It wasn’t cold – it was frigid this morning as twenty volunteers gathered at the Crystal Springs Marina for a day of trail building on Big Bear Mountain. Led by six trail-tested Traildogs, we had six delightful AmeriCorps Volunteers and eight enthusiastic Arkansas Wildlife Federation volunteers depart from the Marina starting at 8:30 this morning.
AmeriCorps and Arkansas Wildlife Federation volunteers Join the Traildogs on our last winter day on Bear Mountain
The air temperature at lake side was 23 degrees with a 10-15 mph wind out of the northwest. The Traildogs left early to do a little tree removal and user sign installation on the sixth and seventh sections of the trail. They removed two large trees blocking the eastern end of the sixth section on Little Bear Mt., then installed several user signs on the newly minted seventh section.
On the barge ride over to Little Bear Creek, water splashing over the front edge of the barge immediately froze our bow line and coated the front of the barge with a thin layer of ice. Captain Dan Watson had to thread the barge through a group of half frozen bass fisherman participating in a tournament who had chosen the Little Bear creek area to make their first casts. Captain Dan is a pro and carefully threaded his way through the fishing boats without upsetting these hardy fisherman trying vainly to coax the half frozen bass up from their lairs below the thermo-cline.
Beta Dog Al and Gamma Dog Robert were waiting on shore for the second an third loads of volunteers at our moorage in Little Bear Creek at the base of Big Bear Mountain. We loaded the 4-wheelers with our day’s supply of food, drinks and some extra tools for the trip to the top of the mountain. The good hearted and strong trail supporter folks at the Shangri-La Resort had furnished sandwiches and fresh baked berry pies, which were lovingly loaded on these four wheel wonders. The good folks from the Arkansas Wildlife Federation had furnished drinks and other goodies to supplement the sandwiches and pies.
After a scintillating, body-awaking boat ride across the lake, everyone was ready for a hike up the mountain. Thirty minutes of hiking brought the herd of volunteers to the summit switchback area on the south slope. Most of the volunteers were enjoying the hike and expressing how good the warm southern sun felt. All the seasoned Traildogs knew were thinking “just wait to you cross to the north side”. As we passed over the summit we were greeted by an invigorating 10-15 MPH breeze to make the 26 degree air temperature bone chilling. We hiked on about a mile and half to the work site which was – no surprise – frozen solid. The young volunteers were undeterred and hacked away at the frozen ground, smoothing the tread and working the “angle of repose” on the up side of the trail.
Lunch overlooking Crystal Springs Marina with AmeriCorps and Arkansas Wildlife Federation Volunteers
Two hours of hacking and we had completed the final 600 feet of new trail. After some picture taking, we retreated back to the switchback section on the south slope where we broke for lunch. Once we were on the south slope, it was like walking from a freezer into a warm room – no wind, and warm southern sunshine. The group fell on the food like a … well, a pack of starving dogs. I heard a few forget the sandwiches to go directly for a slice of those pies, but within thirty minutes, most of the food was being converted into new energy.
The average age of the Traildogs is somewhere between 65 and 70, and they were definitely enjoying the bloom of these youthful new volunteers. After lunch we attacked a rework of the very steep last switchback, rerouting it to the right through a outcropping of solid rock that the Forest Service machine could not navigate. The vigor of youth was apparent when we asked the group to line the down side of the trail with boulders. If we dogs were doing this we would have labored to cover this steep slope by rolling, tugging, fighting and cursing enough rocks and boulders onto the slope to keep it from eroding. Before we knew it these young folks had formed a fire line and were passing rock and boulders down onto the slope like we would sprinkle salt on freshly fried eggs. After an hour, the twenty volunteers had converted the raw steep switchback into a gentle rock lined curve that any bike or hiker would truly appreciate.
We often hear in the news today that our youth have lost their zeal for everything but thumbing their communicators. We on the trail know better. These young people who joined us today are a credit to their young generation. To a person, they were a cheerful, hard working, dedicated group of volunteers who raised the spirits of old dogs. They were intelligent and personable, with a keen ability to coax a host of stories from long experienced Traildogs.
A special word of thanks to Wayne Shewmake and Ethan Nathe of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation for orchestrating the students volunteers from across the state to join our final day of trail building for this winter. Another special thanks to the dedicated team of AmeriCorps volunteers for giving of their personal time to come over from their work at Lake Ouachita State Park to assist on the LOViT.
Many thanks to each of our volunteers today.
Jerry
