Michelle and I are avid hikers. But we're not thru hikers. We both like to spend a day enjoying a nice hike but then welcome the comforts of home in the evenings -- like a warm shower, warm meal and and soft-ish bed.
Thru-hiking has always been a bit intimidating to me. And, unfortunately for us, a couple of Northwest Arkansas's most popular trails The Ozark Highlands Trail and Buffalo River Trails are designed for thru-hikers. Because of this, we haven't really hiked them as much as I would like. Thus, I've been looking for opportunities to hike these trails as a series of day-hikes. Day hikes are more conducive to the way we like to hike and the fact we have dogs at home and also, I think it makes them more accessible to the average hiker.
One of the longest stretches of the Buffalo River Trail is the first stretch from Boxley to Ponca. So for Michelle's birthday in April, we made the decision to hike the entire 11.1 mile section as a day hike. In order to do it as a day hike, either you need to two vehicles or you can pay for a shuttle. To do two vehicles, leave one at the Ponca low water bridge and then drive to the trailhead. Or, in our case, we parked at the trail head, and paid a purveyor to shuttle our car back to the Ponca bridge so it was there when we arrived. This is a pretty easy process and cost us about $35. Lost Valley Canoe or Buffalo Outdoor Center are the two most viable shuttle providers in this area.
Getting there
The Boxley Trailhead for the Buffalo River Trail (BRT) is located just off of Highway 21, 1.1 miles South of where Highway 21 crosses the Buffalo River. The parking area is just off the west side of the road.
There is an old cellar structure here as well as the foundation of an old school house that are worth checking out while you prepare for your hike.
The trail begins on the opposite side of Highway 21.
The Trail
The trail starts off on the east side of Highway 21. There is a wooden sign there that marks the spot. The trail passes a gate and then immediately crosses Smith Creek. This is a dry crossing most of the year, but for our April (wet weather season) hike it was the first of three wet water crossings.
After the crossing, the trail heads through the woods on the left an then turns right and heads along the edge of a field. On the right is a large pasture, and to the left, a steep hill. Along the hill there are the remains of an old rock wall that likely served as the pasture's boundary.
The trail follows the pasture for awhile and then turns left and starts heading up the hill that was to your left. The trail heads up hill for quite awhile here and is the first of three climbs that are about 500 feet of climbing.
As you make the climb, a valley starts forming to your right. Eventually, that valley gets close to the level and the trail passes over the small pour-off crossing and then continues into the woods and turns back left up the hill.
As you reach the top of the hill, the trail bends left again and some nice bluffs form to the right. The trail then passes through an old wooden fence and continues on the level.
The trail then turns to the right. While most of this 11 mile hike is awesome hiking, there are a few parts of the trail that are necessary hiking to get to better stuff. This next few hundred yards is one of those. The trail passes through an area on what appears to be an old road but it thick with undergrowth. It's fine for hiking, as the trail area is cleared, but it's not the prettiest of hiking areas.
But soon enough, the trail gets better and goes through a gate and enters a large field. The field opens up to an amazing view over the Boxley Valley. While the trail may someday bypass this field, it is one of my favorite parts of the hike with big views across the valley and of Cave Mountain.
The trail goes through the field and down the hill, past a small pond.
The trail passes the pond and then, at 1.7 miles connects with a gravel road. This is formerly known as County Road 25 and connects Shiloh Mountain Road on the top of the mountain to Highway 21 at the bottom. Once you get to the gravel road, turn RIGHT and follow the road up the hill for about .4 miles. The road is seldom traveled so there isn't much traffic, and there are some really interesting views off to the left.
At 2.1, there is a sign on the left that signals that it's time to turn left off the road back onto the trail.
After leaving the road, the trail passes under some power lines. Because of the "maintenance" under the power lines it's a bit of a mess to follow here, but quickly drops down into the woods into one of my favorite sections of the hike,
The hike follows through the woods. This area is full of Beach trees, so during winter, the leaves glisten in the sunlight.
The goes around a hill and then crossed over a couple of drainage areas. These are mostly wet weather drainage areas, but there was some decent flow for our hike which led to a lot of nice waterfalls.
This area is a fantastic area to stop and spend a little extra time.
After passing through the drainage area, the trail straightens out and starts heading down the hill. It's just a beautiful area.
The trail follows an old road trace down the hill, then veers left off the road trace and past yet another waterfall area.
The trail continues down the hill and at 3.3 miles, reaches Arrington Creek. Crossing the creek was the second of three wet stream crossings for us on this hike.
On the opposite side of the creek is a campsite -- and it is one amazing setting for a campsite. I highly recommend spending some time here, taking a break, and enjoying the area.. It's peaceful, secluded, and has the sound of running water that just makes you feel one with nature.
As a side note, if you are a day-hiker and can't arrange a shuttle, I think this would be a fantastic place to hike into and then back for a 6.6 mile round trip out-and-back. I think sometimes these out-and-backs can be great hikes and this would definitely be one of those.
Once you have done some exploring, and are well rested, you can continue. And it's a good thing you're rested, because from here, the trail begins the second of its big 500 foot plus climbs.
The trail takes a staircase up to the left.
As you make the climb to the top of the hill, the trail turns to the left, and then to the right, and then back to the left again. While the climbing is steep at times, there is plenty to look at such as drainage areas, wildflowers and dogwoods that help make the climb all worth it.
