Ozark Highlands Trail

   The Ozark Highlands Trail is a unique Arkansas adventure.

   This last weekend Kirby(my brother), Malik, and I made our debut trip to Cherry Bend Entrance (section 2, Ozark Highlands Trail) near Cass, AR for an 8 mile backpacking hike. This section of the trail is supposed to be the most scenic, peaking at Hare Mountain, which overlooks the valley.

   I have always been in love with the outdoors and in October I started working at J.B. Hunt, which freed up my weekends. It was something I had not had in several years: a friday night, saturday, AND sunday free of work. Recently, with the addition of warmer weather, I started to plan a few weekends that I could spend in the beautiful Arkansas wilderness. We had perfect weather (high in the 60s and lows in the 40s). I could not have asked for a better window of time to go.

   On Friday night after work, the three of us jumped in the car with bags packed and headed to the trailhead. We arrived pretty late and hiked about 1.5 miles in the complete dark, reminding me of a time in college a few friends gathered at the Buffalo National Park for a late night backpacking excursion. By the time Kirby, Malik, and I had found a place to camp and got our tent set up it was 10:00 pm. We bypassed the opportunity for a late dinner in order to get a head start on sleep.

   The next morning came late with a headache in a cold sleeping bag. But, that is the extent of my complaints. The day was sunny and warming up fast. We stumbled out of our tent (some faster than others) and I started making banana pancakes for the fellas. Before you give me raving credit, let me first tell you that I had no skillet and no butter to keep the pancakes from sticking. I only had a pot, and by the time bananas and pancakes were added, cooked, and flipped (or tried to at least) what was left was banana pancake crumbles. However, as I stated to the guys, "its not how it looks but how it tastes that matters." They would later agree with the taste on their tongues.

   We quickly launched from breakfast to clean up camp mode...said a prayer and then away we went. I knew early on that completing the 12 mile journey, which was supposed to be a 6 mile one way trip up to Hare Mountain and back, was not going to happen. Hare Mountain is one of the highest points of the Ozarks. It has a scenic lookout with a ideal place to camp. I wanted to make it up on Saturday, stay the night, and then have a long, but downhill, trek back on Sunday. Enter Option B...

   Malik had never been backpacking before. He didn't understand the concept after repeated attempts to prepare him for what to expect. He couldn't seem to breakaway from the good ole American camping ideology; you know, stuff everything in your car, sleep by hundreds others, no hiking required, hotdogs over the fire type "adventure." So, I just accepted the fact that he would have to learn "backpacking" by trial and error. He did, in fact. I knew on saturday that we would not make the top. I sensed God saying, "you are not going to make the top. I know you want to, but just enjoy where you are right now and lets make this a win, win situation for everyone, especially Malik." So, I just accepted tilling around on the trail for part of the day. It turned out to be great!

   
   We found another great spot, set up camp, refilled our water suppy, and then took naps. We awoke for an early dinner around a freshly created fire. "Life doesn't get any better than this." Dinner was instant meals of Chicken and Rice, Lasagna, and Beef Stroganoff for the three of us followed by cheesecake for dessert.

   I had asked God what He wanted me to share at night around the fire. It immediately came to me...God spoke quickly. The whole day we had been talking about the importance of water; drinking it to keep hydrated, planning on where to find it, and refilling it with iodine tablets. So, when I asked God what He wanted them to hear (and myself as well), John 4 was where I turned to. We had a great discussion about Jesus and the woman at the well, as well as Jesus being the Living Water. It was neat to parallel how important water was to us all weekend and yet Jesus as the living water is even more crucial in our lives. Shortly thereafter we went to bed, but not without a random deer walking around our campfire in the distance that scared the crap me, allowing my mind to entertain the notion a bear was out to get us.

   Morning came with the sun and we were on the trail early headed back to the car.

   This weekend, the guys learned how to drink water from a stream (iodine, for sure), be responsible for their gear, prepare dinner, identify the right trails, set up/take down camp, and read a trail map. Terms they are now freshly introduced to: No Trace backpacking and B.I.F.F. (Bathroom In Forest Floor),

   We had a great time!

jmh