Dividing this 27 mile trip into equal thirds (9 miles/day) sort of works, as far as campsites go.
Oak Mountain Shelter is located at roughly mile 167.5, which is 7 miles in, leaving you 20 miles to complete the trip on days 2 and 3.
There is a saddle just before 168.8 which gets you 1.4 miles further along, but its right next to the forest road and there's no water that I'm aware of. If you made it all the way to Green Thumb Spring, you'd be 10 miles in on the first day, making day 2 a bit easier.
There is a pond around mile 178.9, which is right on the trail (photo here), but you could bushwhack a bit and find some flat areas not far away. I can provide more details if you're interested.
That would leave about 8.5 miles on the third day.
Brown Creek Shelter is located at mile 182.5 (more or less) and is nice, but that's 22 miles from where you're starting and would require you to hike 11 miles/day for the first 2 days. Not really a good option.
There is a flat area right on the trail under Flatside Pinnacle but it's not a campsite and camping there is discouraged for a lot of reasons. You might be able to bushwhack round in the area of Flatside and find something... I don't have any specific suggestions there. As I mentioned before, at about mile 180, where the trail crosses a forest road, there's a car camping area and you might find other flat places for camping nearby. However, there is no water in that area that I'm aware of.
It would be great to hear what your final plans are and then hear how it works out. If you want to send a trip report and/or pictures, I'll post them on this site. -jc
We're starting at Hwy 7 near Hunts Loop and ending at FR#152 near Lake Sylvia. It's about 27 miles and we're planning to take three days for the trip. I was thinking the spring at mile 170.6 might be a good campsite for the first night. Crystal Prong is only about seven miles from there though and I'd like to get further down the trail on the second day. I was hoping Flatside Pinnacle might have some good spots. I figured we'd replenish our water supply at Crystal Prong and carry it up to the top.
Hi... I have heard that too, for a long time. I think Tim Ernst's Ouachita Trail Guide mentions that camping is discouraged at Crystal Prong Creek crossing due to past overuse. That area does have a large camping/picnic area just south of the trail on the west side of the creek that is nearly devoid of undergrowth and looks like it was beaten down by heavy use in the past.
Between hwy 7 and hwy 9 there are three shelters, Oak Mountain, Brown Creek and Chinquapin. The closest to Flatside Pinnacle is Brown Creek Shelter at around mile 182. As far as camping areas, there are a couple of nice camping areas near Moccasin Springs falls (mile 175). I could give you details on where these are. There are some flat areas on a ridgetop between 175 and 176 but no water up there. Miles 176-177 are quite rocky.
At Crystal Prong Crossing, there is an old abandoned road heading north along the west side of the creek. Ive bushwhacked in there and noted some flat areas that could be OK campsites (and not overused). You might not want to camp near the creek if rain is possible.
Between Crystal Prong and Flatside the trail heads up several narrow valleys that don't have many flat areas. After passing the Flatside spur trail, at around mile 180, the OT crosses another forest road and passes through a saddle where there is a car camping area. Following that, it follows a rocky ridgeline for the next 2 miles until reaching Brown Creek Shelter. The ridgetop is quite broad in places and no doubt you could find some suitable campsites in there, but its only a bit more distance to go on to the shelter.
Brown Creek Shelter (around mile 182) is in a large flat ridgetop area with ample space to pitch tents, but no immediate water supply. During wet times, there is a small stream about 0.1-0.2 miles past the shelter where water might be obtained.
I've heard several folks say that camping is discouraged near Crystal Prong Creek. Are there any potential campsites at Flatside Pinnacle? (mile marker 179.4) I'm planning a trip along section eight next month and am trying to figure out where to stop overnight. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks for the positive comments about the photos. I have many more and also photos of other canoe trips on the Little Maumelle that I will post later. The place is incredible and taking great photos in a place like this is quite easy because of the many opportunities.
This is a truly incredible place. It must be protected. It is indeed a rarity for such a wild place to be within the city limits of a metropolitan area!
I am planning a 2 week hike in October/November. Can anyone give me some information regarding this trail? I am looking for any 'regional' information: good places to camp, water sources, resupply options, etc. I hiked the Appalachian Trail(thru hike in 02) and miss long distance hiking. I live near Houston, Texas and found this trail while on a road trip last fall. It is so beautiful!!
You're right! The Ouachita Trail is not hiked much in summer. Between heat, humidity, spiders, ticks, mosquitoes, etc... most people go elsewhere or don't hike in summer. I think its quite unique in late summer, when the heat is maximum... the whole 'feel' of the forest changes and its worth experiencing (taking appropriate precautions in such heat).
