This is a scenic 6.5-mile loop which begins at the Big Brushy Recreation Area (Montgomery County), about 30 miles east of Mena, Arkansas.

The trail begins at the back of the recreation area and makes a counterclockwise loop. The last 3.1 miles of the loop are on Section 4 of the Ouachita Trail.

There are 3 main parts to the hike. This first is the 2.5 mile hike on the low part of the Brushy Creek Trail. (The crossing of Forest Road E15 is in the middle of this part.)

The second is the uphill climb on the rest of the Brushy Creek Trail up to the Ouachita Trail. There is a half-mile walk up Forest Road 813A. Then there is a steep half-mile climb up the last part of Brushy Creek Trail.

To complete the loop, the last part of the hike is a 4.1-mile hike to the east on the Ouachita Trail back to the recreation area.

Getting to Big Brushy Recreation Area

To get to Big Brushy from the northwest or southwest, turn off of Highway 71 at Y City and head east on Highway 270. After about 16 miles, you will see Big Brushy Recreation Area on your right.

If coming from the east, the recreation area will be on your left, about 30 miles past Hot Springs.

Shortly after entering the recreation area, there is a fork. Take a right, and then head to the back area near the pit toilets.

The Hike – Brushy Creek Trail: Start to FR813A

This hike starts with the Brushy Creek Trail which begins at the back of the recreation area loop by the pit toilets. There may not be any signage here. Look for a well-worn path.

Watch for white blazes. Most of the trail is well-marked with white blazes.

The first 2 miles of the trail go along a pretty level area following Big Brushy Creek. The creek and its branches were very scenic.

Unless you hike during a dry time, be prepared for wet crossings. When I last did this hike on June 11, 2022, we had 7 or 8 wet crossings. There had been significant rain earlier that week.

The streams are beautiful though. The crossings are on Big Brushy Creek and various tributaries and branches.

A note of caution. Fording a stream can be dangerous. Don’t cross a stream where it is more than waist deep or if you can’t see the bottom.

This part of the hike is largely in a fairly flat low-lying area. A lot of it is rocky. (I think rocky trails are pretty cool.)

Although quite a few people do this trail, on our June hike, there were a number of areas of moderate overgrowth. Most of it was not too bad though. With few exceptions, the trail was pretty easy to follow with plenty of white blazes.

There are 2 road intersections to be prepared for. The first is at around 1.3 miles when the trail crosses Forest Road E15 (dirt road). Depending on the overgrowth, it can be easy to get confused here and not realize the trail continues straight across the road. (This was tricky for our hike in June. We thought this was the place to turn left on the forest road. It took awhile to realize the mistake.)

Here on E15, Highway 270 is only about 700 feet over to your right. Again, do not not turn left here. Just look for where the trail continues on the other side of the road.

After the E15 crossing, the trail continues on very gradually heading uphill until around the 2 mile area when it starts noticeably climbing into some higher elevation areas.

But if you are hiking it during wet times, the stream crossings are not over until you get to Forest Road 813A.

FR813A to Ouachita Trail

At about 2.5 miles, you arrive at Forest Road 813A (dirt road). Make a left turn here. There is probably no signage here, but you should see some white blazes.

The next half-mile is a mostly uphill walk on 813A. It is pretty, but not as interesting as what follows.

The steepest part of this hike starts at around 3 miles. This is a very scenic and interesting part of the hike. When I hiked it in June, there were some moderate overgrowth but it was not in terrible shape. It was not difficult to follow with the blazes. (On the contour map, I have this labelled as the start of the Mountain Top Trail, but actually I think this is just a continuation of the Brushy Creek Trail.)

The elevation range is about 500 feet for this trail. The majority of that climb is during this steep climb.

I love the physical exertion involved in climbing hills, the changing views, and the varied topography of hill trails as they go up, down, and along hillsides.

Ouachita Trail Junction to End

At around 3.5 miles, the white blazes end as the trail intersects with the Ouachita Trail. (Look for the blue blazes.) From here, turn left to complete the loop and head toward the recreation area. (The Ouachita Trail segment from here back to the beginning includes mile points 92, 93, and 94. They may not all be labelled.)

For the next 1.5 miles or so, the trail has some up-and-downhill climbing. Then there is one of the highlights of the hike. At around OT Mile Point 93 is a vista area with a great south-facing view of the Ouachita Mountains and the Ouachita River Valley.

After the vista, the hike heads mostly downhill. The last half mile or so is just a walk along Forest Road 6 back to the campground. This walk is quite close to Big Brushy Creek which is very pretty when the water is flowing.

