Day Three of the Ouachita Trail

The ground was rushing toward my face at an alarming speed. I tried to roll to my right to avoid smashing my face and was successful, but my shoulder and one rib bore the brunt of my fall. I lay there a moment, face down on the road I had been walking on seconds before. Quick mental survey: My knee was scuffed, my left palm was a bit bruised, my right collarbone was sore, and a rib on the right was complaining, but I’m not short of breath. My head was untouched and intact.

I rolled over and tried to sit up, but couldn’t. Oh yeah, I’ve got 23 lbs of pack and an extra 10lbs of water strapped to my back. I disengaged from the pack and sat up. Everything moved normally, so I stood up, no problems. My right shoulder/collarbone and that rib were definitely bruised, if not worse, but I seemed pretty functional. I shouldered my pack and continued my long climb up OK Highway 1.

The temperature was about 42, with a steady 8 mph north wind it felt like it was 38. I was hiking up Route 1 toward the ridge 1,300 feet above. The sky’s were sullen and rain was forecast to start in the late afternoon. Apparently it was anxious to get going, because it started early at about 10. Just a casual drizzle to begin with.

As I trudged up the road I decided I would hitch up this hill if the opportunity presented itself. But the only vehicle that passed me in the four and a half hours I was ascending, came by just as I topped out. Well, at least traffic was not a problem.

A few minutes later the weather learned that I was up on the ridge so it turned up the precip to a light rain. This got me looking for a place to camp along the road. I’d had some vague hopes of making it to the State Line Shelter today, but that was still 8 miles down the road. It looked like I’d be sleeping in Oklahoma again tonight.

After about 2 miles of walking the ridge road I spotted a scenic turn out with a few pines that looked promising. This was good because the weather had turned on the hose and it started full on raining. I dropped over to the south side of the ridge to get out of the wind and set my hammock up on a fairly serious slope. The kind of slope that if your stuffed sleeping bag got away from you it would be rolling several hundred feet down the mountain.

I got my tarp up first and then was able to get my gear under it as the heavens opened. I got my hammock deployed quickly and was soon enjoying a late lunch sitting in it, while the rain ran off my tarp. Then, like someone had flipped a switch, the ridge was enveloped in fog. The temp had dropped with the heavy rain and the dew point was reached.

So here I sit, in my hammock, on top of the ridge, in the fog and the rain and the cold. I am relatively dry, pleasantly warm as the rain chaotically taps on my tarp. I got about as far as I had planned. Which is good. Unfortunately I injured my shoulder and rib. Which is not so good, but it will sort itself out in the next day or two. Adventure!

Oh! And I am definitely glad I didn’t take a try at fording the Kaimichi River today. Avoiding it was a good call!

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails …