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The Ouachita (pronounced WAA-shee-tuh) National Recreation Trail, or the OT, is a 223-mile blue-blazed long-distance trail through Ouachita National Forest spanning from Talimena State Park in Talihina, Oklahoma, to Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock, Arkansas.

Almost entirely encompassed by trees with momentary views of the rolling Ouachita mountains, the trail does have over twenty well-maintained shelters and numerous tent sites along the way. Plus, no registration or permits are required to hike any part of the OT, making it easier to design an easy jump-on-jump-off adventure.

Most backpackers generally thru-hike the trail west to east, beginning the journey at Talimena State Park. This is due to the western part of the trail being quite rocky with significant elevation gains that require slower hiking speeds. Plus, the trail can have lots of thorny vines and overgrowths.

They usually spend 2-3 weeks on the trail averaging about 12-13 miles/day with a couple of zero (non-hiking) days scattered throughout the trek. But for us slower-paced hikers, that time frame/mileage is a bit overzealous.

It's easier, and in my opinion, and more enjoyable for slower-paced hikers to break the trail into sections using the same time frame.

And since I'm not a fast hiker, mileage usually hovers around 8-9 miles; I section hike a long-distance trail when I backpack a mountainous region if time is a factor.

Getting To Queen Wilhelmina And The Ouachita Trail

The Hiking

Day 0 - Travel Day

Getting up before dawn, I seem to do this a lot since I live in Houston and have to drive all day just to leave the state; I quickly eat breakfast, then start up the Jeep and head north to Arkansas. I'll drop off my food resupplies with my end-point shuttle driver, drive to Queen Wilhelmina State Park (QWSP), meet with my backpacking buddies, and park the Jeep.

But like any trip, if something can go wrong, it will. I realized scheduling went awry upon arriving at my food drop location. I miscommunicated the dates for my trip. Sometimes you have to laugh and roll with it.

After driving almost 9 hours, I park the Jeep at QWSP, fill out the hiker’s info at the front desk within the lodge (it's free to park your car here), jump in the shuttle, and head to the Oklahoma/Arkansas State Line. It’s not a long drive, about 6 minutes down the road, but it’s not to meet your shuttle driver face-to-face.

And after such a long travel day, I know I won't have far to hike to get to my first camping spot, State Line Shelter. It's only about a .3-mile hike downhill.

After taking a plethora of selfies and videos, we head toward the shelter for the night.

Day 1

Getting a not so early start to the day, our alarm didn't sound at the intended time; we quickly ate breakfast, broke camp, and hit the trail. 

We have to reach QWSP by noon, where some additional friends will join us on the trail for a few days.

With the best intentions of making it to QWSP by noon, it's a 5-mile uphill trek from the shelter; there was too much temptation to stop along the trail and take pictures.

There were delicate spring blooms just beginning to appear, the Pioneer Cemetery with stone dating back to the 1800s, and vista points overlooking the countryside. 

Arriving at QWSP at about 12:45 pm, I viewed my friends enjoying the sunshine and having lunch next to the train station.

It felt good to sit down, take my boots off, chat about the hike up to the park, and enjoy my lunch in the cool spring breeze.

After lunch, we continued toward our campsite, Black Fork Mountain Shelter.

From the QWSP Lodge, the trail merges with Lover's Leap Trail. Take the north trailhead of Lover's Leap; the south trailhead is a steep, rocky incline before connecting back with the OT. And there are enough inclines along the trail. There's no need to add another.

Running out of steam, daylight, and having already hiked roughly 10 miles, we decided to stop at m56.3 and camp for the night.

The campsite has a fire ring, holds 4 tents with some room to spare, and is a few hundred yards away from a water source.

After dinner, we checked the weather report, and rain showers were on their way. This was the first time I had used my tent in the rain, and I wondered how well it would do.

Saying goodnight, we retired to get a much-needed rest from the day; we had another long day ahead of us. But about 11pm, I was awoken by the sound of rain hitting my tent. It was such a soothing sound, but I kept my fingers crossed it would stop before we had to pack up camp in the morning.

