After my failed attempt to hike the Eagle Rock Loop (ERL) trail on the weekend of September 29th this year, I returned to ERL on the evening of Friday, October 20th, 2023 for a second (this time successful) attempt at completing the loop.
If you want general information about Eagle Rock Loop, you can find it here. I provide maps, and information about the various trailheads on that post. This post will be about my experience on this particular trip, especially as it relates to my coming Ouachita Trail thru hike.
My goals for this ERL trip were
- to spend two consecutive nights camping on a trail (this was a first for me)
- a challenging day after camping the night before
- generally, more experience using my gear
All three goals were met on this trip.
Friday, October 20th
Getting to the trailhead
I finished work on Friday night and drove the 2 hours from the Little Rock area out to Eagle Rock Loop. I decided to start at a different location this time than on my previous attempt. I decided to start at the Little Missouri Falls trailhead. I let Google Maps navigate to the trailhead for me. It took me on a route I didn't expect in the dark. Google Maps got me safely to the trailhead, but there were a lot of twists and turns on dirt roads in the dark. I mention this on the general information blog post, but it's worth repeating. I didn't have any mobile service at all in the Ouachita National Forest area, which means, even approaching ERL, there was no service. I suspect there is a way to download a route before you lose service to make sure you have a route home from the trailhead, but when I was ready to leave, I just used my FarOut app map and knowledge of the nearby roads and highways from previous visits to the area. My return route, driving out of the area, was not the quickest route, but it got me home at the end. All that is just to say, be prepared to navigate home from the trail at the end of your trip without Google Maps or other navigation software that most of us have become dependent on these days.
It was around 7:30 pm and dark. I wasn't sure how far it would be to the first campsite, but happily there was one just a few yards from the trailhead at Little MO Falls. I made camp that first night and basically went to sleep for the night.
This map shows where Little Missouri Falls is relative to the rest of ERL (as well as the other trailheads where you can begin).
This is a satellite image of the Little MO Falls trailhead zoomed in with some helpful labels.
You are not allowed to park overnight in the day use area parking. You can park overnight in the overflow parking area. The trail picks up from the end of the overflow parking heading northwest toward the Athens Big Fork trail junction. If you start on the trail on the other side of the Falls day use area, and walk over the bridge, you will be going generally south toward Albert Pike and traveling the loop in a clockwise direction.
Saturday, October 21st
I woke up before dawn on Saturday morning and started to break camp. Another question I have been pondering related to my thru hike is how much food I will be interested in consuming while I'm on trail. I have done some research into what other people do. I have seen some people who start the day with a hot meal. I have seen at least one experienced person who starts his mornings with a relatively small meal. I have had a couple of trips where I didn't really feel like eating a bunch for breakfast. On this occasion, I woke up a little hungry, so I decided to make a real hot breakfast; a freeze dried egg omelet style meal. I think that was a good idea because the day ahead was long and physically challenging. It made my start a little later than it would have been, but it was time well spent. In hindsight, I could have heated up my water and started the meal reconstituting before breaking camp. That would have been more efficient, but I really didn't decide what I wanted to eat until everything was pretty much packed and ready to go.
I wanted to knock out the difficult mountainous section on my first day. The Athens Big Fork leg of the ERL crosses six mountain ridges and the slopes are steep. I know that the first leg of the Ouachita Trail is also steep and my plan is to do a nearly 17 mile day out of the gate. My thinking was that if I could knock out six mountain ridges and put in about 17 miles, it would be a relatively good analog of the first day on the Ouachita Trail.
I wanted to knock out the difficult mountainous section on my first day. The Athens Big Fork leg of the ERL crosses six mountain ridges and the slopes are steep. I know that the first leg of the Ouachita Trail is also steep and my plan is to do a nearly 17 mile day out of the gate. My thinking was that if I could knock out six mountain ridges and put in about 17 miles, it would be a relatively good analog of the first day on the Ouachita Trail.
