BACKPACKING IN LANGLEY, ARKANSAS

I FINALLY did it! I went backpacking for the first time on a weekend trip to Ouachita National Forest near Langley, Arkansas. We completed the 28.2 mile Eagle Rock Loop. This was definitely a rewarding challenge.

Day 1

We arrived at Ouachita on a Friday morning around 9:30am. We had originally planned to hike 10 miles the first day, 10 miles the second day and 8 miles the third day. However, things did not go as planned. It took us some time to find the trailhead we wanted to start at. It had been raining in the area the previous week so we knew that it might rain while we were there but we took the risk. We started at the Little Missouri/Athens-Big Fork Trailhead and 2 miles into our hike, it started pouring. I immediately thought that the trip was over. I’m not a fan of hiking in the rain and this was the first time I had experienced pouring rain during a hike. We huddled together near a tree for a few minutes under a tyvek tarp hoping that the rain would stop soon. After a few minutes of continuous downpour, we decided to turn around and go back to the car. Of course the rain had stopped by the time we got back to the car. There was still rain in the forecast for the following two days but we decided to take a gamble and try the hike again. We got back on the trail and hiked 9.3 miles along the loop. We hiked the toughest hike on day one. It was one steep incline and decline after another. However, the views at the top were amazing.

Day 2

We didn’t sleep well on night one. It rained the ENTIRE night. I was mostly afraid of lightning and flooding because there was a heavy flood in 2010 that killed at least 20 people in the forest. We were extremely tired but we got our day started with breakfast and hit the trail again hoping to get more miles done than than we did on day one. Along the trail we witnessed this amazing view at Eagle Rock Vista which was my favorite part of the experience.

It seemed as if things started to take a turn for the worst after this view. We reached a point on the SE corner of the trail where the river crossing was too high for us to cross. This is where I was introduced to “bushwhacking.” Because we couldn’t cross the river which was three times higher than it usually is, we had to bushwhack through the forest to get around. Bushwhacking is basically hiking off trail through foliage. We debated going back and ending our trip but we didn’t want to go through the tough hills again. We even turned back around to head home but ran into some fellow hikers who convinced us to bushwhack through the forest. We bushwhacked through the forest with some more experienced hikers who were trying to get across the river as well. What I love most about this forest is the endless supply of water and river crossings. However, this was the one time, I wished the river was not there. Not only was the water level very high, the current was too strong. I picked up several scratches, cuts and bruises but we managed to make it through the bushwhacking. The distance we needed to bushwhack was less than a mile but it felt like ten miles. We were only able to get 10.9 miles done on the second day.

Day 3

The second night was so much better than the first. There were no storms throughout the night and I woke up sore but refreshed and ready to start the last day. Our camp site was yet another beautiful spot near the water.

By the third day we were ready to finish the loop and go home. The bushwhacking definitely took a lot of energy out of me. This last day was filled with lot of ups and downs including two falls I had to undertake. We completed 17.8 miles on the last day. Overall this backpacking trip was exhausting, challenging but one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. This trip pushed me physically and mentally. I’m so glad I got to experience this and I hope that you can too.

Woke up to this beautiful view on day 3.