AMPHITHEATER EXPEDITION!

What a delightful surprise it was, when I came out of the woods where I had been clearing briars and tall weeds, to see this beautiful bridge!

When I viewed the moss-covered terraces beside the bridge, I felt like an explorer, who had just discovered the remains of a long, lost civilization!

The photo below shows a small plaque discreetly placed within the amphitheater, telling about its origin.  When I googled "Green Thumb + Arkansas Farmers Union", I learned that The Arkansas Farmers Union Green Thumb was a historical, federally funded program, often employing older, rural, Americans, that contributed to public infrastructure projects in the 1960's and 1970's.  The work they did building the stone amphitheater in Mountain View, is a great tribute to their legacy.  

The way the stone terraces are covered in moss, gives a clue that this is NOT a brand new structure!

The creek that flowed under the bridge, was very shallow, but provided enough water to give a pretty reflection of the orange leaves of the maple tree above it.  

The stream is called Whitewater Creek, and separates the amphitheater into two parts, the grand stone stage, and the moss-covered stone seating area:

Even though the stream bears the name "Whitewater", it has been barely a trickle whenever I have visited.  

 

 

When I signed up as a volunteer with the Arkansas Master Naturalists (www.ArkansasMasterNaturalists.org) to help clear the 1,4 mile trail, that started at the Ozark Folk Center (www.OzarkFolkCenter.org), I had no idea that at the end of the trail, I would be rewarded with a view of this lovely stone amphitheater!

I was working with some other Arkansas Master Naturalists (pictured in orange shirts) to clear the trail of fallen trees, and blow leaves off the trail, so it could be more easily followed in the woods.  

Many visitors to this area do not know there is a hiking trail, that leads from the Ozark Folk Center, to the historic rock amphitheater, even though there is a small sign pointing towards the trail.  

Notice how much better defined the trail is, once the leaves have been blown aside!

So next time you are on a trail, give some thought to the efforts that have to go into maintaining a trail, to keep it from becoming completely overgrown!

The same is true for the walkways shown in this photo.  They did not clear themselves of fallen leaves---someone has been diligently working to make them visible!

Walls are important in landscaping, and can serve as a convenient restraint to collect a pile of leaves for removal!

The first time I stumbled onto this beautiful setting, the date was early November, so the reds and yellows of deciduous trees made for a picturesque setting.  Once again, notice how the walls of the sidewalk, serve as architectural landscape features.  And think about the workers who carefully placed each one of those stones, over sixty years ago.  

I made a return visit to Mountain View in early March, and wanted to take another look at the amphitheater.  However, since on my first visit there, I had come on foot, via the trail from the Ozark Folk Center, I put "City Park" in my Mapquest phone app, and came across a lovely park on Webb Street, and paved walking trail, but the amphitheater was no where in sight!  I saw a city employee, and asked him where the amphitheater was.  He told me I would need to park my car, and follow a trail through the woods, beside the creek, that would eventually lead to the amphitheater.  That trail is shown below:

Thankfully, I eventually arrived at the amphitheater, although it looked very different with no colorful leaves on the trees!  The reason I wanted to go back, was to photograph the walls I remembered from my first visit, to use as a visual aid for one of my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verses that says, "The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries."  Micah 7:11

It is interesting to me that the builders left a tree standing within the seating area, or perhaps it "sprung up" since the theater was built, decades ago.  Or perhaps, the stone masons left it because it had a very interesting "burl" growing on its side, facing the stage area.  

The burl growing on the side of one of the trees within the amphitheater could serve as a "side table", it is so big!

When a visitor is at street level, it would be easy to miss seeing the old stone amphitheater, because it is hidden, as it follows the slope of the hillside, down into the valley.  When I visited, there was a sign pointing the way, which is helpful.

What you will see, when you are at street level, is a large stone cooking grill, with chimney.

Also, at street level there is a circular area, paved in native stone, that contains concrete picnic tables, benches, and more stone grills.  

It is appropriate that there be a beautiful landmark made of stone in Mountain View, because the town is a part of STONE County, Arkansas.  To find out many more interesting sites to visit in this area, check out their website at www.mountainviewarkansas.com  .   This visit to such a serene and scenic location, gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia

 

WALKING IN WISDOM EXPEDITION!

For the last several weeks, my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com)  class has been studying a book called Walking in Wisdom, by Sherry Leggett.  

