Another early start after another warm night. The first few miles were a steady climb and I did my best to pace myself to avoid overheating. Yet within a mile I found myself panting once again. Not from the exertion but from the heat.
The trail leveled off as I approached the Cherry Bend TH on highway 23, whose roar of traffic was audible for miles. Before the trailhead I took a short detour to a built rock shelter, supposedly occupied in the past by loggers.
Rock shelter in the hillside
The interior looked like it had been arranged as a living space.
In the back corner was a spring, but it was nothing but damp mud in this season of drought.
Fortunately I found some water cached when I got to the trailhead. I took a liter, which left me with 5L to make the 16 miles to Indian Creek. Should be enough.
The trail wound around through the forest, crossed a gravel road favored by ATVers, then headed up to the OHT high point of Hare Mountain, some 2300 above sea level.
A snake sighting was the most notable event of the climb.
Once up on the ridge however, there were some pretty nice views.
The high point on the right is Mt Magazine, highest point in Arkansas (2753 ft)
The view took in Mt Magazine, the state high point, which is on the other side of the Arkansas River.
An even better feature was the cooler air and strong breezes at the top. The trail followed the ridgetop for a mile or so, and for once the hiking was actually fun and pleasant.
But all good things come to an end, The trail began dropping down toward Herrod’s Creek, affording one last good viewpoint along the way
It got hotter and more humid as I descended, and of course the breeze went away also. I was soon drenched in sweat again, even though going downhill in the shade.
I made camp at an undistinguished site in the forest. I sent a text by InReach to Yancey Gill, who was holding my resupply near Lick Branch at mile 55, giving him my ETA the next day and asking how to meet up. Also, as he was my shuttle ride back to Fayetteville, that I was thinking of bailing if the weather did not cool down.
A couple days of bad weather is just something you expect on any long hike. But it’s been 4 days of beastly hot hiking. If the Garmin forecast is to be believed, there is no relief in sight. At some point you just have to say “this isn’t working”.