The Mountain Let Me Go...

“It should be easy to write a trip report, but I hardly feel like writing. Since that night, I would rather forget, but I'll tell ya'll what happened anyway.
Monday morning ET and I set out for the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. After arriving in Mena and stopping at Wally World for a couple things, we headed up Rich Mountain out of Mena on Scenic Hwy 88. When we got up top the snow was 5 inches deep but the road was clear and the sun was shining. (shots will be posted on webshots at a later date).
As we drove across 88 west toward Oklahoma and Talimena State Park, ET took some photos and we enjoyed the sunshine and cold weather. We arrived at Talimena SP at 10:50 and our shuttle guy Jim Fite came in at 11:00am. After putting extra stuff in our packs we loaded up. My wife insisted I took my sleeping bag so I loaded my Kelty Lightyear 25. I had no clue what lie ahead.
Jim shuttled us to Winding Stair Campground up on Winding Stair Mountain (the OK. counterpart of the Ouachita Mountain range). We started out that day at 11:45am. The sun was shining and it was about 40 degrees I think.
About a mile into the hike going west on Section 1 of the Ouachita Trail toward Talimena, the trail turned bad. There was very little soil and mostly rock. The trail just got worse. I don't know why they don't do major maintenence on this section but it would take an army to do. Anyway, about a mile into the hike I heard a whistling sound and looked at ET. I thought someone was on the ridge above us to the south screwing with us. Then ET said "look". I looked up and two Bald Eagles were doing a courtship flight over our heads and away over the valley to the north of us. This was really cool to watch. We hiked on and ET said something about hoping it was a good hike (probably because of the degrading conditions of the trail). I said in Greek mythology, birds of prey flying on your right hand were a sign of good favor. (this was a prophecy about to happen). As our hike continued, the trail wasn't so much up and down as it was bad footing and boulders/rocks. ET was fighting his pack and since he has no ass, it kept riding down on his shoulder straps, so he had to keep jumping it back up. My new Gregory Z55 worked like a charm though. Still it was wearing me out too, having to constantly get ready for a slip or tumble on the rocks.
About two miles down the trail we ran into 3 young guys from OK. who had hiked from Talimena the last couple days and were really worn. They asked how far to Winding Stair and were relieved to find out they had two to go.
Three miles later ET and I saw the trail up to Horsethief Springs picnic area off Scenic Hwy 1 above us to the left. After scrambling up more rock, a few expetives and a short while later we came into the picnic area. There were some folks there:mom, dad, older kids who looked at us questionably as they ate their lunch and left. ET and I put our packs on a picnic table that was supported by a metal post which wasn't bolted to the concrete and ET damn near tipped the whole mess over with his 600 dollar camera and 1000 dollar tele lens. We moved to the other table. After stuffing trail mix, energy bars and water, we faced the obvious and packed up. Back on the trail we found the going tough again and not letting up. I mean WTF where is there SOIL on this trail????
After a couple miles a middleage couple came by. They chatted with us and said they had parked one car at Winding Stair and the other at Deadman's Gap 8 miles ahead of us. They left Deadman's Gap at 8 that morning and it had taken them till (it was now about 4:00pm)to get to where we were. They still had six miles to go and they seemed a bit concerned. He had on a daypack and so they left steppin lively.
ET and I continued on having asked the couple about a flat spot to camp which they told us there were none....NONE. As we parted ways the guy looked back and said "you know, I feel for you guys".....I pondered that for a good 10 minutes while stumbling along.
Well, ET and I went about another mile or so and ET looked really weary and was concerned about a hot spot I gave him some moleskin for at Horsethief Spring. ET's feet weren't made for BP'n I believe.
We found an area that looked pretty good on the north face of that mountain. In fact as we dropped our packs and scouted a bit ET found a draw diagonal to the ridge that was down in a ditch keeping us out of the direct wind that was starting to blow. The Canadian Cold front was moving in that night. After hanging my hammock and putting up a tarp to block the wind even further we pitched my Sierra Designs Sirius 3 tent for ET right behind the hammock (and actually just under the one end of it). I have pics of it all that I need to get developed and posted later.
By then the sun was retreating and the dark advancing. We ate more gorp and drank water and I even made some coffee. ET built a fire in a ring of stone that was left from a previous camper there. We gathered wood and sat by the fire laughing and whining to each other about the cold......(ignorance is bliss).
After going to bed, I was sleeping snugly, then the wind started about 10:00pm. The gusts were around 50-60 from what I could guess. But it wasn't just the wind..the temp was around 19 or so and the chill had to have been close to 10 or 9. I woke and went to sleep numerous times, adjusting the sleeping bag I had under me and the two fleece blankets on top (one of them had a space blanket taped to one side which I kept to the outside) I never heard a sound from the tent and even entertained some thoughts that ET had met his demise and was now in cryostasis.
At 2:00 I woke and couldn't stop shivering. My feet felt like they were freezing and I did all I could to get warm. I got up a couple times to piss and got some HotHands to put in my jacket and pants. You see I had five layers of clothes on with my Columbia Vertex Jacket and gloves, Yukka hat, and fleece neck gaiter. I was DAMN COLD. I finally got some sleep. I woke every time the wind got really violent thinking a tree was going to join me in my bed.
At 5:00am I got up and ET was awake too. He was out at the fire getting it started so I took some Denatured Alcy and poured on his pile of leaves and sticks and lit er up. The fire felt great and I got a bottle of water from my pack which was still liquid. When I opened it up and tipped it to get a swallow it froze. I got a half mouth full only. Same with my water bottle...when I opened it up it froze. It was really cold.
The sun finally came out as we sat by the fire. I burned the end of one of my camp shoes but could care less...it was heat.
When it was light, we ate, and packed up camp. All I could think about the night before was getting home to a hot bath...over and over again.
I told ET. "I'm getting a hot bath by tonight"...ET was ELATED!
We put on our packs and bushwacked up the ridge to the road about 100 yards away. (If I knew that the day before I would have gone over to the south side of the mountain and camped). We hiked three miles on the road before a guy came by in a Subaru Outback and gave me a ride to my car, leaving ET on the side of the road with the packs. He didn't mind at all....lol. The guy who gave me a ride was from Kansas city and was in the area hunting for BigFoot. His name was Todd..thanks Todd, hope you find BigFoot some day.
Well, ET and I went home that day...and I got my hot bath and a HUGE nap.......out.”

