North Fork Check-Out Trip

The North Fork section of the Ozark Trail runs from the border of the Mark Twain National Forest near Pomona to the southern end of the Devils Backbone Wilderness. It is an integral part of the connection between the Ozark Trail and the Ozark Highland Trail (OHT), yet is unconnected to either. Private lands extend miles to the east and south, with anticipated connections to the Eleven Point section and the OHT at the Arkansas border.

This section is approximately 27 miles in length, and takes much of its path from the existing Ridge Runner and Devils Backbone trails. A few years ago the US Forest Service contracted construction for a 12-mile extension from the Ridge Runner at ‘Blue Hole’ to a trailhead one mile west of Pomona. On May 22, 2003, John Roth and Kale Horton went on a checkout trip on this extension. John is with the Ozark Trail Association and Kale is a Wilderness Trails employee of the Forest Service.

The checkout trip started near the Highway AP crossing near Blue Hole and continued east toward the Pomona trailhead off Highway P. This trip was cut short about two miles from out destination due to nightfall (Kale will finish the remaining portion in the near future). We used a hand-drawn map of the trail as our guide, as the trail has not been GPS’d and has no official map. The purpose of the trip was to inspect the trail, put up new markers where needed, and generate a new map of the trail from a handheld GPS receiver.

Because this section of trail has no brochure nor map, it is unknown to the trail community and has received very little use. Because the trail has little use, the Forest Service has spent scant time maintaining it. This ‘Catch-22’ problem will be alleviated in the future through the volunteer efforts of the Ozark Trail Association. However, the current state of the trail is so poor that suggest you avoid the section from Blue Hole to Pomona.

Click here to view our May 22nd route and notes. The detailed map is suitable for downloading and printing on 11x17 paper. The map is large, so please allow 5 minutes for downloading via a modem.

John Roth
May 23rd, 2003