Chigger bites and few sore muscles were worth the trip to Boxley, Arkansas for this 10 mile, out-and-back day hike on the Buffalo River Trail. This is the western end of the 38 1/2 mile Buffalo River Trail that runs from Boxley to Pruitt.

There are still plenty of prairie grasses on the glades, so I might have been a shade early in my eagerness to get out. Smith Creek was dry and there wasn’t a drop of water to be found on the trail but it was a wonderful hike. I saw plenty of whitetail deer, an armadillo and caught a glimpse of the elk population down in the valley between Boxley and Ponca.