Pike County High Point Trip Report

Hogpen Mtn - BM Hog (1,780+ ft)

Date: March 10, 2001
Author: Jobe Wymore

From the small town of Langley at the junctions of AR369 & AR84 zero the odometer. Head east on 84 for only 0.8 miles till you see McFarlin Road on your left. Zero the odometer again and head northward on this nice dirt road. Stay on the main track for 1.4 miles till you see a lesser road going off to your right. I turned on this lesser road and was only able to drive down it for about 0.1 mile until downed trees blocked progress. This is a small road and I couldn't imagine them clearing these any time soon. Anyway, I just parked in the middle of the road and got out and started hiking.

The road at this point is going east but soon starts to curve northward (left) towards Hogpen Mountain. It passes another good dirt road that merges into it shortly after that and I continued straight. Shortly after, feelings told me to break off the main track and start the bushwhack to the summit. It's pretty thick/prickly down at the base of the peak but it starts to thin out the higher you get. The summit has some mangled trees with a few rocks here and there. Looked like someone had dug some kind of a fire pit up on the HP once upon a time. About 20 feet to the east of the true HP will be a little rock outcropping and in it was BM HOG 1957.

This is a steep hike and in the summer would be plenty sweaty not to mention all the full grown prickly plants. Little bit of a tough hike. Round trip was a little over an hour.