 

The book has concentrated on the book in the Bible, called Proverbs, with supplemental material from other parts of the Bible.  In addition, the author shares tips for various forms of physical activity, especially walking.  One component of the First Place 4 Health program, is to improve/maintain mental abilities, by using Scripture memorization.   We have had eight passages from the book of Proverbs to memorize---one per week.  My last seven blog posts have provided the visual aids I needed to help me learn each Bible verse.  The eighth and final passage if from Proverbs 31:25-26, that says, "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."  I have the blessing of knowing many amazing women that could qualify as a visual aid for the "Proverbs 31 Woman", but this blog is about the one known simply around this area, as "Ms. Edith".  The photo below shows a photo of Ms. Edith and me in the church hallway, on a blustery day in December of 2015.  We both had been to the FBC Prayer Room that day, as part of a weekly, intercessory prayer ministry, where church volunteers and staff would spend one hour in the prayer room at church, praying over prayer requests that had been submitted.  The difference was, Ms. Edith was going to be having her 94th birthday on December 24th, and she had driven herself to the church, even though the weather was miserable!  She inspired me, from that day forward, because I had wanted to cancel my trip into town to the Prayer Room, because of not wanting to leave my cozy living room, but I made myself do it, because of the commitment I had.    Yet, here was a 94 year old lady, willing to get out in the unpleasant weather, to pray for others needing intercessions!

Decades later, when I saw her at church one Sunday, I complemented her on how nice she looked, and she told me the dress she was wearing, was one she had made herself, back in her younger days!  I had already been thinking about Ms. Edith being my visual aid for the Proverbs 31 memory verse, but when she told me she made the dress she was wearing---that clenched it!  Because, one of the verses that is a part of the "PROVERBS 31 WOMAN" passage, references to a woman who is able to clothe herself!

Our church periodically has community groups that consist of small gatherings of a few people, on a weekly basis, for purposes of fellowship and Bible study.  I was once in a small group with Ms. Edith, that would meet weekly at noon at a local cafe, to have lunch together.  For the final week of that particular community group, Ms. Edith invited the entire group to her house and fixed lunch for all of us!  I was very impressed by how elegantly she had set up the lunch tables in her home, with attention to clever details at each place setting.  The other members of the group had to leave after lunch to get back to work.  However, I was able to stay and assist with clean up of the REAL china and silverware. (I would have opted for the easier clean up of disposable dinnerware, but not Ms. Edith!).  While we were at her kitchen counter, she demonstrated to me how she would use the 3 times per day cleanup after meals, to work in her routine of modified, upper body push ups, where she would step back several inches from the counter, then lift her body weight back and forth, thereby strengthening her arms.  Needless to say, I was impressed!

A few years after that, our church initiated an outreach for veterans, by having an early morning breakfast they could attend at no charge, followed by a brief presentation about a matter of importance to veterans.  Since Ms. Edith was a veteran and was instrumental in getting the outreach started, I volunteered to pick her up, as I had been to her home before, and (thought) I knew where she lived.  What I learned was that her neighborhood looked VERY DIFFERENT in the dark, in the winter, and since this was the days before my car or phone had a GPS device in them, I pulled into what I remembered to be her driveway, at the appointed time she told me, but she did not come out to get into my car.  I went to the front door of the driveway I was in, and knocked, and no one answered the door.  I decided Ms. Edith must have found someone else to pick her up, so I returned to the church.  When I got back to the church, the pastor told me that Ms. Edith had called, and said she still needed a ride, because she could see my car and me knocking on a door, but I was at the WRONG house!  She said she called out, but apparently I did not hear her.  She demonstrated forgiveness, because she accepted my apology, and "erased" it from her memory!  The photo below shows the young man who was the youngest veteran at one of those events, and Ms. Edith, who was the oldest veteran at the church event.

When Ms. Edith had her 100th birthday, the church had a very special birthday party for her, with family members there, to join in the celebration.  The photo below shows Ms. Edith with her daughter, Carol, at the event.  I first met Carol (a Registered Nurse) back in the eighty's, when she was serving as nurse manager on the medical floor of the hospital where I worked, as a Registered Dietitian)

When our church is celebrating the Fourth of July, Ms. Edith proudly wears her red-white-blue, stars and stripes, on such occasions, as this photo shows:

 

I took the photo below in our church foyer, as Ms. Edith awaited her volunteer chauffeur on the Sunday in  2025, when we celebrated military veterans at FBC.

 

Veterans Day is not the only holiday where her attire celebrates the occasion.   I took the photo below of her when she was celebrating a March 17 St. Patrick's Day event at the church!  

