Hope Shannon doesn't mind us talking about AR trails. Oh well, here goes.
Black Fork Mtn is the one you see if you're at the Lodge of Queen Wilhelmina State Park and looking north. It appears to be just as high as Rich Mtn which is 2680 feet. If you're hiking the Ouachita Trail eastbound from QW, you eventually come to the intersection of the Black Fork Mtn trail.
I don't know if it was the same owner or not, but we called that country store to have him shuttle us to the Winding Stair Trailhead as we were going to hike back to the lodge. Yeah, he had some tall tales alright and drove like a bat out of Hades.
One thing that we noticed was the stunted growth of the trees on the north side of the ridge due to the prevailing winds and ice. Hiwayman's photos bear this out.
And there is bear activity in this area. Our first night on the trail, we were standing around the dying embers of our campfire, looking at the billions of stars overhead when we heard a thunderous rustling of leaves and snapping twigs coming down the hillside across from our camp. My partner whistled and suddenly there was silence. We took our flashlights and shined them all around the area of the noise. Nothing!! Quickly we assembled the largest bonfire in the annuls of camping.
