3 Trip Reports

by Nate Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:55 am

Hey guys,

I've had a couple of trip reports to post. I took another trip this weekend and need to go ahead and get them to you guys. You all have been so much help in selecting gear, I wanted you all to see some fruits of your labor.

The next three posts have the trip reports in them. The go from "weak" to "eh. ok" to "Totally Friggin' Awesome" on my made-up scale of backpacking experiences.

I hope you enjoy and thank you guys so much for all the advice along the way.

Nathan

by Nate Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:03 am

Not much to say about this trip.

Back in early December, Central Arkansas had the coldest night of the year. It got down to 15 degrees. Knowing that I had a 15 degree bag, I decided to test it in the back yard, knowing if it didn't work I could run in the house. I set up the tent footprint tyvek that Dwight (Preacha Man) sent me, the Kelty Grand Mesa 2 Tent, my Thermarest 4 season pad, and the Mont-bell 15 degree 800 fill down Super Stretch bag up in the back yard.

Temp got down to about 17 degrees. I was toasty warm. I stayed until about 2:00 AM when I went back inside. My back yard is about 30 feet from Maumelle Blvd and I got tired of traffic keeping me awake. But what I learned is that my equipment was good-to-go for the rated temperature, and that gave me confidence in my gear.

by Nate Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:29 am

Trip 2 had a little more meat to it. I'm taking the "Crawl-Walk-Run" approach to my trips, if you can't tell.

My wife and I decided to take on a 5 mile stretch of Section 9 of the Ouachita Trail from Lake Sylvia to Hw. 9. It's easily done in a day, but we turned it into an overnight trip - again a confidence builder, giving us a chance to abort if we needed to. We went out Sunday December 28th and came in the next morning, Monday Dec 29th.

We parked her van at Hw 9 and drove my truck to Lake Sylvia. I had 32 lbs, she had about 26 lbs. We really enjoied the 2.5 mile walk from Lake Sylvia to the Nancy Mountain Trail Shelter. There are several nice streams, a little foot bridge, and not-too-difficult hills in that area. We came across at least 4 runners who run Lake Sylvia to Hw 9 out doing their thing. That's not something I would want to to, but to each their own.

We stopped for the night at the Nancy Mountain Trail Shelter. It was the last day of deer and bear season (we were wearing orange), and the shelter wasn't in the best shape. Someone had left crackers, oatmeal, liquor, and aluminum foil with some kind of meat product wrapped in it, in and around the shelter. The fire pit was filled with rocks and trash. We dug it out, gathered wood, built a fire, and burned all the food and trash. I was concerned that animals would be a problem.

We set up our tent and sleeping bags inside the trail shelter just to give us a level spot and extra protection from the wind. It got down to about freezing that night, if I remember right. Some hunters came up to our camp well after dark. That made me a little uneasy since I decided not to pack my concealed carry handgun (a decision I would later regret even more). They were armed, but nice guys. A father and son just coming out of the woods from hunting. They warned us about the bears in the area - which didn't help me or my wife any. They stopped by the fire for a while and we talked then they went on.

We cooked, looked at the stars with my binos, and listened to a radio (AM, FM, Weather, Shortwave) that I got for Christmas that we brouht along. About 8:00 PM the coyote's started howling. Angie went to bed, and I stayed up a little while. The coyote's were close to our camp - between 200 - 400 yards based on the terrain and where I was hearing them. I'd hear the pack carrying-on and howling, and then a lone one howling away from the group. They just moved around the camp in a big circle all night, the lone one seemingly trying to link-up with the pack.

I finally went to bed sometime around 10:00 PM. Around 2:00 AM an animal, came up into camp. I assume it was the lone coyote on his way to the pack. I banged on the shelter floor and yelled and I heard him running off into the woods. I went back out, built up the fire, kicked myself for not bringing my handgun again, and then went back to bed.

The next morning we got up, picked up, and got back on the trail. The 2.5 mile hike out of Hillary Hollow was really nice. It follows a creek down a valley all the way to Hw 9. We got there, and loaded up the van. Angie took me back to my truck and we spoke with a large group of Royal Rangers (kind of the Christian equivilent to Boy Scouts) who were about to do the same section. I told them about the overnight stay we had at Nancy Mountain and cautioned them to watch their food.

From there headed back to LR and had to be at work at noon. All-in-all a good trip, but the coyote think admittedly had me rattled. Experts say they'll only ever attack if they are conditioned to being fed by humans. They were obviously conditioned to know that the trail shelter had food to scavenge, and that had me concerned. I reported the trip to FoOT and they in-turn reported it to the authorities.

by Nate Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:19 am

Wow. Trip of a lifetime. The most fun I've had in a year. Those are some of the terms I'd used to describe this trip. My legs are sore as I type this - I just got back yesterday afternoon. What an amazing trip. This exceeds any expectation I had of taking up this sport/hobby (what is it anyway?).

