In 2004, the Arkadelphia Hikers adopted 3.5miles of trail from Hwy 7 east to Sugar Creek in Section 7.  Since then, they have remained diligent with their maintenance and received many kudos from grateful hikers over the years who enjoy the fruits of their labors.  These volunteers often check the Trail Condition Report or check in with FoOT to see what un-adopted areas need work.  During this past year, members Sue Ehrgood and Bettye Wallace, decided to adopt an orphan in Section 5 that had been neglected for some time and needed lots of TLC.  They are currently installing some mile markers and doing some blazing in various areas on the trail.      The FoOT wants to recognize their commitment and efforts on the OT by telling you some interesting highlights about this dynamic duo!     (click photo for larger version)

Bo and Brenda Lea, representing Friends of the Ouachita Trail (FoOT), recently met with Carol Werner and her students from National Park Community College’s Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Wellness Class.  The purpose of the meeting was to share information about the Ouachita Trail and FoOT.  One goal was to see if a relationship between NPCC Recreation Association and FoOT could lead to opportunities for students to gain experience in outdoor recreation and leadership.

The group met at the Ouachita Trailhead on Highway 7 north of Jessieville.  An overview of the OT was given, an explanation of membership categories such as working members verses adopters were discussed and finally some of the basic tools used for trail maintenance were

Tales from the Trail

By Kris McMillen, Director of Maintenance for FoOT

 HIKERS!!!

This is what you shout when you are working on the trail swinging that Pulaski or bucking a fallen tree, and you see hikers approaching.  Learned this on trail construction crews in Colorado.

Recently a small group of FoOT members were in Section 7 of the Ouachita Trail on a project up near Moonshine Shelter.  Just wanted to pass along that on this beautiful day on the Ouachita Trail in one morning we encountered:

If you are here, you have noticed we have made some changes to our website.  We also have a new webmaster, John Carroll.  Welcome to John, a long-time FoOT member and trail adopter (196.5 to 199.0—Red Bluff Creek to the Big Cypress Tree).

Our long-time Board Member, Mike Sims of Little Rock, was our previous webmaster and brought us out of the dark ages.  Mike served FoOT extremely well the last several years in this capacity.  Mike is also a trail adopter maintaining Mile 165.4 to 167.4—Forest Road 153 to Oak Mountain Shelter including care of the shelter.   Mike’s beautiful trail section is always in top notch condition.  He has also been helping with numerous special FoOT projects over the years such as acquiring and installing all new mile markers on the eastern end of the

The FoOTnotes newsletter for May 2009 is out.   

In this issue:

• More FoOT volunteer hours than ever
• Ouachita Challenge
• FoOT recognition for outstanding volunteer service
• Arkansas Trails Day
• Trail project status
• New webmaster

There will be a group maintenance outing in Oklahoma on part of the trail near Winding Stair, Red Spring and Big Cedar Creek TH the weekend of June 20th.  They will work on the trail on Saturday and Sunday.  For more details and to sign up to help, please acrnahotmail [dot] com (contact Brian Stephens). Participants should bring their own tools such as loppers, hand saw and any tread working tools you own as they plan some tread work.  If you are chain-saw certified and want to cut trees, contact Brian to see if that is needed. I would like to encourage anyone who can help out that weekend, to sign up as there is much damage on the trail in that section and they need a hand over there.   (sent by Kris, 5/27/2009)

Welcome to the new website of the Friends of the Ouachita Trail.   The new site looks a bit like the old one, but the functionality of it has been much improved.  Look for new features and a much more 'active' FoOT website in the next few weeks.   With the new site, we are creating new mailing list capabilities and other features to improve commuications in the future.   webmasterfriendsot [dot] org (Comments or suggestions) about our website are welcome.