Taste Of The Trail

EUREKA SPRINGS — The Dogwood Trail at Beaver Lake packs more of a wallop in two miles than other trails that meander three times the distance.

Stunning views of the lake unfold where feet carefully tread the edge of limestone bluffs sprinkled with golden grass.

This hike visits the quarry where rock was dug out to build Beaver Dam. About half way, hikers tread carefully to the lip of a cliff for another lake vista. Then the route takes the low road where hikers walk beneath a roof of rock along an undercut bluff.

Near the end of the jaunt, the path leads across an oak and hickory flat where a majestic buck deer certainly rules the roost.

A hike on the Dogwood Trail was a splendid way to spend a Friday morning for 10 hikers in the Northwest Arkansas MeetUp hiking group, one of the many MeetUp organizations in the region that focus on an array of activities.

The Dogwood Trail is one one of five marquee hiking trails at Beaver Lake. It starts atthe dam overlook, but the other four are located at Army Corps of Engineers parks. Distances range from one to six miles, but mini trails of a half-mile or less add more routes the system.

Stair Steppers

There’s no doubt where the Dogwood Trail begins. Park your car at the dam overlook, savor a view of the dam andWhite River, then start the hike at the wooden stairs that lead uphill into the woods.

Jill Slutsky organized the hike and led our group up the long set of stairs, followed bymore climbing to a hilltop.

Ultrabright October sun lit up yellow hickory trees and orange oaks along the way.

It wasn’t long until the path moved abruptly from folds of forest to a bright meadow with a floor of bedrock and waving grass. A deep chasm greets hikers at this opening. This was the rock quarry for Beaver Dam. It’s quiet here now, unlike in the 1960s when limestone was blasted so the dam was built.

Our group stood on a cliff edge and looked past the opposite quarry wall to a nice view of the lake, the result of all this rock mining.

There’s more of the quarry to see before the path drops downhill on an old road to a gate, then crosses Arkansas 187. An arrow on a tree shows hikers the way downhill.

Another wide view of the lake from up high gives hikers pause before the path goes low to explore the undercut bluff .

From here the climb back to the highway rates high on the wheezer scale.

It’s the most dift cult ascent of the hike, but think of how much they’d charge for all that exercise at a gym.

It’s all free on the Dogwood Trail and the other hiking trails at Beaver Lake.

Paths ’A Plenty

About 12 miles of trail explore the lake area at Prairie Creek, Rocky Branch, Lost Bridge and at Indian Creek parks, and at Beaver Dam.

The network may not be as lengthy or as maintained without the work of Boy Scouts.

Several scouts have hundreds of hours on the trails for their Eagle Scout projects, said Beaver Lake park ranger Alan Bland. More work is planned.

Along the Bench Rock Trail (1.4 miles) at Indian Creek park, scouts will build two new rest benches and clear overgrown sections of the trail.

Bland said trees and fl owers along the Rim Rock Trail (1 mile) at Prairie Creek park will be signed with numbers that correspond to an interpretive brochure, similar to the Beaver Lake Aqua Trail.

Fifteen different tree and flower species have been identified along the trail.

In addition to the fi ve major trails in the system, there’s the one-half-mile Fish Trap Trail at Lost Bridge South.

Another half-mile trail starts at the group camp picnic shelter at Lost Bridge North park.

The Tranquil Timbers one-half-mile trail is near the gatehouse at Horseshoe Bend park.

There’s also lakeside hiking available at the Beaver Lake nursery pond, where the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission raises game fi sh. It’s a one-half-mile oval path that circles the pond.

There’s a wildlife viewing blind for a possible peek at deer or birds.

“This is the perfect time for wildlife at the watchable wildlife area. You might see bald eagles, osprey, and all kinds of hawks are migrating,” Bland said.

Find The Way

Bland said the corps is reblazing all trails with silver and red metal blazes to mark the trails.

These are ideally situated so a hiker can stand at one blaze and see the next one.

The blazes were helpful to our band of hikers on the Dogwood Trail in spots where the trail treadwasn’t always obvious, such as along the hardwood fl at on the last mile.

We lost our way once or twice, but just back-tracked to a blaze and found the next.

Autumn signals the end of water fun at Beaver Lake, but it marks the start of a new way to enjoy the lake with a walk along its wooded shores.