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The original was posted on /r/Ultralight by /u/Objective-Resort2325 on 2024-12-11 23:59:53+00:00.
Where: Ouachita Trail, Westbound from Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Arkansas..
When: 11/23 – 11/27 & 11/29 – 12/9
Distance: 179 miles, 29k ascent.
Conditions: Highs 60s, Low 26..
Lighterpack:
Useful Pre-Trip Information or Overview: This trip was broken into two parts: The first part from November 23 to November 27, would be done in conjunction with a Scout unit as part of a group trip. The second part, from November 29 – December 9 – was solo. Taken together the two parts would complete the entire 223 mile trail.
Shuttle was provided by Lori Carley at the Blue Bell Café in Story Arkansas. Resupply locations were the Blue Bell Café and Queen Wilheminia Lodge.
Photo Album:
The Report:
Part 1 of the trip did not go as planned. The Scout unit had difficulty organizing/executing on day 1, and on day 2 one of the youth members suffered an injury, which necessitated a reaction plan, resulting in cancelling the remainder of the plan for part 1. Part 1 targeted 62 miles of trail. Actual mileage completed: 18. I am planning a future trip to redo those 62 miles in order to finish the trail. For that purpose, I will skip discussion of that section and focus on part 2.
Thursday, November 28th: After turkey dinner, I drove from my home south of San Antonio to Story, Arkansas. I parked my car behind Blue Bell Café and cowboy camped on the ground. There was frost overnight.
Friday, November 29th: I had a carb-heavy breakfast at Blue Bell before Lori’s driver took me to the Route 7 trailhead. Started hiking at 8:15. Destination: Big Bear Shelter. Total distance: 11 miles. 1857’ ascent, 1753’ decent.
Saturday, November 30th: Hiked from Big Bear Shelter to Big Branch Shelter. 16.7 miles, 2659’ ascent, 2886’ decent.
Sunday, December 1st: Hiked from Big Branch Shelter to Story Creek Shelter. Picked up resupply at highway 27. 17.3 Miles, 3250’ ascent, 3203’ decent.
Monday, December 2: Hiked from Story Creek Shelter to Fiddler Creek Shelter. 15.7 miles. 2266’ ascent, 2348’ decent.
Tuesday, December 3: Hiked from Fiddler Creek Shelter to Turner Gap Shelter. 21 miles, 3882’ ascent, 3025’ decent.
Wednesday, December 4: Hiked from Turner Gap Shelter to tent site near MM64. 16 miles. 3380’ ascent, 3729’ decent.
Thursday, December 5: Hiked from tent site to Queen Wilheminia Lodge. 12.3 miles. 2529’ ascent, 2403’ decent. Resupply.
Friday, December 6: Hiked from Queen Wilheminia Lodge to Pashubbe Shelter. 17.5 miles. 2097’ ascent, 3423’ decent.
Saturday December 7: Hiked from Pashubbe Shelter to Holson Valley Shelter. 17.3 miles. 3468’ ascent, 2669’ decent.
Sunday December 8: Hiked from Holson Valley Shelter to Rock Garden Shelter. 7.4 miles. 1261’ ascent, 1830’ decent.
Monday December 9: Hiked from Rock Garden Shelter to Talamenia State Park. 9.4 miles. 1343’ ascent, 1733’ decent. Shuttle ride back to Story Arkansas, start drive back to San Antonio.
General Notes:
1) One of the challenges at this time of year is the number of hours of available sunlight. It was just barely light enough to be able to make out the trail at 6:45 am, and it was too dusk to continue at 5:15 PM. That gives you 10.5 hours of total daylight. I started walking every morning (except the first when I was dropped off) as soon as I possibly could. While I never hiked in the dark, I came close 3 times.
2) About half-way through the trip I started to develop soreness in my knees and shins that got progressively worse throughout the trip. I mitigated this through the use of Aleve and Tylenol, stacked. The knee pain is clearly arthritic in nature. I believe that the “forced marches” I repeatedly did contributed to the joint inflammation. I have never had this type of pain before, but I have never pushed myself day-after-day. I attribute the pain to a constant pounding on flat and downhill stretches as I pushed myself for speed. The "pounding" was my feet hitting the ground on a forced basis, rather than my natural gait. Later in the trip I learned this and stopped doing it (i.e. I slowed down), but by then, the damage was done.
