Eagle Rock Loop Group Hike

Mark.. Me and Tenn are in our early to mid 40s.. Preacher and Nate are the two young ones. They can fly up the mountains.. I usually try to leave camp earlier than them and give myself a good hour out on the trail before they pass me up. They usually hang tight up top or at the bottom till I catch up and then all is back to normal lol.

45 here and I'm a "steady as she goes" hiker. I see averaging 2 mph so I can be at camp in 6 hrs on the 11 days. My motto is "It's not a race, it's an adventure." I have not problem breaking in to two groups if someone wants to keep a faster pace. I keep hearing folks say "Hike your own hike" and I'm liking that.

When I am alone I hike pretty fast and do not take very many breaks, but I am never opposed to hiking slower with a group. I like the fellowship . I can hang out in the back and help push some you up the hill, going down the hill has always been the part that slowed me down.

Trail Monkey wrote:Mark.. Me and Tenn are in our early to mid 40s.. Preacher and Nate are the two young ones. They can fly up the mountains.. I usually try to leave camp earlier than them and give myself a good hour out on the trail before they pass me up. They usually hang tight up top or at the bottom till I catch up and then all is back to normal lol.

Yeah, right. I spent the whole trip last time trying to keep up with Tenn. And his pack weighed almost as much as me!

Like TM said, I'll probably have to come flying in late Friday night. It looks like that's going to be a busy surgery day for us so I'll just have to poke around in the dark around winding stairs and hope I can find you. If you guys can camp on the parking lot side of the first river crossing that would be great. I don't especially want to cross that by myself at night.

Preacha,
We're thinking alike. We can put some one in front to set a good pace also. I don't mind going at a slow pace, but in this case I think we're committed to at least 10 miles a day the first 2 days.
This trip is shaping up nicely, I like the fact that we are going to have people on the trip with a lot of experience on that trail.
I did a similar trip last fall, chasing Chili and Hillbilly up and down the hills on the BRT. It was an awesome trip!

Room for one more? I may be able to go, depends on work.

Absolutely. We can spread out or split up or whatever it takes. We can take a couple campsites near each other if we are too many for one.


Here is the meeting plan. Be at the main restrooms at Albert Pike on Rd 369 next to the campground host at 8:00 am 03/05/2010.
I have a blue F-150 with Texas plates. You can't miss us.

Hey Mark,
We've actually meet, last year cutting logs on Caney Cr. Trail. You, Ed, Tom and Janet, and me. At least I think you're the same Mark.

If you guys are leaving from the Little Mo - Athens Big Fork trailhead, I'll meet you there. I come in from the north off Hwy 8.

Hey,
Is that you Mark? You've got to come along. I sent you an e-mail invite when I first started planning this. We'll meet you at the top so you don't have to drive down to AP.
Look for us around 8:30.

Mark

Will be good to see you again ar.. looks like we get to do this great trail again..

I'd really like to go on this hike as well. I'll check with the "events scheduler" and get back to y'all w/ a definite answer as soon as I can. I've done this loop 4-5 times but can't seem to get enough of it. :-)

So whats the head count up too now?

I got the go ahead to make this the last trip before we're due with our daughter so count me in as a definite. Lookin' forward to it, guys!

I have 8 yes and 1 maybe here. I count 7 yes's from AB. We could split up into a fast group and a slower group and try to camp near each other. Of course you never know how many will be at the traihead.

Like I said before, I won't be able to make it there until friday night, at which point I'll have to try and find at least one group of you in the dark.

If I'm the maybe then you can now count me in. I got the OK from my sweetie pie and I have my work covered on that Friday.

Looks like I'll now be driving in early that morning and meeting at the trailhead. It's a 5-1/2 hr drive so I'll be a little sluggish in the afternoon. Nothing that a cup of joe won't remedy. I'll join the slow group and will plan to hike the 11, 11, and 5 miles averaging roughly 2 mph.

Well I am still kind of teetering back and forth. I am planning on coming but if work comes up then I will have to be at work. I cant afford to miss it.

zenlizard wrote:http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?t=100006&s=1&d=1 Looks like there is one on the Little Missouri River.

Might be fun to find this spring during our hike.....

Bad News. I was at Albert Pike this weekend and there are no tent camping sites open to the public. Loops A&B are closed ( I think they open April 1st) and Loop C is leveled so they can rebuid it. There are a few RV sites but that is it.

Do we want to rethink our meeting place? We could maybe meet at the RV restrooms near the remote parking area.

The RV restrooms sound like a logical place to meet. What is the official meet time?

Mark.. the A and B loops are always closed during the Winter months.. The campsites right on the side of the road (I forget if thats C or not) they are usually open. But The RV campground and restrooms are always open.

That's what I mean. The campsites at loop C right on the side of the road are no longer there. The whole area has been cleared and there is equipment and stakes everywhere. That restroom is also closed. There are no tent sites open.
I will try to get there early and get an RV site and we'll plan on meeting at 8AM at the RV restrooms near remote parking.

Hey just thought I would throw my .02 cents in. I was up there for the loop in December and instead of camping in a rv spot we drove just a little past the big parking lot next to leader mountain walk in. If you keep driving and take the next right onto a dirt road and then take your next right you come to after that there is a nice open camping area. Couple of advantages.....no fees and a little more secluded. Sorry for the vague directions but it's very easy to find and isn't more than maybe a mile or 2 from the parking lot.

Jethro.. yeah its all kinds of campsites off the side of the road, with the best ones being up by Crooked Creek.. Trail thats to bad about all that being cleared. Hope like hell they are not expanding the RV sites down to there. Thats some of the better sites.. or it WAS lol. Don't know but normally they will say something for being a tent in a RV site. But middle of the week they may not. Will just have to see. What time you planning on being there by? I know my cell phone and many others will NOT get out from there.

Well I talked to Lew earlier.. for thouse of you that know him. He is a Maybe as well. I think he is leaning to a yes but he wont be able to come until Sat morn or Fri night. If were camped down by the winding stairs then he will know where to find us.