Boxley-Pruitt Trip Report

Hey guys:
Lew and I just got back from doing the BRT end-to-end and I wanted to share the details of our trip.

Monday, October 20

We left the Boxley Trailhead at 8:30 am to a great, cool sunny day. Our goal for the first day was to reach Steel Creek campgrounds by that afternoon. We expected to have a fairly dry trip, as it hadn't rained in the area in some time, so, since the campgrounds along the way still had running water, our plan was to camp at Steel Creek and Erbie and to carry extra water in between. It's a good thing that we did, as there was almost no water in the creeks after Steel Creek.

The hike to Steel Creek went great, although we ran into 3 guys from Kansas who weren't having it so good. One gentleman was having some pretty bad back problems and the other two were having to shuttle all three heavy packs while he walked along. The man with the bad back had also broken a shoulder strap on his external frame pack, so that only added to their problems. They said they were going to be dropping a lot of their gear at Ponca, before moving on to Pruitt. We wished them luck and headed on towards Steel Creek.

We made good time the rest of the way to Steel Creek, passing only one other hiker along the way and arrived in camp a little before 4:00 that afternoon.

Since the forecast was for little chance of rain, we decided to forego the tarps and used just our ponchos as shelters. This setup worked great for the conditions that we had the first night.



Tuesday, October 21

We woke up at 6:00 to a foggy morning. After a quick breakfast, we headed out at 7:15. This was going to be our longest and hardest day. Our plan was to hike to Erbie, making the day's mileage around 15 miles. We hoped to make Kyle's Landing by noon, take a break, and then continue on.

The morning went great, with a fantastic view of Steel Creek from the trail, about 1.5 miles out of camp.





We met another hiker, from Laurel, Mississippi, around 10:00. He was hiking out of Kyle's Landing to Steel Creek and then turning around and hiking back to Kyle's Landing the next day. He had over-estimated the availability of water and was running low, and with 5 1/2 miles to go, was going to run dry long before that. So, since we were both carrying an extra liter of water and with only a mile and a half to go before we got to Kyle's, Lew topped him off with his spare water.

We arrived at Kyle's Landing at 11:15 and took a well-earned break. We took advantage of the running water and cameled up and filled our water bottles and again filled our spare water bladders with about 1 liter. After eating, drinking, and resting, we were off again at 12:05.

For those of you who have hiked the BRT, I'm sure you remember the first climb out of Kyle's on the way to Erbie. That one will kick your butt, especially after the climbs we had that morning, and it did. But once we leveled off, the legs quit feeling like rubber, and we got back on our pace after awhile. There were some spots along the entire trail that offered some great views, but with leaf-on, they were few and far between.

We arrived at Erbie at 3:30 that afternoon, with clouds on our heels. We opted for the tarps, due to the chance of rain, and then settled in for the evening.




Wednesday, October 22

We were up this morning at 6:30 and were greeted again with a cloudy, foggy morning. We left camp at 7:45 and shortly afterward the clouds burned off and we were treated to a great sunny day. We clicked off the miles at a good pace and arrived at Pruitt at 11:20, after a short stop at Ozark to finish off our spare water.

The day was capped off with the traditional stop at Whattaburger in Russellville for a well-earned double hamburger and fries.

Anyone wanting to do the BRT needs to remember that they turn off the water at all the campsites as of November 1st, and with the dry creek conditions the way they are, I would highly recommend carrying at least an extra liter of water between established campsites, where the trail gets you close to the river to replenish your supply. Don't count on the creeks for resupply, until the area gets a lot of rain.

UL

Great trip report! I'm glad you guys fared better than me.

Thanks for the report!

That was a really good trip report. I've been wanting to get over to the Buffalo for a while. Now I really want to get out there!

Thanks for the great trip report and the pics. That is some beautiful country!

OH

What a great sounding trip. My friends took me to whataburger a couple of years ago, and that is great incentive to finish a hike. I'm glad that everthing went well and that yal had fun.

Dwight

UL said it all! It was a great trip. I learned on this trip that you can fly when you are carrying a light load.

Lew

Hey UL....I was listening to Southeastern Backpackers podcast tonight and the Alabama boys referred to Jim in Arkansas, then mentioned he like Ula packs and I wondered if it was you! Just got on their website and clicked the link in their show notes and sure enough...
Glad to see others are enjoying their podcast as much as me. I really like those guys, they put on a good show.

Yeh, I've been listening to those guys for over a year and had sent them an invitation back in the fall to come hike some of the trails here in Arkansas. The invitation still stands, but they haven't taken me up on it yet.
UL

I've been listening to them about that long as well. When I did start chatting with them, I mentioned how nice the trails are here in the Natural State! I invited them to come over too. If they do come over, I'd love to meet up with you all on the trail. Whether or not the AL boys make it, I still want to meet up with the ARB forums members on the trail. I just hope I land a job soon that will allow me to get back on the trail!

The Audubon Society of Central Arkansas’ June field trip was to Cook’s Lake
on Saturday, June 12. Cook’s Lake is located approximately 15 miles east of
Stuttgart. Fifteen birders made the trip, braving hot and humid temperatures
in the mid 90’s. At Cooks’ Lake, we were met by Don McSwain, facility
manager, and Tana Beasley, education specialist, at the Potlatch Conservation
Education Center. Our group first walked the trail that runs along the top of
the bluff of the oxbow lake. Great-crested Flycatchers were numerous, as were
Prothonitary Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Summer Tanagers, Indigo Buntings,
and Eastern Wood-Pewees. At various intervals, we came across Red-eared
Sliders, semi-aquatic turtles, who had made the long climb up the bluff and
were laying eggs in mud holes they had shaped on the forest floor. We
spotted a total of 30 bird species along the trail.

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