Wildcat Mountain Trail - March 02, 2002

Hike Features:

State: Arkansas
County: Saline
Location: Off Highway 9, just off Winona Scenic Drive
Length of hike shown:  ~ 5 miles
Trail: All on national forest trail.
GPS: 516664.50E  3856035.19N 15S (UTM WGS84) (parking off forest road 179 (just off FR 132))

Reaching Trailhead:    There is a parking lot at the trailhead.     From Little Rock, we drove out Hwy 10 until Williams Junction, then south on Hwy 9.   After a few miles, on a hilltop, there is a dirt road on the right called "Winona Scenic Drive", which is a NFS maintained scenic route (and logging/forestry road).  The official name is FR132 according to Yahoo maps.  After a few miles (~ 3.3 miles), there is an intersection, where we turned left.   After just a few feet, on the left, there is a turn in for a small parking lot, with a trailhead sign announcing that we had arrived at Wildcat Mountain Trail.  

Description:    The NFS advertizes this as a bicycle trail.    They also post a nice map on the ONF website, which is quite inaccurate.   The trail route must have been planned by the NFS, maps made, and then the trail built...   because the trail does not follow the route shown on the map!   The topo map above is more-or-less accurate.   In any case, this loop is about a 5 mile walk and is almost entirely on old abandoned forest roads, except for a brief 0.1 mile stretch.   Just past the parking lot there is a trail sign-in post, which nobody ever uses as far as I can tell.  Often the registration box is occupied by wasps.   After leaving there, the trail rapidly drops down a hillside and turns south, continuing to descend through pine, blackjack oak and hickory forest until reaching a fork at about 0.4 miles.  There is (or was) a plastic trail sign at this intersection.  This area burned just a few years ago and it was very evident still.   At the fork, one can turn either way (its a loop), but I usually go to the left.

Taking the left fork (east), the trail descends gradually to a creek, where it turns south and follows the creek, crossing it several times.  After about 0.6 miles more, the trail reaches a sign and old road going to the right.  The trail curves left.  However, the old road to the right can be followed quite easily (in winter) and makes a shorter loop.  A GPS is probably a good idea for following the old road here.  Continuing left on the trail, it now follows another creek, then (from ~ 840 ft elevation) leaves the creek** to go uphill (to about 1100 ft elev.) and wind around a mountain just south of Wildcat.   This is where the old road abruptly ends and the trail narrows to a single-track footpath for the next ~ 0.1 mile, heading south.  The trail might be hard to follow in here.   The first time I hiked this trail I had problems following the trail here during summer.  The fires burned off all the blazes at one point, making it even harder to follow.        **The little cascade shown in the photos was near here.

At the end of the single-track footpath, the trail re-joins another old road and continues on, winding southwest, then west.  There are some views of the Ouachita mountians to the south and west here, before the trail meets an old road that takes the trail north again, back towards the trailhead.  This old road is quite open and nice, crossing the creek several times.   The low point of the trail is about 700 feet and the high point is about 1160 feet, with significant up/down along the way.   On many many hikes in this area, I have seen numerous turtles, snakes (mostly cottonmouth), deer, wild turkey, fascinating fungi and a variety of birds.    This is a great hike for exercise and for an interesting loop hike in forest.   There are few views.

This is not a hike for sweeping views, cliffs, big waterfalls, etc. It's quiet, peaceful and isolated, with a great deal of the beauty being 'macro'; in the fine details. Good for wildflowers in spring.

Cautions/comments:    This trail varies a lot with the seasons and has attractions year round.   Winter (leaf-off) is the best time to avoid bugs and see the few views there are.  Autumn is cool and the mixed deciduous/pine forest is beautiful in fall.   Spring is wet, with streams flowing everywhere and, at the right time, the wildflowers can be spectacular.  Summer is hot , dry and very (read VERY) buggy down in here.  When very hot, the forest here is very tranquil to the point of being eerily quiet and still.

On several hikes I have had to take out the mosquito net hat and long sleeves.   Also, there seems to be a lot of snakes down in here, especially along the creek banks or sunning on rocks near the creeks.    A GPS is also a good idea for the whole hike (for those who don't know the way) because there are many old roads and it is not obvious which way to go at intersections.  A topo and compass will also work well.   Finally, this trail seems rarely used by hikers or bikers.   I don't have real data but, after hiking this trail at least 20 times, I have never seen another hiker, never seen a mountain biker and only twice seen other people on the trail (both hunters).  So, if isolation is one's aim, this is a good hike for being alone for the entire 5 mile walk.   There are sometimes people camped at the trailhead parking lot.

More photos?   We have hiked here many times (lost count) and other descriptions of this hike have photos.

Hiker:   jc

Outside references/links:

Ouachita National Forest
Wildcat Mountain Trail
WCMT ONF map