At 4.1 the trail hits an old road trace. It follows this road trace on the level for 1.5 miles making for a nice stretch of level (and relatively quick) hiking.
On the level, the trail passes a lot of neat stuff, including an old signal tree -- the type of tree believed to be used to mark early trails by Native Americans. At 4.9 there is a spring with a nearby old home site. While we didn't see much sign of the home site, the spring was very prominent.
The mud around the spring also showed the signs that wildlife frequent this spot to clinch their thirst.
The trail passes another spring that is flowing right out from under a huge boulder. The trail then turns and crosses a small drainage.
At 6.0 the trail reaches an overlook with an amazing view of the Boxley Valley. I've admired that old barn in the valley for many years, but it's definitely a unique view of it from here. There was conveniently a couple of rock "stairs" that made for nice seats to sit and enjoy the view for a bit.
After the overlook, the trail is first-class hiking for quite awhile. The trail continues its bend to the left, and then turns back to the right. The trail is has some nice little rock formations and nice cedars.
After some pretty moderate downhill hiking, the trail starts a steeper descent toward Dry Creek.
Just before getting to Dry Creek, the trail passes over a small road that is private property. You'll see a house off to your right where the family lives. Just cross on over the road and then at 7.6 you'll reach Dry Creek. While it wasn't really dry when we were there, you should be able to cross and stay dry with no problems.
The trail leaves Dry Creek and heads up the hill a little and through a neat little area that was covered in small wildflowers. At 7.8 it crosses a little-used dirt road and then goes through a thicket of cedar trees.
The trail heads back down again and at 8.2 crosses Running Creek. While this is probably dry in the last summer and fall, during the wet season you should plan on Running Creek being a wet crossing. There are also some nice Dogwoods in the area.
Just after crossing Running Creek, the trail passes through a small field, and then follows a small drainage. The trail then turns to the left and crosses the drainage and then starts heading UP the hill. This is the third of the big climbs on this 11.1 mile trail.
The trail climbs about 600 feet in elevation from here - -and pretty steeply. I don't have a lot of advice except be in pretty good shape, take breaks when you need them, and there are a lot really great rock formations that you can admire as you take your breaks.
As you make the initial ascent, the drainage you just followed and the Running Creek drainage are getting steadily further down to your left.
The trail eventually levels out a little -- and goes through a series of great limestone rock formations. This is a particularly interesting section of the trail.
Everything here is just incredible. Enjoy.
The trail turns to the right and enters Big Hollow. It runs along the top of the hollow and crosses several small creeks that all end up feeding the (I presume) larger creek down below. This is a spectacular are that would have a lot of pretty interesting water features during really high water.
The middle part of the Hollow is at about 9.6 miles. The after leaving the hollow, the trail follows on the level for a bit. You've finally finished the third climb. This section rewards you with some really nice pines, some rock formations, and really soft hiking trail.
Around 10.2 the trail starts following an old road bed that leads down the hill to Ponca. The trail drops about 600 feet in .8 miles, so it is pretty steep in places. There are several great overlooks over the Boxley Valley along the way as well.
The trail down has a lot of small gravel and is really steep in places, so watch your step. We have also hiked this trail up from Ponca (in an out-and-back to the Big Hollow area) and the climb feels a lot worse coming from the other direction.
After 11.1 miles, the trail ends on the South side of the Ponca low water bridge. If you left a car here and ran your own shuttle, more if you organized a shuttle, your car will be waiting on the other side of the bridge.
If you have time (and the energy), there is plenty to explore around Ponca as well -- including the Beaver Jim Villines Homestead. Beaver Jim was among the early settlers in the area and his family homestead is nicely preserved. The Buffalo River is also beautiful in this area, and during the spring when the water is high, many kayakers and canoeists will be here getting ready for their much anticipated journey. Through hikers can continue on the Buffalo River Trail from Ponca toward Steel Creek.
Trail Details
The Buffalo River Trail from Ponca to Boxley is a really nice hiking trail. I admit that the combination of the distance, elevation change, and the thought of needing a shuttle can be intimidating. We helped overcome some of this by hiking portions on each end as out-and-backs in the weeks before the hike to help us get more comfortable with the trail. But once we got over our initial concerns this turned into an amazing hike for us -- one we look forward to doing again.
Distance: 11.1 miles
Difficulty: Difficult -- this is mostly due to distance and elevation change. The trail itself is mostly well-maintained and easy to navigate so there are few navigational obstacles.
Kid-Friendly -- probably not
Footwear - wear sturdy, water-proof hiking boots. That said, the day before we did this trail I blew out my trusty (old) hiking boots. I had promised Michelle we'd do this for her birthday, and wasn't about to let her down. So I hiked this in a pair of Solomon Trail Runners. It's doable in a pair of trail runners, but I can't really recommend it as I felt every rock underfoot for the last 4 miles or so.
Trail Guide: Tim Ernst's Buffalo River Hiking Trails
Star Rating: 4.5 of 5
Additional note: We hiked this during the wet season, which came with several water crossings. If you plan to hike this during the dry season (usually late summer through the fall), plan on these crossing being dry - -but also don't anticipate there being access to fresh water along the trail. So pack in the water you'll need to make the hike.
Trail Photos from hike on April 11, 2017.
