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Nature Rules Eureka Springs, Arkansas

What's NEW is out- doors. Celebrate the outdoors during March and April, Official Outdoor Tourism Months, in a nature paradise. This nearby remnant of Victorian life is only a few miles, but a hundred years away from urban noise and gridlock.

Lake Leatherwood, our sixteen-hundred-acre municipal park, is a prime facility for outdoor activity, and as such, plays a prime role in outdoor tourism.

A Family Funfest, scheduled for March 17th and 18th, in the park, will signal the kick-off for the 2007 season. Registration for the kid's bike race on Leatherwood Trail will begin Saturday, march 17, at 10:00 a.m. Race begins at 11:00 a.m. Participants can bring their own bike or use one of a limited number available for this event.

Bike tours and scheduled hikes begin at Noon until 3:00 p.m. Members of the Arkansas State Forestry Commission will be available for outdoor education on Saturday. Canoes and paddleboats will be available for rent.

Lake Leatherwood Park, right by the city limits of Eureka Springs, provides camping, fishing, hiking, mountain bike trails, and most importantly, bird-watching. To date one hundred and seventy-nine birds had been identified. Eagles and Pileated Woodpeckers are common. The park is on a natural migratory path and a bird blind is available.

The park also provides fine fishing, swimming, boat rentals, cabins, and camping. For more information call the Eureka Springs parks and recreation Commission at (479) 253-2866 or e-mail at esparks@Arkansas.net.

Within minutes from Eureka Springs, the 40,000 acre Beaver Lake offers the finest bass, wall-eye, and trout fishing in the U.S. Campers flock here to enjoy an ageless, natural environment by boating, sailing, swimming and hiking along the cliffs. The lake has 500 miles of natural shoreline.

Scuba diving is popular because of the clear waters and boats are available for rent. C&J Sports, near the dam, offers archery and paintball.

A little farther out west, the Blue Spring Heritage Center, on the National register of Historical Places, has been drawing visitors since 1948. Thirty-eight million gallons of water rise from the huge spring, of unknown depth, each day. There is an underwater cave complex explored, for the first time, by a group of professional divers last year. Although the bottom wasn't reached, they discovered a here-to-fore unknown species of albino crayfish. The documentary film produced by this crew will have daily showings this year at the center.. The film will have daily showing at the center.

Explore the Buffalo River National Waterway, the Kings River, and dozens of navigable rivers, by canoe or kayak; marvel at the primal beauty of the tree-covered cliffs and try your hand shooting the rapids.

Is rock climbing your sport? Go to the town of Beaver, a short distance northwest of Eureka Springs, and take time to see the much-photographed wooden, single-lane suspension bridge over the White River. An RV Park and camping facilities are available here.

There are so many outdoor events scheduled through the spring and summer in this area we recommend you go to www.eurekasprings.org; or Eurekaspringschamber.com to catch them all. You'll find The Victorian Classic 10K Run in March, the Turpentine Creek Kite Festival, Mountain Bike Events, a Fat-Tire Festival, trail rides and chuck wagon dinners.

In June the Annual Eureka Springs Off-Road Triathlon: a half-mile swim, 13-mile bike ride and five mile run will be staged at Lake Leatherwood by the XTERRA American Race Tour. Eurekaspringsoffroadtriathlon.com

We might mention the May 5-Booger County Extreme Adventure Race beginning at Lake Leatherwood and ending at the Madison County Wildlife Recreation Area. www-boogercountyextreme.com is your information source for this one.

Fishermen, mark April 28th as the first Annual Tri-Angler Event begins at the 1800-acre Lake Leatherwood Park and extends thoroughout the region. Arkansas is known nationwide for the best bass and trout fishing in the country, and the Tri-Angler Event test all skills. The 3 man teamed event will be a "winner-take-all" adventure with one member fishing the white river for trout, one small mouth bass fisherman on the kings and a striper fisherman headed to Beaver Lake. The event begins at 6:00a.m.; ending at 2:00 p.m., with weigh-in right after closing.

Register for this event at www.eurekaspringschamber.com; at the Chamber Office in the Pine Mountain Shopping Center, or call 479-253-8737. If you're coming to the Fish Fry at the Basin Park Hotel Friday night, April 27th, sign up there.

You don't have to be physical to enjoy the outdoors in Eureka Springs. You can dine outdoors and explore the many walking trails past historic landmarks within the town. We're nicknamed "The Stair-step Town" because of the many stairs leading up or down to the next street level. You can explore them all, or the many springs along the streets, each with their unique history. A stop at the Tourist Information Center on Highway 62 West or the Chamber of Commerce Office at Pine Mountain Village will provide you, for a very small charge, with a booklet describing walking tours and explaining historical landmarks and architecture. There is also a map of the springs.

The only remaining middle-class Victorian town in the United States is already geared to the simple style of eighteen hundred America. Strict adherence to historic preservation has left the town with narrow, tree-lined streets, Victorian-gingerbread cottages, and small patches of urban forest. Small, landscaped parks around the many street-side springs provide cool resting places for visitors who like to walk these streets, early morning to late night.

Eureka Springs is safe, quiet, and free of the glitz usually found in modern vacation destinations. There are no traffic lights in this little community. Instead find a wealth of fine restaurants, quality shops, and accommodations from five-diamond inns to pocket-friendly motels.

Enter our little time warp, stay to enjoy our peace, and return home refreshed and ready to face the world.