Day 2

Waking up early to the diminishing sounds of the rain, I quickly eat breakfast consisting of yummy strawberry Pop-Tarts and break camp.

Leaving camp, we quickly reach Black Fork Mountain Trailhead and are not too far from Black Fork Shelter. Our next stop is Foran Gap Shelter.

I've already completed the area between Black Fork Shelter and Foran Gap. Due to the elevation changes and rocky terrain, it's a rough and slow hiking section. So instead of hiking this section again, I'm shuttling ahead to Foran Gap Trailhead to wait for everyone.

I have a few hours to kill, so I make myself a cup of tea, unpack my wet tent, lay it flat so it can dry in the sun peeking through the rapidly moving clouds, and talk to fellow hikers passing by.

Just as I'm repacking my pack, my shuttle driver, Mike, pulls into the parking area and tossing my bag into the truck's bed, we make our way to Foran Gap TH.

I still have another couple of hours to wait before anyone shows up; I spread out my tent's footprint and nap in the warm sunlight. Now I know why my pup likes to lounge in the sun. It feels fantastic on a crisp spring day.

About 4 pm, I head over to the stream, roughly 1/2 miles from the trailhead, refill my water bottles, and head back to the trailhead. It's not long before 2 of my group arrive, and we sit to wait for the others before continuing another mile to Foran Gap Shelter.

With the light quickly fading, we get a message from the other party members saying they will be camping in a tent site a couple of miles from the trailhead and will meet me at the shelter in the morning.

So the 3 of us at the trailhead quickly hike up the Foran Gap Shelter, where we find some greatly appreciated trail magic. There's something about eating fresh fruit when you've been on the trail a few days.

It's another beautiful night in the Ouachita Mountains. As we sit by the campfire, we watch the stars appear and start identifying the different constellations. We continue on to Turner Gap Shelter in the morning but won't need to wake up early since we have to wait for our friends to arrive.

Day 3

Enjoying a leisurely morning waiting for my friend to arrive, I walk around the shelter admiring the fragrant blossoms just beginning to appear on the trees. Won't be long before the trail is covered in green.

The other 2 members of the group arrive at about 9:30 am. They started hiking to Foran Gap Shelter a couple of hours before sunrise.

After a one-hour rest break for them to have their morning coffee, rest their legs, and share who they met and camped with the previous night, we continued on our way.

The trail is definitely getting easier to walk. There are fewer rocks to navigate around and more pine duff, allowing us to go a smidge faster.

We've been on the trail for 3 full days, and like clockwork, my hiker's hunger kicks in.

Stopping to refill our water bottles from a well-flowing stream, I grab a snack but what I really want to do is eat everything in my food bag.

Since my hiking buddies have been on their feet since about 4:30 am and are beat, we check the FarOut app to look for a campsite nearby.

And even though it will be a short hiking day for me, about 3.5 miles, I don't mind. My knee is starting to act up, and it could use the rest.

Finding a campsite only a few hundred feet further ahead, m72.4, we set up camp, lounged around, and discussed what time we wanted to start hiking in the morning.

We had to reconfigure our plans since we were about 8 miles from Turner Spring Shelter and over 12 miles from our shuttle pick-up point. After restructuring our itinerary and using the Garmin InReach, we sent a message to Mike, our shuttle driver, to let him know of our updated plans.

We have to get a very early start in the morning to make it to our meeting spot before 3pm. The gal pals still had to drive home.

Day 4

It seemed like I had only just closed my eyes when my alarm started the increasingly loud annoying chirp to let me know it was time to wake up.

It's still dark outside, and the sun won't rise for another couple of hours. Quickly getting dressed, shoving my sleeping bag into its stuff sack, rolling my air mattress, and placing everything back in my pack, I climbed out of my tent.

With my headlamp on, illuminating the area around me as I break down my tent, I glance into the inky black distance, and a reflection catches my eye. I flash my headlamp toward the gleaming object and see about 10-12 sets of eyes staring at us.

A herd of deer was making their way across the mountain not 30' from our campsite. It was amazing to see the eyes slowly floating in the distance and into the darkness but kind of unnerving at the same time.

