Why a Thru Hike Appeals to Me

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I have long been interested in backpacking. However, my past experiences trying to take backpacking trips have often been unsuccessful. For that reason, there has been a gap of more than ten years where I basically set backpacking aside.

During that period of time, I wasn't doing much backpacking or camping, but my wife and I went on many day hikes on weekends. Some locations we frequented for shorter day hikes in the central part of the state are Lake Catherine State Park, Hot Springs National Park, Petit Jean State Park, Lake Ouachita State Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, and others.

The eastern terminus of the Ouachita Trail at Pinnacle Mountain State Park

One of the trails you can access at Pinnacle Mountain State Park is the Ouachita Trail. While you can do a day hike on a section of the OT, most casual hikers prefer loop trails because you don't have to backtrack over the same stretches of trail, and you also don't have to worry about logistics, like parking a car at one end of a through section and starting at the other end, then driving back to get your other vehicle.

There is information about the OT at the Pinnacle Mountain State Park visitor's center because it numbers among the trails at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. When we learned that it extends from Pinnacle Mountain near Little Rock all the way to Oklahoma, was intriguing to me, but mostly ruled it out as a candidate for a day hikes because we (like most day hikers) generally opt for loop trails where it isn't necessary to either backtrack over the same trail or arrange vehicle shuttling to allow for hiking through without backtracking.

In addition to the factors I already mentioned to dissuade us from doing a day hike on the OT from Pinnacle Mountain, the first sections near Pinnacle Mountain State Park are admittedly less interesting. They tend to be flatter with no views, in wet months they can be boggy and muddy, there are some sections of road walking, and there isn't a whole lot of payoff for the miles. Other trails in and around Pinnacle Mountain offer more pleasing day hikes.


Past Experiences Backpacking

When I was a kid, our church had a program similar to the boy scouts, but with a serious emphasis on religious indoctrination, Royal Rangers. In my mind now, that was a negative facet of that program. But the positive side was that we got to do a variety of outdoor activities like camping, hiking, fishing, canoeing, and other activities.

I wanted to give our sons some of that experience when they were young. I wish I had taken them on more camping trips than I did, but we went a few times to a couple of state parks and KOA camp grounds. I believe I took them both separately on more primitive backpacking trips.

Researching gear and information in support of my desire to take the kids camping led me to information about more primitive trails and remote backpacking, which inspired me to try my own hand at backpacking. I am something of an introvert and I like time to myself. I like having a goal and accomplishing it. I like gear and gadgets. All of these fed my interest in backpacking.

It might be useful here to make some distinctions. I have used the terms day hiking, backpacking, and thru hiking. While they are similar, I am using them as distinctly different activities. Hiking or day hiking is an activity you do in the span of a single day. For Mrs. Gavagai and me, we usually complete a day hike in a matter of a 2-3 hours depending on the length and difficulty of the trail. For a day hike, you don't need overnight gear, meals, cooking gear, etc. Backpacking involves at least one overnight stay in the wilderness. It requires that you bring what you need to sleep safely (most often some kind of shelter), likely gear to purify water from wild sources, gear to prepare a meal, clothing to deal with changes in temperature etc. But backpacking for a night or two does not require the extensive planning and preparation or gear one needs in order to successfully do a thru hike with multiple days on a trail. You do hike when you're backpacking and doing a thru hike. You are backpacking when you do a thru hike, but a day hike isn't backpacking, even if you take a backpack to carry water and snacks or a few other items. When you're backpacking, you probably carry most of the same gear you might take on a thru hike, but with backpacking, you don't necessarily need to carry gear to deal with the range of possible weather conditions you might encounter on a week or two week or longer thru hike. Weather forecasts don't provide accurate information that far in advance, so when you are doing a thru hike, you need to be prepared for the possible range of extremes.

...but I digress. 

My first backpacking trips were at the Buffalo National River in northern Arkansas. It's a beautiful area, but my attempts were not successful in that I had plans to hike a trail, camp for the night, then hike out the next day. On my first attempt, I didn't even make it to the trailhead I where I had planned to start, but convinced myself that the place I was at was the trailhead. I was lost by the first step, and rather than turning back, I continued on, bushwhacking through the forest. I will do a more detailed account of that trip in a different article, but I ended up on a dirt road and got a ride from a kind local back to my vehicle to drive home without spending the night in the woods.

