This was our third time backpacking the 26-32 mile Eagle Rock Loop in two and one-half days (in the Ouachita Mountains National Forest of Arkansas). But it was our 10-year-old grandson’s first time to backpack more than one day, so it was a true adventure for us all! We drove from Texas and hit the trail around 3:30 p.m. There had been a lot of rain in the weeks before our hike, so we checked the USGS Langley, Arkansas, river level and discharge rate on an hourly basis before starting out. Justin and I had carried around 22 pounds (before water), and our grandson carried his snacks, water, pad and sleeping bag for about 12 pounds.
If you watched until you got the comment about the water-filter, here’s the details. We have always used the Katadan Be Free filter system and loved it. But, it had been a while since we had used our filters. As we began preparing our gear we were surprised that none of our multiple filters were working - we couldn’t get any flow at all. So, we did some research and soaked the filters in a vinegar and water mixture overnight. After rinsing them in the morning, the flow returned to all of our filters including the new and the very old ones. So, we thought we were all set. Sadly, when we were ready to filter water at camp, the filter once we were carrying (and the spare) again had no flow at all. So, we let the filter soak a couple of hours and were able to get enough flow for our needs, but it was very frustrating. We may try soaking the filter for a longer period-of-time and keeping them in water during travel if possible. We are also considering switching to a Sawyer Squeeze. We will let you know if we have better luck in the future.
We also commented in the video that we carried too much food for the three of us. If you are interested here is a list of the food we carried.
Breakfast: Starbucks French Roast Via packets, sweet & low, and powdered creamer; hot chocolate packs; Outmeal pouches (with walnuts and sugar added).
Lunches/Snacks: Lances peanut butters crackers, Skippy squeeze peanut butter, chomps, snickers, peanut M&Ms, Welches fruit snacks, mixed nuts.
Dinners: Instant butter mashed potatoes [we carried too much of this for sure] with freeze dried corn and peas; Mountain House Breakfast Skillet; Peak Chicken Alfredo Pasta with Chicken.
Liquid IV and Gatorade packets.
Gear for 2 night/3 day trip:
Sleep system: Big Agnes, Tiger Wall UL 3 (for me and Max); lightweight sleeping bags, Therm-a-rest Neoair Uberlite pads; and sea to summit lightweight inflatable pillows.
Emo hammock set-up for Justin, with lightweight sleeping bag.
Poles for all three. Mine are Black Diamond cork handles, light. Justin’s are Leki. Max used my old poles without any problem.
Pack: Justin and I both have the older REI Flash 55 and we love them! Max had a child’s Osprey, 18. Justin prefers a bladder and Max and I just used Smart Water bottles.
Headlamps, bug spray, toilet bag, water filter system listed above.
Hike clothes (1 set), and sleep clothes (1 set), no cotton. We all brought camp shoes but the only person who used them was Justin. Max and I just staying in our trail runners until crawling into tent- noted by use for future reference on cutting weight.
Cameras: I-phone 14 Pro; Go Pro 11 Black
Software: Adobe Creative Cloud, Premier Pro, Acrobat,
Music and Sound Effects: Epidemic Sound, Storyblocks, Adobe Stock, Artlist.
Where we stayed: Campsites along the trail, and night three at the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge and State Park.
Are you over 60? Do you enjoy the outdoors and want to try backpacking? Wondering if you can? Be assured you can! If we can do it (mid 60s and overweight), you can do it!
If you have any questions at all about our Arkansas backpacking adventures, please feel free to reach out in the comments section below. We love to talk about our hiking and backpacking adventures. We both work full-time. Backpacking (and making videos) is a hobby we love. If you enjoy our videos, we would very much appreciate a thumbs up and/or a comment, so we know you are enjoying what we are sharing. If you want to get notices when we post videos and encourage e us to keep spending our free time putting these together, please subscribe as well. Regardless - GET OUT THERE!!!