I received a call on Thursday, January 15th from a very close friend from college, Mike Akerman. Mike is part of the Washington County Search and Rescue Team. SAR was going on their Winter Hike that they do every year and he invited me to come along.

At the time he didn't know any details about location other than "somewhere on the Buffalo". My immediate thoughts were to not go out of fear of my poor conditioning, terrain, time to prepare, and being with a group of outdoors people I didn't know who were likely very conditioned to that sort of thing. I resisted that temptation and said "Yes!" Am I ever glad I did.

I found out we were going to the Ponca Wilderness Area. I packed like crazy Friday night - and even had to rush out and buy a new pair of pants (Columbia Nylon Fly-fishing pants from Academy - they are freaking awesome and only $20 by the way). The pants were too long so my wife ended up hemming them with hemming tape the night before at about 10:00 PM. She's so good to me!

Saturday morning, January 17th, 2009, I got up about 4:15 PM. I met my friend, the Washington, and the Benton County Search and Rescue Team at Kingston, AR at about 8:30 AM. There were 13 of us in all, including me. From there we drove to the Centerpoint Trailhead, dropped off vehicles, and car-pooled to the Compton Trailhead.

I don't know the weight of my pack - somewhere between 30 - 35 lbs is my best estimate.

Let me just say this - my hat is off to the men and women of the Washington and Benton County Search and Rescue Teams. These folks are the nicest, most decent, friendly, warm, accommodating people I've ever met. There's not a single one of them I wouldn't consider a friend. After spending 2 hours with them, it felt like you were part of the family. I've never met people like this in all my life.

Back to the trail. We headed down the trail to Hemmed-In Hollow. Looking down into Hemmed-In Hollow was beautiful. The vistas and rock formations were spectacular, made all the more so by massive ice cycles that had frozen. The temp was between 30 - 45 degrees most of the day.

After about 1.5 miles, Roger, the guy on point, took us off the trail toward a place know as Milk Cow Cave. Supposedly someone got a cow stuck in it a long time ago. It was a pretty tough hike up and down over some large spurs, but after about 1/3 a mile, we arrived at the cave. It's not much to see from the outside - barely a hole in the ground. At the entrance to the cave were several ice stalagmites that had frozen from the dripping water. They looked like light bulbs, rounded out at the top and tapering toward the bottom. We took our headlamps, stepped into the cave, and found ourselves in a giant room like an ampatheater. My best guess is that the ceiling was about 70 foot tall and the walls were in a circle about 120 feet in diameter. Towards the back of the cave, a small canyon dropped down about another 30 feet and ran to the back of the cave approximately another 50 - 75 feet. I stayed in the main ampatheater room, and didn't drop down into the canyon, but lots of people did. The sunlight shining down through the entrance was spectacular and lit the entire room in sort of a twilight. My breath was visible but wasn't moving as I exhaled, so I have to assume there wasn't much more deeper into the cave. There was one stalactite and stalagmite that I remember, though it looked like some other tiny stalactites were forming. We were careful not to touch and came back up out of the cave after about 30 minutes or so.

Outside the cave we rested, snacked, and then got back to hiking.

We proceeded about another 1/3 a mile cross-country to the northwest until we hit a large draw with a dry creek bed running down the hill. We decided to follow the stream down the mountain to camp. It reminded me of an episode or two of Man vs Wild so I joked "Guys, I've seen this episode. Bear Grylls is telling me we're going to have to climb down a waterfall here in a minute."

About 200 yards down we came to the first drop - only about 6 feet, but sheer. We took off our packs and lowered them down on a rope and then climbed down. Everyone pitched in. Luckily it was mostly dry. Another 200 yards down and we found ourselves facing about a 15 foot drop with no way around. We were surrounded on 2 sides by impassible hillside. Behind us was a 400 yard walk and a 400 foot climb out back up the creek bed. In front of us was the 15 foot drop with an under-cut face, with another huge drop beyond it that we could see.

We all stopped. Several folks scouted around for a way around. There was none, but we could see an easier walk down if we made the 15 foot drop. Everyone had left their ropes in the car thinking we wouldn't need them. Luckily several people had brought webbing and carabineers. They hooked up the webbing, everyone dropped packs, and tied Swiss seats. The last time I tied a Swiss seat was 1998 - ten years ago. I let the experts inspect it, and I got it right! I guess it's like riding a bicycle. I felt proud.

We all rappelled down the waterfall, getting a little wet, but most of us not too bad. More massive 500 lb ice cycles. We lowered the packs down - everyone working as a team. The team leader and US Marshal - Dave Comstock took pictures. Everyone was smiling and felt proud of the accomplishment.

