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Ozark Highlands Trail
Background. It used to be said that the Ozark Highlands Trail (OHT) was 165 miles long, stretching from Lake Fort Smith State Park to Woolum Ford on the Buffalo River. Now it is a little more complicated. First, on the west end Lake Fort Smith and Shepherd Lake were combined into one, Lake Fort Smith State Park was moved 4 miles north and the old trail was flooded. A new trail section has been laid that connects the new park with the existing trail in Jacks Creek. I am in the process of updating OHT map 1 with a GPS track we took April 17 but right now it looks like it is a mile shorter. Making it up at the other end is the east section of the Buffalo River Trail and the new Sylamore Section of the OHT. Though not actually part of the OHT, the east BRT is dozens of miles downstream from the west BRT terminous at Pruitt. The east BRT picks up where the OHT ends at Woolum and runs another 15 miles to the US Highway 65 bridge across the Buffalo River. Another 30 miles to the east as the crow flies is the Sylamore section of the OHT. Though far from being contiguous with the existing trail at Woolum, this 31.6 mile trail is officially part of the OHT. Both the east BRT and this is part of the OHT will be part of the Trans-Ozarks Trail. When complete, the TOT will combine the Ozark Highlands Trail, the east BRT, the Ozark Trail of Missouri and many trails still to be built, to connect Fort Smith AR and St Louis MO. The Maps. The 17 maps, herein, begin at the new Fort Smith Lake State Park and stop at Woolum. The maps are free downloads that are formatted to print at scale (1:24,000) on 11 x 17 paper. Click on the image to get to the full size map and right click to download. It is free! Alternatively, you can purchase the same maps printed in color on weather proof, Rite in the Rain, 11 x 17 paper (see bottom of page). The base maps are a composite of USGS topos. The OHT is shown in red and other trails are shown in blue. Mileages between waypoints are provided and are based on the offical distances used by Tim Ernst's trail guide and the forest service. The forest roads have been enhanced and updated using aerial photos, satellite imagery and the 2005 Ozark National Forest map. Many different road designations are shown because they have different names on different maps and in different versions of the trail guide. These maps have been updated since I first posted them in January 2008. I found some more sections that I GPSed over the last few years and we re-GPSed about 90 miles since then. In addition, I came across Eric Strong’s GPS tracks from his 2004 through-hike and with his permission, used it to correct some of my map and compass errors (his entire track is available for download on his site). Because of the scale of these maps and GPS data, they are more accurate than the forest service version. I hope you find these useful for your next trip to the Ozarks. Google Earth Images. Google Earth images of the entire trail are provided. You will note that the orientation changes on each one so that north may be up, down or any which way. The reason for this is because I have tried to orient each scene to provide the best view of the trail and to highlight the topography. NEW! Trail Descriptions: The following links will give you trail descriptions and pictures (Work in Progress)
Trail Mileage. Click here for an Excel spreadsheet of the trail. There is an West to East and East toWest version so it is ready to use regardless of your route. Since it is a "live" file you can sum your mileage to get a better idea of the length of your days. Check out column "D." By copying the formula in one of the cells to the beginning and ending location of a day and deleting the formulas in between, you can get subtotals. Feed back welcome! Waypoints. Click here for a table of the 52 waypoints in Lat-Lon, decimal degrees (pdf format). IMPORTANT NOTICE: An ice storm during the week of January 26, 2009, forced the OHT to be closed for a while. The Ozark Highlands Trail Association did a great job of clearing dead trees and recently laid a new trail in the Richland Creek area (but the Richland Creek road is still closed). Thank you! Check the OHTA webpage or the Ozark National Forest webpage for additional updates. Here are some Forest Service pictures to give you an idea of the severity. |
| OHT Map 08: Moonhull Mt. to Ozone. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 09: Ozone to FR 1498/1003. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 10: FR 1498/1003 to Haw Creek Falls. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 11: Haw Creek Falls to Hurricane Creek. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 12: Hurricane Creek to Fairview. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 13: Fairview to Moore CCC. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 14: Moore CCC to Falling Water Creek. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 15: Falling Water Creek to Richland Campground. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 16: Richland Campground to Forest Boundary. Google Earth Images: |
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| OHT Map 17: Forest Boundary to Woolum. Google Earth Images: |
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To Buy Map: If you don't want to take advantage of the FREE download, color weatherproof versions (11x17) of each map are available for $5 each plus S&H by emailing Charlie@OuachitaMaps.com. A 20% discount is available if you want the entire set. That is $73 folded and delivered by mail in the US. Expensive, yes but cheaper than the $90+ for the full set of USGS topo, that don't have the trail. |
Weatherproof Topographic Maps at
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