Ouachita Trail THRU-HIKED 2023 ✔️| Days 15 & 16: It’s all about HOME.

April 1-2, 2023
Days 15 & 16 of my 2023 Ouachita Trail thru-hike. Winding Stair Shelter to Talimena State Park. I love the OT so much, I’ve done it twice! #OT23
Thanks for following along,
- Dixon

[@zoeyash7891]

I love you so much and I'm so proud of you! You've always been the best dad ever to me, and it makes me so happy to see you accomplish such challenging things! You've always inspired me my whole life. I know for sure you've inspired so many others too💖💖💖

[@DixonHikes]

Thank you, baby girl. Love you the mostest! 😘

[@granolasteeve]

Dude, great series on this thru-hike. Easily the best series I've seen on the Ouachita...

[@DixonHikes]

Hey, thanks Steve! There’s several great series on the OT - just glad to be one of ‘em!

[@Toro153]

Awesome trail and awesome documentary! I’ve been looking to up my game from weeklong trips to a 2-3 week thru hike and you put the Ouachita Trail on the top of the list.

[@shauncarter924]

Congratulations amigo. Love you, man and I really enjoyed the videos.

[@DixonHikes]

Thanks for watching, my brother. Let’s get together soon.

[@BryanDeLay]

Congratulations on thru-hiking the OT Chris! You did a great job capturing and editing these videos. I really enjoyed all of them. On day four you were so right about rain and wind with temps in the 30's; it's bad and requires a lot of mental toughness. Also the section of the Kiamichi Wilderness that I did the end of May 2020 looked a lot different in March. The entire trail looked like it was in great shape and well maintained. I was really amazed at how many great views there were and I was also surprised at how many rocky sections there were. Finally is that backpack the new Zpacks Arc Haul Ultra 60L and how do you like? Again congratulations and thanks for posting these great videos.

[@DixonHikes]

Thanks so much, Bryan. My eastbound plan had me camping on the Kiamichi @ mile 43.2 where you camped back in May 2020. I’ll camp there one of these days, one of the best campsites on the entire OT. What a great experience this was - already planning my next one! I got the new Arc Haul Ultra 60 last fall, & am loving it so far. Mine has the Lycra mesh on it, which isn’t as durable as the original mesh they used - but they’ve since changed back to the old mesh. Thanks as always for watching.

[@Mountian-Zen]

Good job, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed watching. I watched your last several days. So, I will watch your earlier sections of this thru hike on the trail. I am hoping to thru hike this the last few days of Feb. into early Mar.

[@DixonHikes]

Thanks for watching. That’s a great time to be on the OT. Best of luck on your journey through the Ouachitas!

[@texashikeaholicsadventures5651]

Congratulations!!!!🎉

[@DixonHikes]

Thank you guys! Other than having to change the direction of this hike at the last minute - it couldn’t have went any better. Amazing experience. Already planning the next one! #OHT24

[@kenwbrenner]

Hi Chris. Very impressed by: 1. Your completing the trail 2. The beauty of the trail, and how well it is marked 3. The quality of the shelters 4. The apparent lack of hikers 5. Your style of showing so much of the trail (vs. what some do that mainly show themselves talking). I enjoyed your commentary and the appropriate mix of that and showing us the scenery. Very well done! I've been section-hiking the the AT for 30+years and am about to pass the mid point. However, at 70, I've decided to look for good trails further south that are not as crowded (as the AT) and not as far from home (I live in the Laurel/Hattiesburg area of south Mississippi).. I'm thinking about doing the Ouachita Trail, perhaps with some men from the church. Will share this video series with them. As info, I have an aunt who has lived in Hot Springs, Ark. for many years, so am somewhat familiar with the area. Will watch your other hiking videos, and look forward to hearing about your next hiking trips. Thank you for this fine video series, and God Bless to you and your family!

[@DixonHikes]

Ken, thanks so much for the kind words. I would highly recommend the OT for the reasons you’ve mentioned. I’ve done it twice, & will do it again. Awesome. I’ve knocked out a little over 200 miles on the AT. Plan on sectioning it to Damascus, & stopping. Hoping for a AT thru-hike in 10-15 years, if not, I’ll pick back up @ Damascus & hopefully complete the whole trail. 🤞🏼 The OT crosses Hwy 7 about 30 miles north of Hot Springs. Would be a great time to take a zero with your aunt!

