Our first two days on the Ouachita Trail (which, by the way, I learned I had been mispronouncing – it’s pronounced like “washita”) were hard and cold but lovely.
Our Lyft driver fom Little Rock (the trail starts in Pinnacle Mountain State Park, about 20 miles west of Little Rock) was very talkative – we were her last ride before her weelky rehab session. It was cold (low 30’s) but promised sun and we were excited to be starting.
After a lovely 14.1 miles of slowly warming weather and fairly easy terrain wee “stealth” camped (the “official” campground is a mile off the trail and no water) near a creek.
We continued west around the north side of Lake Maumelle on the second day.
Another lovely day in nice weather (sunny but still cold – highs in the 40’s) and, after 14.5 miles (and 30 minutes spent finding the trail at one point) we camped near another small creek.
Water was plentiful the first two days so we all carried about 2L for the day and filtered water in camp each evening.
It got cold early though, temperatures dropped precipitously after 4:00 so we were all in our sleeping bags early.
Our Adventures 