Womble Trip Report - My Failed Attempt

Well, there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news is: The first 14 miles of trail is in great shape. Wide open, no overgrowth, and lots of nice quiet solitude and beautiful views.

The bad news is: I hurt myself on day one and pulled out after only a day and a half on the trail. Sigh...

So anyway, the report:

I parked my vehicle at North Fork Lake, which is south of Oden and west of Mount Ida, and then shuttled up to the NE end of the trail. I started out where Tim Ernst starts his description in his Arkansas Hiking Trails Book, which is actually 1.5 miles north of the start of the Womble Trail, off Highway 27, 2 miles north of Story, then a couple of miles down FR 149. I got started late, around 10:30 in the morning.

As I mentioned, the first 1.5 miles is on the OT and a lot of this section is UPHILL. I'm way out of shape and this part of the trail kicked me in the pants. The trail was in good shape however, and provided some nice views.



Where the Womble and the OT split, there's a hard-to-miss sign.



The trail starts downhill a little ways here but it climbs up and down quite a bit for the first few miles. A lot of the first 6 or so miles (including the OT section) are quite rocky. I have good ankles but I was still glad to be wearing my Asolo Boots. Lots of baseball-sized ankle rollers along here.

And some poo...any guesses as to who left this little present along the trail?



It had rained quite a bit two days before I headed out, so there were quite a few stream crossings. I would guess that probably 2/3 of them might not be flowing if there hadn't been any rain; needless to say though, I didn't worry too much about running out of water.

Unfortunately, one of these stream crossings is what ended my trip early. I was stone-stepping across one of the wider streams around mile marker 5 or so (6.5, including the OT section) and one of the stones rolled out from under my right foot. My leg shot out from under me to the side (imagine a fat cheerleader with a goatee doing a half-split) and in trying to catch myself, I jammed my hip up pretty bad. I didn't fall down, but I was hurting pretty good. I took a break and figured it would work itself out.

Luckily, the next couple of miles were pretty level so I limped on to Highway 88 just a little before mile marker 8 (9.5 overall), then backtracked 1/4 mile to make camp next to a decent stream off to the East side of the trail. (As a side note: Tim's map shows this stream to the West side of the trail, but it's not--it's on the EAST side) It's pretty wooly off the trail there, but there are some nice open spots near the stream if you can find them. I had a beautiful little creekside campsite to help soothe my aching limb and refill my water supply. Also, I had "Chicken Diablo Rice" from Freezerbagcooking.com for dinner. (Go HERE and scroll 2/3 down the page for the recipe. I had it without the freeze-dried corn and it was good stuff.)



I decided to carry only my Tech Blanket and my Patagonia Capilene 2 Baselayer, and I stayed pretty warm, though I would've been a little more comfortable in my sleeping bag when the temperature reached its coolest early in the morning. You live, you learn.

Once I got going again in the morning, my hip started bothering me immediately. I figured it would loosen up as I walked, so I limped on.

Upon crossing Highway 88, I realized that Tim's book says that the trail crosses 88, which made me think it went straight across--but it doesn't. You have to TURN LEFT onto Highway 88, cross the bridge, and the trail continues to the RIGHT. You can't see this from where the trail emerges. FYI.

After crossing 88, the next mile or so is nice and gives you the feel of Really Deep Woods.



A little passed mile marker 9, you climb out a short distance and you're suddenly on a ridge overlooking a huge swath of the Ouachita River. Also, this is the first place I felt an actual breeze during my entire hike. Much of the trail is in pretty deep woods, and I bet it would be a HOT hike during warmer months. Anyway, it's a beautiful view up here!



This picture doesn't do justice to the distance it is down to the water. This is a VERY steep drop down to the water. You don't want to lose your footing here!

Once you reach this ridge, it climbs along the ridge's edge to the top--it's long and steep; tiring for a fat man. This climb aggravated my dinged-up hip pretty bad.

After this climb, the trail starts winding back down and levels out for several miles. The hike through this area would've been a real pleasure had I not been in pain. Here's a big mushroom I saw along the way:



And here's another one of those side notes: I had a hard time finding mile markers along the way. Granted, I wasn't exactly looking for them all the time, but I only happened to see a few of them. Here's what they look like:



The plate is only about 3 inches in diameter and they don't always stick out plainly.

So, after I got to the Highway 27 crossing at about noon on Day 2, I realized that I wasn't enjoying my trip much with the pain in my hip. I'm all for being a tough guy and all that "Damn the torpedos" bravado, but I wasn't out there to prove anything; I was hurting just a little more than I wanted to be, so I threw in the towel. I'll go back soon and continue from where I left off.

So far, the Womble is more than I expected. To Be Continued...

Jay,

I enjoyed your trip report. Hated that you got hurt. Some time when you are over here, Horseshoe Bend or on the trail with us Janet will have to tell you her tail of a trail crossing across Katy Creek when she got injured. Sufice it to say that it was real bad! Any way we all have tails to tell. By the way we are going in to do trail work on the Buckey next weekend. That is if my Sat. game gets canceled and it looks like it is going to be canceled. Any way let me know.

OH

bummer dude.. nice pics though... hope all gets better for you.

Nice trip report. We need the good reports with the bad.

Lew

Great report, just sorry to hear about the sore hip. Hope it gets to feeling better soon.
UL