Hunt's Loop Trail, Ouachita National Forest

The View from the Ridge, Hunt's Loop Trail, Ouahita National Forest

On Wednesday, March 18, 2009 we decided to go hiking. The night before we had chosen Hunt's Loop Trail in the Ouachita National Park. Now the brochure I had said this was an easy to moderate hike. We found out later it was an easy to difficult hike.

The trail is a 4.3 mile loop. The nice man at the information center recommended that we start up the mountain as it was easier on the knees going up than down. Up the mountain was correct. I would not have made it without my walking stick. It was steep, rocky, and I thought we would never get to the top.

I started off carrying the bag. I always carry the bag. After I got about 3/4's of the way up the mountain, I decided the youngest should carry the bag. I was struggling to keep my balance. When we got to the top it was marked as 1,372 feet. I never knew if that meant that was how far up we had gone or if that was just the elevation for the ridge we were on. I just knew that I was tired, and we still had a long way to go. While there were some easy paths along the ridge, I would consider this to be a moderate trail from the ridge down, and I really thought it would never end.

I have hiked a lot over the years, but this was a tough one. Of course I am fatter than I was last time we went hiking by about 10 pounds, and I am a year older, but still, it was a hard hike. The boys were hurting too. By the time we got to the car we didn't want to move another step.

We decided to stop at Wendy's for dinner and then head home to watch the youngest's and my favorite show "Life." I have to say it was hard to raise the food to my mouth at Wendy's, and getting up out of the chair was not easy. As the boys were helping me up I told them I was too old for this stuff, and another man in the dining area said he was right there with me. It was all I could do to say "I didn't see your butt up there on that ridge." Exhaustion makes me meaner than usual.

We got back to the house and I decided to jump into the shower before "Life" started. Well, jump wasn't exactly what I did. First of all, it was a jacuzzi tub and the wall of the tub was higher than my knees which made every shower a challenge, but that night, okay, I'm not proud of it but there was screaming involved. Fortunately, the water pressure there was heaven and the water was hot, hot, hot. It was wonderful having all that heat hit my sore muscles.

The rest of the night was just television watching. No quilting, no reading, just television. We didn't even play our nightly game of Quirkle. We didn't think we could lift the tiles.

March 16, 2009 in Arkansas

We planned this day to be a fishing day. Since the house we rented had its own dock we took our lawn chairs, poles, tackle, and worms down there and set up for a day of fishing. Only problem - no fish. Not even a nibble. We tried everything and nothing. We stayed down there for an hour or so before deciding to wait until later in the day.

We went for a walk around the community and I talked to one of the neighbors. He told me they had just raised the lake 9 feet a couple of days before our arrival and finding any fish in the cove might be tough for a while.

It ended up being a day of games, television, and quilting. I also did a lot of reading. The boys were supposed to work on their school projects, but they did not get very far. We ended up watching a dvd.

Garvan Woodland Gardens, Arkansas

On Sunday, March 15, 2009, we went to Garvan Woodland Gardens. I really enjoyed walking the natural trails through the woods and seeing all the displays. Even though the blooms were limited to the season, the displays were spectacular. I thought it was better than the Dallas Arboretum because of the setting.

As we started down the trail to the gardens were were met by three hawks flying over our heads. One had a bad wing. They circled several times before flying off.

The tulips, daffodils, camellias, and azaleas were in bloom along with some of the trees.

The lady running the map station told us to throw small gravel into the koi pond to get their attention since they cannot feed until after the water temp reaches 50 degrees. So the youngest had fun having them swim up to him and churning up all the water.


The oldest took so many pictures that we had to go buy another card for his fancy camera. I will have to wait until he goes back to his apartment and makes me a dvd to see his pictures.

It was a very nice afternoon. We did not go to the chapel and I wish we had, but it was getting dark and we thought it would be best to head back to the house.