Of course, there are a lot more open views during leaf-off than during leaf-on. There are a lot of really nice views on the Ouachita Trail part during leaf-off.

Final Notes

There is quite a bit of climbing once you get past the low-lying creek and stream area. The elevation range on the loop is about 550 feet.

There was a fair amount of overgrowth in a number of places when we did our June 11, 2022 hike which is not unusual for he time of year. Most of then time when I have done the Ouachita Trail part of this hike, it has been in pretty good condition.

Big Brushy Recreation Area is a day-use area. It used to feature camping, but it no longer does due to the significant flooding risk.

I would estimate that I had AT&T cell signal about 60% of the time. (Signal tends to be better in the higher elevations.)

Most of these photos are from our June 11, 2022 hike with a few from June 27 and September 5, 2015.

Photo Gallery

Click below for full-screen photo gallery of these and other photos from the hikes.

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Map

The post Brushy Creek Trail Loop (Ouachita Forest) – 7 mi appeared first on Arklahoma Hiker.

This is a cool 2.1-mile segment of the Ouachita Trail Section 4 that is pretty accessible, not difficult climbing, and a good length for a day hike (4.2 miles as out-and-back). It is in both Scott and Montgomery Counties, a little bit east of Y City.

And the rocks and boulders along the way are a treat.

Getting to the Forest Road 48 Trailhead.

There is a trailhead with a small parking area right next to where the trail crosses Forest Road 48.

To get there from the northwest or southwest, turn off of Highway 71 at Y City and head east on Highway 270.

From there you go about 11.7 miles and then turn off the highway on the right onto a gravel road. (Don’t expect any signage here.) This is Scott County Road 375 aka Coachlite Road aka Buck Knob Road.

After about 1.8 miles, there is a split where the Coachlite/Buck Knob Road continuing straight and Forest Road 48 goes to the left. It is just before this split that you should see the FR 48 trailhead on your left. That is the place to park for this day hike.

The Hike

The Ouachita Trail crosses Forest Road 48 near this trailhead (probably within 50 yards). It was pretty well marked when I last walked it.

This segment goes up and then along the north side of most of Rockhouse Mountain. It starts (on the west end) in Scott County, but most of it is in Montgomery County.

There is definitely some climbing on this segment but not a huge amount. The west end of this segment is a little over 1,400 feet above sea level. The east end is just under 1,400 feet. The high point is about 1,630 feet.

All the times I have done this segment it has been nearly or completely leaf-off. There are some pretty views to the north and northeast between the trees during leaf off.

Once you are in the higher elevation area, at times you can see a large west-east ridge to the north which is Mill Creek Mountain. Further on, to the northeast, you can see part of Brushy Creek Mountain fairly close. (The trail heads to that mountain as it goes further to the east.)

I am a big fan of hills and rocks on trails. This segment is not that rocky, but there are a number of nice parts of it with rocks lining the trail and also with medium and large boulders near the trail. These are very enjoyable.

At about 1.7 miles into this segment, the trail makes a left turn and heads downhill (northward) off of Rockhouse Mountain. For the last quarter-mile or so, the trail is on a road trace.

This stretch ends when you get to the junction with Forest Road 813. Watch for the signage. (There is also a sign indicating a Rockhouse Trail. Sometime I would like to check that one out.)

So if you are they hiking it like I did, this is your turnaround spot.

Final Notes

As always on the Ouachita Trail, follow the blue blazes.

The trail was in good condition (thanks to the FoOT volunteer trail maintainers) when we did our hikes in November 2021 and January 2022. I’m not sure the mile markers were all in place, but it was well blazed and pretty easy to follow.

I had AT&T cell signal about 80% of the time.

These photos are mostly from my November 22, 2018 hike. A few are from my more recent hike on January 29, 2022.

Photo Gallery

Click below for full-screen photo gallery of these images from my hikes on November 22, 2018 and January 29, 2022.

Map

Last revised: 2-21-2022.

The post Ouachita Trail: 88.2-90.3 – FR 48 to FR 813 on Rockhouse Mtn. (Section 4) appeared first on Arklahoma Hiker.

Last Saturday I had an eventful hike on the Ouachita Trail. I was on Section 4, just east of Highway 71 on East Fourche Mountain.
Some hot hiking, lots of thunder and lightning, and an hour-long thunder shower. And I saw a bear.

One of my goals is to day hike the entire Ouachita Trail in pieces. So far (including Saturday’s hike), I’ve done about 30 percent of the 223-mile trail.

