We hope you enjoy your time visiting our website, and that you have a wonderful and safe experience along the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail and the beautiful area through which it runs.
The posts on this "Home" page let you know what's happening on and around the Trail. The rest of the pages on the site introduce you to the Trail segments, the history of the LOViT and of Lake Ouachita, and to the "Traildogs", volunteers who maintain the existing trails and work with the US Forest Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and others to create new trail segments. We also include maps of the trails (this is always a work in progress), and we provide information about amenities and places to stay in the area.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Friends of Lake Ouachita in support of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail. Thank you!
The Trail especially needs your help now because of the failure of the Elevated Walkway over Gap Creek and Lake Ouachita.
The Lake Ouachita Vista Trail traverses U.S. Forest lands that have long been popular hunting grounds in all seasons. All Trail users should be aware of these activities and not wear clothing that could be mistaken for wildlife. Bright colors and hunter orange eliminate most instances of mistaken identity. See this Arkansas Game and Fish "Hunting Seasons" link for more information.
Yesterday, the Traildogs received a very nice note via Facebook from Mara Kuhn, who with her brother Jacob, enjoyed an end-to-end trek of the LOViT from March 22 to March 25, 2015. Mara writes, “Hello! Thank you for such a wonderful trail! Last year my brother and I hiked the LOViT end-to-end, minus the spur trails. I have a blog and wrote about our hike. I was wondering if you would like to share my post with your followers?” We sure would like to share Mara and Jacob’s adventure with you all! Here’s the link: http://www.rightkindoflost.com/gotta-lovit-the-lake-ouachita-vista-trail/. It’s a good story with some beautiful photos of the LOViT. We hope you enjoy it.
Apologies for the late notice, but we’ve just been informed by Forestry that there will be a controlled burn from the area along Walnut Creek near the Charleton Campground back toward the Crystal Springs area. The burn is expected to be set at around 3 pm today, March 6, 2016. If you were planning to be on the LOViT in the area from Forest Service Road 47A to Crystal Springs Road today or in the next couple of days, you will want to be aware of this activity. The Forest Service will be placing signs in the area today to make folks aware of this upcoming controlled burn.
Four Traildogs – Al, Mike, John, and Dan – met Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, to set two posts for future directional signs where the LOViT crosses Hickory Nut Mountain Road, and then to hike Section 4 east to the trailhead for Section 5 at USFS Road 47A. The goal of the hike was “recon” – to evaluate the shape of the trail segment for any problems that need to be added to the winter maintenance schedule. After placing the posts, the recon hike was mostly uneventful, which is a Good Thing! We were able to move three fallen trees off the trail, two of which needed a little prodding from a small hand saw. Also, we noted a couple of areas that are in need of water bars in order to deflect rainwater off the trail to prevent erosion. And, no recon hike is complete without carrying loppers and shears …Click to read the full article
It is winter and time to hit the Trail for a number of maintenance projects that are never fun during the heat of summer, so today, five Traildogs met at the trailhead at USFS Road 47A to place a number of new directional signs along LOViT’s Section 5 from FS47A east to Pipe Spring. This section of the LOViT both crisscrosses USFS 47, which runs between Hickory Nut Mountain Road to the west and Crystal Springs Road to the east, and also follows along USFS 47 at times before sinking back into the Ouachita National Forest. It’s easy to miss a turn. Overall, the day was beautiful, and, for the most part, the digging was not too difficult, although we did have to relocate a couple of times due to hitting a shelf of shale. Once a hole was dug, a post was set in concrete, leveled, and then the signs were …Click to read the full article
A team of hardy Diamond Lakes Master Naturalist trail workers met at Spillway Landing recently to work on one segment of the LOVIT Trail. The team restored 10 cross draining structures needed to eliminate erosion due to the scouring of the trail. The Master Naturalists adopted this 7 mile section of trail as part of their volunteer work in the Diamond Lakes area. The group also worked on the finish grading of a new spur trail tying the LOVIT Trail into the Spillway parking area. Those seeking an easy 2 mile hike should consider parking at this location and hiking down to the Avery Park trail terminus.
The 2015 LOViT Marathon was run December 5, and by all accounts, it was a successful event. Your LOViT Traildogs supported the event by working at aid stations at both the Joplin and Hickory Nut Mountain Trailheads. Click on the image below to view photographs of the runners who made it to the top of Hickory Nut Mountain, the turnaround point for this out-and-back marathon. Here are the race results: http://runarkansas.com/results/LOViT2015.htm. Also, a slide show with many more photos can be found here: http://runarkansas.com/slideshow/LOViT26_2015/slideshow.php. Finally, here’s the LOViT Marathon Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LOViTmarathon/. What a great bunch of participants we enjoyed at this aid station. Great people, great event!
The annual LOViT Marathon, a 26+ mile out-and-back course on the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (“LOViT”), is scheduled for December 5, 2015. Registration and additional information for this Ultra Trail Series race can be found on the website of the Arkansas Ultra Running Association: http://runarkansas.com/LoVitTrailMarathon.htm. By registering for the race, it helps the race management and volunteers to put on a better and safer run for everyone, and it helps Phil and Bonnie Carr, who put on this annual event, when you register online via the above link, although registration is also accepted via “snail mail”. You can keep abreast of current announcements and other race information through The LOViT Marathon Facebook page (and we hope you “Like” us there!). A bit more information about previous LOViT Marathon events on the Trail can be found by entering “Marathon” in the search box on the right side of this page. The …Click to read the full article
Traildogs Al Gathright and Jerry Shields hit the trail today to do some trimming and to install two plaques on sponsored benches. We drove to the Brady Mountain Trailhead parking area for the 3/4 mile hike into the first bench, located on the banks of the small creek the Trail crosses. This bench was purchased by the Traildogs to be sponsored for Jeff Smith of the Hot Springs Sentinel Record, who was tragically killed in a car accident. Jeff had followed the development of the LOViT from the first day of construction until his untimely death. He wrote hundreds of articles about the Trail’s development and was instrumental in bringing the Trail’s existence into the public eye. We installed a brass plaque in honor of Jeff’s support. The location is a beautiful, secluded location and has a very nice view of the creek and the small waterfall just upstream from …Click to read the full article
Lake Ouachita Vista TrailPosted on by Al Gathright
On Wednesday, July 8, Traildogs Jerry Shields and Al Gathright placed two plaques on adjacent benches along LOViT’s elevated walkway, part of the Watchable Wildlife Trail Segment. The two bench plaques were donated in honor of Diann Gathright’s dad and her uncle. The benches are side-by-side on the fishing pier part of the raised walkway. It is appropriate to have the brothers together near the lake they loved. Here’s their story as told by Diann’s sister, Pam Howell: The Boys of the Lake by P.R. Howell If people didn’t know better, they would have sworn they were twins. They looked alike, talked alike, laughed alike, and possessed a kinship beyond being older and younger brother (one of two). They were friends. Their friendship was fostered – as anyone who had the good fortune to hear their boyhood stories – through a series of adventures and misadventures while growing up in …Click to read the full article
On a very hot Tuesday in June, Traildogs Al, Robert, and Dan took to the woods to clear any downed trees on Little Bear and Bear Mountains following the month of May’s severe storms and continuous rain. What we found was a trail that was in reasonably good shape but that was quite overgrown with vegetation in areas where the canopy is thin. In all, there were only about 10 trees that needed to be cut off the trail. However, there are areas where the briars are getting a good foothold and needed to be trimmed back. We were fortunate to have with us a pair of Stihl weed eaters with scythe attachments that made short work of clearing weeds in several areas. All in all, it was another great day to be on the Trail, despite the hard work and hot weather!