NEW SYLAMORE TRAIL INFORMATION AND GUIDE
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OZARK HIGHLANDS TRAIL – SYLAMORE SECTION
SUPPLEMENT to the |
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NORTH SYLAMORE
CREEK
BACKPACKING & HIKING GUIDE
By Wayne Fulmer
October, 2006
There are no officially designated campsites on the North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail (NSCHT) except at the trailheads at Blanchard Springs, Gunner Pool, and Barkshed Campgrounds. This trail is located within the Ozark National Forest, and no-trace camping is allowed along this trail away from the designated campsites.
It is recommended that backpack campers camp out of site from the trail. However there are several old, often used, campsites with fire rings right on the side of the trail. Long time public use indicates these spots as the best or at least the most popular spots to camp. The problems with other places include finding a level enough place to put a tent, or the terrain too steep to even leave the trail, or too far from a water source, or too much vegetation.
This guide will include some of the easier places to camp but will not cover all the possibilities. For water sources only those places thought to have water during dry spells will be mentioned. The entire trail is very scenic, but for a better listing of special places you can refer to Tim Ernst’s book, “ARKANSAS HIKING TRAILS”.
Starting at the Allison Trailhead you will very soon have to wade across North Sylamore Creek. This can be quite an experience during the winter wet season. Maybe you can find a shallower place downstream from the trail. All the other main creek crossings upstream will be on bridges at Forest Service Campgrounds.
The most used campsite on the Allison to Blanchard section is located at mile 1.9 where the trail crosses Slick Rock Hollow. There is a fire ring here. There is a small waterfall here that falls into a pool. Sylamore Creek is a short distance downstream from this pool. Just past this spot the trail forks. Turn right to follow the trail, but turning left takes you to Sylamore Creek and another possible camp site. Most of this section of the trail is never very far from Sylamore Creek which always has water even in the driest of weather.
The creek in Petrie Cave Hollow, at about mile 3, should have water also. The old log road that goes up Petrie Cave Hollow has flat places in it where tents can be pitched. At mile 3.4 the trail joins an old road. Turn right for the trail or left to the creek. The trail leaves the road after a short distance then soon forks again-left to the creek or right to continue on the trail.
At mile 4.7 you come into the Blanchard Springs Campground swimming area parking lot. For the next section of trail- Blanchard Springs to Gunner Pool- cross the bridge over Sylamore Creek then through the picnic area and around the restroom to the large trail sign. From the large trail sign you can go right down the sidewalk to a water hydrant (shut off during winter months) where potable water is available. During winter months potable water can be obtained from the heated restroom lavatory near the large trail sign.
To camp here (this is a fee area) after crossing the high bridge over Sylamore Creek go right on the road (upstream) and back across the creek on the low bridge. The restroom building here has year round hot showers. If all the campsites here are full there is an upper camp ground (a fee area also) on up this road which crosses Sylamore Creek yet again with a concrete bottom wet crossing. Hot showers are available here also but are closed during the winter months. This upper campground can be accessed without the wet crossing by starting on the hiking trail behind the large trail sign and taking a spur trail (after about .2 or.3 mile watch for the sign) into the back side of the campground.
Also here at the Blanchard Recreational Area there is a connection to the Sylamo Trail. This is a dual use trail system for hikers and mountain bikes. Horses and motorized vehicles are prohibited. The Sylamo Trail goes away north from the Sylamore Creek Trail and makes a 3 mile loop up the mountain and back, connecting on the upper side to other loops in a 50 mile trail system with trailheads on Green Mountain Road and Highway 5. To get on this trail go to the upper end of the lower campground and look for a gate on the north side of the road with a gravel road up the mountain behind it. The trail starts here to the right of the gate and goes through the woods behind the lower campground. The loop starts about .2 mile down the trail. Before you reach the start of the loop you pass some trees with blue paint which marks the boundary of the Blanchard Springs Recreation Area. Once past this “Blue Line” you may find suitable camp spots. But don’t expect to find water above the North Sylamore Creek bottom.
