Ouachita National Recreation Trail / Sect 8
Ouachita National Forest (AR)
Section 8 of the 223-mile Ouachita National Recreation Trail is 27 miles long, with about 850' of vertical variance. This is one of the prettiest sections of the Ouachita Trail. The section runs from AR hwy 7 (mile 160.4) in west to FR 152 (mile 187.4) near Lake Sylvia in east. It includes ten miles traversing Flatside Wilderness and Flatside Pinnacle, a dramatic rock outcropping worth the climb. This section crosses several very scenic creeks (Sugar Creek; Crystal Prong) and an un-named creek and waterfall at mile 175 (referred to in OMH as "Mocassin Creek"; see 12/1/2005 entry). There are several steep climbs in either direction. There are two shelters in this section: Oak Mountain Shelter (m 167.4) and Brown Creek Shelter (mile 182.5). In 2003, Ouachita Mountain Hikers "adopted" the ten miles of trail through Flatside Wilderness. This commitment to Friends of the Ouachita Trail (FoOT) includes responsibility for maintenance of this section of trail. Since that time, Flatside Wilderness has been the centerpiece of our trail maintenance activity.
    Planning notes:
This section has several good hikes for Thursday or Saturday. From FR 153 down to hwy 7 is a good 5-mile Saturday hike. Flatside Pinnacle is one of prettiest ten-mile Thursday hikes. Lunch at creek crossing with small waterfall and rock formations. Driving times range from Jessieville Ranger station vary from 5 minutes for hwy 7 TH to 45 minutes for FR 94/ Flatside wilderness.
    Access Notes:
All the access points are easy to find via FR 132, Winona Scenic Drive. From west to east:
Hwy 7 TH: 6 miles north of Jessieville Ranger station. Good parking lot.
FR 153 off FR 132; about 5 miles east of hwy 7. Limited parking.
FR 124, about 1/4 mi off FR 132, about 8 miles east of hwy 7 (edge of Flatside Wilderness). Limited parking.
FR 132 Grindstone Gap access point at m 173.5. NO PARKING
FR FR 94 (Flatside Pinnacle TH). Take FR 94 from FR 132, about 20 miles from hwy 7 or 8 miles from hwy 9. Parking for several cars.
FR 152: Continue through Lake Sylvia area on CR 324. When pavement ends, it becomes FR 152; crosses trail about a mile later. FR 152 continues out to meet hwy 132, about 3 miles from hwy 9. NO PARKING
See Tim Ernst Guide map for sect 8
    For additional info:
Tim Ernst: Ouachita Trail Guide
Ouachtia Trail Map # 4

    Recent Hikes:
 
April 1, 2006       Leader:   Jim Gifford       30 Hikers       OMH Saturday
Route:   Flatside Pinnacle to Crystal Prong and return (177.2 - 179.4)
 4.6 miles      Difficulty Rating  3      Scenic Rating   4
  sss:  Flatside Pinnacle Crystal prong
  Gray day, with loooong drive across Winona Scenic Drive. Limited views, but lots of water in Crystal prong, and 30 folks enjoyed it.
  Hike leader never said "It's all downhill from here". In fact promised the opposite.   Lunch at Shack afterwards.
 
  Dec 1, 2005         Leader:  Marv Weitzenfeld       20 Hikers       OMH Thursday
Route:   FR 124 to FR 94 (Flatside Wilderness) [and vice versa]
10.4 miles        Difficulty Rating  4        Scenic Rating  4
 sss:  Flatside Pinnacle Crystal prong "Moccasin Springs" Views of Forked Mountain
Waterfall:  Moccasin Creek
Beautiful clear morning; high about 50. Great day for hiking.
 Marv led for Ken Schultz (sick). Split group and went opposite directions. Jim led west to east group, after a short side-trip to Flatside Pinnacle.
 Kris named "Moccasin Creek", the beautiful waterfall/pool area near mile 175 (after the huge mocassin we saw there last spring).
 Lots of storm damage from last weekends storms (tornados?), especially near mile 169 - 170.

