Looking for any advise from those who have completed the loop

Planning a trip in May that would include driving from Houston early Friday morning and heading back Monday noon. Questions that I have are concerning the difficulty and river crossing safety Looks like the Athens-Big Fork section is the hardest. Not everybody in my group is in the best shape in the world, how doable is that section if we start at the trail head on the NW corner and take the section over Friday afternoon/Sat morning? This same group did a 10 mile hike last year in the Smokies that include a 2k foot gain, but that was pushing the limit. That appears to be the only legitimately tough stretch other than the possible safety concerns of the river crossings on the eastern half of the loop. Is there anything else that would need pointed out?

My rough plan would look something like this:
Fri noon start at NW trail head walking south. Try for 4-5 miles
Sat shoot for 10ish miles, camp somewhere around Albert Pike trail head
Sun another 10ish miles, camp somewhere after the river crossing
Mon 4-5 miles back to the truck.

Is this reasonable?

I've completed it 3 times. I will send more info tonight. Your plan looks reasonable except for the day 2 camp location. I'm not exactly sure where Albert Pike Trailhead is.

We have always started at the NW corner, heading south (counterclockwise) because we wanted to complete the ridges while we were the freshest. We have always hiked it in 3 days (Friday night, All day Saturday and Sunday)

Elevation Profile (counterclockwise) - Starting at NW corner Little Missouri/Athens-Big Fork Junction



Water Crossings:
The river must be 4 feet or lower to cross. The average on this graph is 3.5. The river rises FAST and drops FAST. Avoid camping near the south end of Little Missouri if rain is coming. See 2010 river height in graph below and article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Arkansas_floods



Times:
These times are slow, but we wore boots and carried water shoes. Every wet crossing means removing boots and socks, securing them for the crossing and then drying your feet enough to put everything back on on the other side.



I cannot recommend this stuff enough for both keeping your feet dry and preventing chafing



No camp zone (at least for me):
Unless you know with 100% certainty there is no rain coming, I would not camp along the Little Missouri from Albert Pike Campground to where the LM River exits the ERL to the south. You could camp on Albert Pike Overlook, but it is dry up there.



References:
Burn Ban Map - http://www.arkfireinfo.org/ [Polk, Montgomery, Pike & Howard (barely) counties]
Little Missouri River flow - http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?07360200\
Ouachita National Forest Home - http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/ouachita/home (prescribed file info)
Maps and Waypoints - I have waypoints for a GPSr and lots of Maps that I can email.

Great information. Thank you. Where do those daily milage totals put you camping each night?

We camp at 34.3662, -93.9709 on Friday night after hiking the ridges.

We camp at 34.4096, -93.9113 on Saturday night.

Send me your email and I will send the maps.

Got it, thanks

I am interested in doing this hike as well soon. Would love any additional information including coordinates that you may have to share.

Email is username at gmail dot com


Do you think middle of March is a good time of year to go?

March is a great time to go. Nights are still cool.

Just pay attention to the river gage and ensure it is less than 4 feet.

Never heard of this loop but it looks awesome. I would love anything else you could add too. Here or I could provide my email. Thanks for the info.