Continuing on the North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail, begin behind the previously mentioned large trail sign and go up the mountain. This is the most used section of the trail because it has the easiest trailheads to get to, and the largest volume of picnickers and car campers at each end of the section. Not far up the trail the trail goes right through the middle of what used to be a homesteaders cabin. The only thing left are the rocks of the chimney and foundation. A little ways past this is the spur trail to the right to the upper camp ground.
At mile 6.1 (from Allison) is a fire ring on top of a bluff at a very scenic overlook-no water near this camp spot. The reason the trail was built so high up is there is no room under the bluff on this side of the creek. The next fire ring is after the trail descends to the creek at about mile 7.1. There is another fire ring (probably the most used walk-in camp site on the trail system) at about mile 7.2. This whole area has a lot of potential camp spots with flat sandy soil and plenty of water.
There are three rough fords on the creek here used by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission personnel to access and maintain wildlife openings and food plots. During periods of low water flow some campers cross at these fords and camp on the other side. Going on up the trail you cross Bee Branch at mile 7.7 .Between Bee Branch and where you start back up through some cedar trees there is another large area with potential camp spots, and you are still near the creek and plenty of water.
Going on at mile 9 the trail goes into an old road for a hundred yards then leaves it again. If you leave the trail here and go downhill in the road you soon come to Sylamore Creek again. There is more water, but limited flat places to camp. Going on the trail again you soon come to the Gunner Pool Trailhead at mile 9.7. This is a fee area if you wish to camp here. Potable water is available here, but it is cut off in the winter months. There are no showers here.
To get to the third section of the trail you must cross the very high bridge to the other side of the creek, and then continue down the road to the large trail sign board. Soon after leaving Gunner Road the trail crosses an old road. If you leave the trail here, go downhill and cross the creek there is another potential campsite. Do not block this road with tents because it is a designated horse trail! The next good campsite is past Glades Branch Creek. It is a very popular spot with a well used fire ring. It is off the trail on the bank of Sylamore Creek. It has an old grown up road from the trail out to the campsite. Watch for the campsite out on a flat below the trail as the trail climbs to go around the end of a hill. There is another potential camp area at mile 13, but it pales in comparison to the Barkshed Recreation Area which is only .7 miles further at mile 13.7.
The newly completed extension of the North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail from Barkshed Campground to the Ozark Highland’s Trail connection on Cripple Turkey Road is built mostly on steep hillsides with more than 90% of the trail being a notch cut in the side of the hill.
This was done for several reasons including but not limited to the following: This area has been used extensively for years by horseback riders. They use the ridge-top roads, but more than that they use the old log road that winds through the creek bottom crossing the creek at every bend to avoid the bluffs on one side and hit the flats that are inside the creek bends on the other side.
Also, the creek bottom in this area is part of the Clifty Canyon Botanical Area which contains a treasure trove of rare and sensitive plants. Environmental concern for this area is why the construction of this trail was halted in 1978 only .9 of a mile upstream from the Barkshead Campground at Bear Pen Creek. So the trail was moved up the hill to lesson antagonism between horses and hikers and to lesson damage to sensitive plants.
The tops of the mountains were also avoided for a number of concerns. One good reason is hunters spend most of their time on top camping or hunting deer, turkey, and squirrels. Also, the ridge tops have many timber regeneration areas where timber has been harvested and these will be thickets for a number of years, or they have areas where future timber harvests are planned.
The good news is on the steep hillsides we have the best views during the fall colors and leaf off time while sometimes going over bluffs or under them with a little upping and downing to cross the stub hollows or going through fields of boulders and rock gardens. But water and suitable camp spots will be few and far between.
To continue on the trail from Barkshed Campground, cross the high bridge (closed to vehicles), go about 150 yards on the road, then turn directly uphill on constructed trail and back toward Sylamore Creek.
