Sunday I scheduled here in Arkansas a dedicated Trash Run for the Ouachita National Forest. I contacted the Winona Forest Ranger District and asked them to give me the areas with the most needed attention. We packed up the trusty FJ Cruiser and headed west.
I took the extra time to throw the Plano Boxes on Top to store extra bags of trash to bring back home and also installed my aluminum receiver hitch carrier in order to be able to bring out as much as possible. Along with having the Trasharoo which was stuff solid with trash bags, we had quite a bit of storage places so that we could pack the trash out of the Forest.
The Forest Service never returned my call so we just decided to pick a random road (since they pretty much are all in need of trash pickup) and go to work. FR 83 was the first road we came to that we had not been down so we decided it was the chosen one.
Forest Road 83 sits about 8 miles south of Fourche Junction and runs along Fourche Mountain and Cove Mountain. It runs along the top of the mountain and it is not until you get to the edge of Fourche Mountain that it descends into a valley and then back up again before coming to a large intersection.
Right off the bat we were bombarded with trash at the highway intersection. It seems like it took me about 45 minutes just to clear this area of bottles and cans, gloves and shoes, dirty diapers and fast food sacks. From there it was a pretty good workout in and out of the vehicle picking up a can here and a bottle there. Some of them had been there at least 10 or more years. I'm pretty sure this road had never had a litter crew on it before.
The wife and I always know how to make a good time out of anything. So we had some fun with some videos and other things. Looking at what people had thrown out of the windows of their vehicles either had us laughing or angry.
After several hours of getting in and out of the FJ and bending over, we came upon a really nice campsite that overlooked the valleys on both sides of the road. We decided to stop and cook some lunch.
I pulled out the trusty grill and cooked us up some Cajun Boudain, Pork Chops and Green Beens. Delicious! After a brief potty break and some calming medicine (Red Man Golden Blend) we hit FR 83 again (for some reason I kept calling it Forest Road 86...not sure why). By this time I had filled up both Plano Boxes and was beginning to make a pile on the back of the carrier.
The FJ my wife calls "Little Girl" was now starting to get weighed down pretty good but we pressed on. We came to the big intersection and decided to go back south.
We had come 16 miles. It had taken us over 4 hours (not including time we spent stopped for lunch). So we headed down FR 96. It took us down the mountain and back to the highway. We finished out our Trash Run at the Highway.
Before we made it down the mountain I saw a clearing to the right of us. I really didn't know what it was so I decided to stop and check it out. It was a pipeline that offered another future offroad experience and beautiful view. You cannot have a beautiful view without a selfie. lol
We had a great time. I aired the tires back up and strapped down all of the trash on the receiver carrier and headed back east.
In looking at the map we saw a hidden lake that we wanted to go check out. We couldn't get too technical on trails etc due to the carrier on the back but we could adventure out for sure. We took the dirt road toward the lake and came upon a 100+ year old school.
While stopped looking around at how cool this school was and reading the plaque on the front stating that it was on the National Historic Registry, one of the locals came up to us and made sure we weren't looking for a place behind the school to dump our trash. After I chuckled a little, I explained to him what we had been doing all day. He was apologetic and appreciative (not sure he completely believed us) and he went on his way. Hopefully he knows that Overland Bound people are straightup cool people.
We made our way down the road and found our little lake. It was beautiful with a couple campsites. We definitely will go back there again.
We made it back to the paved road and headed east back home. We decided to take a final photo to commemorate our day of adventuring and picking up trash...leaving it better than we found it.
I said all that to say this. We may not have made a difference in the forest as a whole. But we made a difference on FR83 and FR96. The people that travel those roads may never even notice how much cleaner they are, but I will...the wildlife will. Make a difference where you are. Commit to doing Dedicated Trash Runs. Although I didn't put this out there in time and most other people who wanted to come already had plans, we didn't get discouraged. If we had, all this trash would still be in the forest instead of the landfill where it belongs.
I have since contacted the Local Forest Ranger District again. They are sending me some maps with routes highlighted that are the greatest need for Trash Runs. We are going to get some door magnets or flags made with our #trailguardian logo on there so people will know what we are doing and will not question us. We will be doing this in Arkansas hopefully every month. It makes a difference and it is worth our time.