Nov 17, 2005       Leader:  Glenn Wortham, Task Master  16 Hikers      Trail Maintenance
Route:  Drain and tread repair; Mile 174.2 to creek at 175
2.1 miles      Difficulty Rating 3 hours      Scenic Rating 3
A "training and work day". A lot of new maintainers got their first taste of tread work. Cleaned and built water bars/drains; cleared creeks and washes; did major tread repair. Only two pair of loppers, but four Pulaskis, several fire rakes, picks, and rock bars.

Nov 10, 2005        Leader:  Jim Gifford    24 Hikers       OMH Thursday
Route:    FR 124 to AR hwy 7 (168.8 - 160.4) [and vice versa]
8.8 miles          Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  3   
sss:  Views from ridge tops into Flatside Wilderness Sugar Creek.
Split group and went in opposite directins; rendevoused at hwy 7 TH.
Met John Joswick and "Model T" on their through hike of the trail at hwy 7 this morning. Hike planned to walk with them a way.
Nice fall day; color; high about 60. Lunch at sugar creek.

Sept 15, 2005         Leader:   Glenn Wortham, Task Master         12 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Trail Maintenance - Mile 172.5 to 173.5 and return
2.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  3
First trail maintenance after summer recess. Trail in pretty good shape. I think we are proving that FoOT concept works.

May 19, 2005         Leader:   Glenn Wortham, Task Master       8 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   General trail maintenance; Mile 174.5 to 176
2.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  3 hours       Scenic Rating  3
Very Hot day; mostly lopping. A lot of drain clearing and maintenance as well.

Apr 21, 2005           Leader:   Glenn Wortham, Task Master       9 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   General trail maintenance (mostly lopping); Flatside Wilderness from 174.2 to 177.2 and back
6.0 miles        Difficulty Rating  4 hours       Scenic Rating  4
sss:  Crystal Prong Ponds and creek near falls
Waterfall:  Flatside Wilderness waterfall
Walked six miles for 1.2 miles TM; maintained from 177.2 (Crystal Prong Creek) back to 176.0.
Saw a HUGE water mocassin at the 175 pools / falls

Mar 17, 2005         Leader:   Glenn Wortham, Task Master       9 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:  General trail maintenance (or describe particulars); Flatside wilderness from 174.2 - 172.
4.4 miles       Difficulty Rating  3 hours       Scenic Rating  3
sss:  View of Forked Mountain
Cleared several large trees by draggin; otherwise mostly lopping. This trail is in good shape these days

Feb 17, 2005       Leader:  Glenn Wortham, Task Master       8 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Cross-cut saw team cleared over a dozen large, downed trees between Flatsde Pinnacle (179.2) and access road (174.2)
5 miles       Difficulty Rating  4 hours       Scenic Rating  4
sss:   Crystal Prong Creek
Waterfall:  Flatside Wilderness waterfall
Hiked in to Crystal Prong; then back out again. drove around to 174.5 and hiked a mile in and back out

Jan 22, 2005         Leader:   Loretta Melancon       44 Hikers       OMH Saturday
Route:   FR 153 to AR Hwy 7 (165.4 - 160.4) [and vice versa]
5.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  3
sss:  Sugar Creek
Split group due to large size of group and hiked in opposite directions. Craig Henderson led the downhill group.
Trail in excellent condition. OMH/FoOT member finishing maintenance as group started.

Nov 18, 2004         Leader:   Glenn Wortham, Task Master       15 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   General trail maintenance (weed-eaters and lopping); FR 94 to FR 805 (East); 179.2 - 183
3.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  4 hours     
Worked in drizzling rain most of day. Several first time workers made up big crowd; worked in three teams. Billy & Tom chain saw crew cut all trees along route.