The section you hiked, from Hwy 10 to Hwy 300 is fairly well-maintained. Some of it is used (abused) by ATV's but otherwise its easy to follow and the trail is in good shape. In the last few years a new volunteer organization has been created, called FoOT (Friends of the Ouachita Trail), which is doing a great job of keeping the trail in good shape. Also, thanks for the positive comments about the site. Good hiking! - jc
I often see snakes while hiking on-trail in the Ouachita's... mostly non-poisonous black snakes (Eastern racers or coachwhips). In the last eight years I've only seen two poisonous snakes actually in the middle of trail, one copperhead and one pigmy rattlesnake. While hiking off trail in summer, you can see plenty of cottonmouth and copperheads.
I just saw now your answers, sorry, kind of crazy time around here :) Glad you saw the problem, on my browser is still present (Firefox 2.0.0.12). The "refresh database" operation I guess is something on server side, but so far seems not having effects. I still see all the captions below the pictures. Just to give you more data, I tried to load the page with the "IE tab" (I have the IE tab add on for Firefox) and the caption is showing up ok. Could be maybe some setting optimized for IE (bleah !) :)
Other than that, I really like the new site look and the new photo gallery.
I see what you mean. Sometimes, in Zenphoto, the caption is "under" the photo and may be unreadable. I fixed it with a "refresh database", but its unpredictable when it might happen again. I'll put this on my list of things to fix.
I'm not sure what you're referring to. In the present version of Zenphoto, with the theme I'm using, comments don't show up at all.
Each picture has a caption and it appears to the right of the photo. Are you talking about the captions or the comments?
The reason I'm asking is that sometimes the Zenphoto theme puts the caption in the wrong place. If this is happening I need to know about it. On my browsers, it looks fine.
Hi Sid, The Flatside trailhead sign-in (on the east end near Flatside Pinnacle) is just about 100 feet on the trail west of the parking area. You know, the trail drops down there from the parking area with steps, turns sharply right and goes along the bottom of the hill under the parking area. The sign-in post is right down there. Concerning the trail east of there, I'm not sure. I may have more info later. -jc
Hey, John. FoOT has agreed to collect the cards at the trailheads and I take care of HWY 9, and Brown Creek. I thought that Flatside would have one but did not see it from the road. So now I see one in your pictures. How far west from the Flatside parking lot is it? Do you know of any more east of that spot? Is there one near Lake Sylvia? Thanks, Sid
I am not aware of any public transportation on the Western end of the Ouachita Trail. I'll post this question at the top of this site and also e-mail some FoOT folks.
-jc
I have a question I hope someone can answer for me,
I would like to thru hike the trail and would
like to know if there is any public trans to the
western end of the trail within say a days walk?
I know its only a day from Little Rock to the eastern
end but I think the closest I have been able to find
on the western end is McAlester and thats 50 miles about 3 days
walk. any info would be greatly appreciated Thanks Mother Goose
You're right, there were quite a few medium-sized trees down and quite a bit of deadfall. While hiking, we cleaned up some of it. I don't think I submitted a report from that hike. Good point... I should have. The worst of it is right down by Crystal Prong Creek near the crossing. -jc
Did you send in info to FoOT for the problems at Crystal Prong in your 10-14 trip? Some of the pictures show lots of overgrowth and I see this on the latest trail condition report. Note the dates. 173.5 177.2 Grindstone Gap Spur to Crystal Prong Creek Ouachita Mountain Hikers 11/07 Work Report 11/8/2007 trees down around Crystal Prong Creek 177.2 179.2 Crystal Prong Creek to FR 94 2.0 Ouachita Mountain Hikers 2/07 Work Report 2/15/2007
I agree that the FOoT website is the only source of info about Ouachita Trail conditions. However, it is only as up-to-date as trail reports are.
It looks like some hikers report trail conditions, but most of them are from work reports and there isn't much trail work from spring to fall in many areas. I just got out on my section last weekend and was shocked to find out how much it had overgrown in July-August. The heavy summer overgrowth down by the Maumelle River is incredible.
It would be nice to have a mechanism for hikers' comments to be posted instead of just the "red-yellow-green" scheme. -jc
Ouachita Trail info for hikers? Besides the Forest Service basic info on the web, the FoOT website is the only comprehensive one for the OT. http://www.friendsot.org/ That site's best feature for hikers is the Trail Status area that shows latest reports of trail conditions over the entire trail.
I am not aware of a GPS track of the Ouachita Trail for download. It would be a good project. An alternative to a single person mapping it would be a website where hikers could submit tracks of various parts of the OT. This could allow building up a composite of the whole thing.
I've never been on the western end of the OT, but I've heard many comments about it being in worse shape than the eastern half. -jc
Sounds like a great trip!