Fun with Time Lapse LOL
Gaia map files are uploaded at the bottom of the attached files.
BROfessor Out
I took the extra time to throw the Plano Boxes on Top to store extra bags of trash to bring back home and also installed my aluminum receiver hitch carrier in order to be able to bring out as much as possible. Along with having the Trasharoo which was stuff solid with trash bags, we had quite a bit of storage places so that we could pack the trash out of the Forest.
The Forest Service never returned my call so we just decided to pick a random road (since they pretty much are all in need of trash pickup) and go to work. FR 83 was the first road we came to that we had not been down so we decided it was the chosen one.
Forest Road 83 sits about 8 miles south of Fourche Junction and runs along Fourche Mountain and Cove Mountain. It runs along the top of the mountain and it is not until you get to the edge of Fourche Mountain that it descends into a valley and then back up again before coming to a large intersection.
Right off the bat we were bombarded with trash at the highway intersection. It seems like it took me about 45 minutes just to clear this area of bottles and cans, gloves and shoes, dirty diapers and fast food sacks. From there it was a pretty good workout in and out of the vehicle picking up a can here and a bottle there. Some of them had been there at least 10 or more years. I'm pretty sure this road had never had a litter crew on it before.
The wife and I always know how to make a good time out of anything. So we had some fun with some videos and other things. Looking at what people had thrown out of the windows of their vehicles either had us laughing or angry.
After several hours of getting in and out of the FJ and bending over, we came upon a really nice campsite that overlooked the valleys on both sides of the road. We decided to stop and cook some lunch.
I pulled out the trusty grill and cooked us up some Cajun Boudain, Pork Chops and Green Beens. Delicious! After a brief potty break and some calming medicine (Red Man Golden Blend) we hit FR 83 again (for some reason I kept calling it Forest Road 86...not sure why). By this time I had filled up both Plano Boxes and was beginning to make a pile on the back of the carrier.
The FJ my wife calls "Little Girl" was now starting to get weighed down pretty good but we pressed on. We came to the big intersection and decided to go back south.
We had come 16 miles. It had taken us over 4 hours (not including time we spent stopped for lunch). So we headed down FR 96. It took us down the mountain and back to the highway. We finished out our Trash Run at the Highway.
Before we made it down the mountain I saw a clearing to the right of us. I really didn't know what it was so I decided to stop and check it out. It was a pipeline that offered another future offroad experience and beautiful view. You cannot have a beautiful view without a selfie. lol
We had a great time. I aired the tires back up and strapped down all of the trash on the receiver carrier and headed back east.
In looking at the map we saw a hidden lake that we wanted to go check out. We couldn't get too technical on trails etc due to the carrier on the back but we could adventure out for sure. We took the dirt road toward the lake and came upon a 100+ year old school.
While stopped looking around at how cool this school was and reading the plaque on the front stating that it was on the National Historic Registry, one of the locals came up to us and made sure we weren't looking for a place behind the school to dump our trash. After I chuckled a little, I explained to him what we had been doing all day. He was apologetic and appreciative (not sure he completely believed us) and he went on his way. Hopefully he knows that Overland Bound people are straightup cool people.
We made our way down the road and found our little lake. It was beautiful with a couple campsites. We definitely will go back there again.
We made it back to the paved road and headed east back home. We decided to take a final photo to commemorate our day of adventuring and picking up trash...leaving it better than we found it.
I said all that to say this. We may not have made a difference in the forest as a whole. But we made a difference on FR83 and FR96. The people that travel those roads may never even notice how much cleaner they are, but I will...the wildlife will. Make a difference where you are. Commit to doing Dedicated Trash Runs. Although I didn't put this out there in time and most other people who wanted to come already had plans, we didn't get discouraged. If we had, all this trash would still be in the forest instead of the landfill where it belongs.
I have since contacted the Local Forest Ranger District again. They are sending me some maps with routes highlighted that are the greatest need for Trash Runs. We are going to get some door magnets or flags made with our #trailguardian logo on there so people will know what we are doing and will not question us. We will be doing this in Arkansas hopefully every month. It makes a difference and it is worth our time.
Fun with Time Lapse LOL
Gaia map files are uploaded at the bottom of the attached files.
BROfessor Out