3) I think that if either I had more sunlight to work with, or if the shelter spacing was closer together such that my days were 12-14 miles rather than 15-18, I would not have abused my body the way I did.
4) Overall I did not find the OT difficult. There are sections that are poorly marked, and some that are rocky/hazardous, but even the most extreme climb of the trail wasn’t very difficult. One thing that surprised me was how sore my calf muscles were the first few days. Because most of the trail was designed by the forest service, it is graded. You are not often climbing up steps like on other trails, rather, you are on long inclines and switchbacks. These stretched my calf muscles. I trained for the trail on a stair master. I should have trained on an inclined treadmill instead.
5) To say the trail is sparsely used is an understatement. I only met a total of 17 other hikers over the course of the entire trip, 6 of which were in one group, and 3 in another. Of the 8 nights I spent in a shelter, I only shared a shelter 1 night. I did not see any day hikers at all.
6) The shelters on the trail are in excellent shape and a fantastic design. The porch / workbench setup makes a very convenient place to cook meals. I especially like the wooden porch floor of the eastern most shelters as I could take my shoes off and walk about barefoot. I hung my pack from the ridge beam of the rafters each night which was sufficient for all rodents and other wildlife encountered. Though the area was technically bear country, given how sparsely used the trail is (i.e. bears aren’t used to human contact, and therefore don’t associate human contact with food), I wouldn’t hesitate to hang food from the shelter rafters again.
7) Following the trail was a challenge at times due to leaf coverage, poor trail blaze maintenance, and a poor choice of blaze paint color (dark blue) which lacked sufficient contrast with the dark bark of trees to stand out. (In some locations, “baby blue” paint was used, which had much better contrast.) I would not recommend night hiking on this trail given these factors. The risk of getting lost and/or hurt by tripping over leaf-hidden rocks/roots is just too high. I got off trail 3 times during daylight hours. All 3 times were due to inadequate blazing.
8) One of my complaints about the routing of the trail is that many times it will climb something, but slab around the top/not summit it. There are some exceptions to this, but in many cases I was left feeling cheated. Additionally, there are not many views/vantage points. There are some, but much beautiful scenery must be seen through the trees as you’re never afforded a spot to get a clear view of the landscape.
9) The shelters do not have outhouses/latrines/pit toilets. Given how amazing and well done the shelters are, I was really surprised at this. This is one of the top things (besides trail marking) that should be done to improve the trail.
10) Far Out is very accurate with respect to locations and notes. This is especially relevant/important with respect to water sources. It was a dry year, so knowing water availability was a chief concern for me.
11) At other times of year, I’m told that ticks are a serious concern. I had no issues given my temps. However, brambles/thorn bushes/vines were a constant annoyance. They frequently tripped me up as they were often difficult to see, and made a mess out of my legs/pants. And they made me itch.
12) Lori Carley at the Blue Bell Café is very welcoming and helpful. She made logistics of parking and shuttling a breeze.
13) I ended up a full 2-days ahead of schedule from my original plan. This was because I thought the trail was more difficult than it was. When I was done with hiking 11 miles on day 1 by 12:30 PM, I reassessed my itinerary. Originally I had 3 nights planned in a tent. That first night I rescheduled things to try to stay in shelters more, and tent less. This contributed to the longer mileages issue which resulted in the cumulative impact/body pain issue. If the shelters were closer together – like averaging every 6-7 miles instead of every 9-11 – I think my trip plan would have had lower average daily mileages and my body wouldn’t be so sore.
14) Because I ended up 2 full days ahead of schedule, I ended up with 2 extra days of food. I ate double meals some days, but I still ended up with extra food at the end. I had been trying to get 2500 calories per day, given the long mileages and ascents, yet only averaged 2210. I will have to revisit my calorie planning for future trips.
Gear Notes: I packed my fears somewhat on this trip bringing a couple of items that I ended up not using at all. Those fears were based on potential weather conditions with respect to low temperatures and rain. I brought an additional layer of Alpha Direct (top and bottom) that I never used. And I brought some additional rain gear items that I did not use. I have edited my Lighter Pack list to show only those things that I used/should have brought. In other words, when I go back to redo the eastern 60 miles of the trail (likely next year du...
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