“I was surprised that Missouri could have a wilderness that still gives a feeling of solitude. I was also surprised by the amount of trail maintenance on such a ‘less talked about’ trail,” Tils said. This was day nine ozark trail canopy of my 16-day thru-hike of the Ozark Trail (OT). This article presents an idea that has high influenced my way of thinking about design. The article is centered on ideation and focuses primarily on how to do it well.
Trail maps are free to print at home or are available for purchase at the online store. If you’re on a multi-day hike, toilet paper and a cathole shovel are necessities. When you have to answer nature’s call, make sure to stay at least 200 yards away from a water source and bury any solid waste at least 6 inches deep. Further south, you can find Klepzig Mill, a historic building constructed nearly 100 years ago along the banks of Rocky Creek.
I did have a few inches along the edge for some clothes, a water bottle, and a headlamp, but that could have been made wider with a narrower sleeping pad. Having a separate rain fly ozark trail chair for a 2- or 3- person tent makes sense because multiple people can split up the weight a little easier on longer hikes. With a 1-person tent, that doesn’t really make as much sense.
It also includes loops to hang your trekking poles when not in use. Here’s another AWESOME thing about the Ozark Trail Atka day pack. It’s sized to fit every airline’s carry-on size requirements. My son and daughter each took one of these on a trip through Europe and they carried it on every plane, train, and bus they rode without any problems. It’s also small enough that it wasn’t inconvenient for them to have it with them everyday.
A sub-freezing night brought beautiful, delicate frost flowers. Water from a full day of rain and a nighttime thunderstorm brought life to the small waterfall in Wolf Pen Hollow. I’ll forever cherish the memories made and accomplishments achieved — and my own cherishing quickly turned to wondering about other OT thru-hikers’ experiences. Ultimately, the good design for this product was that it was sized right for what I needed, both in dimensions and weight. Not too small, but not too large (and thus wasteful) – a Goldilocks design. After all, I had to be sensitive to weight as we were required to carry our own water for 10 miles as there were no options for filtering during that stretch.
Streams and creeks can run deep and quick during heavy rains, and temperatures can dip below freezing in the spring and autumn. There are long stretches without cell phone service. Berchek continued, “Water is easy to find on the OT, even in the drier seasons. The problem is there are a lot more water sources than indicated on the map, so…you end up carrying more water than needed. Water sources indicated on the OTA maps are mostly reliable.