NWA Life

acclaimed golfers compete. Other courses in Rogers/Bentonville are Shadow Valley Country Club, Lost Springs Golf & Athletic Club and Prairie Creek Country Club. Bella Vista, one of the prettiest places in the region, has five regulation 18-hole courses: Bella Vista Country Club, Highlands, Scotsdale, Dogwood and Kingswood. There are also two 9-hole courses, Berksdale and Brittany, along with an 18-hole Disc Golf course. In Fayetteville, golfers gather at Blessings Golf Club, Fayetteville Country Club, Paradise Valley Athletic Club and Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club. Pea Ridge is home of has the public Big Sugar Golf Club. In Springdale, the Springdale Country Club is highly rated for its golf course. Boating Water is one of NWA's greatest resources, with rivers and lakes attracting outdoor enthusiasts looking for sport, recreation and a cold spot to drop a fishing line. From kayaking to picnics on pontoons, to rafting and angling, boating is boss in the Ozarks. Two-mile wide Beaver Lake in Benton, Carroll and Washington counties has "really everything an outdoor enthusiast is looking for in a recreational lake," as noted in a report of the Northwest Arkansas Council. It's the region's largest lake, dammed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s, and boasts over 28,000 acres of sparkling clean water and seven marinas to attract anglers, boaters and skiers. Boaters can also launch from ramps at several Beaver Lake parks, including Dam Site Lake, Indian Creek, Lost Bridge North, War Eagle and others. Fishing League Worldwide (FLW), the world's largest tournament fishing organization, sponsors popular bass fishing competitions at the lake each year. You'll find the beautiful and serene Lake Wedington to be the heart of the larger Lake Wedington Recreation Area. Built by the Works Progress Administration in 1938, the area, with its six historic and restored cabins, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 102-acre lake is located just 13 miles west of Fayetteville, and home to bass, bream, trout and crappie. Besides fishing, it's ideal for kayaking, canoeing, boating, camping, picnicking and swimming. The free-flowing Buffalo National River extends 135 miles through four counties from west to east, joining the White River at the end. Managed by the National Park Service, it's one of the few undammed rivers in the U.S., and a favorite destination for fishing, tubing, and whitewater kayaking and canoeing. A trip down the river offers incomparable vistas of towering limestone bluffs and dense forests. You might see a herd of elk, too — the park is the only place in Arkansas that these majestic animals are found. nps.gov/buff/index.htm Eureka Springs has two lakes, Lake Leatherwood and Black Bass Lake. Located in Lake Leatherwood City Park, the first is 85 acres and fed by a spring. You can launch your boat from a paved ramp, and there are launches for kayaks and canoes as well. The waters teem with blue gill, bream, largemouth bass and more. Peaceful Black Bass Lake is also spring-fed, and warm weather brings bullfrogs, butterflies and wildflowers. You can fish by the banks or from a nonmotorized boat. The White River of Northwest Arkansas is a fisherman's paradise, famous for trout fishing as well as bass and catfish. It winds its way from headwaters in Fayetteville, and is the source of Table Rock and Beaver Lakes. Scenery along the river is breathtaking, from massive bluffs to pastures, farmland and forests. Fly fishing is popular when water levels are low, but most anglers take out a johnboat to bring in their catch. Other desirable lakes to visit in the region are Lake Fayetteville, Lake Sequoyah, Lake Wilson, Lake Bentonville, the lakes of Bella Vista, Lake Atalanta and Lake Elmdale. And don't miss these rivers: the Mulberry, which holds a class II/III rating ideal for float trips, and the Kings River, where anglers can catch rock bass and big smallmouth bass along with channel catfish. Caves Visitors to the stunning underworld beauty of NWA's living caves and caverns will ascend wide-eyed from the depths. Of the 2,000 designated caves in Arkansas, the Ozarks has the greatest concentration, and each cave boasts of unique features. Many offer gemstone panning, too. Take a tour in one of these popular show caves or, if you're more adventuresome, venture down-and-dirty on a wild cave tour. Most of the caverns offer them. NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Tony Orta of Farmington, Mo., docks his 32-foot boat at Prairie Creek park to pick up passengers during the Big Boat Bash at Beaver Lake. The event for high performance boats included a poker run at the lake to benefit Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, which offers help to veterans and first responders. CONTINUED FROM 44 52 • nwa life • 3.29.2020

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