Just 100 yards off the road on the constructed trail, while going around the end of the first hill just above Barkshed Bridge, look for an opening and trail going straight up the hill among some cedars. This spur trail is unmarked and has no blazes, but it gets easier to follow the further up you go. The trail, built by the CCC in the 1930’s, needs some work at two rock ledges that are about waist high but climbable, goes up to an overlook where they had a sign of some description up on posts set in concrete.
The overlook could be improved by removing a couple of cedar trees, which are much bigger now I am sure, than when the CCC was here 70 years ago. It is still well worth the trip up to the overlook. There is a set of rock steps about halfway up that are a world class stairway. And a person might could pitch a small tent up on the overlook. It is a good picnic spot also.
Back on the trail, after leaving Barkshed Campground water can be found about 0.5 miles out where the trail runs right beside Sylamore Creek. During wetter periods water can be found in Still Hollow at about 2.6 miles up the extension. At about mile 3.5 out there will be an opportunity to leave the trail and bushwhack your way down to Sylamore Creek. There will be no sign or marker, but the opportunity will be after passing some cedar trees on a very steep hillside, then the trail has a hump in it to go over the butt of a standing dead snag, then go about another 75 yards and pick a place to bushwhack down to the creek, which is about 250 yards.
When you get down, there will be plenty of flat areas on both sides of the creek to camp. But do not put your tent in the old road because the road is the horse trail. You may have noticed by now there is no water here. The creek has surface flow here only after a big rain. The rest of the year the water flow is underground. You must go upstream or downstream a quarter mile or more to find surface water. The best route to do that is via the horse trail. Walking in the creek bed with its large loose rocks, boulders, and sloping bedrock can be dangerous.
If you have time to explore in this area , across the creek from where you came down from the trail, up on a medium high saddle back ridge look for a rock outcropping. From this rock you have the very best scenic overlook in the upper Sylamore Creek drainage area. You can see upstream into Stewart Fork and Cole Fork, downstream almost to the Barkshed Campground, and northeast up Spring Beech Creek.
The best way to get there is to go downstream in the horse trail until it crosses back to the north side of the creek and up on the flat at the end of the ridge, then go up the end of the ridge to the top of the rock. Back on the trail you can go on about a half mile further, crossing one short, steep, rocky drainage, to where you round the end of the next hill. Here you can bushwhack down the hill again. If you go down the point of the hill here it will not be as steep as the other going down place.
This will put you at the junction where Sylamore Creek splits into Stewart and Cole Forks. Cole Fork and Sylamore Creek will probably have potholes of water here but Stewarts Fork will have year round running water here. There is too much vegetation here for a Class A campsite, but if you go up Stewarts Fork you can find some really good campsites.
The best way to go up Stewart’s Fork is to find the horse trail where it crosses the mouth of Cole Fork and goes up between the forks. Watch for the trip wire here from an old fence. Follow the horse trail through an old grown up field keeping to the right at intersections, and you will soon come to Stewart’s Fork of North Sylamore Creek. If you go up this very scenic pristine creek for 1.7 miles you will come to the mouth of Clifty Canyon, and be at the heart of the Clifty Canyon Botanical Area.
Back on the trail again, it will be 1.1 more miles to the Cole Fork Road trail access area. There will be year round running water here, and a beautiful campsite. To get to the campsite cross the creek and follow the road 100 yards to an open meadow. There are three fire rings in three corners of this meadow.
From here to the Cripple Turkey Road access and the Ozark Highlands Trail-Sylamore Section five miles further on, you are on your own.
The North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail depends on hikers-- that is you--- for maintenance and protection from abuse.
For further information and maps contact:
Sylamore
Ranger District
P.O. Box 1279
Mountain View, Arkansas, 72560
870-269-3228
The Wayne Fulmer of Des Arc, built many hundreds of yards of the North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail between Barkshed Campground Ozark Highlands Trail at the end of Cripple Turkey Road. He is one of the special people that made it possible for volunteers to build this section.
