There are many reasons for getting out on a trail and putting in a good day-hike or for backpacking a good thru-hike that takes days, weeks, or even months. Top of the list of those reasons for many of us who are passionate about these pursuits are exercise and adventure.
When I was nearing the end of my graduate work and began looking for a job, my applications all went to agencies located near areas offering opportunities for hiking. Certainly, what tipped the scales for me in favor of Harrison, Arkansas, as the place to live and build my career was not so much the offer of a job as it was knowing that living there would put me just about an equal distance from each end of the Buffalo River National Park.
Now, some of you may be familiar with the Buffalo River, but for those of you who aren’t, it flows from its starting point as a mere intermittent trickle in the Boston Mountains past the massive and beautifully colored limestone and sandstone bluffs of the Ozarks to the White River — a distance of 153 miles. Of that, the latter 136 miles was established as a national park in 1972 preserving the river’s free flow and protecting its unique features.
There are over 100 miles of maintained trail in the park, but there are at least that many more throughout the park that are not maintained and that you won’t find, for the most part, on any map. For the past several years I have been out backpacking and exploring the Buffalo from end to end and doing so has done little more than whetted my appetite for more challenges and adventures. Its seems that no matter where I’ve been and what’s been available in my backyard, I tend to find myself dreaming of something more, of bigger challenges.