Jill M. Rohrbach, travel writer
Arkansas Department of Parks and
Tourism
If warm weather is calling you to the outdoors, there is a
plethora of options to keep you busy all summer, and most of these activities
can also be enjoyed year round. In particular, the north central Ozarks are a
great place to test your adventure meter in any season, whether you enjoy
watersports, diving, underground caverns, fishing, mountain biking, zip lines,
or golf.
Lakes and Rivers
Rivers in the Ozark Mountains are prime for floating and fishing.
The Strawberry River is a popular waterway for those who enjoy canoeing,
swimming or just hanging out on the beach.
Floating is a favorite
pastime on the Spring River too. The constant flow from Mammoth Spring makes the
Spring River one of the state's best year-round floats, even during the summer
months when river levels tend to fall in other areas. The stream is
crystal-clear with long pools and whitewater falls. The section between Mammoth
Spring and Hardy is excellent for beginning and intermediate canoeists. The
South Fork is excellent for canoeing, particularly in the spring months.
If you’re looking for smoother water to cut a boat through, Cherokee
Village offers seven scenic lakes for fishing, boating, and swimming. Crown Lake
in Horseshoe Bend boasts 650 acres of recreational activities, a full-service
marina with campground, and beautiful flora and fauna of The Natural
State.
Fishing
If your idea of adventure is angling for a wall trophy, you’ll find
fishing in this region excellent year round. The Spring River has been described
as the state’s most dependable natural stream. Trout and walleye are rated tops
here. The upper Spring River is popular for fly fishing. The headwater for the
river is Mammoth Spring. Flowing at over nine million gallons of 58-degree water
per hour, the spring keeps the river cold enough to support a good trout
population for 10 miles downstream. Walleye fishing is hard to beat here. The
lower reaches offer great bass and catfish, and the South Fork River tributary
is known for both walleye and smallmouth bass.
Outdoor recreation on the
Black River is another option – where canoeing, fishing, camping, and RV
opportunities abound.
If you’re looking for a trout haven, the White
River is hard to beat. The trout section of this 720-mile National Blueway
stretches from Lakeview below Bull Shoals Dam all the way to Guion, a distance
of about 90 miles. You’ll find plenty of resorts and restaurants overlooking
this waterway.
Diving
Norfork Lake is a popular playground for watersports and fishing --
with an added bonus of being a great place to dive. Good recreational diving can
be found at 20 to 40 feet on Lake Norfork, which has 31 marked dive sites. Some
of the marked sites are as deep as 70 feet with a couple wall dives down to 150
feet below the surface. Diving on this lake is best from April to October with
greatest visibility between 40 and 60 feet in the spring. The closer you get to
the dam, the clearer the water. This lake also has wonderful white sandy
beaches.
Mountain Biking
Just north of Mountain View is some of the finest mountain biking in
the state. The Syllamo Mountain Bike Trail is a series of interconnecting loops
that can be accessed from three trailheads: at Green Mountain Road, at Arkansas
Highway Five, and at Blanchard Springs Recreation Area. There are 50 miles of
trail, much of it single-track, with varying levels of difficulty. Named an Epic
Route by the International Mountain Bicycling Association, it is perfect for
all-day rides or shorter sessions.
Hiking
For day hikes, Blanchard Springs offers hiking trails that are
accessible for those in wheelchairs or strollers to see and hear a variety of
wildlife, flora and fauna. For backpackers, the Sylamore section of the Ozark
Highlands Trail is a moderate to strenuous 31.6 miles situated near the
confluence of the Buffalo and White Rivers. Named for the creek that runs
alongside it, the North Sylamore Creek Hiking Trail is moderate in difficulty
and 15 miles one way. It lets hikers encounter ever-varying landscapes.
Caverns
Go underground at Blanchard Springs Caverns in Mountain View for
guided walking tours through an active cavern system, featuring sparkling
calcite formations, stalactites, stalagmites and columns. The Caverns is a
three-level cave system, two of which are open for guided tours by Forest
Service employees. A wild cave tour is also available.
Blanchard is open all
year with a restricted tour schedule during the winter months. The visitor
center contains a gift shop, books, maps, educational material, and movie. The
Blanchard Springs Recreation Area and Campground features crystal clear streams,
a large flowing spring (12,000 gallons per minute), a small lake, scenic trails,
picturesque bluffs, swimming, fishing, and outdoor theatre programs in
season.
Zip Lines
If you like flying high over the forest floor below, try Loco Ropes,
a playground in the trees located at Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain
View. The attraction contains ropes challenge courses, a zip line, a climbing
wall and free fall. The three ropes courses, also known as Loco Lines, consist
of more than 30 elements. Some are more mentally challenging, some physical.
Balance and agility play a more important role than brawn. They range from
simply walking a wooden plank to swinging on a rope like Tarzan from one tree
platform to another. The tallest element on the course is 65 feet above the
ground. The aerial adventure can be experienced by all ages.
The climbing
wall contains four routes and an auto belay system, where a mechanical device
keeps tension on the rope as you climb, then lets you rappel down the wall as
well. On the free fall, you walk off the edge of the tower platform and fall to
the ground. Don’t worry. You are harnessed by a cable to a power fan that, with
pressure and tension, works against your weight as you go down. You experience
the falling effect, but are slowed down at the end so you don’t hit the ground
hard.
At Zippin Griffin in Griffin Park near Hardy, you can take flight
over the beautiful South Fork of the Spring River. You can experience it side by
side with a partner, too. Not one, but two parallel, steel cables, each with a
350-foot vertical, and each extending 1,700-feet, allow you a breathtaking view
of the river while gliding at a speed of 55 to 60 miles per hour. Stay in your
harness to enjoy a one and a half hour, seven zip line adventure tour alongside
the river while learning about the local ecology, wildlife and history of the
area. It’s highflying fun for ages 5 to 105.
Other attractions at Griffin
Park include camping, guided horseback riding tours, swimming, tubing, kayaking,
canoeing, and motorcycle and ATV riding trails.
Golf
Golfing opportunities are abundant. Six popular golf courses are
located in the Salem area, where a number of golf tournaments take place each
year. Planned communities like Horseshoe Bend and Cherokee Village are known for
their championship golf courses. Tannenbaum Golf Club in Drasco has been rated
by Golf Digest as one of the best places to play.
Motorcycling
Several routes in this region are popular with motorcyclists.
Picture-worthy scenery can be found heading north out of Mountain View on
highways 5, 9, and 14.
If you’d like to learn more about outdoor
opportunities in north central Arkansas or anywhere around the state, check out
Arkansas.com/outdoors.
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