The final 5 miles of the NSCHT approaching the Ozark Highlands Trail connection is left un-described and for you to explore. It just could be you will find the last to be the best.
Neither Wayne Fulmer nor we offer any guarantee that the information presented is 100% accurate, so as always, remember you alone are responsible for your own safety and well being.
Duane and Judy Woltjen, October 20, 2006.
OZARK HIGHLANDS TRAIL – SYLAMORE SECTION
SUPPLEMENT to the FOREST SERVICE
RECREATION OPPORTUNITY GUIDE
Duane W. Woltjen
09/20/06
Acquire the following before beginning your hike:
Water:
1. The availability of surface water is never certain, so advance placement of water caches or reconnaissance is necessary. Surface water from any source must be treated to be safe. Spring Creek, often little more than occasional pools, parallels the trail from the Spring Creek Trailhead to mile 8, and Spring Creek passes through private land as indicated on the ROG. DO NOT TRESPASS.
2. Water sources in wet seasons:
Campsites---LEAVE NO TRACE--No campsites are maintained along the trail; camping at trailheads is not allowed. No facilities are provided at any trailhead or campsite area.
1. The mouth of Cap Berry Hollow, 15S 0550800 3989200, 0.8 miles on Spring Creek Road downhill from the Spring Creek Trailhead, is often used by groups recreating in the area. Drive in. There is a spring on the west side of the entry road.
2. Mile 7.5 to 8.0. Spring Creek bottom.
3. Mile 10.6 Cap Fork bottom. Water from Moccasin Spring.
4. Mile 12.9. Hunter’s camp. Drive-in on Barkshed and Cripple Turkey Roads, no water.
5. Mile 14.0. Cole Fork bottom (look for water downstream in season).
6. Mile 23.3. Twin Creek bottom 15S 0560300 4001000
7. Mile 26.0. Rough Hollow bottom 15S 0560770 4004600
8. Matney Camp. Follow orange blazed trail across Hwy 341 and down to the White River and an old floaters camp. Trail seldom maintained.
Connecting Trails---At mile 13.7 North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail (blue blazed and not shown on the OHT-SS ROG) comes in on trail right and goes east to Barkshed Campground at 9.6 miles, and continues to Gunner Pool, Blanchard Springs and Allison.
At mile 29.4 Matney Camp trail (orange blazed) comes in on trail left.
Comments---This information is subject to change and corrections. Users accept all responsibility for their own safety and all losses. The use of a GPS receiver set to NAD 27 Central coordinate datum is recommended. Cell phones are not reliable on this trail.
If you wish to contribute information to upgrade this supplement or participate as a volunteer maintainer, please contact:
Sylamore
Ranger District
P.O. Box 1279
Mountain View, Arkansas, 72560
870-269-3228
NORTH SYLAMORE CREEK TRAIL
NEW TRAIL INFORMATION
By Duane Woltjen
11/18/06
The North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail, marked with light blue blazes, has been lengthened about ten miles by extending it from Barkshed Campground further upstream along N. Sylamore Creek to Cole Fork Creek, then up Cole Fork to Cripple Turkey Road where the trail intersects the Ozark Highlands Trail, Sylamore Section , with white blazes, at mile marker 13.6. This new section, a project sponsored by the Ozark Society, the American Hiking Society, and the U. S. Forest Service, was built by over fifty volunteers who completed it in mid-2006.
The NSCHT extension is part of a superbly scenic trail network from Allison on the White River at Hwy 14 thru Blanchard Springs Campground, Gunner Pool Campground, Barkshed Campground and on to Spring Creek Trailhead, a hike of 31.6 miles, or from Allison to Matney Knob Trailhead, a hike of 41.5 miles. The access points are about five miles apart.
