Winding Stair Backpacking Trip
Ouchita National Forest
Oklahoma
Ouchita National Forest
Oklahoma
Josh and I planned a 21 mile backpacking trip in the Ouchita National Forest in Oklahoma on the border of Arkansas. We left work around three, got to the trailhead around six and made it about 3 miles before it got dark. We had salmon parm for dinner and called it a night around 8. We were definitely worn out after our week.
The next day we needed to hike about 14 miles to be on track since we got a late start. We hiked in the worst humidity of my life, but got some beautiful views and we finally got to see some fall colors! We saw some animals and walked through a lot of poison ivy. It took me a while to realize that we were supposed to cache water. It didn't mean there were going to be hidden caches of water for you to pump from, it mean that you were supposed to hide your own water. We were really worried we weren't going to find any water and we'd be s.o.l. Fortunately we came across a valley stream that was on the verge of being dried up. There was some still water but we pumped it anyway and hoped for the best.
We finally found a place to camp next to a pretty nasty pond. Fortunately there was water in it, and we were able to pump and boil it to make sure we didn't get sick. We made dinner - we were both exhausted and sooo sweaty and sticky so we laid down and fell asleep early. The next thing I know I'm in the most outrageous thunder/lightening/rain storm of my life. It lasted for about 4 hours (or what seemed like four hours) and I'll admit, I was pretty shook up. Apparently the whole area, Anna included, got rained out. Fortunately we didn't get puddles and the water didn't seep through my tent. We were safe, warm and dry. The next morning I couldn't really believe that we were dry. Everyone else that we passed on our 5 mile hike out seemed to have gotten soaked during the night.
The next day we needed to hike about 14 miles to be on track since we got a late start. We hiked in the worst humidity of my life, but got some beautiful views and we finally got to see some fall colors! We saw some animals and walked through a lot of poison ivy. It took me a while to realize that we were supposed to cache water. It didn't mean there were going to be hidden caches of water for you to pump from, it mean that you were supposed to hide your own water. We were really worried we weren't going to find any water and we'd be s.o.l. Fortunately we came across a valley stream that was on the verge of being dried up. There was some still water but we pumped it anyway and hoped for the best.
We finally found a place to camp next to a pretty nasty pond. Fortunately there was water in it, and we were able to pump and boil it to make sure we didn't get sick. We made dinner - we were both exhausted and sooo sweaty and sticky so we laid down and fell asleep early. The next thing I know I'm in the most outrageous thunder/lightening/rain storm of my life. It lasted for about 4 hours (or what seemed like four hours) and I'll admit, I was pretty shook up. Apparently the whole area, Anna included, got rained out. Fortunately we didn't get puddles and the water didn't seep through my tent. We were safe, warm and dry. The next morning I couldn't really believe that we were dry. Everyone else that we passed on our 5 mile hike out seemed to have gotten soaked during the night.
We hiked out in the muggy weather, both ready to be done with the hike. We got to the car and headed to the nearest ice cream place. Dairy Queen treated us well. Once home I fell asleep and ended up not being sore! All in all, it was a great trip, except I wish it were closer.
After a 3.5 hour drive we finally made it to the trailhead.
We finally saw autumn in Oklahoma!
A lookout. Before we started running out of water.
Autumn
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