I returned to the area and had better luck hiking some of the trails, but still struggled to find locations where I could stay the night. I couldn't find locations that were flat enough and without rocks that I felt like I could pitch my tent for the night. So instead of camping, I did a long hike on the trails and looped back to my car.

Another big issue I had when camping in the past was that I couldn't sleep. Sleeping pads, back in the day, were not like the pads available now. They were comparatively heavy self-inflating pads with a foam core (that would expand and draw air in) which made them heavy and they were also narrower, only 20" wide, rather than the 25" pads that are available now. The other option was closed cell foam pads that were light weight, but bulky and did not provide much insulation from the cold nor padding to protect from the hard or bumpy ground.

The sleeping bags that were recommended at that time were all mummy bags. The idea was they would keep you warmer and weigh less than the old school rectangular sleeping bags we all used as kids. While that might be true, they were only comfortable if you are okay lying on your back with your arms at your side or crossed on your chest ...all ...night ...looong. That's not how I sleep, and so I didn't really sleep. This meant that doing multiple nights on a trail really didn't seem doable for me.

I think the last backpacking trip I attempted to do before this year was a section hike on the Ouachita trail that was supposed to be from the Highway 10 trailhead to Pinnacle Mountain. Total distance is 20.6 miles on the trail. I parked my car at Pinnacle, my wife drove me to the trailhead on the other end, and my plan was to hike about 6 miles or so, camp at a designated campsite, then finish the 14 or so miles to Pinnacle the next day. The campsite I was planning to stay at was Penney Campsite. It's on private land, but the owners allow Ouachita Trail hikers to stay there. A sign at the junction to get to Penney campsite said it was closed, and the information I had at the time was the the land between Penney and Pinnacle was not to be used for dispersed camping. I didn't know what the consequences of camping somewhere that camping was not permitted (stealth camping) so, I decided to fast hike the last 14 miles to get to Pinnacle Mountain to my car before they closed the gate at sunset. I got there after the sun had dipped below the horizon, but they hadn't yet closed the gate. I made it, but it wasn't fun. That was over ten years ago.

As another aside, I have since learned that it is actually allowed to camp along that stretch of trail near Lake Maumelle. There are just no designated campsites and they (the forestry company that owns that land) don't want you to make a campfire. As long as you leave no trace, you're okay to camp there. This is information I have learned from other hikers on the internet. It would have been helpful to know on that trip. Haha.

Those experiences all put a bit of a damper on my drive to do more backpacking. However, the interest I had back then about the long Ouachita Trail that is essentially in my own backyard has remained intriguing to me. "How do people hike that whole long trail?"

What Has Changed?

Since that time, technology has changed. You can use apps like FarOut, OnX Backcountry, AllTrails, and even Google Maps to help you navigate to (and from) trails, to find locations to camp while you're on trail, and a host of other useful information that helps people find and plan backpacking trips. There are easy to access social media groups where people share current information about trail conditions and offer help and recommendations to newbies.

The backpacking community at large has also started emphasizing sleep comfort. Backpacking quilts have been invented. They are lighter weight than mummy bags and allow you to toss and turn in your sleep. Pillows have been developed for backpacking as well.

My budget has also changed. Back in the day, ten years ago or more, I was either working my way through college or just out of college trying to begin a career and raising two kids. Having a bit more flexibility to invest in better gear definitely helps. My gear is considerably lighter and allows a more comfortable time while I'm on the trail and camping.

It's somewhat ironic because at the same time that I've got a bit more expendable income to purchase the gear I want, some items that I have purchased are less expensive than options that were available a decade or more ago. Even down filled quilts are less expensive than most of the name brand down mummy bags that were recommended years ago. The water filter, cook pot, and stove are all items I could have easily afforded back when we had a lot less money. I think a big part of these price developments is because of the growth of the cottage industry. There are many small companies that have started up to produce quality niche backpacking gear. They don't have the overhead of the big outdoor companies like North Face, Arc'teryx, Patagonia, etc. Garage Grown Gear is a company that serves as a retailer for a lot of those small companies. I don't have any relationship with GGG, but I have given them a lot of my money. I have been generally very pleased with the products I have purchased there. I have done a good amount of research before buying there, but I think it's great that purchases from GGG support small businesses and I believe most of them are US based companies that also take good care of their employees (if that is important to you). I have also purchased gear from Durston Gear and Hilltop Packs. There are a lot of great companies out there making quality backpacking gear at competitive prices. It's a great time to get into this hobby.