Finding Your Way
The extension begins from Barkshed Campground, crosses N. Sylamore Creek using the high bridge at the Campground, then the now closed Barkshed Road for a few hundred feet before it turns sharply uphill near the CCC spring fountain site and back toward the creek From there the trail remains on the west side of N. Sylamore Creek and the south side of Cole Fork Creek all the way. Generally this medium difficulty trail is at an elevation that is about midway between the creek level and the hill crests. This level coincides with several very scenic bluff lines and waterfalls, and it provides some separation between equestrian trails below and timbering activities above.
The NSCHT extension is accessed using Cartwright Road (4.1 miles west of the heart of FiftySix, AR) to Barkshed Campground from Arkansas Highway 14, or Barkshed Road from Arkansas Highway 341 to access the midpoint of the extension at east end of Cole Fork Road, or the end of the new section at Cripple Turkey Road.
Barkshed Road is 4.9 miles north of Hwy 14 on Hwy 341. Cripple Turkey Road turns off of Barkshed Road 1.9 miles east from Hwy 341 and goes about 0.9 miles north to the end where you will find the trail at the end. Going east 2.7 miles from Hwy 341 on Barkshed Road, Cole Fork Road turns off to the north and then immediately turns sharply right and downhill (this turn is easily missed!) into the Barkshed Creek valley for 3.2 miles. As you near Cole Fork Creek and the trail, this road requires generous ground clearance vehicles and careful negotiation over large immovable rocks. Do not ford the creek. The mid-point of the extension, about 5 trail miles above Barkshed Campground, crosses Cole Fork Road adjacent to a small vegetated area cleared to park up to two vehicles at the ford.
The U.S. Forest Service provides free Recreation Opportunity Guides, or ROGs, for the NSCHT. One is also available for the OHT-SS. Both include topo maps and access road maps as well as information every hiker should possess before venturing out.
To get these important Recreation Opportunity Guides, call or write to:
U.S. Forest
Service Sylamore Ranger District
1001 East Main Street
Mountain View, AR 72560
870-269-3228
Water and Camping
The ROGs provided by the Forest Service do not include specific information about water sources and campsites. A supplement to the ROG, NSCHT Campsites and Water, written by Wayne Fulmer, is available on this website. A supplement for the OHT-SS ROG, written by Duane Woltjen, offerings Campsites and Water information for the Ozark Highlands Trail, Sylamore Section is also available on this website. Users of this information assume all risks associated with the use of it. Water availability is subject to climate and weather conditions.
Longer distance hikers may find water sources at various locations along the route, but all water from streams and springs, etc., must be treated. Potable water is not available at any trailhead, nor at Barkshed Campground. Caching water is necessary to be sure of a supply.
Camping is permitted unless marked otherwise on Forest Service land along the trail. Private property is sometimes very near the trail, and it is not available to hikers. The ROG maps show private land. Take precautions, bears are definitely present. Read bear information bulletins at trailheads.
Shuttle Service
Cody’s Restaurant and Cabins, FiftySix, Arkansas, has provided shuttle service for trails in the area. Resorts and rental stables in the area are also possible sources of service.
Maintenance and Volunteering
The Sylamore Ranger District has a superb network of hiking, bicycling, horse trails. Use of these trails is an important part of their maintenance, especially if users Leave No Trace, drag off downed limbs, and report to the Sylamore Ranger District location of large downed trees requiring off trail bypassing.
Trail maintenance is a rewarding outdoor hiking activity, and it is a way to give back for your hiking fun. The Sylamore Ranger District would like to hear from you if you would like to be a trail maintenance volunteer. The Ozark Society, www.Ozarksociety.net and the American Hiking Society www.Americanhiking.org have opportunities under way for volunteers to build and maintain other trails.
The U.S. Forest Service provides free Recreation Opportunity Guides, or ROGs, for the NSCHT. One is also available for the OHT-SS. Both include topo maps and access road maps as well as information every hiker should possess before venturing out.