Ponca Wilderness and Buffalo National River Loop
Ponca Wilderness and Buffalo National River Loop
LENGTH: 19.7 MILES, ELEVATION GAIN: 3,574 FEET, TRAIL TYPE: LOOP
TREKKING WILD RATING – Hard
If you are looking for an adventure, the Ponca Wilderness and Buffalo National River Loop trail might be for you. This was our first time hiking in Arkansas, so we were excited to check out a new state. We tackled this trail in mid-May, so highs were in the 80s with quite a bit of humidity. This hike follows the Buffalo River, and you end up crossing it frequently. The river is very scenic, and you will see many people floating on it.
Day 1 – 8.9 miles
We arrived at the trailhead around 10 a.m. and started our hike. The plan was to hike the trail over three days. We would cover the bulk of the miles on the first two days and camp somewhere close to the trailhead on the second night, so we could hike a little way out and drive the nine hours home on the third day. That was the plan at least. It didn’t end up working out that way. More to come on that later.
The trail started out in good shape and was fairly easy hiking. We decided to add both the Goat Trail and Hemmed-in-Hollow Trail to our route. This added roughly 500 feet of elevation gain and 2.5 miles to the trip. The Goat Trail takes you to an overlook of the Buffalo River below. It’s very scenic and a must-do. Hemmed-in-Hollow takes you to a waterfall. The waterfall doesn’t have a large volume of water, but it is still scenic and, in my opinion, worth doing.
One of the big draws of this area is the Buffalo River. It is a beautiful river, and in the beginning, the river crossings were fun. However, that fun started to fade as the trip went on. On Day 1, we crossed the river four or five times. During the last crossing, my daughter lost her footing and went for a swim. It ended up being an expensive misstep since her camera and phone also went for a swim and never recovered. I got a good laugh out of this at the time, but looking back, this was when the trip started to take a turn and the fun began to fade.
As we continued on, the trail started to get overgrown, and we had to do some bushwhacking. It was at this point that ticks became an issue. Brushing ticks off our clothes became a non-stop activity for the rest of the trip. At camp, I ended up removing three ticks that were embedded in my shin. As we sat at camp, we started discussing the idea of adding miles to Day 2 and hiking out. We decided to sleep on it.
Day 2 – 10.8 miles
We woke up on Day 2 and had some coffee. Knowing there was a chance of severe weather, I checked the forecast on our Garmin inReach. The report called for severe thunderstorms and the chance of tornadoes. Based on how Day 1 went and the weather report, we decided to hike out and cut the trip a little short.
We hit the trail and quickly realized that Day 1 was the easy day. Day 2 featured a lot of bushwhacking, steep terrain, non-stop ticks to contend with, and more water crossings. We made pretty slow progress, and the hike was not much fun. I think if I return to this area, I will spend my time floating the river. Those people seemed to be having a much more enjoyable experience. However, we were treated to some nice views of the Buffalo River, which I really did enjoy.
When we finally made it back to our car, the winds picked up, and it started pouring. As we were driving away from the trailhead, debris started flying across the road. We even had an entire trampoline fly in front of the car. It became very clear we had made the right decision to hike out instead of camping in this storm.
What we learned
Overall, this was a character-building trip. This is a beautiful area with plenty of opportunities for outdoor adventure. If you are looking for a challenge, this is a great trail to tackle. However, if you are looking for a laid-back, casual backpacking trip, you might want to skip this one. Typically, we prefer a challenge, but ideally not non-stop suffering. I think this trip was the very definition of type 2 fun. We weren’t having much fun while on the trail, but we talk about this trip all the time. It’s definitely fun to look back on, and I am glad we did it. Plus, my GoPro was rolling when my daughter fell in the river, so I have that gem of a video to tease her with thanks to this trip.
July 26, 2024
