So here’s some pictures from The Backpacking Trip That Wasn’t:

We were pleased to see that the Ouachita Trail was well marked by the Forest Service; we hadn’t been sure that it would be.  We’d have no difficulty at all finding any of the trailheads, should we want to try this again.

Henry was SO EXCITED.  So excited.  And this was right before he rubbed his head into the sand, so he still looks clean and citified here.

At the beginning of our hike, I felt compelled to hold on to his leash, as if he’d run away.  I should have known better, he’s such a chicken he stayed right on the trail.  (He hates getting whacked in the face with grasses, and there are less of those choking out the trail.)

Still in the parking lot, we took the consummate “before” picture using our car as the tripod.  Henry was too distracted to look at the camera.

We hiked for about a mile, through many, many dry creekbeds before we stopped for a snack.

I think Joey looks like Wallace from Wallace & Grommit in this picture.  Love it.

In my hands I’m holding the Pelican case for our camera (it weighs 4 ounces) which came in very handy several hours later, when it rained like a banshee and I had the camera out.

The trail was actually pretty easy to find, and for the most part was very well marked.  We did lose it at the very end, which was the second reason we had to turn around.  (Primary reason, of course, being that there was no water anywhere and we didn’t want to die of thirst.)

Henry was that we were eating carrots and HE REALLY WANTED ONE.  I bit him of a piece…and he promptly dropped it on the ground, then wouldn’t pick it up and eat it again.  So no more carrots for the puppy.

Every mile, there was a marker on a tree with the Ouachita Trail logo, the mile number, and a nice blue trail marker. All other marked trees just had the blue mark on them, and there were many of those.

We spotted this little turtle just sitting in the middle of the forest halfway up the mountain.  We weren’t sure why or how he got there…seeing as there was no water anywhere.

After 2.5 miles, we were exhausted and thirsty.  We dropped our packs on the side of the mountain and set up to make lunch after having made the executive decision to turn around and head back to a state park where there was actually some water.

Henry was bushed and promptly lay down in the pine needles for a little rest.

We sort of spread out all over the mountainside as we made our lunch.  Henry woke up quickly, as soon as he smelled that we were making food, and rushed around trying to make sure we didn’t drop anything.

After lunch, we packed up our gear, now several pounds lighter due to using up so much water to make our lunch and the fact that we’d allowed ourselves to start drinking it, and we headed down the mountain.  Going down a mountain is not easier than going up it, just so you know.  It is faster, but it’s also a lot easier to twist your ankle on a loose stone – Joey and I found ourselves stumbling quite regularly.

And then, it began to RAIN.  And not just sprinkle, but full on downpour.  We were wearing our rain gear, but poor Henry had no such gear.

He just got wet.

He hated the rain so badly that he ran ahead of us on the trail (he never even wandered off it, which is why we called him Trailblazer) pretty much the entire way back to the Pashubbe creekbed.

And when we weren’t following fast enough…he looked at us with a very snobby look, rather like the above.

See that?  It’s supposed to be half of the Pashubbe Creek.  The other half is even wider, and it’s just as dry.  There were probably three or four forks of it, but we stayed dry-footed (well, except for the rain) because, well, the creek beds were all dry as bones.

Soon we were back at the car, exhausted, wet, but ready to press on and continue having a jolly good time.  And, of course, we were successful.