Dividing this 27 mile trip into equal thirds (9 miles/day) sort of works, as far as campsites go.
Brown Creek Shelter is located at mile 182.5 (more or less) and is nice, but that's 22 miles from where you're starting and would require you to hike 11 miles/day for the first 2 days. Not really a good option.
There is a flat area right on the trail under Flatside Pinnacle but it's not a campsite and camping there is discouraged for a lot of reasons. You might be able to bushwhack round in the area of Flatside and find something... I don't have any specific suggestions there. As I mentioned before, at about mile 180, where the trail crosses a forest road, there's a car camping area and you might find other flat places for camping nearby. However, there is no water in that area that I'm aware of.
It would be great to hear what your final plans are and then hear how it works out. If you want to send a trip report and/or pictures, I'll post them on this site. -jc
We're starting at Hwy 7 near Hunts Loop and ending at FR#152 near Lake Sylvia. It's about 27 miles and we're planning to take three days for the trip. I was thinking the spring at mile 170.6 might be a good campsite for the first night. Crystal Prong is only about seven miles from there though and I'd like to get further down the trail on the second day. I was hoping Flatside Pinnacle might have some good spots. I figured we'd replenish our water supply at Crystal Prong and carry it up to the top.
Thanks for the information.
Hi... I have heard that too, for a long time. I think Tim Ernst's Ouachita Trail Guide mentions that camping is discouraged at Crystal Prong Creek crossing due to past overuse. That area does have a large camping/picnic area just south of the trail on the west side of the creek that is nearly devoid of undergrowth and looks like it was beaten down by heavy use in the past.
Between hwy 7 and hwy 9 there are three shelters, Oak Mountain, Brown Creek and Chinquapin. The closest to Flatside Pinnacle is Brown Creek Shelter at around mile 182. As far as camping areas, there are a couple of nice camping areas near Moccasin Springs falls (mile 175). I could give you details on where these are. There are some flat areas on a ridgetop between 175 and 176 but no water up there. Miles 176-177 are quite rocky.
At Crystal Prong Crossing, there is an old abandoned road heading north along the west side of the creek. Ive bushwhacked in there and noted some flat areas that could be OK campsites (and not overused). You might not want to camp near the creek if rain is possible.
Between Crystal Prong and Flatside the trail heads up several narrow valleys that don't have many flat areas. After passing the Flatside spur trail, at around mile 180, the OT crosses another forest road and passes through a saddle where there is a car camping area. Following that, it follows a rocky ridgeline for the next 2 miles until reaching Brown Creek Shelter. The ridgetop is quite broad in places and no doubt you could find some suitable campsites in there, but its only a bit more distance to go on to the shelter.
Brown Creek Shelter (around mile 182) is in a large flat ridgetop area with ample space to pitch tents, but no immediate water supply. During wet times, there is a small stream about 0.1-0.2 miles past the shelter where water might be obtained.
Where are you starting/ending?
I've heard several folks say that camping is discouraged near Crystal Prong Creek. Are there any potential campsites at Flatside Pinnacle? (mile marker 179.4) I'm planning a trip along section eight next month and am trying to figure out where to stop overnight. Any advice would be appreciated.
WOW !
Thanks John, is nice finally to see the famous bridge washed away !
I was curious to see "how it was" back then.
C'ya
STeve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the positive comments about the photos. I have many more and also photos of other canoe trips on the Little Maumelle that I will post later. The place is incredible and taking great photos in a place like this is quite easy because of the many opportunities.
This is a truly incredible place. It must be protected. It is indeed a rarity for such a wild place to be within the city limits of a metropolitan area!
Beautiful !
Beautiful the place, beautiful the pictures (as usual).
See reply in forum... http://ouachita.dismalhiker.org/node/389
I am planning a 2 week hike in October/November. Can anyone give me some information regarding this trail? I am looking for any 'regional' information: good places to camp, water sources, resupply options, etc. I hiked the Appalachian Trail(thru hike in 02) and miss long distance hiking. I live near Houston, Texas and found this trail while on a road trip last fall. It is so beautiful!!
You're right! The Ouachita Trail is not hiked much in summer. Between heat, humidity, spiders, ticks, mosquitoes, etc... most people go elsewhere or don't hike in summer. I think its quite unique in late summer, when the heat is maximum... the whole 'feel' of the forest changes and its worth experiencing (taking appropriate precautions in such heat).
