High Water Mark Trail, Ozark National Forest

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
This was one of the best camping trips I have ever done. Great weather, great people and amazing scenery.
I did not plan the route we took but I did have most of trail downloaded to my phone along with a the area downloaded from Google maps so I could view it without cell service. Also had a DeLorme paper atlas but never needed it. I had a tablet that I thought had downloaded the area but I guess I did something wrong and it didn't work.

We started in St Joe, Arkansas. Filled up with gas met the rest of the group and headed out.


The first water crossing is the Buffalo River and is the deepest. It only takes a few minutes to get here from St Joe. Started into the river and realized very quick that it was too deep so we backed up and hit the highway for a long detour.




We picked up the trail again where 265 meets Searcy 1 Hwy just south of Richland Creek camp ground. Checked out the camp ground and the creek near it.


Headed south from there and took a little break to check out Falling Water falls.




Headed south some more and found a narrow road off the main road that appeared to loop back to the main road so we turned off and started to explore. Very narrow and overgrown in some spots but a nice road with some fun obstacles.




Camp site for the first night. Got it set up just in time since it started to rain and keep it up till about 3am.


Got back on the route and were making good time thanks to what was a pretty well maintained Forest Service road. We talked about finding a site early in the day and relax and maybe get in some fishing. Then this happened. 2 Big trees fallen over and took out a few smaller ones.


There was a narrow, step, and slick bypass that went up to the right. Tried to get up and it was just too slick. We would loose a ton of time and miss too much of the trail to turn around we got onto plan B. Thankfully we brought a chain saw with us at the last minute.






 

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
Finally back on the trail.


We found a campsite along Indian Creek and had lunch and talked about staying there for the night but it just didnt seem big enough so we left and hit the road. Ended up running into a Forest Service worker and recommended crossing Indian Creek and heading up Dare Mine Rd and taking a cut off down to the creek to find a camping spot. After a little looking and crossing the creek again we found a bad ass spot right on the creek.


Even caught a small mouth bass in the pool next to camp.


Third day and we break camp and hit the trail. I am not sure of the exact name of the turn off we took a little south of Dare Mine Rd but it was awesome. The GPS said Crabclaw Rd but I cant seem to find it on Google. It was pretty much a horse show that brought us back to the trail. Great obstacles and had a chance to test out the rig a little.





Traction was hard to come by in some spots that were still wet.


Stopped at a beautiful over look.


Had lunch and headed to Dover for gas and ice. topped off and we hit the road. We picked up the trail again near Epson Hollow. Turns out there was an ATV park near by and we had to watch out for drunk red necks on side by sides. This trail was also more technical than the forest service roads and had more water crossings than we had the previous 2 days. The water crossings below were Cowan Creek. We ended the trail. We ended up taking 1310 north and came out to Highway 16. This was pretty much the end of the trip.






 
Last edited:

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
Things I would highly recommend if you want to go on this trip.
Treat your cloths with some bug spray called Permethrin. I found it at Academy. My buddy and I were the only ones that used it and we were the only ones that did not see any ticks on us. Also we got zero mosquito bites.
Bring a chain saw for the obvious reasons.
Download the area you want to explore so you can find your way around using your phone or tablet.
Extra gas will be up to the individual. You can make it work with out if you plan to make a small detour into town for fuel.

Some random pictures from the trip in no order



[

 
Last edited:

MatthewMay1

amateur professional
Yes! Great write-up. And for the record, I didn't use any of that bug spray stuff and didn't get any ticks or mosquito bites, so ha! :p
 
Last edited:

tx_shooter

It is not a war crime the first time.
Staff member
How far from DFW was the trip? It looks like diff breather relocation is a must for this trip. A rear locker would advised?
 
Last edited:

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
How far from DFW was the trip? It looks like diff breather relocation is a must for this trip. A rear locker would advised?

Its about 7 hours from DFW. Rear diff breather is a must. A locker was not needed but proved useful in a few places to avoid having to pull winch line or use speed through an obstacle.
 

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
Here is a video from one of the GoPros we had running. Buddy is still trying to figure out the format that the other 2 cameras saved in.
 

Oswego

n00b
Looks like a great time! Wish I was with you guys.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
<<<Jelly! Looks like a great trip!
 

TacoXpo

HOAX DENIER
Looks great and reminds me to take my chainsaw when we go to Montana in July.
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
Looks like an absolute blast!!
 

balakay

BabyMax
I barely took any pictures over the weekend. I need to get better about that. I'll get the ones off my camera later. But here's a couple I took in my phone that turned out decent. First is part of our campsite Friday evening and the other is an overlook on the drive Saturday.

image.jpeg image.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 4

unevolved

Well-Known Member
That looks like a great trip. I love Arkansas. I'd love to do that.
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
We have had a few trips up there in years past, the boys really loved hiking up and going through the tailings from an old crystal mine.
 
Top