Whitaker Point (Hawksbill Crag)

Hawksbill Crag, also called Whitaker Point, sits inside the Upper Buffalo Wilderness, and the trail to it is the only designated hiking route in the wilderness. Congress created the main section in 1974 and added land in the 1984 Arkansas Wilderness Act, for about 12,000 acres in all. The Buffalo River's headwaters rise here. The forest is mostly second- and third-growth oak and hickory, with shortleaf pine standing in old fields from when the Forest Service bought the land in the 1930s and 1940s. No one has lived in the area since 1948, and hikers still pass decaying houses, farm implements and roads in the valleys.

The approach is rough. Hikers drive Cave Mountain Road, a steep gravel track that one local hiking guide measures at about six miles from Boxley, and park at a small lot marked for wilderness access. The Forest Service lists the trailhead as open around the clock, free, with no restroom or drinking water. The trail is developed but unmarked and runs about 2.7 miles out and back with 324 feet of climbing.

As in any federal wilderness, motors and bicycles are barred. Camping and fishing are generally allowed with a proper permit, hunting is allowed in season, and black bears live in the area. Bring water, since none is provided.