justfreeman
New member
It was the last day of our vacation so my wife and I, my parents, younger brothers, sister in law and nephew all loaded up in my wife's Liberty and my brother's Cherokee and headed into the Ouachita National Forest Winona Wildlife Management Area in order to find Little Bear Creek Lake, Cedar Creek Lake, and Cove Creek Lake. Here is our general route.
Little Bear Creek Lake is right off 7n and there is now a sign at the entrance road. It is not hard to find and absolutly beautiful. Word of caution: the road down from the dam is pretty steep. 4x4 or foot only.
Cedar Creek Lake threw me for a loop. I was not really paying attention and drove right on past it for what turned out to be about 12-13 miles
. We did get to go up the side of the mountain range across the valley from Forked Mnt.
Turned around once we figured out we were nearly due north of Lake Winona on Trail 86. Took 86 back but took the faster route down the side of the mountain that I just felt had to be the right direction to go as it wasn't on the GPS...I was right, it was much faster.
You can see Forked Mtn. in the background.
Took the correct turn and made it to Cedar Creek Lake. Cedar Creek Lake would be one of the most wonderful places to spend time, but it was probably 15-20' lower than what appeared to be normal and there was quite a bit of trash and 30-30 casings strewn about. There was quite a bit of wildlife activity around this lake. We noted racoon tracks, deer tracks, and many of the trees around the shoreline had been ringed by beaver.
Then it was on back to Cove Creek Lake. As we were coming back out to Hwy 7n, there was a medflight helicopter at the Winona Volunteer Fire Station. We came to find out a Motorcyclist and went off a sharp curve just up the Hwy. Our thoughts are with the rider and his/her family. It was a 20'+ off of the side of the highway.
We spent a couple hours at Cove Creek Lake just fishing and picnicking. Dad caught (and released) a couple sunfish on bread...everyone else got skunked.
Couple more pics:
It was a wonderful afternoon to spend with the family. We left Hot Springs at 12pm and rolled back in about 7:30pm. We are set to check out Dry Fork Lake, Rock Creek Lake, and Huston Lake in the near future.
Little Bear Creek Lake is right off 7n and there is now a sign at the entrance road. It is not hard to find and absolutly beautiful. Word of caution: the road down from the dam is pretty steep. 4x4 or foot only.
Cedar Creek Lake threw me for a loop. I was not really paying attention and drove right on past it for what turned out to be about 12-13 miles
. We did get to go up the side of the mountain range across the valley from Forked Mnt.
Turned around once we figured out we were nearly due north of Lake Winona on Trail 86. Took 86 back but took the faster route down the side of the mountain that I just felt had to be the right direction to go as it wasn't on the GPS...I was right, it was much faster.
You can see Forked Mtn. in the background.
Took the correct turn and made it to Cedar Creek Lake. Cedar Creek Lake would be one of the most wonderful places to spend time, but it was probably 15-20' lower than what appeared to be normal and there was quite a bit of trash and 30-30 casings strewn about. There was quite a bit of wildlife activity around this lake. We noted racoon tracks, deer tracks, and many of the trees around the shoreline had been ringed by beaver.
Then it was on back to Cove Creek Lake. As we were coming back out to Hwy 7n, there was a medflight helicopter at the Winona Volunteer Fire Station. We came to find out a Motorcyclist and went off a sharp curve just up the Hwy. Our thoughts are with the rider and his/her family. It was a 20'+ off of the side of the highway.
We spent a couple hours at Cove Creek Lake just fishing and picnicking. Dad caught (and released) a couple sunfish on bread...everyone else got skunked.
Couple more pics:
It was a wonderful afternoon to spend with the family. We left Hot Springs at 12pm and rolled back in about 7:30pm. We are set to check out Dry Fork Lake, Rock Creek Lake, and Huston Lake in the near future.
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