I started hiking the Ouachita Trail in December of 2022 (right before the new year) and now, two years and 8 trips later, this is the final section. This is a 223 mile trail and I "section hiked" it by doing small parts around 30 miles each and this is the final section. The weather didn't exactly cooperate. There was one rainy-day hike sandwiched in between two pretty nice days. I've identified the plants and animals as best I can but be sure to confirm for yourself before doing anything stupid like eating a mushroom. Let everyone know in the comments if you see any mistakes as it may be helpful to others.
The Ouachita mountains are formed by a thick succession of highly deformed Paleozoic strata constituting the Ouachita Fold and Thrust Belt, one of the important orogenic belts of North America.[3] The Ouachitas continue in the subsurface to the northeast, where they make a poorly understood connection with the Appalachians and to the southwest, where they join with the Marathon uplift area of West Texas.
0:00 Intro
2:52 Starting my hike
4:52 I finally quit babbling for a bit
9:57 Patterson Branch water crossings
15:42 Red Bluff Branch Creek water crossing
20:04 Camping with a view at 197.2
24:49 Day 2
28:15 Power-lines
30:46 Maumelle River
35:42 Lake Maumelle
37:44 Walking down highway 10
41:49 The water crossings are getting out of control
45:06 Camping in the rain at 209
47:45 Day 3
52:46 A walking lunch
56:09 Bushwacking to Lake Maumelle for an epic view
58:03 Road hiking highway 300
1:01:10 Finally back in the woods
1:03:54 Finale and outro
Music from YouTube Audio Library:
1812 Overture (by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
Serenade, Op 6 (by Josef Suk)
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