I did an inspection hike of the eastern 10 miles of the Ouachita Trail – from Lundsford Corner to Pinnacle Mountain State Park – with another of the FoOT maintainers (M.S.).  It was a bit chilly in the morning but quickly warmed and was a great day to be outdoors.  There was a lot of small debris to throw/kick off the trail and only one obstruction that will require a chainsaw.

One of the highlights of the day was putting up a new marker at mile 217 – an area that had significant tornado damage about 2 years ago.  A logging company apparently pulled out whatever timber could be salvaged and then carved a new path through the remaining debris for the trail.  We went to the coordinates of the old marker and found a log with an aluminum nail – a sure sign we were in the right area – but no marker.

I had a rather negative memory of this part of the trail from my first visit but it didn’t seem so bad this time.  I think I magnified a couple things out of proportion.  There are a couple areas where you come kinda close to some residences and there’s the crossing of, and hiking along side of AR-300 for a while but those are relatively small areas in the big picture.

I saw a Bird’s Foot Violet in full bloom.  Can spring be far away?