Ms. Edith walked without a walker well into her nineties, but as the years clicked by, she was convinced to use a rolling walker to stabilize her movements.  The photo below shows her entering one of our senior adult functions, followed by the church member who provided the transportation to get her to the event. 

There have been many folks over the last few years, who have assisted Ms. Edith in her goal of attending services at FBC.  The photo below shows some of those volunteer drivers, who made sure Ms. Edith was at the 2025 Christmas Luncheon for the Senior Adults:

I have always enjoyed seeing the outfits she puts together to wear to activities she attends around the community.  One reason she has so many holiday outfits to choose from, is because (as she told in the program she gave at a community event), she weighs the same now, as she did when she got married, back in the last century.  She added however, that she is several inches shorter now, than she was when she got married.  This shows she followed am important, and low-tech health habit---regular weight and height checks.  It also made me realize the reason for an "issue" I was having getting the waist line on some of my outfits to button properly, knowing my weight was the same as when I last buttoned them with no problems.  I realized that the two inches I have lost in height over the last three decades, means that weight that used to be spread out over five feet two inches, is now "condensed" into just five feet, making my waist thicker.  I am embarrassed to say it took a 103 year old lady, to get that through my thick skull!

Ms. Edith eventually went to a senior living facility, where members of the local VFW visit her regularly, and a friend in that organization, took this photo of her, and sent it to me.

 

It should come as no surprise that Ms. Edith's longevity has attracted media attention, as this screen shot of a Mountain Home City Council article shows:

The U.S. Senator from Arkansas also took note of her military service:

 

And of course, Baptist publications are quick to share her history of involvement with that domination, mentioning that when she was in her eighties, she went on a mission trip with several other Baptists, to Russia, to teach English, as a second language!

 

The Baxter County Historical Society had Ms. Edith as a speaker at one of their monthly meetings, and her comments can still be seen on You Tube.

The children that attend FBC children's activities, each have a blue canvas bag, with their name embroidered on it.  Since Ms. Edith has been a volunteer for many years as an assistant in the children's department, it is only fitting that she also has a blue canvas bag, with her name embroidered on it!  At a recent lunch for senior adults at the church, I noticed she had her bag hooked onto the back of her wheel chair.

 

  My heart rejoiced when I saw Ms. Edith on her 2025 birthday,  on the front row at church at our Christmas Eve Candlelight service, because another resident at the assisted living location where she lived, told me the facility was in LOCK DOWN because of flu outbreaks.  Apparently, a LOCK DOWN does not keep her from celebrating birthday #104 in the church she loves, with the people she loves, celebrating the birth of the Savior she loves!  No wonder her smile is so big!

For all these reasons, and many more not mentioned, Ms. Edith is my visual aid for Proverbs 31:25-26.  That smile of hers, over the years, has given ME, "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."  Proverbs 31:25-26 

OZARKS KEYSTONE TRAIL EXPEDITION!

 One of the benefits of being a member of the North Central Arkansas Master Naturalists, is the opportunity to volunteer on worthwhile projects that are near and dear to my heart---such as hiking!

My first experience on the trail that follows the shoreline of Norfork Lake, in Baxter County, Arkansas, was as a hiker, with a coed group (of mostly strangers to me) that a friend--Dea-- from church, had told me about.  The group met at the trail head for the Robinson Point Overlook and walked over the hills and hollers that led to the top of a bluff, overlooking Norfork Lake.  It was around the year 2002.    I had visited Norfork Lake all my life, but mostly for watersports activities, rather than hiking. 

The photo below shows the overlook at Robinson Point, which was my first group hike on Norfork Lake, over twenty years ago.  Now, I get to help keep that overlook free of weeds, by being a part of the trail maintenance volunteers.  Photo below shows me and fellow volunteer, Wendy,  at the Robinson Point Overlook, with the tools we use to cut back weeds.

 

This is a photo of the small brown and white OKT sign at the entry of the trail to the overlook.   The short wooden fence at the beginning, is to help define the entry point, and was the service project of a local Eagle Scout.  

That co-ed group I first hiked with, "fizzled out", so I started hiking with a group of ladies I met at a Becoming An Outdoors Woman conference in central Arkansas (www.agfc.com).  There is a story about that in my blog archives, dated September 23, 2008.  That core group of ladies congealed later, to  became what came to be known as Women Hiking (the) Ozarks---WHO---for short.  The photo below shows one of our WHO hikes that took place in December (as evidenced by the Santa hat on one of the hikers!)

I published a blog about David's Trail (dated April 26, 2010 and available in the archives of this blog), explaining some of its history.  The person the trail was named after, was the son-in-law of a lady in my Sunday school class, so I knew the story of his being an avid supporter of physical activity, who passed away suddenly, at a young age.  