The section you hiked, from Hwy 10 to Hwy 300 is fairly well-maintained. Some of it is used (abused) by ATV's but otherwise its easy to follow and the trail is in good shape. In the last few years a new volunteer organization has been created, called FoOT (Friends of the Ouachita Trail), which is doing a great job of keeping the trail in good shape. Also, thanks for the positive comments about the site. Good hiking! - jc
I often see snakes while hiking on-trail in the Ouachita's... mostly non-poisonous black snakes (Eastern racers or coachwhips). In the last eight years I've only seen two poisonous snakes actually in the middle of trail, one copperhead and one pigmy rattlesnake. While hiking off trail in summer, you can see plenty of cottonmouth and copperheads.
Thanks for pointing out this article. -jc
I saw this cool report on the news about hiking and snakes, so I wanted to pass it along.
www.fox16.com/news/local/story.aspx
Check it out!
I just found shuttle information on this site: http://www.ouachitamaps.com/Shuttles.html
-jc
Hi John
I just saw now your answers, sorry, kind of crazy time around here :)
Glad you saw the problem, on my browser is still present (Firefox 2.0.0.12).
The "refresh database" operation I guess is something on server side, but so far seems not having effects.
I still see all the captions below the pictures.
Just to give you more data, I tried to load the page with the "IE tab" (I have the IE tab add on for Firefox) and the caption is showing up ok.
Could be maybe some setting optimized for IE (bleah !) :)
Other than that, I really like the new site look and the new photo gallery.
C'ya
Steve
Steve,
I see what you mean. Sometimes, in Zenphoto, the caption is "under" the photo and may be unreadable. I fixed it with a "refresh database", but its unpredictable when it might happen again. I'll put this on my list of things to fix.
Thanks,
jc
Hi Steve,
I'm not sure what you're referring to. In the present version of Zenphoto, with the theme I'm using, comments don't show up at all.
Each picture has a caption and it appears to the right of the photo. Are you talking about the captions or the comments?
The reason I'm asking is that sometimes the Zenphoto theme puts the caption in the wrong place. If this is happening I need to know about it. On my browsers, it looks fine.
Thanks for your help,
jc
Hi Sid, The Flatside trailhead sign-in (on the east end near Flatside Pinnacle) is just about 100 feet on the trail west of the parking area. You know, the trail drops down there from the parking area with steps, turns sharply right and goes along the bottom of the hill under the parking area. The sign-in post is right down there. Concerning the trail east of there, I'm not sure. I may have more info later. -jc
Hey, John. FoOT has agreed to collect the cards at the trailheads and I take care of HWY 9, and Brown Creek. I thought that Flatside would have one but did not see it from the road. So now I see one in your pictures. How far west from the Flatside parking lot is it? Do you know of any more east of that spot? Is there one near Lake Sylvia? Thanks, Sid
I have a question I hope someone can answer for me,
I would like to thru hike the trail and would
like to know if there is any public trans to the
western end of the trail within say a days walk?
I know its only a day from Little Rock to the eastern
end but I think the closest I have been able to find
on the western end is McAlester and thats 50 miles about 3 days
walk. any info would be greatly appreciated Thanks Mother Goose
You're right, there were quite a few medium-sized trees down and quite a bit of deadfall. While hiking, we cleaned up some of it. I don't think I submitted a report from that hike. Good point... I should have. The worst of it is right down by Crystal Prong Creek near the crossing. -jc
Did you send in info to FoOT for the problems at Crystal Prong in your 10-14 trip? Some of the pictures show lots of overgrowth and I see this on the latest trail condition report. Note the dates. 173.5 177.2 Grindstone Gap Spur to Crystal Prong Creek Ouachita Mountain Hikers 11/07 Work Report 11/8/2007 trees down around Crystal Prong Creek 177.2 179.2 Crystal Prong Creek to FR 94 2.0 Ouachita Mountain Hikers 2/07 Work Report 2/15/2007
Sid,
I agree that the FOoT website is the only source of info about Ouachita Trail conditions. However, it is only as up-to-date as trail reports are.
It looks like some hikers report trail conditions, but most of them are from work reports and there isn't much trail work from spring to fall in many areas. I just got out on my section last weekend and was shocked to find out how much it had overgrown in July-August. The heavy summer overgrowth down by the Maumelle River is incredible.
It would be nice to have a mechanism for hikers' comments to be posted instead of just the "red-yellow-green" scheme. -jc
Ouachita Trail info for hikers? Besides the Forest Service basic info on the web, the FoOT website is the only comprehensive one for the OT. http://www.friendsot.org/ That site's best feature for hikers is the Trail Status area that shows latest reports of trail conditions over the entire trail.
I am not aware of a GPS track of the Ouachita Trail for download. It would be a good project. An alternative to a single person mapping it would be a website where hikers could submit tracks of various parts of the OT. This could allow building up a composite of the whole thing.
I've never been on the western end of the OT, but I've heard many comments about it being in worse shape than the eastern half. -jc