Tales from the Trail #05 - August 2009

Tales from the Trail

By Kris McMillen, Director of Maintenance for FoOT

HIKERS!!!  Part 2

If you are reading your Tales from the Trail, you will recall last time we talked about seeing more and more hikers on the OT.  Bill Sears, District Captain for Sections 1 and 2 in Oklahoma was out in late May with wife, Rhonda, doing some trail evaluations on Mile 23.7 to 30.5 - Winding Stair Trailhead to Hwy 259/Big Cedar Creek.  They report meeting up with some 50 or so hikers along this section.  Some were Boy Scout troops.  One group was preparing for Philmont Boy Scout Reservation.

Our trail is growing in popularity, but I don’t think we have to worry about solitude -we have 223 miles of it.

Where There’s Smoke...

Prescribed Burns on the National Forest.  We are reminding everyone that we should check out the USFS website to see where the burns are taking place so you don’t have surprises when you go out on the trail or if you have questions before the proposed burn dates.  Dates are subject to weather conditions.  http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ouachita/fire/rx_information.shtml

FoOT personnel and Trail Adopters recently met with the USFS regarding controlled burns near the Ouachita Trail. We viewed an area on the Jessieville District that was burned this spring. This is quite a complicated matter and the Forest Service is doing their best to protect the trail during controlled burns.  We did learn a number of things:  Helicopters are widely used these days in controlled burns.  They drop "ping pong balls" or some such thing that makes fire such as for backfiring and stuff.  On a perfect weather condition day absolutely everyone (who’s anyone) in the Ouachita National Forest wants to burn.  So begins the massive scheduling of the one helicopter they own.  Maybe the chopper flies to Oklahoma to work, then there’s mechanical difficulties, weather difficulties, etc. and the thing doesn’t arrive, say on Jessieville Ranger District, when it was supposed to; maybe it can’t come at all.  So now the wildland firemen are on the ground with the fire already blazing and now they have to re-group and do everything by hand.  Difficult situations.

We learned the reason for those seemingly repeated burns in a given area:  Some species require fire to re-seed, the plants that come back are forage for wildlife, etc.  This explains why some areas of the forest are burned every year or every 2 or 3 years.  It all depends on the burn cycle for a particular area.  We learned that the ONF is trying to replicate historical fires in the forest.  They will continue to try to protect the trail corridor as much as possible and even agreed to mark off a particular section of the trail that was being continually touched by the fires.  We continue to work together for better understanding and protection of our precious Ouachita Trail.  Trail Adopters should contact their Ranger District and ask to be notified about burns near their trail section or where it is on the burn cycle plan or go through your District Captain to stay on top of things.  The forest is very large and the Forest Service has a big job and it’s sometime difficult to cover all the bases.

Examples of trail blazers gone bad:

Note the new type of marking we are using to distinguish the Mile Marker trees on the trail.  The painter(s) using the wrong color of blue will remain anonymous. (Someone else was there to take this photo, right!!??)

For the proper color and technique refer to How to Blaze in the Forms Library on the website. 

The scene on right shows a confused hiker who will likely become lost due to improper blazing of a "turn signal".  Offending blazer will remain anonymous.  But, we KNOW who you are!!

Now for a good blazing story:

Thanks to Little Rock Boy Scout Leader and FoOT Member, Wayne Riley, recently a large amount of trail on the eastern end of the trail is re-blazed.  Wayne helped coordinate an Eagle Scout project completed by Michael Snow, Boy Scouts and Snow family members.   In the extremely hot weather they braved the elements to complete this project for our trail. Now the entire eastern 30 miles has the lighter blue blazes (I think).


FoOT District Captains Program

I know this is supposed to be Tales from the TRAIL and this is not about the trail; it’s about seven guys who help me and the Ouachita Trail big time.  So if they are not out on THE TRAIL doing something, they ought to be!  FoOT runs a highly successful District Captain Program in which these guys help the Maintenance Dept. by directly interacting with the trail adopters and the land agency folks (USFS and Pinnacle Mountain State Park) plus lots of other good things.  I want to introduce you to Jeremy Gwin.  (I decided to feature Jeremy first since I happen to have this really cute photo of him.)

Here is Jeremy on the bridge over Irons Fork Creek.  Notice that he has his Fanno saw (never leave home without it).  Jeremy is also USFS chainsaw certified and I can’t count the number of downed trees he has removed from the trail.  He’s an avid mountain biker and racer.  I think he used to be a hiker also, but I don’t hear him talk about hiking as much as biking any more.  Jeremy is 33 years old and works for  Newpark Resources Co.  He lives in Story, AR with wife, Madonna, and two children.  He is co-District Captain for Sections 5 and 6.  So if your trail adoption falls in these sections, he’s the man to call.  His own adopted section is Mile 125.8 to 128.8 -Sandlick Mountain to Irons Fork Creek.

June 2009-New signs installation project on the eastern end completed thanks to Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Bert Turner and Bill Toland. 


GREEN COUNTRY OUTDOOR CLUB TO THE RESCUE!

On June 20th six members of the GCOC made their way down from Tulsa, OK and Oklahoma City to their adopted section Mile 23.7 to 30. - Winding Stair TH to Hwy 259/Big Cedar Creek. The section had been reported IN THE RED.  The hardy group trudged in and at first J.D. despaired when he found no big trees across the trail.  However after carrying the chainsaw several miles he was "rewarded" for his efforts when they encountered some 50 more or less trees to saw from the trail.  The worst hit area was near Red Spring.  They lopped, chopped, dug tread, moved rocks and sawed their way to Big Cedar Creek.

In the photo you can see here what happened next.  They lopped ‘til they dropped---right into the creek.  In the water, on the right, standing on the bottom is Brian Stephens, floating on his back like an otter: J. D. Blackwell, sitting with his back to us, nursing his sore feet: Scott Schaerer, in the back trying to unlace his boots, Dave Zucconi, and behind the lens: Bob Miller.  After a long rewarding day everyone enjoyed a steak dinner at Cedar Lake Campground where camp hosts Olen and Josie Heflin and the Game Warden, Randy, were special guests.  Think about these guys when you hike the OT in Oklahoma.


TRUE GRIT

 
FoOT received a Maintenance Report from Steve Sampers (Trail Adoption:  Mile 79.9 to 85.0 - Turner Creek Gap to FR 76 West).  This was one totally awesome report of 5 days of trail maintenance in the searing heat of late June.  Steve drove some 847 miles total from his home in Garfield in North Arkansas on two separate trips to maintain his adopted section.  He spent 4 days weed-eating and 1 day lopping beginning his day at 5:30 a.m. and ending around 2 p.m. to escape the heat.  Steve reports he didn’t gather any ticks, but did get a dose of poison ivy so next time plans to wear long sleeves.  I told him to get some Super Ivy Dry.  Steve says he has more to complete on his long adopted section and plans to return soon.  Let’s give this guy a round of applause.