I went hiking this past weekend with my brother, Mike, aka Dictionary Dude, a semi-retired CPA. We hiked the Ozark Highlands Trail, OHT, starting at the trailhead close to Ozone Campground on Arkansas Highway 21, ending up at the Fort Douglas Trailhead, 1.5 miles east of the Haw Creek Falls Recreation Area on Arkansas Highway 123. Total distance covered was 20 miles. We took it easy and did the distance in two and one half days. Last hike we did was 30 miles in 3 days which does not sound like a lot, but remember we are carrying packs that weigh around 35 pounds loaded. Plus these hikes are in Arkansas, you are either going uphill or downhill, if you find yourself walking on the flat for any extended period of time, go buy a lottery ticket, it is your lucky day. The reality is Dictionary Dude had some issues after the 30 mile hike, and I was a bit sore for 2 or 3 days afterwards. As my brother is fond of telling me, I am approaching the start of my 8th decade, so perhaps it is time to ease up a bit.
The main impetus for this particular blog posting is that I was talking to one of my Spanish tutors about backpacking, and he was asking me questions about the equipment I use. I normally take a little pocket travel camera with me backpacking. This time I decided to use it to take some pictures of the equipment to share with him. At the bottom of this post there will be a link to a photo gallery of the scenery and equipment.
I had not seen Mike for a while and was at first a bit taken back by his appearance, but then I discovered he has a new ambition, a new dream, a new goal in life. Remember the reality television show that was on from 2012 through 2017, Duck Dynasty? Dictionary Dude has heard a rumor that they are fixing to reboot the series and will have tryouts for the various roles around the country. His goal is to be ready for the auditions when they come to Oklahoma City. On the other hand, if he decides to retire completely from CPAing, he could set up a double wide just about anywhere in Arkansas and fit right in.
We shifted our hike by one day and caught some excellent weather for backpacking. My preference is to hike in late autumn, winter and early spring. If it gets too hot, I am not a happy camper, or backpacker. Since I am doing this for entertainment, I prefer to not go if the overnight temperatures are going to drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. My sleeping bag is rated to 15 degrees, and a couple times I have been caught when it was a bit colder than that… not the most comfortable of nights.
The day before we went it had rained quite a bit. This made for some beautiful scenery as large and small waterfalls were aplenty. However, it did make for some wet stream crossings. We had to take off our hiking boots at least seven times to wade across streams, but none of them were so high that Señora would have lost her panties.
Two of the biggest creeks in this area are know as Gee Creek and Haw Creek. As any muleteer worth his salt would tell you, these are voice commands to tell a mule or other draft animals to go right or left, respectively… Gee, Francis, Gee! Of course Francis would have talked back to you.
Mike has a Garmin step counter, a Fit Bit by any other name. After the first day’s hike of eight and half miles, it told him he had taken 7,000 steps and climbed 60 or 70 flights of stairs. All that up and down had the technology confused. I also imagine since he was using walking sticks that added to the device’s befuddlement.
Amazingly, we did not see another soul on the trail. We never see a bunch of folks this time a year, but generally a few. No big deal, but Dictionary Dude missed an opportunity to make new Duck Dynasty trail buddies.
All in all – a very nice hike.
As promised here is the photo gallery: Click on gallery, then click on any picture to start slide show.
If you are a glutton for punishment here is a link to some more of my photo galleries: More Curmudgeonly Photo Galleries
And so we went, up one side of a hollow and down the other side…