ADOPTER SPOTLIGHT - Ouachita Mountain Hikers: Stewards of Flatside Wilderness - December 2009

Since FoOT’s inception in 2004, Ouachita Mountain Hikers (OMH) has spent nine days a year maintaining the Flatside Wilderness area from FR 124 to FR 94, a total of 10.4 miles of the Ouachita Trail.  Their commitment to and diligence with this section of the trail are exemplary! 

Club member Glen McClain is the "task master" who organizes the work load as well as the volunteers who show up once a month during the club’s hiking season to lop, chop, dig, and saw along this section of trail.  Since this is wilderness, no mechanized tools are allowed.  So when there’s a large tree across the trail, it takes two men at a time and a cross cut saw to get the job done. Their goal has been to return the trail to the forest standard 6 ft wide by 8 ft high trail corridor while preserving the wilderness experience.  Anyone who has hiked this section recently will surely agree that the club’s goal is evident.

FoOT thanks and salutes the Ouachita Mountain Hikers for a job well done!  To learn more about this organization visit www.omhikers.net.