Hiking Winding Stair Mountain on the the Ouachita Trail with the Oklahomo Hiker
This past April, the Hiker Trash Husbands joined up with the Oklahomo Hiker to enjoy a roughly 6 mile in and out hike on the Ouachita Trail to climb Winding Stair and Rough Mountains.
The Ouachita Mountains are located in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma and it was about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from where we were staying in Tulsa. We’ll admit we didn’t quite believe Paul when he told us there would be mountains to hike, but we had seen his pictures - so we were ready for anything.
The mountains reminded us a lot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southeast, but on a smaller scale. The hike up Winding Stair Mountain was steady, with about 700’ or so of elevation gain to reach the summit. Just after the summit, Winding Stair Mountain Shelter was on the trail. Winding Stair didn’t have views at the summit, but shortly after passing the shelter, several views open up before you begin descending more steeply to the next gap.
We continued on, to the gap between Winding Stair Mountain and Rough Mountain and then continued on to the summit of Rough Mountain. Rough Mountain had no views to speak of, so when we reached the summit, we grabbed some lunch, then headed back the way that we came.
All told, we spent half a day checking out the mountains and trail, along with enjoying the scenic drive in the mountains to and from the Winding Stair Mountain trailhead on Oklahoma Hwy. 1 (Talimena Scenic Drive).
This hike was part of the Ouachita Trail, a roughly 223-mile long hiking trail through the entirety of the Ouachita Mountains in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
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