After getting to the top of the first ridge, I took a short detour to a vista. Here is a video I took there.
Another facet of backpacking I have been bad about is stopping to rest. On this trip, I did a little better. After that first ridge, I went down to the valley, up over the next ridge, down to the next valley, then up and over and back down the third ridge. When I got to a creek in the valley between the third and fourth ridge, I stopped to refill my water and eat lunch. It was just before noon when I stopped. Having a break was good and it was a nice place to have a lunch. My lunch consisted of sausages, a cheese stick, and some cheese crackers. I also had a flavored drink mix to put in my water. The drink mix has electrolytes mixed in, so I was replenishing and rehydrating.
One of the nice things about the ERL trail is you don't need to carry as much water as you do on some sections of the Ouachita Trail. There are rivers and creeks and springs all over the whole area. That is part of what makes ERL so pretty.
After lunch, I loaded up again, finished the remaining three ridges, and made it to the Viles Branch segment of the ERL. From the bottom of that last mountain ridge (Brush Heap Mountain) all the way to the Winding Stair Trailhead, this was trail I was familiar with from my previous trip. I had traveled it going clockwise until I reached the bottom of Brush Heap and realized that my filter was not working, then I had to double back over the same trail going counter clockwise. For that reason, I was able to move more quickly through this section than I had the first time. It was also less crowded on this trip.
The video above is from one of the creeks in the valleys between the mountain ridges on Athens Big Fork. It's a pretty spot with neat rock formations though. You can see the layered rock on a sharp angle on the bluff in the background.
At the first crossing of the Little Missouri river, I was hot, tired, and stinky. I dropped my gear and took a plunge into one of the deeper pools of water where the trail comes to the river bank. There was a couple across the river going in the same direction as I was going, but they had just crossed. They heard me go into the water from the opposite river bank where the trail picks up again. They also heard me spluttering and struggling to get back up on my feet and out of the water. Haha. My exit from the water was not graceful. The guy asked if I fell in or went in on purpose. I explained that I intentionally went in, but had more trouble getting out than I had anticipated. Pretty cool! I'm like the Fonzie of hiking.
My plan for the night was to make it to a campsite near the Winding Stair trailhead. It was a location I was familiar with because it's where I had started from the previous trip, I knew there was water in the creek there, and there were also pit toilets within walking distance at the trailhead. I can squat in the woods, but I much prefer sitting on a seat, even if it's a smelly pit toilet.
Camp on night 2
There was an open campsite on the north side of Blaylock Creek. This is near the junction of the spur that leads to the Winding Stair trailhead. I had honestly waited too long to refill my water and rehydrate. I knew that I was going to have water at camp, so I drained my water bottles getting there. My brain was not firing on all cylinders. I wasn't in danger really, but my thinking wasn't clear because of mild dehydration and fatigue. As a result, I misplaced a small item from my water kit, my choice of how to filter water was less efficient than it could have been, and I chose a less than ideal location to pitch my tent. I was on a slight sideways slope, which meant the ridgeline of my tent was a bit saggy and I was fighting a slope all night.
I found my missing part from my water kit. I had cleverly clipped it to my backpack, but I spent about 15 minutes wandering around my camp, sure that I had dropped it somewhere. I filtered water and made dinner. I attempted to rinse out my hiking clothes in the creek. They were rancid smelling and I was hoping they would dry overnight. I hung the laundry on a line near the tent.
Sleep System
If you have read previous articles I have written about other shakedown hikes where I was practicing using gear and things, you know I have been going back and forth about the sleep system. The indecision has been about the pillows and sleeping pad. I get the most comfortable sleep on the Nemo Quasar 3D sleeping pad and the Therm-a-rest compressible pillows. The issue is that those items are both bulkier and heavier than the alternatives I have, inflatable pillows and the Nemo Tensor sleeping pad. The Tensor is also a warmer sleeping pad. In the past, I have awakened with a sore back. I decided to give the Tensor and inflatable pillows another go on this trip.
