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OZARK HIGHLANDS TRAIL ASSOCIATION JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2005 NEWSLETTER, #214 Neither OHTA nor our volunteer leaders are responsible in any way for the safety of participants. Visit the archives section for previous newseltters. SAVE A TREE, SAVE US MONEY, GET INSTANT INFORMATION—READ THE NEWSLETTER ONLINE. With this new web page format, it will be even easier and faster for us to post new information online. Hikes and work trips will be added/updated as soon as we get the info—no need to wait until the next newsletter! Plus there will be color photos, direct links to web pages, and some extra stuff that will not be in the normal newsletter. In an effort to cut down our mailing and printing costs (and save trees and oil), we are asking everyone to read the newsletter online here instead of receiving a hard copy mailed to them. You can always print out a copy if needed. If you would like to help out, and get your info as much as 2-3 weeks faster, send us an e-mail and tell us to remove you from the hard copy mail list (NOTE: you will not be notified when the newsletter is ready - you simply log on whenever you like.) Then simply go online whenever you like to read the latest news, which will be updated throughout the month. If we do not hear from you, we will continue to mail a hard copy to you as always. IF YOU ARE READING THIS NEWSLETTER NOW ONLINE, PLEASE CONTINUE TO DO SO, and let us know to stop your hard copy from being mailed to you. Thanks! E-MAIL LIST. If you would like to be reminded via e-mail of meetings and outings, or any other OHTA business (no SPAM), send a note to our Membership Chairman, Dean LaGrone, and you will be included on the e-mail list. LIST OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2005 EVENTS A COUPLE OF NOTES FOR ALL OUTINGS: An outing may be cancelled at any time due to bad weather or icy roads. Be sure to check in with the leader the night before the trip if things look questionable. All overnight trips are limited to a total of ten hikers and you must register with the hike leader in advance. Dayhikes are generally not limited (but can be by the leader if advance registration is required), but it is always a good idea to check with the leader before the hike. DAYHIKES January 8. BUSHWHACK DAYHIKE into the Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area. This is a strenuous bushwhack with some nice waterfalls as you travel down Greasy Creek towards Hurricane Creek, and is rated difficult. Then you will scramble up a hill and follow an old road back to the cars. Call Mike McKinnon at 479–996–5122 to confirm. Meet at the school in Deer (on Hwy. 16) at 9am. January 22. BUSHWHACK DAYHIKE into the little-known Dismal Hollow Special Interest Area near the community of Nail on Hwy. 16. Lots of bluffs and waterfalls to explore, but it is a tough hike, and only for experienced hikers—rated difficult. Contact Tim Ernst to sign up and for more info—870–861–5536. Limited to ten hikers. (to read an account of and see photos from this hike see the January 23 entry in the Cloudland Journal)
February 19. DAYHIKE an easy five-mile walk on Fossil Flats in Devils Den Park. Meet at the Pack Rat at 8:00am or 9:00am at the trailhead. Bring water and lunch. No pets please! Call Mary Collins at 479–443–5813 for more information. OVERNIGHT TRIPS January 8–9. OVERNIGHT FUN HIKE from Ozone to Big Piney Trailhead. This 19.8 mile stretch is rated medium and includes the most scenic Cedar Creek area. Call Brad Davenport at 479–996–4649 to sign up and for more details. January 29–30. OVERNIGHT FUN HIKE from Arbaugh Road Trailhead to Lick Branch Trailhead. This 14.6 mile section is rated medium, and has some great views as you hike down the steep hill into the Little Mulberry River drainage. Call Kerry Coe at 318–688–1162 to sign up and for more details. February 12–13. OVERNIGHT FUN HIKE from Hare Mountain Trailhead to Lick Branch, 11.8 miles and rated easy-medium. Meet at 8:00am at the Oark Country Store for breakfast before the hike. For more info and to sign up call Bonnie LaGrone at 479–750–2550 (evenings). February 12–13. OVERNIGHT BUSHWHACK FUN HIKE into the East Fork Wilderness. There is no established trail but there are old abandoned roads. We’ll hike into setup camp and explore. Call Bob & Dawna Robinson at 479–783–6319 to sign up and for more details. February 26–27. OVERNIGHT FUN HIKE from Arbaugh Road to Ozone Campground. This 14.8 mile section is rated medium. Call Kerry Coe at 318–688–1162 to sign up and for more details. TRAIL MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE NOTES: It is extremely important that you have maintained your section in the past few months and turned in a report to Roy no later than January 31st or your section will be assigned to someone else. You must also cut out the corridor to a minimum width of six feet (three feet on either side of the trail—walk down the trail and cut out anything that you can touch with your hands stretched out!). NEW ONLINE MAINTENANCE MANUAL/GUIDELINES THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! Those on the OHTA maintenance work trip December 11th were: Ed Hall, Bob Raney, Mike McKinnon, Jeff Dicello, Bob Skinner, Grey Owl Barrett, David Brumley, David Turner, Norma Senyard and Roy Senyard. THANKS A MILLION! January 15. MAINTENANCE WORK TRIP on OHT. Meet at Pack Rat Outdoor Center 6:45am. We’ll carpool to work site. Others meet at Lick Branch Trailhead at 8:30am. We’ll work between mile markers 51 and 56.3 (Indian Creek to Lick Branch). Bring lunch and water, tools provided. Call Roy Senyard at 479–587–0200 for more info and if the weather is bad. January 29. MAINTENANCE WORK TRIP on OHT. Meet at Turner Bend 