184
Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area Spring Overnight Backpacking Action
3/27/15
Extra time on Friday allowed me to head north to Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area for a night in the forest. Arrival to the Fort Douglas area at Big Piney Creek was around 12:30. There were numerous vehicles seen at the parking spot for the Ozark Highlands Trail. My journey began closer to where Hurricane Creek meets the Piney. The skies were mostly cloudy as I headed down an old road bed towards the creek. The temp was near °55 with a light breeze. The day was supposed to improve as it progressed, and it did. Hurricane Creek was fairly high and the crossing was more difficult than usual. Northward to the nearest mountain was my direction now. The clouds and blue sky were about equal now as I cleared the rock line at the top. The view was excellent. The temp was 58° with a decent wind as the ridge was traced to the east and then north following the creek. Many locations were scouted for camp but none were as hoped.
The back up plan was to camp in the valley. By 4:00 my camp preparations were underway and all was readied for the evening. As the sun departed assorted and delicious food products were ingested and the fire was then lit. The half moon was high above and already partially hidden by a thin layer of vapor. This cloud cover did progress through the night and limited the low temp to only 40°. The fire wood lasted until 10:30 and that is when the hammock took me in to its embrace. The night was without incident until I rose close to 7:00. That is when the light rain began. My gear was packed within minutes and I then departed. The old road bed that parallels the creek on the west side has been well used by off road vehicles, I am sorry to say. It is bad enough that horses enter wilderness areas but when ignorant, lazy ass pieces of stuff ride their 4-wheelers and side by sides all the way to the natural bridge area it just really hacks me off. The forest service can't do anything about it because they only have one person per 100,000 square miles to look around at what's going on. Anyway, the hike was close to five miles and quite enjoyable aside from the dumb stuffs that fill this state with stupidity. Afterwards a stop was made at Haw Creek Falls, and home. Please feel free to insert the word "shit" wherever the word "stuff" appears above.
