Sassafras Award Winner Evan Walden

Our eighteenth Sassafras Hiking Award winner is Evan Walden, a farmer and preacher who lives close to the King’s River.  Evan is a reserved fellow who is easily recognizable as he is usually sporting bib-overalls. Both Evan and his wife’s families go back several generations in this little corner of Arkansas.   I asked Evan how he became interested in the Sassafras Hiking Award: “When I started, I didn’t even know about the award.  The truth is, hill people like us look at hiking trails as something for rich folks.”  But Evan is an avid reader, and the story of Grandma Gatewood’s Appalachian Trail adventures, captured his interest.  He got to talking with a work buddy by the name of Jacob Williams.   Together, they scrounged up some gear and set about doing the entirety of the Ozark Highland’s trail.  “I was still smoking back then and I didn’t think I’d make it up Dockery Gap.”

Evan and Jacob did the Highland’s in large sections.  Lots of adventures, including sleeping on a shelf in the rafters of the Ozone pavilion during a terrible thunderstorm.  Jacob’s girlfriend had been supporting them with resupply.  Now; as any long distance-hiker will tell you, you get a lot of time to think out there, and at some point, Jacob concluded that it was way past time to marry this girlfriend of ten years.  In between their hikes, they scheduled a small service up at White Rock.  Evan, being a minister, conducted the ceremony, and proudly notes that the marriage is still going strong.

Back on the Highlands, Evan and Jacob had put in eighteen tough miles near Arbaugh and were counting on ending their day at a particular site.  But it was taken.  So, they pushed on a few more miles into the dusk, until at last they found a flat spot.  At breakfast, Jacob was looking around and said “Evan, let me see that map.”  After examining their location carefully, Jacob exclaimed “We slept in Eldridge Holler last night.  That’s where my grandfather’s people settled.  He was born in that holler.”

When they finished, Jacob had had his fill of hiking, so for the Buffalo River trail, Evan brought along his ten-year-old daughter Faye Lynn. They first learned about the Ozark Society by doing thirty-six miles from Pruitt to Boxley, as part of the Ozark Society fifty-year challenge.  On a subsequent day between Erbie and Ozark, they arrived at the Cedar Grove picnic area. Evan had been reading about this overlook, and he explained to Faye Lynn that Ken Smith designed it to be wheelchair accessible so that handicapped folks had a place where they could see the river.  Faye Lynn promptly burst into tears.  Apparently, the thought that there were folks that couldn’t easily enjoy the beauty of the Buffalo, touched her deeply.

Evan saved Missouri’s Ozark Trail for last.  First trip out he gashed his foot and had to get off trail.  But before he healed up, he broke his back in a car wreck, and had to wear a body brace for the next six months.  The doctors noted that all that muscle in his back probably helped his healing process, and they asked what sort of sports he played.  He noted he was just a walker and a backpacker.  They encouraged him to keep walking, and soon he was doing ten miles a day, body-brace and all.  When he finally got the brace off, he felt really good, but couldn’t immediately get back on trail as he had to find a new job.  As a result, it took him awhile to build up vacation credits so he could get back on trail.  He finished up the Ozark trail on the anniversary of getting his brace off.  appreciate that persistence Evan.  We suspect there is more trail in his future.