Backpacking in the Ozarks
Over Spring Break I led a backpacking trip to the Ozark Mountains.
Tucked into the northwest corner of Arkansas, the Ozarks are definitely as
pretty as the more familiar Appalachians and offer lots of fun rock
formations to climb and waterfalls to play in. To save on gas costs, we
crammed all five people into a single car and had to strap some of the gear
onto the roof. It was a long drive, and we had a slow start since we had to
first find a local willing to shuttle us back to our car. The planned 30
mile hike turned into about 15 when one hiker suffered a sprained ankle and
we had to turn back. We then had a rather stressful drive out of the
National Forest as we watched the gas needle drop dangerously below the 'E'.
Despite all of this it was still a great trip. We enjoyed the remainder of
the time visiting various parks and doing short hikes, minus packs. The
first couple nights were chilly, with a good amount of snow still on the
ground from a recent storm, but by the end most of it had melted. Other than
a couple short rain storms at night, the weather was good.
Although it's a little out of the way, I would highly recommend this area.
The trail is great and it's a good opportunity to see some new places.
Frank's Pictures
