail is very cool.

[Lyte-w8-hyker]

Damn auto spell on my Iphone lol

[MuddyWaters]

I havent been on the OT yet. Just OHT and ERL, etc.

Aside from the issues of shuttling, what makes OT unnatractive is a lack of water much of the year. If you want to thru hike it, you have to cache water, and food.


The hiking flavor is different from the AT, more solitary, way less people.

For fun do the ERL, the hills arent big, 400-700', but the ABF trail is harder than anything on the AT south of NH, 6 very steep climbs in 6 miles, crossing creeks in between. The ERL has river fords where you MUST know the water level and watch weather ahead of time if you expect to get across, or not get stranded for days, etc. And your feet will probably stay wet for all 28 miles,crossing water ~30+ times anyway. Nice weekend hike, although it shows signs of heavy use.

[PAMBO]

there is a hiking website for the Ouchitas backpackingarkansas.com is a very useful site that has alot of good info for the trail. also check out FOOT friends of the Ouchita trail website they are building new shelters on the trail Spring is a good time to hike it lots of water and the ticks not bad yet.

[MuddyWaters]

Ouachita Trail Water Issues
WARNING.....Water supply is a serious concern on the Ouachita Trail.
Quoting from Tim Ernst's Ouachita Trail Guide (3rd Edition) about water, "This is a serious subject on the OT. The problem on much of the trail is that there just simply isn't any. ... Even during the wet season, since a lot of the OT is high up on the ridgetops, you will not find water for miles at a time."

Here are some things to consider when you are developing your water resupply plan.

1) Because the water supply on a trail varies with season and weather, you CANNOT assume the water locations marked in my GPS data will actually have water. You also cannot assume all the sources considered reliable in the Guidebook will have water. My trek was during the "wet season", and I could not get water at either Tan-A-Hill or Green Thumb Springs.

2) Section 4 (mile 68.1 to mile 94.5) is a very long and dry section. If you cannot get water at either Tan-A-Hill Spring or Lori Creek, you are facing a 26+ mile dry section. It takes a lot of water to cover 26 miles, especially when the temperatures are warm/hot. During my trip, I was able to get water at Lori Creek, which is no longer on the trail and required a off-trail side hike. Still, I consumed almost all my 7+ liter water supply covering the 20 miles from Lori Creek to Big Brushy Creek.

3) There are several other sections of the Ouachita Trail where the reliable water sources can be 10 to 15 miles apart.

4) My personal water resupply strategy is two fold. First, if my next water source is known to be reliable (such as a large named creek, a river, or I have received accurate water supply information from others), I carry enough water to get to that known source. Otherwise, I'm not absolutely sure there is water at the next source and I carry enough water to get to the second next water source (able to skip next source), or back to the previous (and therefore known) water source from the next source (can go out and back). If water is not found at my next source, I continue only if I know for sure the second next source will have water, else I turn around and replan the trek.

5) On the Ouachita Trail, water issue is a serious concern, but not a "show stopper". When it is dry, you should not hike the dry sections. When it is wet and the small streams are flowing, and with proper planning, discipline, and water carrying capacity, you can hike the entire trail.

[lynn523]

MW, Pambo, and Lite-w8-hyker: Thanks for the great feedback. We'll definitely check out the sources you suggested and we're looking forward to exploring the Eagle Rock loop and the Buckeye Trail. MW, what is the ABF trail, and is the "ERL" the Eagle Rock loop or is there another trail I should be checking out?

I really appreciate the information about water. We figured there wouldn't be much if any in the summer, but we weren't very sure about other times of the year.

BTW, I accidentally referred to our hiking the eastern end of the OT in my original post, but I really meant the western end in Oklahoma...Another of my "blonde moments" :confused:

[MuddyWaters]

The Eagle Rock Loop is composed of 3 separate trails that are hiked to make a loop.

The Viles Branch trail, which is a horse trail
The Little Missouri trail, which largely follows the Little Missouri river, a US Wild and Scenic river- also dangerous-22 people died in middle of the night flash flood at Albert Pike campground there a couple yrs ago, a rainstorm in mountains 5 miles away, brought the river up about 23 ft in minutes.

The Athens-Big Fork (ABF) which was an old postal route, and is the hardest part.


Due to steep terrrain, creeks that are ankle deep normally, can become chest deep after rain, and dry up completely in summer/fall.

24771

24772

[lynn523]

Thanks, MW. That's a really sad story about the flash flood along the Little Missouri Trail. Sounds like it would a beautiful area and fun hike with a little planning.

[lynn523]

Thanks, MW. That's a really sad story about the flash flood along the Little Missouri Trail. Sounds like it would a beautiful area and fun hike with a little planning.

[Cookerhiker]

I did a WB search for you - results here: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/search.php?searchid=4796500

This is from the "Other Trails" forum. You may want to ask the mods to move this thread from "General" to "Other Trails."

Hope you find some good info.

[The Solemates]

we've done parts of the ouachita. the eagle rock loop is nice. here's one of those trips: http://www.amongnature.blogspot.com/2012/04/eagle-rock-loop-ar.html