Trail 3

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Lake · Wildlife

Check out this website for rules and regulations, as well as up-to-date alerts that may affect your visit.

One specific thing to note is to be aware of hunting seasons, as this area is all public access. Even non-hunters should wear fluorescent material during the hunting season as an extra safety precaution.

As routed for this guide the trail is started from the Bois d'Arc campground/trailhead. There are vault toilets and potable water available at the campground. There are several connector trails that allow you to shorten or lengthen your hike in this area of the National Grasslands.

This trail weaves almost entirely under thick forest cover as you travel through mosty hardwood stands with the occasional dense pine thicket. The trail is a sandy consistency, and as you travel closer to the lake and the elevation drops, you'll likely encounter plenty of standing water on your route. This area is great for wildlife tracking and viewing as you'll observe first hand, either by spotting them or seeing their tracks scattered throughout the trail. As you leave the campground on the trail be sure that you pay attention to the map closely, as there are a few turn-offs that aren't marked very intuitively. This trail does skirt the upper shores of the lake as you make your way through the wetland areas of this hike. These sections provide the best opportunity for bird viewing on this trail.

When you come to the northen section, the trail follows along a barbed wire fence that marks the edge of the grassland property. In this section of the trail, the path widens up providing great opportunities to spot wildlife crossing back and forth. The trail then dead ends into the first section of your hike where you'll retrace your steps back to the trailhead.

Overall, this trail provides excellent wildlife viewing opportunities as well as tons of solitude. Because the National Grasslands is far from any large communities, you'll likely not hear anything but the wind and the wild. A great place to get away from the chaos of daily life and reconnect with nature.

There are countless species of trees throughout the property with the typical forest mammals present. Upon mapping this trail there were tons of deer and feral hog signs, as well as a bobcat spotting. A great place to take the camera and binoculars for the day. Per the National Forest website for this area, "white-tailed deer, small mammals, coyotes, bobcats, red fox, waterfowl, bobwhite quail, turkey, and songbirds thrive in the diverse habitats provided by the Grasslands. Largemouth bass, blue and channel catfish, and various sunfish species are common catches at the many lakes that dot the Grasslands' landscape."