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SPRING 2017 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 02
While not as famous as the neighboring Ozarks, the Ouachita Mountains offer up some world-class riding, along with beautiful state parks, waterfalls, scenic vistas and interesting roadside attractions.
sits on top of Rich Mountain and, like Magazine, commands gorgeous views.
I’ m always fascinated by back stories about places, and I love the one about Queen Wilhelmina State Park. In 1898, a grand lodge was built by the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad. Many of the owners were Dutch and, in the vain hope that she would visit on a planned trip to America, they named the lodge after the queen of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina. The railroad soon changed hands and the lodge fell onto hard times. After only 12 years of use it was totally abandoned. In the 1930s sheep sometimes grazed in the middle of the tumbledown ballroom. A second lodge was built as a state park in 1963, but burned down in 1973. In 1975, the beautiful lodge and restaurant you see today was opened.
The peak-to-peak run is not one