I was looking the other day at what to hike next in Section 4. There is a stretch that runs about 16 miles from Highway 71 on the west side (mile 68.1), across East Fourche Mountain, to an intersection with Forest Road 76 (MM 85). (Fourche Mountain has a split at the Foran Gap/Highway 71 area. For simplicity, I’m just referring to the eastern part as East Fourche Mountain.)

I was wondering how I would be able to day hike this area since I usually can’t do more than ten miles a day and any section I hike I would have to hike again on the way back out.

The Section 4 map in Tim Ernst’s book doesn’t show any real access points in that stretch. He mentions some kind of 4-wheeler road that is around the intersection with Turner Creek Gap (mile 79.9). I was hoping that on this hike I could make it to from around MM 85 to Turner Creek Gap (to see what that “road” looks like) and back, about 10 miles total.

I didn’t quite make it.

Morning Hiking

To get to the intersection of the OT and FR 76 (aka County Road 70), I got on FR 76 via highway 71, between Mena and Y City. It’s then about 11 miles or so to the OT intersection. The easiest place I saw to park my car (on the side of the road) was about a half-mile east where FR 76A meets 76. So I parked my car there and started walking west. The forest road here actually is part of the trail for a while. (You can tell by the blue blazes.)

So the first half-mile was actually just walking on FR 76. Then the trail splits off from the road to the right pretty close to mile marker 85.

For the most part, this part of the trail is along a ridge on East Fourche Mountain. There is some up-and-down hiking, but not a lot. The total elevation variation is around 250 feet.

Even though it is at a pretty high elevation (around 2000 feet), during leaf-on there aren’t many good views of the surrounding area.

The mile or so next to FR 76 is a pretty easy walk. Much of it seems to be a former forest road.

Unfortunately, there were a number of stretches further on that had lots of overgrowth, including thorn vines. Thorn vines aren’t much fun to walk through in shorts.

Summer Hiking

For the first half of my hike, the temps were in the 90’s and approaching 100 degrees. There was a period of an hour or two where it got a little cooler thanks to some clouds in the area and some showers not too far away.

You might be wondering why I was even hiking in late July, especially with the extremely hot summer we have been having.

Summer in Arkansas and Oklahoma can be difficult hiking weather. But I refuse to stay indoors for four months. Even in the summer, often it won’t be too bad in the morning.

But you can still hike in hot weather while having fun and being safe. As long as I prepare and don’t overdo it, hot weather hiking is still more fun for me than not hiking at all. So I check the weather. I use sunscreen. I make sure I have plenty of fluids. I’m careful not to push myself too much.

And I enjoy it.

My First Bear Sighting

At about a quarter-mile or so past Mile Marker 81, I thought I saw something up ahead that looked kind of like a dark furry dog on the right side of the trail. I was looking to see what it was. When it crossed over to the other side of the trail, then I could tell that it was a bear cub.

At that point I stopped. I had never seen any kind of bear out in the wild before although I knew that there are bears in the Ouachita National Forest. Part of me wanted to stay and watch or get closer to get a really good look at it. But then I remembered that one of the worst situations to get into in while hiking is to end up between a mama bear and her cubs.

So I turned around and headed back.

I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to make it all the way to Turner Creek Gap. I was probably only about a half-mile or so short of it.

But I’ll be able to go back another time and finish that part.

Rain

On the way back, there was even more excitement for me as a thunderstorm came through. At first it was just a lot of lightning and thunder. Then we got the rain. It was a pretty nice rain shower that lasted for about 45 minutes or so. At first, I didn’t even put my poncho on because the rain felt so nice. The rain did a lot to help cool down the temperatures. It was great.

It made the hike back much more pleasant even after the rain stopped. The temperatures were not nearly as hot, and I felt much cooler, as if I had taken a nice swim in the pool.

I’m referring to this part of the Ouachita Trail as “04-F.”

As usual, I have posted some photos I took on the trail as well as the GPX file I made with my GPS.

Photo Gallery

Click below for full-screen photo gallery.

Map

Ouachita Trail 04: MM81 to FR76A (81.0 to 85.5)
Location	Polk County, Arkansas
Hike Length/Type	4.7 miles each way. (9.4 miles out and back.) Blue blazes.
Difficulty	Moderate (3 of 5).
Other Permitted Usage	Mountain bikes.
Gpx file by Mike	Link
Date Hiked	July 31, 2011
Directions	Google Maps Directions to the FR76/FR76A Junction
Official Info	(479) 394-2382 (Mena/Oden Ranger Dist.) USFS Website FoOT Website

[Last revised: 5-15-2018]

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