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Nearly all of the people who come here come to be by the lake (which is good for the Lazy Eagle Resort since, after all, we are by the lake). The mountains are just something that most people feel they have to suffer through in order to get to the lake. And this emphasis on the lake means that most people see this as a Summer destination. This Summer/lake focus makes the total experience of visiting this part of the world less than what it could be.
While I don't have much use for Winter myself,* Spring is one of my favorite times here. Aside from the sense of renewal and possibilities that Spring provides for everyone everywhere, it provides something special here: mountain views unobstructed by leaves.
In 2006 I had to come back in early February, and by mid-April I was feeling an intense need to get out and about, even though I couldn't go very far. So, I decided to start driving some of the County Roads in and around Eagle Rock. In the process I discovered two that offer truly lovely scenery, especially in the Spring.
These Trips laid out below traverse 3 (Short) or 4 (Long) distinctly different ecosystems, the attractiveness of which vary seasonally: nice in the Summer, great in the Spring. In the lower portion of each Trip, there is a valley with a lovely little stream, active in the Spring, dry in Summer (but with wildflowers and canopy of vegetation on the Missouri side to make up for the lack of running water). In the upper portion of the Short Trip you have a ridge-line road from which you get occasional distant glimpses (of up to 5-6 ridgelines) during Summer, but from which you can get absolutely spectacular views of both distant ridgelines and near-by valleys during the Spring. (On this upper portion there are numerous non-drivable side-trails and a pull-off area with picnic tables in case you want to turn this into more than just a drive.) The Longer Trip takes you up onto a plateau from which you suddenly re-enter the mountains, a transition that still blows my mind whenever I make it.
The total Short Trip laid out below takes about 45 minutes to an hour. The Long Trip should run about twice that. I have driven the routes below in both wet and dry weather in a rear-wheel-drive pick-up with no added weight in the back, and have encountered no problems with the hills or streams. In the Spring there will be some low-water (2" to 3" on my transits) crossings -- nothing I couldn't just charge across without losing contact with the roadway. Naturally, if the water is higher, don't do anything stupid. The valley will still be there when you come back.
Short Trip
Briefly: Lazy Eagle Resort to Holiday Island/Beaver to Butler Hollow Road to Sugar Camp Road to Lazy Eagle Resort.
Starting from the Lazy Eagle Resort, turn Left onto Hwy 86. Turn Right onto Hwy P (the road to Eureka Springs). Just before you get to the Arkansas/Missouri border turn Right on the Lake Road (Devil's Dive sign immediately before the turn). Follow this road until you see the "To Holiday Island" sign (close to ground on your left. Turn Left at this sign and you will be on State Line Road (strange name, given it is perpendicular to rather than parallel with the Sate Line). This will take you into the very extensive Holiday Island development.
On your way through Holiday Island you will encounter 3 Stop signs. The first is at a 4-way intersection, and you will go straight here (still on State Line Road). The second is at a T-intersection facing an Arvest Bank. Here you will turn Left. The third is at another T-intersection with no real landmark right in front of you, but there is a row of mail boxes a little to the right. Here you turn Right, and follow the road through several (more) curves to the 1-lane bridge across Table Tock Lake and into the town of Beaver.
From Beaver you follow the main (paved) road until it rakes a sharp curve to the left, at which point continuing on straight puts you onto the gravel Carroll County Road 232. This goes through an increasingly lovely little valley that is privately owned in Arkansas and Federally owned in Missouri (where the same gravel road becomes CR 2285, though there is no marking at this point).
About 3.8 miles after you enter the gravel road you will encounter a single-lane road going to the right. If you overshoot this, you will come across a red barn 1/10 mile farther on (also on the right), where you can turn around and backtrack. This one lane road (CR 2280, though it is not marked at the bottom intersection with CR 2285) will take you up the hillside, becoming almost 2-lane at the top. (In the unlikely event that you encounter downhill traffic on the way up, there are a couple of mid-way places where 2 cars will be able to get around each other, though this may require one of them to back up a bit.)
At the top of the hill CR 2280 T-intersects CR 2275. Turn Right and follow this road until you hit pavement, a mile or 2 after which it will T-intersect CR 1180. Turn Left and in about 1/10 mile it will T-intersect MO-86. Turn Right and in about 2 miles you'll be back at the Lazy Eagle Resort
Longer Trip
Briefly: Lazy Eagle Resort to Holiday Island/Beaver to Butler Hollow Road to Seligman, then back into the Mark Twain National Forest, to Sugar Camp Road and to the Lazy Eagle Resort.
Same start as the Short Trip, up to the CR 2280 right-turn that takes you to the top of the hill. At that point, rather that turning Right, go straight. You will continue on CR 2280 until it intersects MO 37 in the town of Seligman. The last mile or three will be paved and you'll begin to encounter houses. Just keep the faith and stay on the road and you will get to MO 37.
Turn Right on MO 37 and take it to MO 112, where you will turn Right again. If you were to follow 112 all the way into Roaring River State Park, you would come to Hwy F, one of the usual routes to the Lazy Eagle Resort. But, about halfway between the 37/112 intersection and the 112/F intersection you will come across a sign, on the Left, near the ground, that says "Scenic Drive/Sugar Camp," with an arrow pointing to the gravel road on the right (which is CR 2275 but is also FR 197 at this point).
Turn Right onto the Sugar Camp Road and follow it all the way back to CR 1180. Turn Left on CR 1180, then Right on MO 86 and head back to the Lazy Eagle Resort.
(The map below is not to scale and certainly doesn't show all of the curves in the roads. But it does have all of the major landmarks on it.)
Other Trips
There are a lot of County and Farm and Lake Roads that leave the hard-surfaced highways within 5 miles of the Lazy Eagle Resort. None that I've found so far covers ground as nice as you'll see on the above Trips, but all of them help to emphasize that we're in the mountains (okay, old, pretty gentle mountains) and not just sitting by the shore of the lake. Taking some of them to see where they go will add a dimension to your "trip to the lake" that most people miss. (And, if you come across any that lead to spectacular scenery, please let me know about them as I'd like to tell about them here.)
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* Since I have a wife and a home in Indianapolis, and really can't stand to sit here and watch the grass not grow during the slack season.
But the Lazy Eagle Resort remains open all year, and the one thing that we have in the Winter that we have less of in other times of the year is tranquility. For that reason, if you have a writers' workshop or other group function that could use a very quiet, comfortable place to get away to, you might want to think seriously about bringing it here.