Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln Lake A Hidden Gem
LINCOLN — As leaves in northwest Arkansas start to change colors, Lincoln Lake is coming upon its busiest time of the year.
Many people describe Lincoln Lake and its amenities as a hidden gem in this region.
David Justice, director of Lincoln Lake for city of Lincoln, says he likes to call it a nature environment, a set-aside place.
“The whole park is designed to get you out of your car to see the wonders of it. You have to get on the trails,” Justice said.
On a weekend in the fall, Justice estimates 150-200 people will come to the park to enjoy many activities. The area will stay busy throughout fall and into early winter and then pick up again in spring. The number of visitors tapers off in the cold of winter and hot summer days.
The entire park includes 400 acres with eight miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking.
Visitors can see beautiful lake and forested vistas from the trail and its many overlooks. The most popular overlook is called Lake View Overlook and from this point, visitors can see both sides of the lake. Other wonderful sights are rock outcrops and rock formations.
Wildlife is abundant and visitors have been known to see foxes, coyotes and deer. Some have reported seeing black bears passing through.
Most people come for hiking, biking and rock climbing. But others come to Lincoln Lake to take photographs, bird watch or even search for up to 15 geocaches.
The 90-acre lake is busy with people fishing or paddling on the water with canoes or kayaks.
Climbing, fishing and mountain bike riding are popular year-round, Justice said. Hiking is more popular in the fall and winter.
“The wonderful thing about the lake is that even with lots of visitors you can still get out and get away from people. It’s beautiful and very quiet.”
Lincoln Lake was formed in 1960 and is fed by two water sources, Beatty Branch and Moore’s Creek. It used to be the city’s water supply but now is used exclusively for recreation.
Justice became director of Lincoln Lake almost by accident. He and his wife were living in Springdale and wanted to move to a less busy area. They found housing was less expensive in Lincoln and decided to relocate to the small community.
He said he had heard about Lincoln Lake because his son rock climbed in the park. He began volunteering and soon was so involved the city asked if he would be interested in taking on the job as a part-time employee. His full- time j ob is with Fayetteville School District.
Justice works about 10 hours at the park each week and his responsibilities include maintaining trails, picking up trash, making sure people follow park rules and working with volunteers. Ozark Off Road Cyclists is the lake’s largest volunteer group and has been instrumental in building trails around the lake.
Ozark Cyclists just finished the last trail along the bluff line and Justice said he believes eight miles is enough for the park.
The trailhead for the lake loop starts behind an information kiosk and map located off the lake’s main parking lot. The lake loop is 4½ miles long and is designed to go counter clockwise for hikers and clockwise for mountain bikers, Justice said.
Separate loops branch off from the main trail. These include Spinway Loop, Piney Loop and Lower Eagle View Loop. Bikers and hikers can take the loops and then come back to the main trail.
“You can do all eight miles without backtracking,” Justice said.
Trails are marked and every trail intersection has a sign that gives the name of the loop and a description of the trail. In addition, arrows can be found along the trails to assist hikers and bikers.
A printable map is available on the city of Lincoln website, lincolnarkansas.com. A free trails app also can be downloaded to a smartphone. Search mtbproject to download the app.