Author Archives: Jerry Shields

Rain! Rain! Go Away! – Due to the heavy rains in area, we are cancelling work until next Monday January 30th. We are closing in on the US Forest Service machine team due to a very difficult area of rock outcroppings slowing their efforts. Today we met with the Corp of Engineers at the Blakely Mt. Dam site office to determine the end point for the trail. After reviewing the area just south of the new office building just above the north face of the dam, we chose a site on a rock bluff that overlooks the intake tunnel for the power plant and the north face of the dam. After eight years of planning and seven years of construction, we are rapidly approaching the completion of the main trail. It is our plan to have a information kiosk at the termination point that will provide information about the trail … Click to read the full article

Beautiful January weather and a crew of seven made for a great day on the trail.  Those of us who started on this trail seven years ago have often talked of what we thought the trail on Big Bear Mountain would be like.  We were afraid that the foliage would block the view or that the terrain would be to steep but neither has occurred.  The views from the mountain are just amazing as we keep pushing the trail east just below the summit of Big Bear Mt. Today we could clearly see Bird Island directly north of where we were working.  At this elevation it clear how the USACE chose this valley to create this beautiful lake.  The Lake sits between two ridges of low mountains that make a perfect bowl, without levis, that allowed the lake to form once the dam was in place. We continue to be … Click to read the full article

Friday, the old adage of “When the going gets tough the tough get going” fit our volunteers as we gathered at the Crystal Springs Marina in a dense wet fog that had descending on the area overnight.  Cold weather in a dense fog are not ideal trail building conditions as we motored slowly across the water for the long hike up to our work site.  Our seven years of trail building in all manner of weather conditions told us this would a “Mudder”, meaning the freshly dug soil would stick like molasses to our tools and would quickly make each boot feel like it weighed ten pounds. We reminded some of our new Traildogs before departure to add a plastic sheet or trash bag to their day packs to provide a place to sit for breaks and lunch. Mud Dogs in Fog, ready to call it a day Hoping that … Click to read the full article

Moderating weather and bright sunshine created a great environment for the Traildog volunteers today. We had eight volunteers today as we departed the dock for the mile long ride across the Crystal Bay. The mild wind created a slight ripple on the water that the bright morning sun turned into a pool of sparkling gems as we quietly motored into Little Bear Creek. Two of our party hiked to the start of the new section, one, Dan, to GPS the 1.7 miles of completed trail, and the other, Robert, to apply the white blazes used to identify the trail’s route to new users. The balance of our pack hiked the 1.1 miles up the south slope to tool cache on the southern slope of Big Bear Mountain.

Friday, Jan. 13, we had nine volunteers, including Bill Pell and Chris Ham of the US Forest Service, joining in the finish work on the seventh section.  The weather had improved significantly from Thursday with much calmer winds and a high of around 50 degrees. We are currently progressing through a relatively level area on the north slope of Big Bear Mountain. Because of Thursday night’s low temperatures, the ground was still frozen as we began work Friday and did not really thaw all day. Lunch break was relatively short due to the cool temperatures and the light wind rising up off the lake.  We persevered and were able to complete the finish work all the way up to where the machines stopped last week.  The USFS machine team was unable to work any of this past week but will be back on the trail next Tuesday, January the 17th.

This post consists of a series of articles that will chronicle work being done in January, 2012, on the “seventh section” of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT). Click on the link below to read the full article, as each workday is chronicled by “Alpha Dog” Jerry Shields.

Looking at the incoming rain today (Monday) we are canceling planned construction both Monday, Jan. 9, and Tuesday, Jan. 10. We have also been informed by the Corp that the barge we have been utilizing is in for repairs. The weather map shows heavy rain approaching from the south.  If we had to hike out suddenly, it is a six mile hike back to our vehicles. We will further evaluate the weather on Tuesday and will let everyone know of any changes to the construction schedule. Sorry for the delay. Jerry

We will restart construction of the seventh section of the Vista Trail Monday January 9th at 9:00 am. We will meet at the Crystal Springs Resort Café located at the end of Crystal Springs Road. We will once again utilize a barge to ferry our volunteers to and from  the construction site just across the bay from the marina. This is our seventh consecutive year of construction resulting in over thirty miles of new hiking and mountain biking trails.