Trip report: Billy Creek & Horsethief Springs Trails

Since Tom (ouachita hiker) and I couldn't do Section 2 of the ONRT I decided to head over to OK. and check out the Billy Creek and Horsethief Springs Trails. Basically, what I did was use these two loop trails to kinda do a figure 8 by taking the Billy Creek West Trail up the south side of Winding Stair Mtn. up to Horsethief Springs, which is right on Hwy 1 (Talimena Parkway). This is a pretty good climb, but you get some great views back to the south.

From Horsethief Springs, which has some really nasty tasting water but a great view, I took the Ouachita Trail west to the west side of the Horsethief Springs Trail and went down the north side of Winding Stair Mtn. There are a lot of equestrian trails down in this area and you can use them to do a variety of hikes in this area, instead of doing the whole Horsethief Springs loop I cut across on Equestrian Trail 4A and camped at Cedar Creek where Equestrian Trail 9 comes off Winding Stair Mtn. I think that was about 10.5 miles for day one, but with the big climb and long down hill it felt like more.

Monday night a really big storm rolled through that area. Lots of wind, thunder/lightning and hard rain for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Fortunately, I knew this was a possibility so I picked a pretty good campsite and my Tarptent Scarp 1.5 kept me dry and warm.

Tuesday was a lot cooler and almost perfect for the big climb back up Winding Stair Mtn. via Equestrian Trail 9 and East Horsethief Spring Trail. I like this east side of the Horsethief Springs Trail better than the west side, mainly because the views are better. It took me about 1.5 hours to get back up to the Ouachita Trail at Horsethief Spring. I then took the OT east to East Billy Creek Trail. This 2.2 mile section of the OT has some great expansive views back to the north, worth the climb up for sure.

I recrossed the highway and headed back down the south side of Winding Stairs Mtn. on the East Billy Creek Trail. About halfway down the mountain you can take a cutoff trail back to the West Billy Creek Trail that has some really good views back to the south, so this is the route I took. There was a lot of water in all the small drainages from the rain the night before and this made it more interesting. I'm sure it's really dry up there in the summer though.

I finished up on the West Billy Creek Trail the same way I went in. There was a lot more water in the creeks that the day before I was able to rock hop across without any problem. None of them was above mid-calf though, just a lot of taking off and putting on boots. I finally ended up just hiking in my Crocs. The total mileage for the route I took was about 20 miles, but like I said there are lots of other options using these two trails.

Some of these trails are multi use trails, so on the weekends there might be some horses and atv traffic. I didn't see but one person the whole time and he was just a day hiker up on the OT.

You can get maps from the Forest Service and I printed off the map at www.ouachitamaps.com and that was helpful. It can get a little confusing with all the intersecting trails, but if you pay attention and use some common sense you can't get lost.

If you're not in good shape all these climbs up and down Winding Stair Mtn. would definitely kick your butt. If you like a little physical challenge and some great scenery this area is worth a look in my opinion.

Check out some pictures here: https://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/mdavis314/Billy%20Creek%20and%20Horsethief%20Springs%20Trails/

Great pics,

I remember doing part of those trails when I was in boy scouts, 15 years ago. That is some of the best scenery in Oklahoma! Sounds like you had a great time, and that you challenged yourself a little too. Great Job!

One thing that surprised me was how little trash there was and, considering that atvs are allowed on some of those trails, how little damage there was from them. There was probably more problems with the trails related to horse traffic than atvs. Not that I have a problem with horses, in fact I hear they are delicious if prepared properly.

The Trails in the National Forest next to Devil's Den are all tore up because of ATV's. They are always cutting new trails, and if you are not careful, you will get lost by taking a new trail that is not marked on your map. I am surprised that there was little trash, usually ATV's mean more trash. Amazing since they can no doubt carry it all in with no problem .

Mark,

Well I am glad that you have gotten go some were. So far I have done nothing! I should have hiked the beginning of the week but decided not to. When these storms go thru thur. I will go back in to Caney Creek and do some more trail work, mainly brush work.

By the way I enjoyed your report and pics!

OH

Tom,

I had a pretty good trip. Good workout in preparation for the week of trail building on the BRT next week. Hope you get a chance to get out and do something, it's going to get too warm to get on the trails sooner than we would like I'm afraid.

ar.hiker