Tales from the Trail #7 - January 2010

Tales from the Trail
By Kris McMillen, Director of Maintenance for FoOT


FoOT District Captains Program:

Bill Sears--District Captain for Sections 1 and 2 from Mile 1 at Talimena State Park to 51.6 at Queen Wilhelmina State Park.  He is 48 years old and owns a greenhouse business.  Bill has been active in the Boy Scouts for many years.  He lives in Talihina, OK with wife, Rhonda.  We are also proud that he is a card-carrying (or in this photo a lumber-carrying) member of the Dreaded FoOT Patrol and USFS chainsaw certified.  He was invaluable in the recent Western End Extravaganza Trail Maintenance Outing.  Many thanks to Bill for all his hard work before, during, after WEE and all the rest of the time, too.


Featured Trail:

Ouachita Trail in Section 5--FR 149 to Muddy Creek—Mile 105.5 to 118.7        - This section of the Ouachita Trail is adopted by Arkadelphia Hikers Club, Leona Essman, Hot Springs Bicycle Club, Todd Henne, Nathan VanDiver, John Joswick-Chuck Dumas-Robert Cavanaugh Team, and Brad Curtis.  We recently hiked from FR 149 with a bit of a muddy start.  There’s a little wooden bridge that is undermud at this time.  It was pretty wet all along in there until we reached the old roadway/trail which also had lots of water.  Otherwise the trail was in great condition.  Then we started up Suck Mountain and left the mud behind.  We began to see where the Forest Service had done much work over summer clearing the corridor and spraying some herbicide.  It seems to be working—looking good.  This is a very grassy wide open area and had needed annual “mowing”.  This is a beautiful section of trail to hike on a winter day.  We passed the Round Top Trail Intersection.  Story Creek was full of water and very pretty—we hopped right across. Next was the Womble Trail Intersection (Whew all those signs are in sad shape—will ask Lenny to make us some new ones and then ask our friend, Todd, to install them. Hey, Todd!!!!)  whereupon we had some beautiful views of the valley below.  There was still some ice on the bridge over Muddy Creek so we walked gingerly across to our waiting shuttle truck.  Another great day on the OT.


Working Memberships and Trail Adopters:

Our membership procedures recognize the submittal of trail maintenance reports as evidence of your continued interest and status as a Working Member of FoOT.  If FoOT has received no trail maintenance reports from you this past year, we assume that you either have not had the time to keep up with your adoption, or you no longer have interest.   So remember to turn in those maintenance reports and keep your adopted section of the OT the very best one on the whole trail.  It is best to work on the trail at least two times per year.  We don’t always respond to your submitted reports, but rest assured we do get them and will address any issues reported.  We know you are there and appreciate what you do for the trail.

How the Land Agencies are helping:

In 2009 the U.S. Forest Service completed the following items on the trail:

• Herbicide application and corridor clearing in Section 5  Muddy Creek area  Suck Mtn. and Rainy Creek by Mena/Oden Ranger District
• Clearing and tree removal after last winter ice storm  in Section 3-4-5 by Mena/Oden Ranger District
• Clearing with a contract crew from Foran Gap going west by Mena/Oden Ranger District
• Jessieville Ranger District:  completed all but one of the tread renovation projects pending in Section 8
• Poteau Ranger District: tread renovations on Fourche Mtn. East
• Choctaw/Kiamichi Ranger District: Cutting trees and brush from 8.0 to18.7. Cleared some trees from the trail in the Upper Kiamichi Wilderness area. Helped with WEE.
• Pinnacle Mountain State Park is working very hard to schedule the construction of 5 bridges and a boardwalk on the eastern end of our trail.

Complaint Department:

We received a “complaint” recently from Boy Scout Troop 24 of Arkadelphia, AR.  Seems the troop has been doing quite a bit of hiking during 2009.  Troop Leader, Scott Westberg, reports:  “My official complaint is that the members of FoOT have spoiled us rotten!”

They hiked Little Missouri Falls Trail, Cossatot River State Park Trail, and the trail from Camp Pioneer to Rich Mountain.   He described some less than desirable “conditions” on these trails.  Scott says:  “Once again we are truly thankful for the great job that FoOT does.”

Fire on the Mountain, Part 2:

In February The Nature Conservancy’s fire restoration crew teamed with Arkansas State Parks to conduct a 640-acre controlled burn at Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock.  From September 2008 through May 2009 Conservancy crews in Arkansas conducted more than 80 prescribed burns, covering over 13,000 acres.  Fire restoration improves the health of the state’s prairies and forests and increases native plant diversity and wildlife populations.  Fire can also help keep non-native species at bay, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and help prevent trees from growing in overcrowded conditions, which can make them susceptible to disease, drought and pests.  
-From Nature Conservancy Arkansas Year-end Report 2009 as submitted to us by Ned Skoog