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Recent Posts
- New Bridge Near Tompkins Bend Trailhead on 1st Trail Segment – April 2012
- Wildflower Planting at Watchable Wildlife – March 31, 2012
- Arkansas Governor’s Conference – Parks and Tourism Henry Award for the LOViT Traildogs
- End Of Trail – Mapping Section 8 – Feb. 27, 2012
- Homestead Interpretive Site Cleanup – Feb. 22, 2012
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Author Archives: Jerry Shields
Wildflower Planting at Watchable Wildlife – March 31, 2012
We had a wildflower planting day at the Watchable Wildlife ADA Trailhead with the 4-H children. The children had taken wildflower seeds that we furnished and rolled them into 1-inch clay balls. On Saturday March 31 approximately 12 to 15 4-H children lined the north side of the loop trail and tossed several hundred wildflower clay balls into the center field. As the rains dissolve the clay, the seeds will take root in the field and hopefully proliferate over time. The ball toss was followed by a hike on the ADA trail and elevated walkway.
Posted in Watchable Wildlife
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Arkansas Governor’s Conference – Parks and Tourism Henry Award for the LOViT Traildogs
Last evening, eight of the Traildogs attended the Governor’s conference on Tourism in West Memphis, Arkansas. At the Awards Banquet, the Traildogs were honored as the winner of the 2012 Henry Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. This award is given each year to an individual or organization that, through outstanding volunteer spirit, has made a substantial contribution to the Arkansas Tourism industry. What an honor for our small group of dedicated trail blazers, who, after seven years, have completed over thirty-three miles of new trail along the southern shore of Lake Ouachita. Thanks to each of you who, over the years, have provided support to the now award-winning project. It was also a great night for Montgomery County, as our own Frontporch Stage program won the Governor’s Bootstrap Award, presented to the individual or organization that has achieved significant success “on a shoestring”, having limited resources or finances. Congratulations to … Click to read the full article
Posted in Traildogs
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End Of Trail – Mapping Section 8 – Feb. 27, 2012
Four hardy Traildogs today participated in the layout and flagging of the final section of the trail. Starting at where the trail will cross Spillway Rd., we threaded our way through the narrow gap of public land between the lease land of the Spillway Resort, now called “Echo Canyon Resort and Marina“, and a plot of private land to the south. Our team was able to find the property corners of the private land which served as the south boundary of our layout. We flagged the trail about a 100 yards north of the private land and well outside the boundary of the Echo Canyon Resort lease land. Once we passed through this gap we took the trail along a ridge that led to the new road leading up to the Corp of Engineers new administration building located atop the mountain on the west side of the dam. We located … Click to read the full article
Homestead Interpretive Site Cleanup – Feb. 22, 2012
We had five volunteers today working on rehabilitating the Old Homestead Trailhead site. Our goal was to stabilize the walls of the 100 year old root cellar and clean and clear the old hand dug well. We purchased cedar split rail fence which we installed around the old root cellar to help prevent further damage from folks climbing into the old cellar and knocking loose the carefully dry staked walls of the cellar. We cleaned the cellar of decades of debris and carefully rebuilt two places where roots from nearby pine trees had disturbed the west wall and where some trail users had removed some stones on the south wall. Fortunately the stones from the walls were in the bottom of the cellar, covered in debris. Once the walls were rebuilt and stabilized we installed a 10’ X 20’ rail fence around the site. We also cleared the old hand … Click to read the full article
Hickory Nut Mountain Fire Tower Site Cleanup – Feb. 7, 2012
On Feb. 7, 2012, we had seven volunteers assisting in the clearing of the old Fire Tower spur trail and the tower site. The old site was badly overgrown with vines, briars, and numerous fallen trees. After five hours of clearing, we had located the concrete anchors of the tower, the foundation to the watchers’ cabin, a water cistern, and what we believe was a stone cooler used for perishables at the site. We also found the two National Geological Survey medallions installed in 1953. The trail from the Hickory Nut Mountain Trailhead sign to the tower site is only .15 miles and just a ten minute hike from the parking area. The photo gallery below includes a rough proposal for the interpretive sign we plan to install at the site, along with photos of the construction, including the cabin foundation. Jerry
Bear Mountain Construction – Feb. 11, 2012 – Never A Better Day!
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. 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 … Click to read the full article
Bear Mountain Construction – Feb. 6, 2012 – Bear Mountain Benches
We had seven volunteers today to assist in installing two trail benches and a rework of the steep switchback on the south slope. Installing benches on this section is a study in logistics due to its remote location. As we left the marina, we had seven volunteers, two 4-wheelers, four bench frames, sixteen bench slates, six 80 lb bags of quickcrete, a mixing pan, hoe, shovel, digging bar, and a post hole digger, along with four gallons of water, all of which had to hauled up the mountain. We were fortunate today, as we did not run into solid rock when we dug the holes for the benches. The first bench was installed on the south slope of the mountain overlooking the Crystal Springs Marina. The second bench was installed on the north slope overlooking Hotel Island. Following the bench installation, we had lunch on the south slope at the … Click to read the full article
Bear Mountain Construction – Feb. 2, 2012 – Just A Perfect Day
What an amazing way to spend a early February day! The weather was shirt sleeve and sunny, with only a soft breeze today as we began wrapping up this years construction. The US Forest Service team began removing their excavation equipment today as they move on to other operations in the Ouachita National Forest. It had been our fervent hope that somehow we would be able to push the construction all the way to Brady Mountain Rd. this year, but it appears we have run out of excavation resources. We measured our progress today as we hiked out at the end of our day, and we have developed three new miles of trail since we started this dig last December. It appears we have approximately 3.5 miles of additional construction to get to Brady Mountain Rd. Budget constraints and other needs of the Forest have brought this year’s construction to … Click to read the full article
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Bear Mountain Construction – Feb. 1, 2012 – Grapes of Wrath
We had five volunteers today who chose to take a chance of iffy weather. As we motored slowly across the bay, draped in fog so thick we could not see the mountain, I thought we looked like some dust storm refugees with the barge loaded with muddy 4-Wheelers and our volunteers in their trail work clothes, back packs and old life jackets. Once across the bay, we unload the 4-wheelers and begin ferrying volunteers to the top of the mountain. The going is steep, especially on the old logging road we utilize to shorten the trip to the top. Once at the summit, we must motor almost two more miles to our work site. This requires several trips to carry all our volunteers across the face of the mountain. As the fog lifted today it was if a curtain had been lifted to reveal a stunning new painting. The lake … Click to read the full article
Bear Mountain Construction – Jan. 30, 2012 – Making Progress
We had five Traildog volunteers today who enjoyed being ferried, first by barge across the lake, then by four wheeler up the mountain to the work site. The barge handled transporting the two 4-wheelers and the five volunteers easily. Utilizing the 4-wheelers is saving us almost two hours of hiking each day. We will not be working tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan 31, as several of us are attending the funeral of Rick Stokes’ father. Rick has been a good friend and strong supporter of the trail since the first day and was very close to his father. We will assess Wednesday tomorrow afternoon to determine if the forecasted 80% chance of rain actually will occur. Thanks Jerry