Last weekend I was going to hike section one of the Ouachita Trail in Oklahoma. Long story short, work messed that up. I had to go to a job 6 hours away with no notice. I hadn't packed a single thing. It was very aggravating because I had it on a list of hikes to do for quite some time now.
When I got home Thursday my wife said I already had the days off, go somewhere. Eagle Rock Loop came to mind, it's not a long drive and I'd hiked it twice before. This would be my first solo hike and the last time I had a bum knee on the second day. I really wanted another chance to do it again.
I started packing up and was getting excited. It's normally a 3 day hike and that's how I packed. After I had everything but water in the pack it weighed 16.04 lbs, by far the lightest ever.
I drove to Little Missouri falls TH, I was on the trail before 10 walking CW. I was a little worried about the first river crossing, if it's a easy rock hop then the rest of the trail would be easy crossings. It was very low, the two other times I'd hike ERL it was almost waist deep. I was able to rock hop all crossings until I got to Winding Stairs area, I changed into my creek crossing shoes (Crics=fake Crocs) for the two crossings on both sides of WS. I set up camp about a mile after the second crossing. For the most part I knew I had all the crossings behind me that needed creek shoes. With 12 + miles behind me and 6 good climbs and 16 + miles to go. I kept thinking how I did all the easy stuff on the first day.
I had camp set up, ate my dinner and and was in bed by 6. I laid in my hammock looking around thinking I wouldn't be able to fall asleep, then I woke up to see a full moon through the cuben fiber tarp. Pretty sweet!
I was on the trail by 8, I had about 3 miles before the first climb which seemed like a good way to start. I hiked up/down the first couple Mts pretty easily, at the bottom of Brush Heap Mt just before the parking lot I came up on a group hanging out. After talking to them they told me that one of the guys in the group had slipped crossing a creek and twisted his knee badly. They caught a ride with some hunters back to their car.
I got back to hiking and noticed my hat was missing, I've had that hat for over a decade, I went back to look for it but it was gone. I guess I dropped it helping out and they thought it was one of theirs. Oh well, back to it. After the next two climbs I was about out of water so I decided to reload. I figured I'd sleep at the base of the next Mt and couldn't recall if there was water. Right before leaving the water source a group came up and told me they crossed the last two Mts in less then a hour. I thought I'd like to get all the climbs behind me and have a easy 4 mile hike to the truck on Sunday.
After I got to the bottom of the last Mt it was 3:45. I was feeling pretty tired so I set on a log with my pack on. It felt great to set down, that was the first time all day. I read a article from "Section Hiker" on FB that said to get more miles out of a day don't stop for lunch, eat things you don't have to prepare. It definitely works.
While setting there I started thinking about a hot shower and being at home with my family. I think if I hadn't been hiking solo I wouldn't have been thinking about those things, anyway. It came to me to flip my hiking pole and if it was pointing to the trail then get up and go. It was 4 miles and I had @ 2 hours before dark. The pole pointed straight to the trail so away I go. I got to the truck @ 5:30. I felt pretty good with myself, the last time I hiked ERL my hiking buddy's didn't think I was going to make it out of day two.
I saw a total of 58 other hikers, 3 dogs, 2 deer, a chipmunk and more granddaddy long legs then anyone could ever count. I tried to talk to everyone I passed, seemed like everyone was going CCW. Around 80% of the ppl I talked to were from Texas. I finally ask one guy if there was a billboard in Texas advertising for ERL. The trail was in great shape for the most part, someone had been in the section from cr25 to cr106 cleaning dead trees and painting new blaze. It was great to get home but I kind of felt guilty not spending the third day on the trail. Sorry for so much talk, hope you enjoy the pictures.
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Originally Posted by Stogie Bum
when we finally get a trip together we will have to write our names on ours to not get them confused
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