Construction of a 1-mile reroute around the May ’17 landslide near mile 152 of the Ozark Highlands Trail is nearly complete – close enough that a detour is no longer needed.
A group of 6 maintainers of the Ozark Highlands Trail gathered at the Woolum Rec Area on the Buffalo River for Lopsterfest ’17 – good fun, good food, custom t-shirts, and a chance to give our loppers a good workout.
It’s hard to believe it has been four years since my first visit. This weekend I finally made it back to the Upper Buffalo Wilderness for a 2-night backpacking trip with a friend from Kansas City (RC).
The Williams Woods Nature Preserve is a 557-acre chunk of land owned by the Ozark Highlands Trail Association and located a bit northeast of St Paul in Madison County Arkansas. The land was bequeathed to OHTA in 1993 by Alpha Williams, who lived there most of her life and wanted to ensure it was preserved rather than exploited. OHTA has secured a conservation easement and now has the property for sale.
It’s taken way too long but I’ve finally finished a set of maps for the Ozark Highlands Trail. They are in a 17-page PDF that is intended for printing on 11″ x 17″ paper (or viewed on-screen). Notable features:
For years there been a problem lurking at the Ozark Highlands Trail’s Big Piney (aka Fort Douglas) trail head: a perennially-wet area that usually left hikers trudging through mud at the beginning or end of their trip.
For the third year in a row the big summer trip was in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. There were 5 of us this year, with RC & TC also returning for their 3rd trip and adding first-timers PD-C & CC. Like last year, we were on the west side of the range and based out of Pinedale. We started north of there at New Fork Lake on a 7-day, 40-mile route that included Lozier, Clark, Peak, Elbow, Twin, Summit, No Name, Cutthroat, Palmer, and Rainbow Lakes. This basically takes us east for about 3 days toward the central part of the range, then south for about 1, and back west for 3 days.
June 3 was National Trails Day and I chose to spend it this year doing some work with the Ozark Trail Association. I’ve been a member of the OTA for 5-6 years but this was my first event with them so it was way overdue.
A landslide has erased the Ozark Highlands Trail near mile marker 152. A 3.1-mile detour has been established using road FR1201 and an old logging road. Hiking around the top of the slide would be very difficult, especially with a backpack, due to the dense brush, down trees, and the fact the slide begins at the base of a bluff upslope from the trail so there’s no undisturbed ground on which to walk.
Jan 30 2018 update: The reroute has been completed. There is no longer a need to detour.
It’s been about 2.5 years since my last trip to Hercules Glades, and for this trip I was accompanied by Hannah and Matt – a couple USFS interns working out of the Ava (Missouri) Ranger station. They will be spending some time this summer evaluating certain aspects of the wilderness areas in that district (Hercules Glades, Devil’s Backbone, Paddy Creek, & Piney Creek).
Michael R - The Compulsive Hiker
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The Compulsive Hiker 