We hope you enjoy your time visiting our website, and that you have a wonderful and safe experience along the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail and the beautiful area through which it runs.
The posts on this "Home" page let you know what's happening on and around the Trails. The rest of the pages on the site introduce you to the Trails and their history, and to the "Traildogs", volunteers who maintain the existing trails and work with the US Forest Service to create new trail segments. We also include maps of the trails (this is a work in progress), and we provide information about amenities and places to stay in the area.
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.
As in years past, 8:00am and 24 degrees in December along the shores of Lake Ouachita is downright frigid. But cold or not, December 10, 2011, was a beautiful, sunshiny day as 53 participants lined up near the Denby Bay trailhead for the annual Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT) Marathon. Observers doubted that the lycra shorts would be that warm but the runners were dancing in anticipation.
At 26.2 miles, the LOViT Marathon’s path passes through the Tompkins Bend and Joplin trail heads heading for the top of Hickory Nut Mountain and then turns around for a return trip. The trail rises 900 feet in elevation along the way, with half the elevation being in the last mile to the summit. At the top, the runners were provided fluids and snacks by a group of Traildog volunteers who, between runners, clustered around a roaring fire and enjoyed a pot of hot chili cooked up by Bonnie Carr, wife of Marathon organizer Phillip Carr.
This post combines a number of messages and photographs from Jerry Shields and other Traildogs to document the work done on “the seventh segment”, which began along Bear Creek in the valley between Little Bear and Bear Mountain, and which will extend up Bear Mountain and along its summit eastward to Brady Mountain Resort.
The following picture gallery contains photographs from each of the updates below.
Crisp morning, warm afternoon as we climbed the southern flank of Big Bear Mountain today with two new volunteers joining us. We had eight volunteers today: myself, Al G., Robert C., Mike C. back from Colorado, Chuck D., Derwood B., Dan W. and Doug P. We especially welcome Doug, our newest Traildog. Best weather yet, and by 10:30 we were all stripping layers of clothing as our efforts, plus the warm southern sun, had us sweating.
On Saturday, Dec. 10th,2011, Traildog volunteers again supported the annual LOViT Marathon.
Approximately 60 runners left the starting line at 8:00 am in 24 degree weather. It just doesn’t seem to me that those lycra shorts would be that warm.
The Traildogs at the aid station race turnaround point atop Hickory Nut Mountain seems to have solved the cold problem, which included a roaring fire and a pot of hot chili to warm their inards. Angelina did not make the race.
Jerry
The Strong Women Group Crossing Boulder Ford on the Crystal Springs Trail Segment
Nov. 9, 2011, was a beautiful fall morning, trees aflame in color, wildflowers in bloom. Fourteen fitness fanatics from the Montgomery County Strong Women program were in awe of the landscape as they hiked a total of just over five miles out and back on the Crystal Springs Trail Segment of the LOViT.
I have finally set up the new LOViT Website to be the live site. I hope you enjoy the new format and features.
On the “Home” page, you will find a link you can click to send me email (“Click to send email about this site”). I’d sure appreciate hearing from anyone who finds any problems or has any suggestions to improve the site and its usefulness to you.
Enjoy the trails,
Dan
On Friday, October 7, 2011, the ADA Watchable Wildlife section of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail was officially opened at the information Kiosk located on Old Highway 270, just one block west of Shangri-La Road. Approximately seventy people attended the ceremony including several seniors from the Montgomery County Assisted Living Facility in Mt. Ida.
ADA Fishing Pier on LOViT's Watchable Wildlife Trail Segment
The featured speakers were Richard D. Stokes, United State Army Corps of Engineers, Gloria Chrismer, United States Forest Service, Kirstin Bartlow, Arkansas Game and Fish, and Jerry Shields, leader of the LOViT Traildog Volunteers.
Jerry Shields spoke of the key support organizations who have contributed the most to the creation of the ADA Trail, the US Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Arkansas Game & Fish, both of whom have provided grants and other support activities critical to the development of this unique facility. He praised the strong effort of the Traildog volunteers in constructing the ADA approved elevated boardwalk and fishing pier portion of the trail. Jerry also stated that the 900 foot elevated walkway and adjoining pier provide opportunities for physically challenged users to enjoy the beauty of the area and its wildlife population.
Our first day constructing section Seven started with a 27 degrees day as we rallied at the Crystal Springs boat launch. A clear sky was a welcome sight as we loaded all our tools and equipment onto the work barge the US Corps of Engineers had loaned us, saving the volunteers a four mile hike in and a four mile hike out from the newly dug trail. We motored by barge up Little Bear Creek, and thanks to the recent rains, Lake Ouachita has risen several feet, allowing us to motor to within a quarter mile of where section seven begins. We had six volunteers today and made good progress up the south slope of Big Mountain, finishing approximately 2/10’s of a mile of new tread.
Traildogs ready for first day on Bear Mountain
The Forest Service dig began roughing in the trail late Monday afternoon, and by Tuesday evening had roughed in almost a half of a mile of new tread. The larger excavator is handling the steep slope of the mountain as we had hoped, despite hitting a couple of spots where we found solid slab rock under the veneer of light soil.
Fellow Traildogs and Friends
We are moving closer to our planned Nov/Dec dig on the southern face of Big Bear Mountain, just across the bay from the Crystal Springs Resort, where will begin construction on the scenic seventh section of the trail. The final plan calls for the Traildogs to join in the construction on Wednesday, November 30th, at 9:00 am. Our rally point will be at the parking area next to the Crystal Springs Resort Café. The Corp of Engineers have generously offered to loan us one of their barges to serve as transport to the work site, and the good folks of Crystal Springs Resort have offered a boat slip for the barge, both of which will save of hours of hiking into and out of our planned work site. This section of the trail will challenge all our trail building knowledge and skills but in the end will be the most scenic and wild section of the trail to date.
Here’s a quick post to report on progress in building a new website for the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail. Most of the skeleton pages have been created, the color scheme is done, menus top and bottom are all working, and the Big Picture table is starting to come together. There are a few problems, and the content needs to be added and photographs need to be incorporated into the articles. But, progress is being made.
Feel free to contact me using the link on the right-hand side of the Home page if you have any ideas for improving this site.