Big Branch Trail Shelter

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

OUACHITA NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL SHELTER, on Ouachita National Forest land. The Forest Service states that the 71 miles of the Ouachita Trail crossing the Jessieville-Winona-Fourche Ranger District have nine trail shelters along their length for hiker use (fs.usda.gov/r08/ouachita, read 2026-08-16). This is a HIKE-IN backcountry shelter, not a drive-up campsite -- do not publish it as one without checking the walking distance. No fee is charged for it and it is not on the forest's day-use no-camping order. U.S. Forest Service dispersed-camping rules for this forest (fs.usda.gov, read 2026-08-16): "Dispersed camping is the term used for camping anywhere in the National Forest OUTSIDE of a designated campground." "You may camp in a dispersed area for up to 30 days. After 30 days, you must move at least 5 road miles for camping in another dispersed area." "Dispersed camping is NOT allowed in the vicinity of developed recreation areas such as campgrounds, picnic areas, or trailheads." "Please place your campsite at least 100 feet from any stream or other water source." Groups over 75 need a special-use permit. No fee. AGFC records NO 'last_verified_date' for this point -- age unknown. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: the latitude and longitude on this row are AGFC's own, taken from the public ArcGIS service https://gisec2.agfc.com/arcgis/rest/services/GIS/AGFC_DATA/MapServer layer 1 ('Public Use Facilities'), queried 2026-08-16 for ftype IN ('RVs Allowed - No Hookups','Tents Only','RVs Allowed - Hookups','RVs Allowed - Hookups and Dump'). This is the agency's mapped facility point, NOT a field visit and NOT a geocode. The fee flag on this row is AGFC's own 'fdescrip' column reading 'No Fee Site'. AGFC does not publish per-site facility detail, so the presence of a table, fire ring, toilet or trash service is UNKNOWN and is not claimed here. NO WATER SOURCE IS CLAIMED -- treat any lake, river or bayou nearby as NON-POTABLE. AGFC's facility type for this point is 'Tents Only'. Nearest town: Mountain Pine ~15.3 mi. 'Nearest town' is STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village and is NOT a driving distance; in the Delta bottoms and the Ouachitas the road in can be far longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. STATUS=pending: this is a lead for review, not published. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.