Ouachita National Forest

THE OUACHITA NATIONAL FOREST in the highlands of Arkansas and Oklahoma is a vast area of rugged mountains and rolling hills, sloping to deep-hewn valleys where flow clear, sparkling streams. The Ouachita is the largest forest in the southern region of the national forest system. It extends east into Arkansas about 100 miles from the Oklahoma State line and west into Oklahoma about 35 miles. Within its proclaimed boundaries of 2,423,816 acres are included most of the Ouachita and Kiamichi Mountains between the Arkansas River and the southern Coastal Plain.

The Ouachita Mountains have been classed by some geologists as a western extension of the ancient Appalachians. The range is formed in long, narrow plateaus with undulating summits rising in peaks 1,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level. The higher peaks afford magnificent views of mile on mile of rolling wooded hills.

Along the mountain tops and through the low gaps down into the deep gorges, the Forest Service has completed 1,500 miles of excellent roads, opening this superbly scenic area to the tourist and vacationist. The section is readily accessible to the great centers of population of the Southeast. It is a comfortable two days' drive from Jacksonville, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Chicago by excellent roads, and but a day distant from Dallas, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Kansas City.

Few sections surpass the Ouachita Mountains in beauty of landscape the year around. In the spring and summer, the forest and stream banks are carpeted with shrubs and wild flowers. Azaleas, wild roses, violets, hydrangeas, the shooting-star, wild hyacinths, blueberries, wild plums, dogwood, and redbud add touches of yellow, purple, white, pink, and blue to the color pattern of the landscape. In the fall, the turning leaves set the forested slopes ablaze with scarlet, orange, and gold.

The climate combines with the scenery in attracting visitors to the land of the Ouachitas. The winters are short and definitely mild. Freedom from humidity unites with the altitude to create a pleasant climate throughout the summer, and to the cool, verdant hills come the people of Arkansas and nearby States when the lowlands swelter. The city of Hot Springs is a year long resort, where hundreds of thousands of persons each year visit the famous springs, the only Government owned and operated hot springs in the United States. Great numbers of these visitors fish, hike, study plants or geological features, or travel the highways and byways of the Ouachita National Forest to its numerous points of interest.

TYPICAL MOUNTAIN SCENE IN THE OUACHITAS F—192113