The next drop was about 40 feet down, but fortunately Roger had scouted a way around the drop. We hiked down the rest of the draw without major incident, just looking at the ice, and arriving at Rocky Bottom on Sneeds Creek. From there we hiked about another 200 yards to the east, crossed the creek, and arrived at our camp for the night.

It was about 4:00 PM and no one had eaten since the 11:30 AM snack at the cave, so we all had lunch / an early dinner. We gathered wood, built a fire, pumped water out of Sneeds Creek, broke out the stoves, talked equipment, set up tents, BS'd, you get the idea.

As it got dark, I was talking about some astronomy stuff with the group and for some reason at exactly 6:24 PM, I looked back toward the southwest at Venus. Immediately the International Space Station came into view. I have seen it multiple times and knew immediately what it was. It was an amazing sighting - it was in view for 3 minutes and passed from SW to NE, passing directly overhead in a crystal clear sky. Everyone got to see it and thought it was pretty cool. I verified the sighting last night on NASA's Human Spaceflight webpage (http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html). A viewing that good is somewhat rare, and certainly a cool bonus.

Several of us stayed up until about 9:00 PM and then climbed in the bag. I slept great which was a huge relief considering the coyote's of last trip. My thoughts dwelled on the amazing day I had just had, the fantastic people I was spending time with, and the dreaded 1144 ft climb we were all going to have to make to get from there to the Centerpoint Trailhead the next day.

That night it got cold - down in the 20's, but I stayed toasty warm. That Mont-Bell bag is freaking awesome. Huge thanks for the recommendation.

The next morning we got up, ate some breakfast, packed up, shivered a lot, and headed back out.

We stopped at Granny Henderson's cabin, dropped our packs on her front porch, and Dave took us down to an improvised debris shelter that someone had made. It was well made, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend the night in it on a night like what we had just come through. Better than nothing I suppose.

Then began the dreaded climb. It was tough to be sure. Some folks struggled - understandably so. The SAR folks watched out for each other. I tried to stay as far forward in the pack as I could. I'm out of shape and I knew that the best way I could help the team was to not become a burden on them.

We stopped for a break at a saddle about half-way up. There is a clearing, a camp spot, and a trail that goes down to Big Bluff overlooking the Buffalo there. 4 of us dropped packs and went down to Big Bluff. It's a 400 foot drop from the bluff line to the water below. There a several little caves in the bluff that you can sit in and look out at the river valley below. It's breathtaking.

We hiked back up to our packs - huffing and puffing at the small climb. We rucked back up and headed up the 2nd half of the climb.

There were several short breaks, but nothing too memorable. The trail was good - an old roadbed, just up the hill. It was a gut check. Especially a 500 yard section of trail that climbs 200 feet. The team called it the escalator because it's long and straight and you can see all the way to the top. Once on top of that, I felt a huge sense of pride.

From there it was only about another kilometer to the Centerpoint trailhead, and practically flat. There were people ahead of me already at Centerpoint, and a group of people behind me, still coming up the escalator. I hiked this last section alone, in the middle of the pack, just thinking about the pride I felt, the amazing people I had been with, and the incredible things I had seen and done over the past day and a half. All total about 8 miles, a 1100 ft drop into camp and an 1100 ft climb back out to the trailhead.

I reached the trailhead about 12:45 PM. We went and got vehicles from Compton and said our goodbye's. Lots of hugs. I felt a bond with these good people and I hated to part ways with them. My friend Mike, Dave, another team member named Allen, and I all went back to Kingston and had some fried food at a gas station / restaurant there and visited.

Dave, the team leader / US Marshal told me about a SAR conference in Little Rock that I should attend. I asked if they would let me in since I'm not involved with SAR. He told me, "If they give you any problems, you just tell them you're with Washington County SAR." I felt like a million bucks.

This morning I'm sore and limping around like an old man, but I've never felt better. If I never took another trip, it would all have been worth it because of this one.

Several folks took pictures. I gave them my email address and I look forward to seeing them.

Sorry so long, but writing this is really about me remembering this. I hope you've enjoyed reading it.

Mike, Dave, Allen, Monte, Rita, Bryan, Brett, Roger, James, Marylyn, Anna, and Chris thank you guys for having me along. I'm honored to have shared the weekend with you guys, and I'm proud to call you guys friends.

If any of you ever need the Washington or Benton County Search and Rescue Teams, you're in good hands.

Nathan

by Clif Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:46 pm

Nate wrote:Sorry so long,

you kidding? That was great. Been to a few of those spots.. now gotta find that milk cow cave. Thanks for taking the time to type it up. Fun to read, musta been great to be there.

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3 Trip Reports

3 Trip Reports

Trip 1 - The Backyard

Trip 2 - Ouachita Trail

Trip 3 - Ponca Wilderness

Re: 3 Trip Reports

Re: 3 Trip Reports