The Compulsive Hiker

I spent another weekend in the Kaintuck Hollow area – this time with a small group from the local Sierra Club’s semi-annual “Backpacking 101” class.

We hiked-in to the natural bridge Friday, set up camp, and explored the watershed feeding the creek flowing through the natural bridge.  There are at least three springs.  Saturday we hiked the long way to Wilkin’s Spring and then hung-out there watching the geese and muskrats.  Wildflowers were abundant – violets, bluets, spring beauty, but also henbit and chickweed, which are just weeds when they’re in my lawn.

Temperatures Saturday AM were pretty brisk but the afternoons were warm and sunny.  We saw surprisingly few people.

I spent the weekend in the Hercules Glades Wilderness with a small group from the Sierra Club.  It was my third visit but the first in the spring.  I was hoping there would be a lot more water in Long’s Creek to provide a good show at “the falls” but it was not to be.  Still, there was more water than in previous visits. Continue reading →

St Patrick’s weekend found me visiting the Irish Wilderness for the third time.  It was essentially a repeat of the second trip with a different group and different weather.

It was the first backpacking trip for the GoLite Jam 70, a new mattress, and new rain gear (which saw action).  It was the second trip for the ZPacks quilt.  Continue reading →

The Kaintuck Hollow Trail is actually a system of trails in the Mill Creek Recreation area southwest of Rolla MO.  It was the site of my first backpacking trip almost two years ago, and where I spent this past weekend with 3 friends. Continue reading →

The winter storm on Christmas left a lot of snow over northern and central Arkansas and vetoed my original plan for a 5-day New Year’s weekend trip in the Ouachita Mountains.  One of several “Plan B” trips was the Irish Wilderness in SE MO.  I was there once before.

Continue reading →