Geeks Afield
The Butterfield Loop – Devil’s Den State Park
Links for this hike
Devil’s Den State Park
HikeArkansas.com
Tim Ernst site – Guide books and photography
Devil’s Den State Park is in the northwest corner of Arkansas. The park is worth visiting for many other activities besides backpacking. There is a beautiful old dam there built in the old CCC days. You can rent paddle boats to cruise on the small lake behind the dam. There are cabins, camping, and picnicking. There are many shorter hiking trails worth the time and effort. I’ve not partaken, but you can go spelunking. It is a very beautiful place, and well worth the drive, especially in the fall and spring.
The park has a 15 mile trail, the Butterfield Loop, used for overnight backpacking. Parts of the trail are multi-use for horses and mountain bikes. It also crosses several other trails used for those purposes. This distracts from the trail, somewhat.
I chose this for my first overnight hiking experience for several reasons. It was close. You have to register with the park before you do the hike. At this point I was still a little timid about hiking, and I thought this a wonderful idea. If something happened, someone would be looking for my body. And lastly it was supposed to be well marked and a fairly easy hike.
I’m not sure the last part is entirely true. It is very well marked, but parts of the trail will test your conditioning if you have not hiked much. There are some definite elevation changes on the trail, but nothing dramatic. However, the trail in parts is pretty rough. One section goes through a rock field for what seemed like an eternity the first time. At least the times I hiked it other parts of the trail were washed out, making the walking very difficult. It is however a very pretty hike. It takes you through the Ozark forest, and the last part follows Lees Creek back to the park.
I’ve hiked the trail 3 or 4 times. The last time was with Brodie Jeff after I got him excited about doing the Grand Canyon hike for my 50th. This is where he discovered the value of a good pair of boots. He had a pair of hiking style boots, not hiking boots. The 5 mile hike out after the overnight was pure heck for him that first hike. When you flip through the pictures you will see him bandaging his blisters.
I always hiked in about 10 miles to area where another stream rain into Lee’s Creek. If you are lucky you will have the area to yourself, or at least get the site closest to the streams. It is a very scenic spot with an established fire ring and stream gurgling in the background. At night the coyotes can go crazy which bothered me a little the first night I backpacked. Having hiked for 10 miles I felt I was miles and miles from anywhere, and days and days from help. In reality as you lay there in your sleeping bag you can hear the occasional motor vehicle on a road that must be fairly close.
One of negatives about this area is that it is obviously well used and you might not have it to yourself. I backpack to get away from the crowds. The other negative stems from it being well used and a primitive camping spot. You get out a little from the camping area and it is a sea of partially buried bathroom tissue. Come on folks the soil is not that tough of a dig in this area.
Tim Ernst puts out an excellent book on the hiking trails of Arkansas and this trail is in there. The book is well worth the investment if you plan on doing any hiking at in Arkansas.
On the whole I am glad I did this hike, and I might do again if I wanted to introduce someone to hiking. If you are start early enough and don’t carry a big pack it can be day hiked. I’ve run across several folks doing just that. I imagine though they were very tired at the end of the day. However, the highlight of this hike is the overnight camping area at the juncture of the two streams. It is a postcard.