A Week Plus on the Trans America Trail

[mmbirtcher]

A Week (and some) on the Trans America Trail

My stepson, a friend of his and I leave Monday for about a week on the TAT. They just got their permits in the last month or so, and they'll be doing a lot of the off-pavement driving while I do the navigation… and maybe making sure we stay on the road!

Honestly I could probably stay out longer except I do have to get back to work sometime, the boys have a friend coming into town, and we have more summer vacation plans after in NYC (a bit of contrast to the TAT, that's for sure!)

We’re taking my 2000 4Runner that's been only a little modified (see signature). We also picked up a couple MaxTrax boards (thanks John Lee at Expedition Exchange) and an ARB Snatch Strap.

The (loose) plan is to haul down to the TAT in Oark, AR Monday am. We’ll take our time and stop anywhere that looks cool once on the TAT. We’ll tent camp for the most part, but may grab a cheap room if it makes sense too. We’ll be pit-stopping by my brother’s farm in NW AR if it works out with him (huge killer spread we love to spend time at with his family south of Fayetteville). A fast run through OK and a side trip to camping in Mills Canyon in the Kiowa National Grasslands. From that point the plan is the CO sections of the TAT, but depending on the conditions in the high passes, we may jog west to AZ. Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. When we run out of time, we’ll just U turn back to St. Louis.

Well my wife just mentioned that I had been doing my math wrong. Thought we had 7 days, but we have NINE! What a killer mistake to have made!

 

[sethmeister]

Sounds like great fun! Looking forward to seeing photos!

 

[mmbirtcher]

Here's the 4Runner in the driveway just before launch. Admittedly we have way-overpacked. I think. I've considered shipping some stuff home, LOL. But with the two teens pitching in, setting up and breaking camp has been pretty easy.

 

[mmbirtcher]

I always think after I'm on the road that I should pack like a backpacker. But it never seems to work out that way.

 

[mmbirtcher]

This is along TAT section 19 in AR, a ways after Oark once you get off the pavement. Lots of fairly graded gravel and changes in elevation up & down for the most part until we got to our first camp. We had started in Oark at about 3pm Monday.

 

[mmbirtcher]

Here's the structure at the scenic overlook & bluff at the White Mountain Recreation area of the USFS. We got here to an empty campground, met the resident host who lives in a small house here with her family (what an amazing spot!). Absolutely amazing weather. Dry, cool and breezy. Although it did become so windy at about 0500 that we thought a storm might be coming in, but it never did. That was lucky, because we just went back to sleep anyway.

 

[mmbirtcher]

The picture does not do justice to the sunset!

 

[mmbirtcher]

Loading up from camp this morning. The plan was to finish TAT 19 or more today, then side trip to my brother's for the night in Springdale.



I believe this is Hurricane Creek. After we checked it out from the bridge, the boys found access and headed down to the water. I backed up and pulled off down the road that apparently was the old creek crossing before the bridge was put in. If we weren't traveling solo and the FS hadn't put huge boulders on the other side, I might have gone that way... But honestly, as fun as a creek crossing is, treading lightly is the way to go, which does mean taking the bridge...

 

[mmbirtcher]

The "mandatory" stop at the Dairy Dream! Closed Mondays if you're rolling through sometime. As we've travelled section 19, we have seen almost no other travelers on the TAT. Just the very rare road grader and occasional pickup that doesn't seem to be doing the trail. I really expected to see a few people. Maybe its because we started on Memorial Day and thats typically a family holiday weekend?

Just before Dairy Dream is the Warpath Rd part of the TAT section 19. You get to it not long after a sign that says Dead End which left us half expecting to be forced to turn around. Its a pretty rough section of road which actually appears to have been paved at some point in the distant past, which is funny because it was the most technical part of 19 that we encountered. Bumpy and rough, but with few loose rocks. Good clearance required for sure. We had to pull a fallen tree off the trail using our ARB Snatch Strap.

We finished up in Lincoln and early tomorrow morning will high-tail it to reconnect with TAT 20 and hopefully get deep into OK (Mills Canyon in NM would be great, but theres no way we"ll get that far). I should add that we would make better time, but we stop anytime any of us wants to stop. On the trip it is truly not about the destination, the TAT and the adventures and people we find on the way are the destination. No hurry, no worry...

 

[mmbirtcher]

A lot of the food options mentioned on the TAT maps includes fast food or big chain restaurants. We quickly discovered that a quick search in most towns revealed local gems with great food.
This is the Half Dollar Cafe in Dewey, Oklahoma, one of those great local places along the TAT. It's at the end of Section 21 and a way better option than the chain sub store or pizza place IMHO.

 

[mmbirtcher]

Here's an interesting rock formation along Section 19. This picture is a good example of the roads for most of Section 19. Windy, hilly, gravel roads surrounded by trees.

Edit- looks like I already posted that picture... ha!

 

[mmbirtcher]

As organized as I thought I was, there's room for a lot more organization. Moving campsites daily really requires a quick camp setup such as a rooftop tent and built in kitchen rather than digging through everything every day. Those are on the list (not to mention a larger car as I'm passing the 4Runner on to my stepson).
View attachment 404378
Here we are still on Section 19 on May 30.

 

[Spinner]

So, it is 6/13 now. How'd it go?
You make it ok?
I grew up in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Live in Atlanta now.
Thinking one day of driving from the start of the TAT to my parents house in Springdale in my Grand Cherokee.
Call me crazy, but......

 

[mmbirtcher]

Ha, more to come. I've been slow to post as I've jumped back into work and getting ready for another trip, although a very different kind in Manhattan. @Spinner, the Ozarks were beautiful, and the White Mountain campground was my favorite of the trip! Arkansas has so much more to offer than it's given credit for really. I have a lot of family history in AR, with cousins still in Stuttgart and outside of West Memphis I believe, not to mention Moro, And Little Rock.

 

[mmbirtcher]

Section 22 took a lot longer than expected due to flooding that required re-routing three times and a far-too-deep creek crossing as well ending with a late arrival in Newkirk, OK where we "camped" in a motel. . At least we still cooked on the grill and made coffee on it in the morning!