This past weekend, I got out on the trail in Arkansas' Ouachita National Forest & did a 30 mile loop trail called, the Eagle Rock Loop. It's probably the most challenging trail close to Dallas. It is a great hike with plenty of water & features a beautiful area along the trail called, Winding Stairs which is located right on the Little Missouri River and features good camping spots, swimming & fishing and a great place to spend the morning/afternoon or even a full zero day.
I'd been anxious to get on the trail for a while so I could try out some new gear... my SLD Trail Winder Asym underquilt, SLD sil/no-seeum mesh Catch-All, various LiteAF stuff sacks & bear bag, Lawson Equipment UltraGlide bear bag line & toggle, my Tenkara rod, my DIY gravity filter, new Morakniv Garberg Multi-Mount knife and a pair of Xero TerraFlex trail shoes. All performed great with the exception of the Xero shoes. The TerraFlex may be comfortable on a city park trail but for the ERL, it was a huge fail. The sole just wasn't up to the rocky trail conditions and by the end of each day, I could feel every pebble, every rock, every root, every grain of sand... they were horrible. Thankfully, I'd brought some Crocs for around camp & used them to hike out & back to the truck on my last day.
The Eagle Rock Loop consists of the Little Missouri River Trail, the Athens Big Fork Trail & the Viles Branch Trail. I've hiked this trail at least a dozen times over the years, in all 4 seasons & it's always a great hike and easy to get to. I prefer hiking the loop in a counter-clockwise direction so I can hang around the Winding Stairs area, if I have the time, and it's always fun on the tail end of a trip.
I got hiking around 10:30am and put in 10-12 miles getting to my first camp site & about 14 miles to my second camp site the following day. Every night and starting around dusk, dozens of fireflies began to come out and by the time it was totally dark, they were putting on quite a light show. In the pitch black, it's surprising how much light one of those little guys throws and it looked really cool watching it all from the comfy confines of the Trail Lair & this went on until I drifted off to sleep.
Here's a video of my trip I put together for grins... hope it's entertaining.
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