One of the first things I did when considering the possibility of doing a thru hike of the Ouachita Trail was to put together an outline of a schedule. I use Microsoft OneNote a lot for work, and I like it for scratching rough notes, so that was the tool I used to begin scratching out a plan for this hike.
Other references and sources that I used include the Ouachita Trail Guide by Tim Ernst and the three standard topographical trail maps, published by Backcountry Maps.
In addition to those sources, I would say you want to have some idea of what is realistic for you from a standpoint of daily mileage, and is your priority to go through as quickly as you feasibly and safely can go through, or do you want to take your time, take in the trail, and relax? If you want to go at a leisurely pace, you may not care about your upward limit of daily miles. For me, a big part of the draw of this trip is the physical challenge of it. I have knee issues already at 47 and I am not getting younger. I like having a goal, and this goal, if I approach it properly should help to motivate me to do a bit more exercise and maybe lose some weight.
That is what motivates me for this trip. You have to decide what your purpose for your backpacking trip is for yourself. There is a saying in the backpacking and hiking community, "Hike your own hike." To me that not only means you should not try to tell another backpacker they are "doing it wrong", but you should consider your own reasons and motivations for being on the trail, and plan and go about your trip in a way that fulfills your own goals and purposes.
While I fully understand the benefits of traveling more slowly, taking in the scenery, and wandering down side trails, etc, my primary goal for this trip is to get through the whole thing in the time I have allotted for that purpose. I do plan to do some more relaxed backpacking trips at other times in the future.
Where to begin
Most people start at the western terminus of the OT at Talimena State Park in Oklahoma and go east, finishing at Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Arkansas. We live near Little Rock (which is essentially where Pinnacle Mountain is located), so either way, I will have a short trip on the eastern end and a longer trip on the western end, coming or going.
I chose to plan for the standard west to east direction, probably mostly because it's easiest to find information going that way. Tim Ernst's guidebook is written in that direction. Mileage goes in that direction. Most of the YouTube content with people hiking the OT goes in that direction.
With that settled, now I needed to figure out how long should I expect to hike in a day. Over the last several years, my wife and I have done a lot of day hiking. Most of our day hikes are only 2-3 miles long. I know I can cover that distance in anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the type of trail. I also know that when I am finished with those hikes, I have enough energy for other activities. I have done yard work and played pickleball before those hikes or sometimes after. How many miles of walking is that equal to?
Looking at the mileage other people cover and combining that with what I believe I can do based on daily energy output on my own busy, high energy output days, I decided to try to keep things at or below 20 miles as much as possible. People also suggest that the first section is the most difficult because it is rocky and has the greatest elevation gains of the whole trail.
The system of trail shelters has been expanded considerably since my days of hiking sections a few years ago. There are now shelters located almost every 10-15 miles. By my count, there are now 21 shelters. When I began crafting my schedule, I wasn't 100% sure what kind of tent I would have for the trip. The 3 person tent I had was too heavy for a trip of this duration and distance, so my original plan went with the assumption that I would be utilizing shelters for all but the final section (where there is a shelter gap between the last shelter, Nancy Mountain Shelter, and Pinnacle Mountain of 33.5 miles).
I have linked to these maps in a previous article, but they are so valuable that I will do it again here, and more than likely in a future article as well.
On each of those maps, there are mileage and elevation profiles. They look something like this.
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| Elevation profile near the eastern end of the trail |
This section is near the end. From west on the left side, to east on the right, The elevation is mostly descending. This is the last section leading up to Pinnacle Mountain. Compare that to the profile near the beginning of the trail.
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| Elevation Profile at the western terminus |
From Telimena State Park to the first peak, it's nearly a 1200 foot elevation gain. I now it's going to be more difficult to hike that first part than the last part.
The mileage west to east is tracked at the top of the profile chart. From Telimena to the first shelter Rock Garden Shelter is a little more than 9 miles. Even with the steep climb, I feel fairly confident that I can do more than 9 miles in a day. To get to Holson Valley Shelter on the first day would be 16.8 miles. To me, Holson Valley is a goal to shoot for, but you can also see on the map image above, there is a campsite just after mile 14. I feel very confident that I can make it to that campsite in a day. If I get to that site and I still feel like I can continue, I can press on to the shelter.
Anyway, you can see the way I work through these questions. Here is the way my trip plan looks for the first few days.
At this point, I am planning on the trip taking me about 12 days. Queen Wilhelmina will be the first of 3 resupply points. On that matter, let's talk about resupplies.
How to Resupply
Carrying food and fuel to last the entire trip would be prohibitively heavy. Most thru hikers plan resupplies every few days. For people hiking trails that are a greater distance from where they live, they may have to mail their resupplies to themselves. I won't go into details on how to mail your resupply box because I have not done it myself yet, other people are a better source, and I don't think I will even be doing my resupplies that way.
This video was helpful to me to understand how to ship resupply packages to yourself.
What do I plan to do instead? I live close enough to the Ouachita Trail that I can drop my resupplies off at the three locations. The first resupply will be at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. I expect to drop that off on my way to Telimena State Park. The second resupply will be at highway 27 near Story Arkansas. The owner of the Bluebell Cafe and Country Store runs a trail shuttle for hikers and people regularly do resupplies there. I haven't decided 100% how I will get my resupply to that location yet, but it is months away. I may drive it there or I may ship it. We will see.
The third resupply is a little trickier. There isn't a great location where someone can keep an eye on a resupply package for me. Caching a resupply is another option that I believe I will try. For mailed resupply packages that will be cared for by a person or at a location like a state park, you can package your food and other resupply contents in a corrugated cardboard box. But if you are going to cache your supply outside in the woods, you will need a waterproof sealed container.
You also probably want to stash it somewhere it will be somewhat concealed from curious animals or vandals so that you don't get to your resupply point only to discover that your cache has been broken into and stolen or destroyed.
This YouTube hiker used 5 gallon buckets.
These buckets are sold at Home Depot for around $5 each. You also need to purchase a lid separately unless you can find a spare 5 gallon bucket lid somewhere.
There is some risk that your resupply won't be there for you. If it was a do or die situation, I might be more hesitant to rely on this, however, this final resupply point is near the end of my trip and it is close enough to home that if something were to happen to my supplies, I could get help and/or a ride home, and I could also go back within a day or so and new supplies to finish out the remainder of the trail.
The other drawback for this method is that you will need to circle back to retrieve your bucket. With my other resupply points, I can use waste facilities to dispose of my boxes. I definitely won't want to carry this bucket with me for the last 30+ miles, so I will go back to that location after I have completed my hike to retrieve the bucket and whatever other contents are left in it.
What to include in your resupplies
Here is a short list of the items I plan to include
- All meals between that point and the next resupply
- Snacks
- Fuel
- Medication
- Section Maps
For trails where people go through more varied conditions or topography, people may switch out types of gear at a resupply point. The OT won't probably require that kind of change. Some people also provide themselves a fresh change of clothing. I don't think I will probably be doing that either.
If you are a contact lens user, you may want to think about those supplies.
People often also include a treat for themselves like their favorite soft drink (or hard drink).
More resupply details
In order to figure out exactly what will be required with regard to meals while I'm on the trail, I found it helpful to use color coding for the meals that each supply package will need to include.
Then I put that information in a separate table.
As the date gets closer, I will begin to plan out the specific meals and prepare those packages. That will be for a future article.
I hope you have found this interesting and/or helpful.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Gavagai
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