By not inflating the Tensor as much, I had a more comfortable night of sleep on it. It's still not as comfortable as the Quasar 3D, but given the weight difference, the smaller packed size, and the fact that it's has better insulation, I don't think I can justify the Quasar 3D on my thru hike.
Having said that, finding a comfortable way to sleep with the inflatable pillows under my head was too difficult. If I were packing for my thru hike today, I would be packing a Therm-a-rest compressible pillow and one inflatable pillow. I can cuddle with an inflatable pillow, and there are some positions where having that extra firm support under my head is nice, but I toss and turn so much, it's very difficult to adjust the height and support of the inflatable pillows. The compressible pillow is much easier to adjust for firmness, height, and support as I toss and turn in the night.
I have also learned that it's okay if I don't sleep quite as well when I'm camped. I don't need eight perfect hours of undisturbed sleep. That's unlikely when sleeping in the woods on an air mattress. But if I can get a few hours of decent sleep, it's enough to get me going for another day on the trail. Sleep as comfortably as I can and don't worry about it. Benadryl and earplugs also help. Haha.
Distance and time
It's hard to say exactly how far I hiked on that first day, but I would say it was approximately 17 or 18 miles. That fulfilled my goal for distance on the challenging trail. The first section of the Ouachita Trail will be challenging for a few different reasons (the trail is very rocky, so it may take me longer to cover that distance), but I think I will be okay physically to cover that distance. I left my first campsite just after sunrise (no headlamp required) and I arrived that night before sunset. Days are getting shorter, and I may need to do some night hiking. Have I posted about my night hike at Pinnacle Mountain? I don't think I have. I need to write about that adventure because it helped me to get more comfortable with the idea of night hiking. In any case, I will more than likely need to do a bit of night hiking on the OT for some of the longer days, either before the sun rises, after it sets, or both.
I considered pressing on beyond Blaylock Creek that day, but I wasn't sure about water and campsites between the Winding Stair trailhead spur and Albert Pike (turns out there were a handful of lovely campsites after Blaylock Creek with water). But I also wanted the easy access to the toilets. Lazy, but it was worth it.
This was my Garmin GPS tracking trail and elevation profile for day 1. 2852 feet of climbing elevation is more than the climbing elevation on section one of the Ouachita Trail. The mileage show is 16.5, but I had the Garmin set to only ping every 30 minutes, so it trims off switchbacks and zig-zags on the trail.
Sunday, October 22nd
Clothing
On Sunday morning, I woke up and checked to see if my laundry from the night before was dry. Not even close. The air in that valley was just too moist and without the sun, they were barely any drier than they had been when I hung them up. Oh well, they were at least a little less stinky. This was the first time I have spent a second night on a trail anywhere. All my previous trips have been a single night camping. Because of that, I have also always just worn my night clothes on the trail the following day. They were cleaner and drier, so that's what I have opted to do, knowing I wouldn't need cleanish clothing to sleep in the following night. On this trip, I bit the bullet and changed out of my sleeping clothes, back into the nasty wet clothes for hiking. The dry and cleaner clothing goes back into the pack to use the next night.
Back on the trail
I really didn't look ahead as to what the trail was going to be like from where I was camped near the Winding Stair trailhead back to the trailhead at Little Missouri Falls, but I knew it was going to be approximately 8 or 9 miles. I also had a sense that there would be a bit of a climb between my starting point and Albert Pike, but that's about as much as I knew.
First, I would like to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how pretty the section between WS trailhead and Albert Pike was. It's longer than I thought it would be, but also beautiful. There are very pretty creeks and bluffs in that section, which was a complete surprise to me. Once you cross the road that leads down to Albert Pike, it's a good uphill climb. There's a view of the Little Missouri river and I think there is a spur trail you can take to an even better vista, but I didn't see where that spur was. The decent back down to Albert Pike is steep. After that, Albert Pike, the trail has some modest ups and downs and a handful of creek crossings, but with low water levels, the creek crossings can all be done by rock hopping and the trail is by and large, level.