Nov 11, 2004   Leader:   Harlan Jensen       23 Hikers       OMH schedule
Route:   FR 94 / Flatside Pinnacle to Hwy 9 [179.2 - 191.8]
15.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  4
sss:  Flatside Pinnacle (in fog) Hillary Hollow
This hike scheduled to team up with Kris, EJ, Cramm on their OT thru-hike.
Kenny Thompson completed the OT today and we celebrated with champage at hwy trailhead.  Becky G and Susan T were going to hike in and meet us, to walk out with Kenny, but we finished too quickly. We did thirteen miles in under six hours !! Several of us, including Kenny, walked back in anyway (about a mile) to meet the back of the pack. Total mileage assumes 2 extra miles for this walk. Back of pack was almost an hour behind.

Nov 10, 2004         Leader:   Jim Gifford       7 Hikers       OMH bonus
Route:   Flatside Wilderness / Green Thumb Spring to FR 94 [170.6 - 179.2]
8.6 miles       Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  4
sss:  Views along ridge waterfall/pools near mile 175 Crystal Prong Creek
Waterfall:  (un-named) near OT mile 175
Joined Kris, EJ, John on their thru-hike of OT.  Nice day; not hot; lunch at small falls, rocks just past 175.
Checked out the re-route we built last year (east of Crystal Prong). It is in great shape.
Followed hike with a fish fry, hosted by Dan Wingard, at Coffee Creek RV Park. Twenty people showed up to surprise the thru-hikers and show support.

May 20, 2004       Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       12 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Lopping; repair water bars/drains; FR94 (Flatside Pinnacle to Crystal prong (miles 179.2 - 177.2)
4.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  4 hours       Scenic Rating  3
sss:  creeks flowing
Checked on new section that FoOT work party built in Feb '04. Looked very good, except for a couple of drains that needed re-doing .

Apr 15, 2004       Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       8 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Flatside wilderness; Grindstone Gap to mile 176.5; General trail maintenance (or describe particulars); give portion of trail for OT
5 miles       Difficulty Rating  4 hours       Scenic Rating  4
sss:  Waterfall at mile 175+
Waterfall:  Near mile 175
Trail in good shape; starting to wrork corridor - proving FoOT concept .

Mar 29, 2004       Leader:   Tom Ferguson (USFS)       13 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   FoOT work group: Built about 300 feet of new trail around section that had collapsed (just east of Crystal Prong creek (@ mile 177.2). Walked in from Flatside Pinnacle/ FR 94 (179.2
4.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  6 hours       Scenic Rating  3
sss:  Creek
This was a FoOT project under leadership of Tom Ferguson of ONF main office. OMH provided all the workers; Jessieville Ranger district provided the tools.
Built about 300 feet of trail in about six hours and declared victory after one day of a two day project.
Overnight notes:
Kris/Billy, Maria/Richard, Bobby/Donna, and David camped near Wilderness nights before and after.

Jan 8, 2004       Leader:   Jim Gifford       20 Hikers       OMH schedule
Route:   FR 124 to FR 122 [168.8 - 157.0]
11.8 miles           Difficulty Rating  2       Scenic Rating  3
sss:  Sugar Creek
Cold, damp day; walking in the clouds. Beautiful walk down to Sugar Creek.
Big crowd, so split the group and went opposite directions.

Dec 4, 2003       Leader:   Jim Gifford       19 Hikers       OMH schedule
Route:   FR 124 to FR 94 (Flatside Pinnacle) [168.8 - 179.2]
11.0 miles       Difficulty Rating  4       Scenic Rating  4
sss:  Forked Mountain Creek/waterfall site Crystal Prong Flatside Pinnacle
Waterfall:  (un-named) at mile 175
Perfect hiking day, clear with temps ranging from 45 - 55 max. Beautiful views of Forked Mountain. Waterfall running; lots of water in Crystal Prong (wet crossing for 2 people).
Accompanied by Corbett Dreary, who writes the "Taking Outside" feature for Ark Dem-Gaz. He wrote an article about this hike (with pictures) and about our club (and FoOT).

