Post Christmas K Trail run pic thread

[tex]

Great trip. Met up with Lyndall where 259 meets 30. We spent the first night at Beavers Bend state park, woke up and headed north to the trail. The plan was to head west into Arkansas by forest service roads and do some exploring. Didnt cover as much ground as expected. Turns out the ice storm that hit a few weeks back knocked down trees and limbs all over the place incuding across the road that no one has traveled since the storm. Took about 26 hours to cover a 15 mile trail that I expected to take a fraction of that time.

Picked up this guy along the way


First morning and didnt realize my lens fogged up till after the pic was taken


A few hunting camps along the trail





After we passed the last camp this was our fate every 50-100 yards. Some were more easily moved than others.







Came up to a huge tree that was not getting axed or pulled out of the way. We came up with a creative way to get past it. Drive over.




Not long after it appeared the trail had been cleared from the other direction. Good thing because we came across this tree that would have been hard to clear with an axe.

 

[tex]

More pics from the trail.

 

[tex]

Once done with that trail we headed into Mena for fuel and lunch. We were supposed to be at this point about 18 hours ago. We discovered Mena has a church for every person in town. We had no problem finding a church but a little bit of a time finding a place to eat.
From here we headed up Skyline Drive. Great drive and doubles in elevation in about 30 minutes. During this trek the northern blew in and we were in the clouds in no time. Visability got limited. Got to another trail that would take us back down the mountain into Okalhoma.





A few places where water was just coming out of the rocks.



Once down we were headed back to Beavers Bend for the night but made a little detour to head west on the K Trail to check out the fire watch tower.

It was very cold up here and the temp said 28. Ice had already formed on the shackle.

 

[tex]

Made it back to Beavers Bend and camped for the night. Woke up to find a light dusting of snow. It was a little bit of a shock since there was no precipitation in the forecast.




A few pics from the park.





And back to Texas

 

[bakerla]

First campsite at Beavers Bend SP. Aaron wasn't a fan of the tent cot. My new tent did well, but it's small.





Encountered this target along the trail.




As said, downed trees were everywhere.





Going under





Pulling




This sucked


So we setup camp in the middle of the road


And then got to work in the morning








Moved on down, cleared some more and then came upon this monster

 

[tx_shooter]

Looks like a great trip.

 

[Silverback]

That looks like a blast!

 

[Anathollo]

Looks like fun! (Bring a chainsaw next time).

I thought Rich was going?

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Rich apparently became known to the IRS for his party affiliations and got spot-audited. My trip money went to Uncle Sam... fucker.

 

[tex]

Rich apparently became known to the IRS for his party affiliations and got spot-audited. My trip money went to Uncle Sam... fucker.

Maybe Rich wants to go at the end of January? Thinking the 25th weekend.

 

[tx_shooter]

Hmmm... how long?

 

[tex]

Hmmm... how long?

Not sure. Thinking friday to sunday but need to make sure I can go and what not.

 

[bakerla]

Apparently the site only allows for 20 images to be posted at a time.

Thankfully a trapper had been clearing


Temp dropped quickly with the cold front


The fire tower. I climbed to the top in close to 20 mph winds with the temp at 28 degrees. It was cold.






I had been hoping for snow and the forecast didn't call for any so we were both surprised upon waking.

 

[bakerla]

I used Backcountry Navigator on my Nexus 7. It's worth the money. I downloaded the Forest Service maps for the area we were going, since the Nexus I have is the wifi only version. The app worked awesomely. I tagged a few waypoints along the way. I exported the trip and uploaded it to Everytrail. You can take pics with the app and it saves the pic with the saved waypoint. I only did this for 2 waypoints and should have taken pics of the good camping spots I tagged.

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2536827

I believe Everytrail will let you download kml or gpx files. If anybody needs the grids for the waypoints and can't get it from Everytrail let me know.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Sorry I missed this trip... Even though it looked like a lot of work, it looked like a good time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drew02a]

Rich apparently became known to the IRS for his party affiliations and got spot-audited. My trip money went to Uncle Sam... fucker.

...and suddenly your name becomes ironic

 

[bakerla]

Did some reading up on ticks and tick removal after a tick incident this trip. http://www.uptodate.com/contents/wh...ite-to-prevent-lyme-disease-beyond-the-basics

Apparently using a hot match is not advised. Ooops.

 

[tex]

Did some reading up on ticks and tick removal after a tick incident this trip. http://www.uptodate.com/contents/wh...ite-to-prevent-lyme-disease-beyond-the-basics

Apparently using a hot match is not advised. Ooops.

The spot is looking better and no signs of Lyme disease so I think I am in the clear.

 

[bakerla]

Damn cold out there tonight

 

[taco4x4rar]

The spot is looking better and no signs of Lyme disease so I think I am in the clear.

Pansy I get ticks all the time during the warmer months, haven't had anything bad come of it yet, unless you count the brain damage, or the brain damage, or the brain damage, brain damage, brain damage, brain damage, brain damage, brain damage, brain damage...........................................................
.........................................................................

Damn cold out there tonight

I thought Rich was going on this adventure