Ouachita National Forest

By -
The last time Jean's parents were here a few years ago we went west visiting Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns and the Davis Mountains. So, this trip Jean researched a trip northeast to Ouachita National Forest in southwest Arkansas.


A colleague of mine did some backpacking in the area and highly recommended it. Jean and I had planned to visiting Ouachita last year but the Memorial day flooding drove us west. Fortunately, Jean's research did not go to waste.
Arriving at our campsite we found an abundance of RV campers and a dearth of fellow tent campers.
 3/20/16 Hiking Bear Mountain
Hiking on the Lake Ouchita Vista Trail (LOViT)

Now would be a good time to remove your antler hat.

The LOViT is 40+ mile trail on the south side of Lake Ouachita. Jean and her parents did an eleven mile section of it along a ridge of Bear Mountain. I doubled back at the halfway point and brought the car around.
A mighty big lake
 03/21/16 Canoeing the Ouachita River
Oh, that's why there aren't any other tent campers. Apparently it got down to 28 degrees F overnight.

Stream rising off the lake in the morning

The sun came out and it warmed up so we decided to try a little river canoeing.

The river was flowing well. We did seven miles and had lunch break in the span of two hours.

Jean and Colin shooting some rapids
 03/22/16 Eagle Rock Loop
My colleague had backpacked the Eagle Rock Loop and highly recommended it. Our GPS led us astray en route. This was actually the "good" portion of this county road. It would get much worse.

After backtracking and finding a more suitable route for low clearance vehicles we finally arrived and promptly walked off in the wrong direction.

When were soon on the right course and making a daring river crossing

Several miles later we made an even more daring river crossing






With all the creeks this would make for a great trail in the summer. In March the water was a mite chilly.


 03/23/16 Back on the LOViT @ Hickory Nut Mountain
Colin applying the factor 50 sunscreen that seemed to do absolutely nothing

Well, nothing apart for creating good photo opportunites

Jean conquers that non-existent fire tower




12 miles into a 14+ mile hike

 03/25/16 Canoeing on Lake Ouachita
After surviving the river unscathed we felt brave enough to take on the lake.

Our picnic spot


The Lake Ouachita Dam



Comments

Colin said…
Fantastic trip. Thanks Aaron and Jean
29 April 2016 at 07:28
Anonymous said…
Brings back very happy memories.
29 April 2016 at 15:20
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Soldier Fly Larva Harvester

By -
Image
Black soldier fly larva are voracious decomposers. Here's a video  of a some larva completely devouring a hamburger over the course of five hours. And here's a video of some chickens completely devouring some black soldier fly larva. Black soldier flies have some curious qualities that make them particularly well suiting for cultivating their larva as fodder for your feathered friends: As stated before black soldier fly larva are voracious. They will eat fish and meat scraps that you would not typically put in your compost pile for fear of attracting larger vermin. They break down organic material into usable compost extremely rapidly. As an added bonus black soldier fly larva eat the eggs of other fly species who foolishly lay their eggs in rotting organic material. This severely diminishes your population of house flies and fruit flies. I had a compost pile that was beset with fruit flies until the black soldier fly larva moved in. When a black soldier fly larva is re...
Read more

Roundwood Building Workshop

By -
Image
I went to a Roundwood Building Workshop this weekend. Roundwood is timber that is left as logs rather than being cut into planks. We constructed a shelter for a cob pizza oven (yet to be constructed). The timer is a mix of red cedar and ash juniper. Before doing anything with it we had to take the bark off it to prevent insect infestation down the road. The night before the project leaders charred the end of the posts that would be put in the ground. The charring is another insect infestation prevention measure. Getting the cut ends charred is of particular importance. The post holes were dug to a depth of 2-3'. We also half buried a couple of dozen roofing nails in the charred end of each post for additional stabilization. The cool thing about roundwood is that you can use features of the tree(like this limb) to add beauty and support. This limb will provide support for a girder. After we got the posts in position we back-filled the holes with decomposed g...
Read more

T-Brick Shed: Rubble Trench French Drain Installation

By -
Image
The last thing Jean told me before she left for the UK was that I had better finish the shed project before she gets back or else. The trench was a little soggy still but I decided to press on with the french drain installation for fear what that else may be (Although, I'm hoping the "else" will be make me a delicious sandwich). I dug out the high section blocking  the drain outlet and and cleaned up a some edges before putting down landscape fabric and a layer of gravel. Putting down the landscape fabric in the trench. Landscape fabric is water permeable but significantly less sediment permeable. This will help prevent the gravel and french drain from becoming blocked up with silt. Here's my work crew. The tamp/rake tango Release the hose! Uncoiling the perforated tubing. First objective was to fill in the tripping hazard that is the drain outlet. Note how we form a sort of gravel/perforated hose burrito with the landscape fabric. We...
Read more