Day Twelve of the Ouachita Trail
It was midnight and nature was calling. I grudgingly pulled on my shoes and climbed out of my hammock. A minute later I was sitting back in the hammock taking my shoes off. The air felt quite cold so I checked my thermometer. 35° it said! The weather had forecast it would only get down into the low 40s. Suddenly, I was wide awake.
Along with things like my phone and charging batteries and headlamp and satellite communicator, which all have to be protected from freezing, my water filter absolutely cannot freeze. Modern water filters are made out of dialysis tubing and if ice crystals get in there, the tubes will rupture and the filter will be useless. So I started getting my water filter ready to put into my hammock. It required emptying the water from the water filter bag into a different container and then moving the filter bag and filter in with me in the hammock. All of this in the cold and by headlamp.
OK, problem solved. Then I heard the dogs barking. You see my hammock was set up in the national forest, but only a quarter to half a mile from several pieces of private property. Each property owner seem to have about 10 dogs, at least from all the barking. And as I lay there in the midnight hour, I could hear the dogs north of me barking like crazy. Then they stopped, and as I was dozing off, dogs started barking to the east of me. They stopped and dogs started barking to the south of me. Apparently, something the dogs were interested in, like say a bear, was moving from north to south. Now there’s no way I’m going back to sleep. Whatever it was kept moving back-and-forth for a while and I eventually faded out. I woke a couple hours later chilled around the edges and decided I need to put on more clothes. This required taking off some clothes to put on more clothes with the temperature now around 30°. Guess who’s wide awake again?
Anyway, between the water filter emergency, the barking dogs and my imagination, and getting cold it was a less than restful night. But dawn finally came, it was 28°, but no bears got me and, after the sun hit, it warmed up enough to get out of the hammock and make some breakfast. Nothing hot coffee can’t cure.
Although I am traveling east, I started hiking south this morning as the trail made a big detour south to a highway bridge over the north fork of the Ouachita River. Given the size of the stream I think I’m glad we did the detour.
I spent most of the day hiking up a 10 mile long ridge to the top of Ouachita Pinnacle Mountain, which isn’t even a pinnacle, but is over 2000 feet of climbing. It was long and steady. Even though it was a bit tedious to be climbing the same hill all day, there were several viewpoints towards Lake Ouachita, which we’re pretty nice.
At the end of the day I drop down into a pleasant little valley with a stream and a shelter where I’ll be staying for the night. There I met Jamie, who was just leaving to get in a couple more miles. She had spent the day at the shelter, because it really is a lovely spot. After some great conversation she left and I set up my hammock. It’s been a long but good day.
Until tomorrow, happy trails…
Mark,
The shelters look nice with most having overhangs and some surfaces to cook on in the rain. Reminds me of the Smokies.
Sleeping outside makes us appreciate climate controlled environments. Staying warm as the temperatures drop comes at a cost of effort, and sometimes sleep. It sounds like you made the best of the night, and there is always coffee to look forward to!
Dogs! Not a dog person. I totally understand the comfort and connection folks feel with their dogs. That’s just not me. Yesterday on the beach, a wild dog approached Hannah and me on the beach. The owner said, “She’s so friendly. She just wants to love too much!” Really! I barked back that your dog doesn’t know me. This is on a beach where dogs are not allowed and in fact should be leashed. I’m glad you survived the dogs and the bear.