Based on the distance I had to cover and the pace I figured I would be going, I figured that if it would take me around four hours to finish the loop on Sunday morning. That would put me back at my car around 11 am. I arrived at my car at almost exactly 11 am.
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| Little Missouri Falls |
Here is my Garmin track from day two.
That section from the east end of Blaylock Creek up to the mountain above Albert Pike is a decent climb.
Reflections on ERL
There's really not a boring section on that whole trail. The mountains have amazing views and physical challenges. The valleys have rock formations, rivers and streams, and all kinds of wildlife, and that last section between Albert Pike and Little Missouri Falls has some more open meadows and woods that are unlike any other section of the trail. The whole loop is just amazing.
If you have never gone backpacking before, I wouldn't recommend doing this loop as your first trip, and definitely not alone. But if you have done even a little backpacking or gone on some more challenging day hikes and you have a friend or two, you could do this trip. If you are an experienced backpacker, this trail is absolutely worth doing.
Lessons Learned
Sleep system
I think this is my final answer; Nemo Tensor sleeping pad, 1 Hikenture inflatable pillow, 1 Them-a-rest compressible pillow (and of course, my UGQ Bandit quilt).
I need to practice using my quilt straps more. So far, I haven't really used them because it's been so warm that I've been more concerned with keeping cool. Sunday night was a little cool and I actually tried to use my straps for the first time. For those who don't know what quilt straps are, here is a video.
There may be nights where drafts would really make things uncomfortable for me if I don't have my quilt secured around me properly. Straps are a feature I should acquaint myself with before it's cold and I'm fumbling with them in the dark in a tent.
Food
I'm still not certain how much I will be wanting to eat for breakfast. My plan is to bring some options so I can choose to make a hot meal for breakfast or just eat a couple of breakfast bars. If I opt for the warm meal, I can eat the breakfast bars as a snack.
I have also decided that I don't want to fool with blending mashed potato, rice, or noodle mixes with whatever packets of protein etc. on the trail like I did on my 20 mile trip back in March of this year. You can read about that trip here.
Cleaning pots is a pain. I recently attempted to make another of my makeshift meals here at home. It was a mac and cheese recipe. I burned it. I was using my cookpot, but I cooked it on our stove. The pot still has a little burnt mess in the bottom after I soaked and scrubbed it and ran it through the dishwasher. On top of the fact that the mess is a pain, just fiddling with all the ingredients is a pain. It's not worth it. I have purchased more backpacking freeze dried meals. That is what I will be carrying on my thru hike for dinners and for some of my breakfasts as well.
Physical preparedness
Overall, I felt pretty good on this trip. On the Ouachita Trail, I will do two nights on the trail, then an overnight stay at Queen Wilhelmina State Park in the lodge. After that, I will have three nights on the trail, before a night at the Royal Oak Inn in Mt Ida. After that, the plan is to do the remaining 5 days on the trail (with a resupply at Highway 7).
I want to mention my knee issues. I've got arthritis in my right knee (and right shoulder as well). I take medication for it, which really helps. I have recently had an issue with my left knee (actually this past weekend). In addition to hiking and backpacking, I play pickleball. At a tournament this weekend, I had an issue that left me unable to put weight on my left knee. I was unable to finish the tournament. If this had happened to me on the trail, I would have been in trouble. After a trip to my orthopedic specialist, I think it may have been inflammation of my meniscus. I plan to give it a bit of a break from super hard use over the next few weeks, but I will keep moving with some exercise just to test it.
Right now, I think this is my biggest concern about the trip. I feel like I have done a decent job of preparing, but if I have knee issues and can't walk, that's going to throw a big wrench into a thru hike.
If I need to, I can postpone the trip. I'm hoping that won't be necessary. I guess we'll see.
If I need to, I can postpone the trip. I'm hoping that won't be necessary. I guess we'll see.
As always, thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this article, share with your friends.
Thanks,
Gavagai
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