The TrailBlazers Hiking Club is a group based in Fort Smith, Arkansas, dedicated to enjoying the outdoors in the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. THCFS schedules several hikes a month, some long and some short, some difficult and some more laid-back. Some of us have hiked for years and some just started, but we all enjoy the outdoors. If this describes you and you're in the area, you're welcome in our group!

Hike Report

2012-04-29 Shores Lake
Photo Link: click here

Becky reports that 15 TrailBlazers headed to White Rock Mountain to hike the beautiful rim trail. But, alas, we never made it. In Fern, several of us noticed a sign that said detour to White Rock. When we got to the turn off to Shores Lake, there was a sign that the road was closed 5 miles ahead and White Rock trailhead was 7 miles.

So, we turned around and headed back to Fern to the detour. When we got there, a lady mowing her lawn told us the detour was long and rough. So, we turned around and headed back to Shores Lake to hike in and out on the west loop of the Shores Lake Trail. We parked and walked up the road, crossing a very scenic creek and went through some tall rock formations. After a trudge upwards, we found the trail and headed into very green, lush growth - mostly poison ivy. There was a scattering of flowers along the trail but not much to see since the views were obscured by the leaves. We went up and down for probably a mile or so and came to a creek that had a small pool of water. We stopped for a break and decided not to go any farther as it was warm and humid.

When we got back to the parking lot, we found the three vehicles and one motorcycle had pink tickets on them. We had parked in a day use area and fee was $3 for each one. We began to dig out our money. Then someone read the fine print and discovered we could use our National Park Golden Age passes since we were in the Ozark National Forest. Luckily, several people did have their passes in their wallets so we saved $12. It was a short hike but a very enjoyable afternoon with a fine group of TrailBlazers.

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Thoughts

2/1/2012 2:07:25 PM      Subject: Newsletter
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