8:30am to work Ragtown Road to Fane Creek. Call Bob & Dawna Robinson at 479–783–6319 for more details. February 26. MAINTENANCE WORK TRIP on OHT (crew #1). White Rock to Potato Knob. Meet at Potato Knob Road at 8:30am. Call Bob & Dawna Robinson at 479–783–6319 for more details. February 26. MAINTENANCE WORK TRIP on OHT (crew #2). Meet at Pack Rat at 6:45am to carpool. We’ll be working Arbaugh Road to Moonhull Mtn. Those coming in from other places meet at Arbaugh Road Trailhead 8:30am. Bring lunch and water, tools provided. This will be an all-day trip so plan on getting home late! Call Roy Senyard at 479–587–0200 for more information. MARCH BASE CAMPS. We will have two mini-base camps in March—the 11th–13th and 18th & 20th at Redding Campground, with crews working on the OHT in either direction from there. Food and tools provided. Details will be posted in the next newsletter, and on the web page as we get them. Everyone is welcome! CLUB MEETINGS January 9th. OHTA General Meeting in Springdale. To get to the meeting site, from Hwy. 71 B in Springdale turn EAST on Emma street, go several blocks, then turn LEFT/NORTH onto N. Main Street, then pull into the parking lot on the right behind the building (across from Shiloh Museum—there is a map on the web page). The program will be given by OHTA member Dale Oliver, and will be a slide show and discussion about his recent trips up into the Canadian Rockies. We’ll have refreshments and social time beginning at 7pm, with the meeting to follow at 7:30. Call 870–861–5536 for info. NEW February 4th. Mountain Home area meeting. A meeting will be held on Thursday, February 4 at 7 p.m. for area hikers and others interested in learning more about the Ozark Highlands Trail Association (OHTA). The OHTA is a nonprofit volunteer organization that was organized in 1981 to build, maintain, and enjoy the Ozark Highlands Trail. The purpose of the local organization is to bring together individuals in Baxter and surrounding counties who enjoy hiking or would like to learn more about the activity, and help with trail maintenance and construction in the Sylamore District of the Ozark National Forest and along Norfork Lake. The meeting location is the Corps of Engineers' Mountain Home Project Office at 324 W. 7th Street. More information about the meeting is available by calling Jon Hiser at (870) 425-2700, ext. 132 February 13th. OHTA General Meeting in Springdale (see directions above). The program will be given by John Roth, who is one of the directors of the Ozark Trail in Missouri and the Ozark Trail Association there. He will talk about their experiences in trail building and the trail extension sections they are working on, and the future of the trans-Ozarks Trail project. We’ll have refreshments and social time beginning at 7pm, with the meeting to follow at 7:30. Call 870–861–5536 for info. 2005 CLUB OFFICERS ELECTED. We welcome Bobby Shepperd as our new outings coordinator (Pam Rodgers moved to California!), and all others remain the same. See the CONTACT list for phone numbers and e-mail addresses. The following note is from Bobby: I am privileged to accept the role of outings leader for 2005. I have been a member of the OHTA since moving to the Fayetteville area 11 years ago. As I think back on those years there are very few things that have stood the test of time for me. Fad diets have come and gone, electronic gadgets keep getting smaller and faster, and there are so many “things” sucking up every free second in our busy lives. But one thing always pulls me back, the OHTA. It is the one thing I get pure satisfaction out of every time I participate, whether in the meetings or the hikes. My most exciting memories of the great outdoors have been on OHTA outings. I can remember them all as if they were yesterday. I challenge you this year to pick your day and find the time to get outside! Lead a hike and make a memory for yourself, and most importantly for someone else who joins you on the adventure you create. Thanks in advance for your support this year and I will see you on the trail! ***NOTICE***(Feb. 9th update) OUACHITA TRAIL SHELTER BURNED. An arson hauled in gasoline and soaked both the Nancy Mountain log shelter and picnic table and burned them to the ground recently. It was located at milepoint 189.5 just east of Shady Lake. The forest service says the log shelter cost about $8,000 in materials to build, and they are not sure if they are going to replace it or not.
RELATED NOTE: Friends of the Ouachita Trail (FoOT) met with the Ouachita Forest on May 8 and discussed the Nancy Mountain Shelter. It was clear that the USFS had no plans or budget to replace the Nancy Mountain Shelter destroyed by an arson. We told the Forest Service that FoOT volunteers had indicate a willingness to raise money and do the work, and asked directly if they would allow us to do that. They were agreeable to the plan with only a few reservations. First, they would want a shelter built to the same plans as the previous shelter, so that the string of shelters on the OT would retain their common character. They would also like to be involved in the planning and know/see what we do. The shelters they built ran about $8000. That included pre-cut lumber delivered to the site, all other materials, and the labor to put it together. We should be able to provide the labor, and we can look at creative ways to get some of the material donated perhaps, but this is far from a slam dunk. The USFS called our bluff, now we gotta go see if we can make it happen. If you would like to help re-build Nancy Mountain shelter on the Ouachita trail, please contact Friends of the Ouachita Trail, PO Box 8630, Hot SPrings, AR 71910 - or -friends_OT2003@yahoo.com.
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