The Womble Trail runs southwest for 37 miles from its intersection with the Ouachita Trail near mile 117 to North Fork Lake south of Oden. Legend has it that it was originally intended to be part of the Ouachita Trail before a reroute moved the OT further north. Nowadays, it’s mostly known as an IMBA Epic mountain bike trail and home to the Ouachita Challenge.
The Long Pool Recreation Area is about 20 miles north of Russellville on the banks of Big Piney Creek, and just 3/4 mile east of the campground is 44′ Long Pool Falls.
Here are some more waterfalls I wouldn’t have known about without Tim Ernst’s book. About 13 miles north of Scottsville AR, along North Fork Road (FR 1310) are a couple that are pretty close to, but downhill from, the road. “North Fork” refers to the North Fork of the Illinois Bayou, which runs roughly parallel to, but about 500′ below this road.
The South waterfall measures 33′ and the North is 53′. It’s easy enough to see the top of the falls, and to get around a bit to the side to see the whole thing in profile but this is steep terrain so getting down below for a good look requires some effort. As usual there are smaller falls nearby. These are rather high up so the water flow doesn’t last long after a rain, and there wasn’t much more than a trickle today.
The Penhook Special Interest Area is a few miles north of Hector AR and encompasses Penhook Hollow – with its creeks, tall bluffs, and steep terrain creating a very scenic area. The hollow opens onto the Middle Fork of the Illinois Bayou River not very far upstream from where the Middle Fork joins the East Fork. The area was apparently considered for wilderness designation at one time. The main attraction is 41′ Penhook Falls but there are at least 8 other waterfalls and with the recent rains, I figured this would be a good time to go looking for them.
The Ozark Highlands Trail Association built a 20′ bridge across a gulley for the Middle Buffalo River Trail near the Grinders Ferry trail head. On Nov 14 a small group set the footings and today a larger group – 6 of us – got much of the lumber moved, cut, and assembled. We will need one more trip to finish the hand rails, build steps at each end, trim the deck boards, and tighten some screws, but it’s usable as is and will help prevent further erosion from hikers going through the gulley.
I’ve spent a couple days now hiking part of the Moccasin Gap Trails. This is a 43-mile system on the west side of AR-7 about 30 minutes north of Russellville. It’s open to equestrians, mountain bikes, and ATVs, in addition to hikers so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The trails are located in a valley formed by Moccasin Creek and are basically divided by the creek into eastern and western sections with a couple connectors that cross the creek. I have hiked all the official trails in the eastern part.
I managed to do a little hiking on Wednesday and Thursday before a soggy Thanksgiving weekend, returning to a part of the middle Buffalo River I hadn’t seen since my first visit exactly 2 years ago – the area between Dave Manes Bluff and Tyler Bend.
I think it was about a year ago that I first hiked the Buffalo River Trail between highway 14 (Dillard’s Ferry) and South Maumee Road. I was with other people and we had set up a shuttle so it was a simple day hike. This time I was solo so it was a 22-mile two-day out-and-back. This part of the trail features big views from the bluffs, similar to the section upstream between Wollum Ford and Tie Slide. Of course, between those bluffs the trail drops way down to cross a creek before climbing up to the next bluff so it’s a workout. Nearer the west end of this segment, the trail also skirts around a couple large box canyons that make for some impressive scenery.
The Little Blakely Loops are about 18 miles of interconnected loops on a peninsula at the eastern end of Lake Ouachita, in the national forest north of the State Park. My previous visit was a wet and foggy New Year’s weekend but this time I had a clear sky, sunshine, some autumn color, and a fully-charged camera.
I attended my first annual meeting of the Friends of the Ouachita Trail (FoOT) Saturday in Hot Springs. I’ve been a member for several years, even before I moved to Arkansas, but this was basically the first time I’d met other members. It was good to be able to attach faces to the names I’ve seen in emails and on the web site.
One news item is that the Black Fork Mountain shelter near mile 57.7 is on the verge of completion – that’s #9 of the 12 new shelters. The Turner Gap shelter near mile 80 is next on the list.
Another interesting bit is that the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) has bestowed EPIC status on the Ouachita Trail, meaning it’s considered one of the top mountain bike trails in the country (world?). This kind of attention surely can’t hurt.
Michael R - The Compulsive Hiker
The Compulsive Hiker 