Grabbing a PowerBar out of my bear bag, I place it in my pocket and finish getting all my gear back into my backpack. We need to be on the trail no later than 5 am.

Heading out into the darkness a few minutes after 5am, crossing a small stream, I squeaked at the intense flapping of what sounded like enormous wings overhead. I'm sure the bird was more huge in my head than it actually was.

By this point, my knee is starting to give me some trouble. We have another 6 miles yet to go before our pick-up location, and I'm thankful the trail has fewer rocks to navigate around.

Stopping for a 30-minute break and breakfast, we enjoy the view before us. When the trees leaf you won't be able to see the mountains in the distance.

We reach Turner Gap Shelter by 12:30 and take off our packs to rest our legs for an hour. We've been going at a pretty good clip, and my knee is screaming for me to stop. After making coffee, we message our shuttle driver we are about a mile from the pick-up spot.

Meeting our shuttle driver at the junctions of Logging Road 7172 and CR 70, he takes us back to QWSP. I'll be taking a few days here to rest my knee, and the gal pals are heading home.

Days 5-6

I'll spend the rest of day 5 and all of day 6 relaxing at the QWSP with a few other hikers. Taking a zero-day will give me time to do some laundry, lighten more pack weight by reconfiguring a few items, and rest my knee.

And it's so lovely to sleep in a comfy bed surrounded by cloud-like pillows. Don't get me wrong, I do love spending time in the outdoors and my REI AirRails Plus Self-Inflating Sleeping Pad. It's the one luxury item I bring on every adventure. But sleeping in an actual bed when you've been on the trails for days feels exquisite. 

Although severe rainstorms are expected for the area, I don't want to head home just yet. I want to spend my birthday on the trails. And a few ladies, not wanting to go off-trail just yet, decided to join me. 

Day 7&8 - It’s my birthday

It's early morning, and we head off to Bluebonnet Café. We'll park here and shuttle to our starting point. But our plans are once again thwarted.

The previous night's rainstorm has all the creeks swollen and too dangerous to try to cross. It's even knocked out all power to the Bluebonnet.

After talking to Lori, the Bluebonnet Cafe owner, and shuttle driver, we learn too much water is flowing. But not to be deterred, we make a new plan. We decide to do an out and back from Hwy 27 Trailhead to Uncle Bill Potter Shelter. 

This will be my last night on the trail, and I'm sorry to see my adventure cut short. Besides the height and water flow of the creeks and rivers, my knee is becoming too painful to keep going.

But at least I'll wake up on my birthday to a beautiful view, the murmur of a flowing creek, the sound of birdsongs, and new friends/backpacking buddies.

One of the gal pals even provided the celebratory libation, my new favorite evening hot beverage I will bring for one night on every trip, Hot Apple Cider Honey Whiskey.

It's my birthday!!! And this girl gotta have chocolate cake for breakfast on her birthday; it's tradition.

Although I wanted to start the day with my Hostess Chocolate Cupcake, I had to make do with Chocolate Pop-Tarts. I forgot to switch them when resupplying my food.

It's a leisurely morning, and I take my time packing up. One of the gal pals has already left, but I won't be too far behind her.

Not stopping for pictures along the way does speed my hike time; it takes me less than 3 hours to hike back to the car instead of the 5 hours it took to get to the shelter.

I guess that's why my trail name is Snapshot. I do take a lot of photographs.

I then head back to the Bluebell Café to have a mouthwatering burger with seasoned fries and my customary chocolate shake before driving the 8 hours back home.

Looking for more inspiration to hit the trails? Check out my book, Wander, Wonder, and Wellness: Hiking Your Way to Health and Happiness, available now on Amazon—it’s packed with tips, stories, and motivation to make every hike a transformative experience!

Wrapping Up

I'm not a fast hiker; my mileage usually hovers around 8-9 miles per day. And when time is a factor, I section hike a long-distance trail, when I backpack a mountainous region, like the Ouachita Trail.

And this section has been one heck of an adventure. It didn't always go to plan, and I didn't get the distance I wanted, but sometimes it's about the journey and not about the mileage.

Totally looking forward to jumping on the trail again and meeting other outdoor enthusiasts along the way.

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