This facility offers camping sites and a restroom
with showers. Near the entrance, parking is available for hikers
walking the Ouachita National recreation Trail. A backpacker's camp
with a restroom is next to the trailhead. A short trail leads to
Emerald Vista picnic ground. Equestrian trail # 7, beginning at
Cedar Lake Recreation Area ends here.
The Ouachita National Recreation Trail travels east, leaving the
Talimena scenic Drive at this point. The trail descends Winding
Stair Mountain crossing into the Upper Kiamichi Wilderness Area
on the south side of Rich Mountain.
EMERALD VISTA - OVERLOOK
Emerald Vista offers a spectacular view of
Talimena Scenic Drive, the Poteau River Valley, Cedar Lake, and
Lake Wister, a corps of Engineers impoundment of the Poteau and
Fourche Maline rivers. The town of Heavener can be seen in the distance.
Geographic names such as "Poteau," "Fourche Maline"
and "Kiamichi" indicate the influence of early French
explorers, fur trappers and traders. In the French language, Fourche
Maline means "treacherous fork" and Poteau comes form
the French work meaning "post" where traders tied their
canoes. The name Kiamichi originates from the French word for "water
bird." In fact, "Ouachita" ios the French spelling
for the Indian word "Washita," which means "good
hunting grounds."
In 1884, the town of Heavener was known as Choctaw city. Its population
of 200 included Choctaws and a few white settlers. The Choctaws
called the surrounding area "Prairie of Tall grass." The
town centered around an artesian well which attracted travelers
who camped on the road. The principal source of livelihood was lumber.
In 1896, when the Kansas city Railroad came through, the town was
renamed in honor of Joseph Heavener who lived in a log cabin on
a hill above the well. He was the owner of the land on which the
town was established. As an intermarried citizen, he was an Indian
arbiter and peacemaker.
