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Trans-Ozark Trail (TOT)

Duane Woltjen

Imagine a hiking trail from St. Louis, Missouri to Fort Smith Arkansas through 820 miles of rolling Ozark hill country in Missouri and the rugged Boston Mountains of the Arkansas Ozarks. This dream is becoming ever more a reality.

Today 316 miles of the Ozark Trail in Missouri and 185 miles of the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas are open to hikers, and the Ozark National Forest is completing an environmental assessment for another 29 miles to fill in another gap in Arkansas. The National Park Service has received congressional funding to begin an assessment of routes through the Buffalo National River from the end of the OHT at U.S. Highway 65 to connect with the USFS new section about 50 miles downstream along the Buffalo River.

The Trans-Ozark Trail is the combined OT and OHT. These two trails were begun as separate projects, but back in 1977 the trail councils of the two states realized the magnificent possibility of connecting the trails. Public land agencies, private land owners, hikers, Arkansas State Parks, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and volunteers have been working away to achieve this vision ever since.

The Ozark Highlands Trail from Lake Fort Smith State Park to U.S. Highway 65 and the Buffalo River is especially spectacular as it passes over White Rock and Hare Mountains, through Hurricane Creek Wilderness, and along the Buffalo River. It is always remote, and still more or less undiscovered.

The eastern loop of the Ozark Trail in the Taum Sauk region is the highest and most mountainous scenic section in Missouri. In this area the Trail passes through the Bell Mountain Wilderness and scenic Johnson Shutins State Park. Johnson Shutins is Missouri's favorite swimming hole, and a great place to visit along the trail when it is too hot to hike.

In Missouri trail maintenance is becoming more of a volunteer and less of an agency operation as the Conservation Federation of Missouri is fostering trail team organizations with some success. In Arkansas, the Ozark Highland Trail Association, chaired by Tim Ernst, the regions most famous photographer, was formed in 1981 to build, maintain, and enjoy the OHT. This organization now has over 900 members residing in 26 states, and they have contributed more than 300,000 hours to the project!

The Ozarks in Missouri are generally Karst, cherty limestone/sandstone hills covered by oak/hickory second growth forest interspersed with glades. Elevations range from about 450 feet to 1772 feet at Taum Sauk Mountain in eastern Missouri. In the Taum Sauk region the higher hills are igneous rock and more rugged. Streams are generally spring fed, meandering, gravel bedded, and very clear. Smallmouth bass are common.

In Arkansas, the Ozarks/Boston Mountains are similar, except there is much less gravel in stream beds and more boulders, the streams are much more dependent on surface runoff, the valleys are deeper and the elevations go up to 2,400 feet. The hills are more like mesas with rimming, tiered bluffs, which may extend for miles with very few breaks. Trail routes are often compromised by terrain and confining property lines.

Throughout the Ozarks, late fall through early spring is the best hiking season. Rivers may be very high and swift. When the water is muddy, don't cross! Winter snow may reach two feet on the ground, and temperatures may dip below zero for a few days in January. Normally, freezing nights and 40 to 60 degree days are encountered. Summers are very dry, but 35 to 50 inches of precipitation occur during the other months.

Wildlife is abundant. You can expect to see deer, turkey, rabbits, raccoon, possum, armadillo, squirrels, beaver, mink, and perhaps bobcat and black bear. Elk have been reintroduced in the Buffalo River valley, and otter are spreading throughout the Ozarks after being reintroduced in Missouri. Every few years, a mountain lion is reported.

The best guide to the Ozark Trail consists of contour maps of trail sections available free from the Missouri DNR, Division of State Parks, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102. For the Ozark Highland Trail in Arkansas, an excellent guide book, OZARK HIGHLANDS TRAIL, 4th ed. , is published by Tim Ernst, www.Cloudland.net, HC 33 Box 50-A, Pettigrew, AR 72752.

The future of the TOT depends a lot on the National Parks Service and their desire to provide a reasonable and safe route through the Lower Buffalo Wilderness. There are members of influential groups who strongly object to through trails in wilderness, but there is no other choice in the lower Buffalo River area, save trying to negotiate passage over private land owned by traditionally hostile opponents to the very existence of the Buffalo National River.

You can help keep the National Park Service more interested in serving the public than the preferences of some individuals by writing them once in a while, and asking questions about progress. Write to the Superintendent, Buffalo National River, P.O. Box 1173, Harrison, AR 72601.

As this article goes to press, the Ozark National Forest is ready to release the Environmental Assessment on their section for public comment for a period of 45 days. The district ranger estimates all details will be wrapped up so ground breaking can begin March 15, 2001. Arkansas summer heat and humidity will allow us to build into early June. If you would like to participate (and I hope you will), please contact me.

The National Park Service expects to release a proposed project notice to the public for comment about the end of January. The comment period will last at least 30 days. This is the first step in their environmental analysis. The Park Service is preparing to have to do a full Environmental Impact Statement if the project is as controversial as they perceive it to be. An EIS is a long winded deal as you know.