Day Eleven of the Ouachita Trail

Lori swung by the motel to pick me up at 7AM. A few minutes later we were pulling into her place, the Bluebell Cafe. The cook already had my breakfast ready, as I had left the order the night before. Two eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, and a steaming mug of coffee. I finished it off with some powdered sugar donuts. I paid Lori and we loaded back into her truck and were headed up to the trailhead to drop me off. Ten minutes later I was shouldering my pack and waving goodbye to an amazingly generous woman. Lori refuses to take any money for the dozens of hikers she transports around Story.

Early on I entered a very young pine forest, a kind of crowded mess of forest with a corridor cut through it. I was just coming out of the other side when I encountered Morning Joe going the other way. An accomplished thru-hiker from Dallas, he has done the PCT and is quite fond of the Ouachita Trail. In fact, he holds the record for the fastest known time to thru-hike the OT: 4 days and 6 hours to go 223 miles. That’s a little more than 55 miles a day! Anyway, fascinating talking with him.

After leaving him, I started up some of the 2,240 feet of elevation gain I would be doing today. Ascending through hardwood forests at first, I would eventually get into the pines again near the top. the day was clear and cool with a few clouds in the sky, so the hiking weather was perfect.

After cresting the first ridge, I dropped down to Irons Creek. I had read a comment from last November that the bridge was nowhere to be seen right after a big flood in the Fall. So I was a little concerned as I approached what was a substantial piece of moving water. But when I finally got to the crossing, there was a sturdy concrete bridge still there. Apparently it had been submerged under 10-15 feet of water last Fall and survived. I happily walked across.

Just after crossing Irons I started up a ravine with a nice creek and encountered a small waterfall with a plaque “Ariel Falls.” A delightful little gem.

Late in the day I got to cross a fence in style or at least using a stile. ‘Don’t see these very often. The fence was an old barbed wire one that was mostly gone. But it was fun to climb the stile anyway.

I am 16 miles from my starting point near a tiny brook tonight. Only 83 miles left to the end, but that will take about 6 more days at 15-ish miles a day.

Until tomorrow, happy trails…