What is the Draw of a Thru Hike?

Planning, preparation
I like planning. This trip requires a lot of planning. I think it was January of last year that the idea that I might be able to actually complete the Ouachita Trail started percolating in my mind. I will post in the future with the specific detailed plan that I have drawn up, but I have a schedule with the days, the mileage I have planned, the number of meals I will need while I'm on the trail, what I will need in my resupply boxes, where I will resupply, how I will get to the western terminus to begin my trip, where I will stay when I'm off trail, etc.

Challenging
A thru hike is a challenge. I think most people understand that a trip like this is a physical challenge. I will be walking an average of 17 miles per day over rough terrain, over mountains and through rivers and creeks. There is some level of skill involved in knowing how to navigate the trail, get water safely, cook, relieve myself in the backcountry, shelter, and generally move through the forest. It's also a mental challenge. People on the trail have emotional highs and lows just as they have physical highs and lows. Will I have the endurance to push through from start to finish? I intend to find out.

Amazing Places and Wildlife
Like I mentioned at the top of this article, we have done a lot of day hikes. Day hikes are great, but there is something special about going deeper into the wilderness to places that are not frequented by as many people. They are often quieter and more natural than locations where more people go. And some of those places take your breath away and drop your jaw in awe of their beauty. You see flora and fauna that cannot be found on more urban trails.

Here's one small beetle-sized example (video above). I've never seen a dung beetle in real life before. My wife and I did a day hike out to Flatside Pinnacle, which is on the Ouachita Trail. While it's true that we were able to drive and access this spot on the OT, the only access is via a few miles of dirt/gravel forest road. It's remote, and not many people know how to get there. At the same location there had been a recent ladybug hatch and the air was just full of ladybugs. Some other people on the trail, right behind us saw two rattlesnakes. I know that's something that a lot of people don't want to see on a hike, but no one got bit. You hear their rattle, you steer clear of them, and they go about their business. But you got to see a rattlesnake! It's a story you can take away. Earlier this year, we did another section, eight miles into the Ouachita Trail, heading east from Highway 7. I believe there was a black bear on the hill about a quarter mile away from us, but we never got to see it clearly. Black bears are rarely aggressive, so seeing them shouldn't be a frightening experience. It's just a cool encounter with an animal in its habitat.


A 223 mile Corridor of Forest
Knowing that you could start at Pinnacle Mountain and hike through forest (less than 1% of the trail is road walking) to a state park in Oklahoma was intriguing to me and simmered in my mind for years. It sparked wonder about how people hike that whole distance and whether I could ever do it.

Western Terminus at Talimena State Park in Oklahoma



Gear is Cool
I love gear and gadgets. It has been fun to learn about new gear. It has been fun trying things out to see what works for me and what does not. I appreciate smart design and engineering. It has been fun learning how to use it and practicing using it on shakedown hikes. When I am backpacking, I also frequently find myself reflecting on what it was like for pioneers and indigenous people who passed through some of the same areas without the benefit of modern gear that makes it so much easier.


Writing About is Fun
I have also enjoyed documenting my process and thoughts here. I'm a bit jealous of the YouTube vloggers. They have helped me learn about the Ouachita Trail, Eagle Rock Loop, Little Blakely Loops, and other trails in Arkansas. I don't have the patience to do much filming while I'm on trail, and I really don't enjoy editing. I just don't have the knack for it. I do enjoy writing and it helps me think through and organize my thoughts. For those who enjoy reading it, I'm glad to share.


Since I have mentioned YouTube content creators who have helped me, I want to list a few of my favorites, specifically because they have helped me to learn about the trails that are here in Arkansas and how to hike them.

All of these channels have been both informational and inspirational to me. They share their ups and downs on the trail. There are a host of others out there as well, but if YouTube sees you like their content, it will start feeding you more. Thanks to all those and others who have shared their adventures and knowledge.



Regardless of the outcome of this trip, I expect that I will continue backpacking, at least on shorter weekend trips in other amazing places around the state. I am hopeful that my wife will get more comfortable doing some more technical trips with me as well so we can go to some new amazing places together. [Love you honey!]

Thanks for stopping by,
Gavagai


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