Nov 24, 2003        Leader:   Jim Gifford       11 Hikers       OMH schedule
Route:   FR94 Flatside Pinnacle to Hyw 9 [179.2 - 191.8]
12.6 miles       Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  3
sss:  Flatside Pinnacle
Spectacularly clear, cold morning. First really cold morning of season (25 deg at TH); Great view at start from Flatside Pinnacle. Ben & David shuttled cars.

Sept 4, 2003       Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       ?? Hikers          Trail Maintenance
Route:   FR94 (Flatside Pinnacle) to FR805 and back [179.2 - 179.8]
1.2 miles           Difficulty Rating  3 hours          
3 hours of badly needed trail clearing covered 1/2 mile

May 15, 2003          Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       5 Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Flatside wilderness [179.2 - 177.9] Cleaned 1.3 mile of trail + walkout + hike roundtrip to Pinnacle
3.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  3 hours      
sss:  Flatside Pinnacle
This completed a two month effort to clean up all 10.8 miles through Flatside Wilderness.
After trail work, hiked the spur trail up to Flatside Pinnacle and had lunch -- beautiful day, but muggy .

Apr 16, 2003          Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master          Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Flatside Wilderness from Grindstone Gap almost to creek [173.5 - @175] and hike out
3.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  5 hours 
Jim, Kris, and Martha worked as a team and covered 1 1/2 miles in five hours; Jim did lots of sawin' and haulin'; Kris and Martha did lots of loppin' .

April 9, 2003          Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master          Hikers          Trail Maintenance
Route:   Flatside wilderness from FR124 east [168.8 - @170]
3 miles          Difficulty Rating  4 hours
Spent four hours lopping and chopping .

Nov 14, 2002          Leader:   Jim Gifford          Hikers       OMH Thursday
Route:   FR124 [Flatside Wilderness] to Hwy 7 [168.8 - 160.4]
8.4 miles          Difficulty Rating  2          Scenic Rating  4
First casual hike through 2001 "Section from Hell" .

May 16, 2002       Leader:   Jim Gifford          Hikers          OMH Thursday
Route:   FSR 153 to Hwy 7 [165.4 - 160.4]
5.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  3       Scenic Rating  3
"Bonus Hike" on monthly meeting day (Martha gave us day off from trail maintenance) .

Oct 18, 2001          Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   "Section from Hell"; FR 124 - FR 153 (168.8 - 165.4)
3.4 miles          Difficulty Rating  4 hours 
Eight months later, we finally finish cleaning the "section from hell", a two mile stretch we first tackled in Mar 2001 after ice storm and gave up on because it was so devastated .

Apr 5, 2001             Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Ice Storm cleanup; North Fork Pinnacle Spur/FR 132 - FR 152 (Lake Sylvia) [184.8 - 187.4]
4.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  4 hours          Scenic Rating
Hopefully the last of the Ice Storm trips; this is hard work.

Mar 22, 2001          Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master          Hikers          Trail Maintenance
Route:   Ice Storm cleanup; FR 153 - Hwy 7 [165.4 - 160.4]
5.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  4 hours
A little easier than prior week.

            Mar 15, 2001             Leader:   Martha Doty, Task Master       Hikers       Trail Maintenance
Route:   Ice Storm clean-up / "Section from Hell" [168.8 - 168.4]
3.0 miles          Difficulty Rating  6 hours        Scenic Rating
The "section from hell". Following Christmas 2000 Ice storm; four two-man teams attempted to clear trail after Forest Service chain saw crews had been in. Devastation was such that we had difficulty finding the trail at the TH. Constant clearing of large trees on trail. After four hours each crew had progressed less than 1/2 mile; combined crews did about 1.5 miles total. Gave up due to a combination of futility and exhaustion.
Note: we returned in October 2001 to finish this section (See separate entry)