“PS. The thread title is from a quote of Sassy's”

“Been there, done that. I feel your pain, bro.”

“One more thing....if anyone asks you to go hike Section 1 of the Ouachita Trail with them, wear good boots and carry a rock hammer.
last edited: 1/03/08 5:39:35 PM”

“I HATE sleeping COLD!

It was time to join ET in that 3-man tent!”

“I should have crawled in his bag with him...lol. But I'm a bull-headed german...
last edited: 1/03/08 5:42:16 PM”

“It's amazing you lasted that long. You really should have had ET phone home.”

“He tried, no signal......”

“Great report chappy....I just kept waiting for the spooning scene...oh well”

“He tried, no signal......

Next time have him use a Speak ‘n’ Spell.”

““Great report chappy....I just kept waiting for the spooning scene...oh well”
GatherNoMoss
7:48:38 PM
1/03/08

If I was that dang cold....”

“offtopic: Hey Stove, wanna go hiking in North Dakota this February?”

“Will it be cold? I ain't spooning with ya. ;-)”

“It's amazing you lasted that long. You really should have had ET phone home.”
Sarge
6:46:28 PM
1/03/08




Groan!”

“Here are ET's shots of our "night of the vampire armadillo"....flying, biting, armored COLD...

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562001554hVLBys”

“Cool report. Wha ja expect in the winter?


I've been meaning to hike that trail for a long time.”

“toejam, section 2 is nice, about 28 miles with elevations. Look in my webshots page for the pics of it. I'm going to do section 3 this spring...wanna meet me there?”

“while i was reading this i kept expecting something bad...glad everything worked out for you...i love seeing bald eagles”

““toejam, section 2 is nice, about 28 miles with elevations. Look in my webshots page for the pics of it. I'm going to do section 3 this spring...wanna meet me there?”
chappy

Maybe so. e-mail me.”

“I did a drive-by of the OT once on my way to an overnighter in the Ozarks - sure reminded me of our current home, PA - except the trail is too smooth. :)

Here's a good example of a TT hike through the "Hall of the Mountain King" on a typical PA trail, I suspect y'uns wouldn't like it: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/548109456KPCFnV?start=24”

“Y'uns should know I come from Pa......section 1 of the OT could qualify for Pa trail status...
Toejam, you got mail.”

“I was expecting something bad too Thrifty. I thought that maybe he'd forgotten his sleeping bag when he said his wife told him he had his sleepy bag!

So Chappy you had yourself your own little FYAO! GLad you're okay.”

“my bag was damn sure sleepy when I got home...”

“Chappy - Thanks for your report. Glad you made it OK.

Welcome to backpacking. You sound like a beginner; you even bugged out to hit the road! Keep it up. You'll get the hang of it yet.

GSMNP, where I have done a lot of trail time, has much of what you just experienced. It has some soft(dirt) trails, but there are numerous places where the trail is filled with ankle twisting rocks, which cannot be avoided. With my bad knees. trying to walk and balance on the rocks really exhausts me. Sometimes a rocky trail used to be a creek bed.

Eagle Creek, in GSMNP, in a stretch of just a few miles, has 17 rock bottomed creeks to be crossed. "This is murder," I said, as I waded though the crossings.

And, once, I discovered that I forgot my sleeping bag, after taking a shuttle boat across Fontana Lake to Hazel Creek. That night's temperature did drop below freezing. I did get cold!!! I used one of those aluminum, space blankets, but it did not help. Guess there was no heat to reflect.

I caught a shuttle boat in the morning. It cost me $55 for the round trip to get my sleeping bag from the car.”

“getting better all the time.....:)”

“Good! Good for you.”

“Was this the section you wanted me to come hike with you Chappy?”

“yeah, you got a hoppyclopter or a llama?”

“nah, but I got Crash bringing me a south korean sherpa when he comes home this summer! LOL!”

“you can leave her at home unless she will carry your stuff for ya.....”

“That's the idea. A sherpa is a human pack mule/guide. That means I get to cruise along "sans pack" while my sherpa labors with all my stuff and his! Sherpas are actually in Nepal, but I don't know why I can't have a South Korean one. I could get a mail order Russian bride... why not a sherpa? LOL!”

“Them Russian models are build better and can carry you and your stuff...lol. Plus, they got plenty of hair for the winter trips....”

“Ya, we'd have to do somethin about that hair business...

I suppose I'd be ok with teachin her how to shave.”

“most of the chicks I dated in Germany had hair under their arms...which wasn't what interested me most.......... ;p”