2 new shelters for Ouachita Trail

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Michael R

This past spring Friends Of the Ouachita Trail added 2 new shelters at the east end of the trail – a very welcome addition! The Red Bluff shelter at mile 196.2 (4.4 miles east of the AR-9 trail head) is a repurposed hunting cabin. The Scott Tarvin shelter at mile 210.2 (about 2 miles west of the Lundsford Corner [AR-300] trail head) is brand new and the same design as the other new builds. I’ve added these to my maps.

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Staunton State Park, Colorado

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Michael R

Staunton State Park is relatively new, covering about 4000 acres southwest of Denver and is accessible via US-285. I recently spent 4 days there with JH & DH and besides getting in some hiking, we found ourselves in the middle of a pretty wild story.

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New edition of NatGeo maps for Buffalo River

Posted on July 5, 2025 by Michael R

National Geographic/Trails Illustrated is now distributing 2025 editions of maps #232 & 233 for the Buffalo National River. If buying retail, make sure to check the copyright year.

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Making the North Sylamore Creek Trail great again!

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Michael R

The North Sylamore Creek Trail between Gunner Pool and Blanchard Springs was seriously obstructed by a March 14 tornado and the Blanchard Springs to Allison segment was obstructed by flood debris that accompanied that storm. Thanks to the efforts of a group of volunteers from the Ozark Highlands Trails Association, some of the obstruction is gone.

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A Caney Creek Wilderness traverse, completed

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Michael R

With another nice 70-degree day in the forecast I saw a chance to finish the hike I started at the end of December ’24, when high water levels encouraged me to turn around at crossing #11 (of 13) of Caney Creek.

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Cossatot River State Park, #2

Posted on April 13, 2025 by Michael R

The weather forecast had a couple days with highs around 70 coming up and it seemed like a great opportunity to take care of one of the things that’s been on my to-do list way too long: a return trip to Cossatot River State Park and Natural Area. The main objective was to collect my own data for the map to replace the lower-quality data I was using. The 70-degree highs I expected turned into low-80s realities and that made conditions pretty unpleasant for me on the trail but I pressed on and got the job done.

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A Caney Creek Wilderness (almost) traverse

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Michael R

It was a bit more than 10 years ago that I hiked the Caney Creek/Buckeye loop. I finally returned to hike that again along with the western part of the Caney Creek Trail, this time collecting data for a new map. I’m reminded why this trail is a favorite of many.

There had been some rain recently so I was expecting the creeks to be up a little and wouldn’t be surprised if I couldn’t cross the Cossatot River at the far end. I underestimated how much water could be in Caney Creek, however, and how that would impact the 13 crossings I would encounter.

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Ozarks Keystone Trail, recon 4

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Michael R

My 4th trip to Norfork Lake was just a dayhike to collect data for the last bit of built trail that I hadn’t already covered: from the Barren Creek trail head north 3.3 miles to the Arkansas-Missouri state line.

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Ozarks Keystone Trail, recon 3

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Michael R

It was my third trip to Norfork Lake to hike and collect/verify map data for the Ozarks Keystone Trail (OKT), but this time I was backpacking with TC & RC. We covered the area from the Barren Creek trail head to Bidwell Point (north to south), leaving just 3.6 miles of finished trail north to the state line for a future visit. In addition to the OKT we did a round trip on the spur trails in the Seward Point unit of the Norfork Wildlife Management Area (WMA) for about 22 miles in all.

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Buffalo River Trail work

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Michael R

Although construction of the Bufalo River Trail (BRT) is on hiatus, the trail crew has continued its semi-annual gatherings and is now doing repairs & maintenance in the upper river area between Boxley and Pruitt.

The next session runs Oct 19-25. The announcement has more information.

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