There are very few sections of the trail that are completely flat, and some of them are so steep, that a rope has been added over the ravine being crossed, to assist hikers in the ascent and descent.  That is me, holding onto the rope, as I try to make my way to the top of the hill!

 

The concrete marker pictured below is also at Robinson Point, but it is on the north side of the entry road, whereas the section to the overlook, is on the south side of the entry road.  

As this close-up of the sign shows, the purpose of the trail is to encourage an active lifestyle.  

When an effort began to expand and link the trails along the Norfork Lake in Arkansas, a new name was coined, which became the Ozarks Keystone Trail, or OKT, for short.  This trail marker, nailed to a tree shows where the name "keystone" comes from.  It is the link, or "keystone" between the Ozark Trail in Missouri, and the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas.  Notice this particular sign, has a "YOU ARE HERE" flag in red, which shows your approximate location within the 680+ miles of trail through the two states.  The Ozark Trail in Missouri has over 430 miles, and the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas has about 250 miles, starting at Lake Fort Smith State Park, near the Arkansas/Oklahoma border.  Thanks to the addition of the Ozarks Keystone Trail, it now extends to the Missouri border!

 

The trail sign nailed to a pine tree, shown below, says the same thing as the previous sentence I wrote, but in a more concise form!

Most of my hiking time recently has been spent as a volunteer that meets on the first Saturday of the month, at the Raymond James office in Mountain Home.  There we pack sack lunches, provided by the Ozarks Keystone Trail Endowment, and then divide into teams, to do maintenance along the approximately 80 miles of the OKT.  The January 3, 2026, volunteers are shown below: 

Funds provided by the endowment have purchased two all-terrain-vehicles that are used to haul both volunteers and heavy equipment to remote parts of the trail, that are otherwise difficult to reach on foot, when carrying heavy equipment.  A trailer is used to transport the ATVs to whatever site is being worked on.

 The photo below shows one of our first outings with one of the ATV's, fully loaded with some of the equipment strapped on top.  It is clearly marked as a VOLUNTEER vehicle, because otherwise, ATV's are not allowed on the trail.  

The reason we need chain saws is because, invariably, one or more trees have fallen down across the trail! 

Because we often drive our personal cars to a staging area along the lake, the volunteers have been provided with a magnetic sign to identify their car.  

Once we are deep within the forest, we get out and start using loppers to cut back sprigs and leaf blowers to clear the path, so hikers can see where the trail is.  

The photo below shows me and fellow volunteer Dawn, with the tools we were using one Saturday.  

This photo shows a volunteer who is a retired physician, carrying a heavy back-pack blower, and pointing the high pressure air left and right, to help hikers see where the trail is.  

In addition to leaf blowing and weed whacking, the volunteers (this is Pam), often are putting up new signage, or repairing/replacing old signs.   Although it may be confusing to newcomers what is Davids Trail and what is OKT, the signs help.  Since the trail goes through some areas along the lake that are traditional spots for deer hunters, metal gates are at some locations, to discourage unauthorized use of vehicles for hunting. 

One of the newer sections of the trail goes all the way to the Missouri border.  Photo below shows Mark, and Bob on either side of the marker located on the shores of Lake Norfork, with Deb behind them, up on the trail.  

I had been told of this marker for years, but this was my first time to see it, so I wanted to give a gesture of praise, to finally get to have a photo with it!

I found a rock along the shoreline there, with holes in it, so I could make a commemorative marker to keep at my house, to help me remember this milestone!

For the last two years, the Ozarks Keystone Endowment has hosted an appreciation dinner for the First Saturday volunteers at The ArkanZEN in Cotter.  Photo below shows Mike and Deb, awaiting other guest arrivals.

As a souvenir for the volunteers, Steph made coasters with the OKT logo burned into the wooden "tree cookies".  It was such a nice surprise and greatly appreciated!

In addition to participating in the organizations listed above, I participate in a healthy living program called First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com), that teaches us how to rely on God for strength and perseverance.  One of the memory verses that we are learning, in hopes of increasing our perseverance during difficult times, is Proverbs 24:16.  It is meant to be an encouragement to not give up, even when we fall down.  You can be assured, I have fallen down many times on the hiking trails described here, as well as in the bigger picture---The Trail of Life.  But God's Word tells us not to give up.  Our memory verse from Proverbs 24:16 says, "For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes." 

I want to keep getting up after each time I fall, so that I can continue to hike with "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia