for sleeping in a flimsy nylon tent, on the ground? What was I thinking?
After all the weeks of planning it is time for Tundra, Titmouse, and me to head out into the woods on the Ouachita National Recreation Trail for our planned "Shakedown Hike". Our plan is to begin at the Big Cedar Trailhead on Hwy.259 (in Okla.), and hike approximately 20 miles over four days to Queen Wilhelmina State Park (in Ark.). This hike is meant to give Tundra and Titmouse a taste of multi-day backpacking, to see if they want to do a thru-hike on the Ouachita Trail next Spring.
We planned to meet Tundra and Titmouse at Queen Wilhelmina State Park on Sunday, Oct.5, leave her vehicle there, while Tom "Pyro" would shuttle us over to the Big Cedar Trailhead on Hwy.259, where we would begin our hike eastbound on the Ouachita Trail.
So on Saturday when we both got off work, Tom and I drove up to Broken Bow, Ok. to spend the night before I headed out into the woods. On Sunday morning we decided to do a little exploring before we met Tundra and Titmouse.
What an awesome morning!
We headed north on Hwy.259, winding our way up and over a mountain, stopping along the way to enjoy the scenic views,
We continued on to the Pashubbe Trailhead...
Next we drove on to the Big Cedar Trailhead to check out where Pyro would be dropping us off later today. We parked the car and took a short walk westbound on the Ouachita Trail, crossing a small stream...
....and the trail has its share of rocks!
We then headed on up to the Talimena Scenic Drive and drove the short distance to the Ok./Ark. State Line. It appears the Ok./Ark. border was a much disputed border for some years...
...resulting in this permanent marker....
A couple of days before, on Thursday Oct.2, Pyro and I volunteered on a Friends of the Ouachita Trail shelter project, about which I will devote an entire future blog post. We stopped to see the finished shelter at the State Line!
Very impressive work guys! FoOT volunteers rock!
Our plan is to make it here to camp at this nice shelter on Tuesday night, before finishing up the following morning, hiking the final five miles to Queen Wilhelmina State Park.
Pyro and I then drove on over to Q.W.S.P. and sat at a nice picnic table to enjoy the view from atop Rich Mountain while we had left-over breakfast tacos that Pyro made before we left home.
Shortly, Tundra and Titmouse arrive and we visit with them while they have their Subway sandwich that they purchased when they stopped in Mena, Ark. just before arriving at the State Park.
We walked across the road to check out the 9-level home that was built 100 years ago....
Next we switch all their gear to our car so Pyro can shuttle us back over to our starting point on Hwy.259.
We are finally loaded into our little red car and headed to our drop-off point at Big Cedar Trailhead on Hwy.259. BooBoo is looking straight ahead, anticipating all the fun awaiting us on the Ouachita Trail!
We arrive at the trailhead, and Titmouse looks like she is thinking "Do I really want to hoist this heavy pack and head off into the unknown?"
We now have everything (and more) on our back that we will need to survive in the woods for a few days!
In my next post, I will talk about our first afternoon on the Ouachita Trail!