[@kenwbrenner]

@@DixonHikes Thanks for the nice response Chris. If I had to recommend a section of the AT, it would be from the northern end of the Smokies to just past the northern end of the Shenandoah National Park. I left out the Smokies, not because they are not beautiful, but tend to be crowded. In general, the southern Appachians are wonderful! I have a channel and playlist showing the details of each section I've hiked from the southern end in GA to PA. The playlist is called "Walking in Creation -Hiking the AT". Might give you some idea of what you will see. Any hiked prior to 2002 will be scanned photos vs digital, but still give a good look at what I saw. If you ever need any thoughts on the section of AT you will be hiking, feel free to reach out. 🙂👍

[@DixonHikes]

Will do, Sir. Subscribed to your channel. I have the Foothills Trail in SC/NC planned for late October, very much looking forward to that one!

[@CPlus903]

Thanks for giving us a great tour of this trail. I have mountain biked part of it but am new to hiking. How did you store your food when you camped?

[@DixonHikes]

Thanks for watching, John! Love the OT, so lucky to have it in the home state. I’ll do it again, maybe a couple more times! As far as food storage: When I tent camp, I’ll hang from a tree. At shelters I either hung from the rafters, or just kept in backpack - odor proof bags work great to keep the rodents away.

[@muddyfeethiking]

Congratulations on finishing your hike. OHT up next? I see you found one of my favorite lookouts at Winding Stair Gap.

[@DixonHikes]

Thank ya, sir! OHT spring 2024 is the plan!

[@Dlward_16]

We were camping at Burns Park, left about 30 minutes ahead of the storm. A year later, and Burns park is still not the same.

[@DixonHikes]

Wow, got out in the nick of time. What a scary day - I watched a live stream on KZbin from Winding Stair Shelter as it was approaching Breckinridge/i430. Then was glued to it pretty much the rest of the day, worried about my family (we live just south of LR).

[@joshuahamilton6014]

What a great set of videos! I've hiked most of the OT and maintain about 5 miles of it. I've always wanted to thru hike it and watching your thru has finally spurred me on to say "do it!" I'm shooting for spring 2024! Also, where'd ya get that hat?!

[@DixonHikes]

Thanks, Joshua. And THANK YOU for helping maintain this amazing trail. All you guys have inspired me to do my part - I’ll be contacting FoOT soon to see about adopting a section. Man, do it. Don’t wait. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. I’d always planned to wait until all my kids were out of the house - then I watched Cam Apel’s Colorado Trail Thru-Hike series. He said something along the lines of “You only get one life, but if you live it right, all you need is one.” That really resonated with me. A 17 year old kid with that perspective. So I went for it! Already planning my next one….ha I found this hat at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park gift shop during my section hike back in 2019. Haven’t seen it anywhere since.

[@sarahsundstrom1425]

Hi a busy and I getting ready to hike the OHT and Oauchita in the next few weeks . I'm excited ! Looks too be similar to ga terrain ? What are the differences w the trails.. Do you have a favorite? They both seem well marked w less of water

[@DixonHikes]

Very exciting, Sarah! You’re going to love both the OT & OHT. Very rugged terrain on both, with comparable elevation gain/loss to anything you’ll find out east. The shelters along the OT are fantastic & properly spaced. Camping along the OHT is infinite. Both are well marked. More water/features on the OHT, but right now water will not be an issue on either. More views along the OT. Hard to say which one is my favorite, love them both. I actually have a OHT thru-hike planned for late March. Can’t wait to get back out there!

[@sarahsundstrom1425]

@@DixonHikes be careful you might become addicted to long distance hiking 🌱 It's definitely changed my life Yes

[@kenwbrenner]

Fllow-up question: I saw a sign for the Womble Trail, which I've heard of in the pass. Have you hiked it? Looks like a pretty long "side trail".

[@DixonHikes]

I have not hiked the Womble, but thinking about doing it this winter to train for my thru-hike of the Ozark Highlands trail in spring 2024. Check out my Eagle Rock Loop video, probably the best loop hike in the middle of the country. Around 28 miles & will give you the full Ouachita experience. Spectacular!

[@kenwbrenner]

@@DixonHikes Will do so - thank you!

[@jimmygunter8931]

Way to go bearded wonder.

[@DixonHikes]

Thanks buddy. I appreciate you putting in some overtime & altering your schedule for a couple weeks so I could live out my dream! 🤝

[@meghandixon8584]

Way to go baby. Last video, out on your birthday weekend! It just made it even more special! 16 days is a very long time! Teens that don’t drive on their own yet, made it very challenging. We love you and are very proud of you! Looking forward to the OHT next year, since you’re already planning that. 😉 Just another shout out that you missed, thank you to your parents! Pam and Butch, thank you for helping pick up kiddos when I had to work. Letting them stay with y’all so I could meet up with Chris during his travels. Chris couldn’t of done this trip without y’all too! Takes a village to raise a village. So happy for you, babe. Getting out there and making your dreams happen. You’re inspiring and I love you so much. Now break time from hiking. Time for the retired golfer to put golf clubs back in his hands and kick some booty in golf!! ❤😘🥰