Gaston's White River Resort, the Grass Strip Along the Trout Water in Lakeview, Arkansas, and the Fly-In Where You Tie Down Twenty Feet From Your Cabin Door

Gaston’s White River Resort in Lakeview, Arkansas is a privately owned, public-use grass airstrip (identifier 3M0) set on the bank of the White River in the Ozarks, where cabins line the runway and your tiedown is effectively your driveway. The 3,200-foot turf runway runs right along world-class trout water, letting pilots shut down and walk about twenty feet to their cabin door. It’s a true destination strip - no fuel on the field, no crew car needed, just an airplane parked in the front yard of one of the best fishing rivers in America.

What Is Gaston’s White River Resort (3M0)?

Gaston’s is a resort built around a grass landing strip on the White River in the Ozarks of north Arkansas. The identifier is just three characters - 3M0 - and the field is privately owned but open to the public.

The runway is roughly 3,200 feet of manicured turf, oriented along the river. Final approach takes you out over the water, and on short final the trout are literally beneath you. Aircraft settle onto the grass as if they belong there.

What makes the field unique is the layout: the cabins line the runway. You shut down, chock the wheels, grab your bag, and you’re home. There’s no calling for a ride and no crew car - your airplane is parked in your yard.

The History: How a Fishing Camp Grew a Runway

The resort dates to the 1950s. Al Gaston bought a small six-cabin fishing camp in 1958, and his son Jim Gaston took it over in the mid-1960s, expanding it steadily - cabin by cabin, dock by dock.

The grass strip came later, added because pilots kept asking for a way to fly in. That’s the detail worth remembering: the runway was built to answer a demand from aviators, not the other way around.

Today the resort spans more than 100 cottages along two miles of riverfront. It includes a restaurant, a dock with a fleet of johnboats, a nature trail, a swimming pool, and a small riverside chapel - with the emerald landing strip running through the middle of it all.

What Is the Approach Into 3M0 Like?

This is not a simple approach, and it deserves respect. You’re flying into an Ozark river valley, not onto flat prairie. Terrain rises on both sides where the river cut the valley, so you come down the valley rather than descending onto open ground.

Several factors compound the challenge:

Density altitude is a real concern on hot Arkansas afternoons.
The turf gets soft after rain, affecting rollout and braking.
The surrounding terrain limits your options, so you fly the airplane all the way to the ground and honor the numbers.

Flown correctly, you track down the valley with the river unspooling beneath you, line up on the grass, and touch down soft on turf as you roll past the cabins.

Is There Fuel at Gaston’s?

No. There is no fuel on the field - it’s grass and grass only. You must plan your fuel and tanker in what you need.

The nearest fuel is a short hop away at the airports around Mountain Home and Flippin, so top off there before you settle in. The absence of fuel reinforces what this place is: a destination strip you fly to on purpose, not a fuel-and-go stop.

The Restaurant and the River

The Gaston’s restaurant sits on the bank overlooking the river, and its walls are a shrine to aviation - old propellers, decades-old photographs of visiting aircraft, and model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. It reflects more than half a century of pilots landing on the grass.

The kitchen will cook the trout you catch: hand it over in the morning and they’ll prepare it for breakfast, served with a window full of river.

The fishing itself is world-class because of Bull Shoals Dam. The dam releases frigid water from deep in the lake, creating ideal habitat for rainbow and brown trout. Anglers travel from around the world for this water - and pilots skip the long, winding drive down Ozark roads, arriving fresh instead of worn out.

Why Pilots Keep Coming Back

The real appeal isn’t the landing - it’s the arrival. One couple, retired schoolteachers from Wichita flying a Cessna 182, have returned to Gaston’s every fall for nearly 30 years. Their children, once small enough to share a single cabin, now fly their own airplanes in, and the family rendezvouses from three different states.

There’s a deep guide culture on the White River, with johnboat families running these waters for 50 to 60 years. Their read on fly-in guests: pilots show up relaxed, stepping out of the sky and straight into the boat instead of arriving wrung out from a long drive.

That’s the gift of the airplane here - not speed for its own sake, but arriving fresh with the whole day still ahead of you.

Planning Your Trip: Practical Notes

Field: 3M0, Lakeview, Arkansas
Runway: Turf, roughly 3,200 feet - verify current length and condition before you go
Terrain: River valley with rising terrain; watch density altitude on hot days
Fuel: None on field; tanker in, with nearest fuel near Mountain Home and Flippin
Conditions: Call the resort ahead - they know their runway better than anyone and will give you a straight report

Don’t come for an afternoon. This is a place to commit to: book a cabin, stay two or three nights, and let the river slow you down. The magic is waking up twenty feet from your airplane, walking out with coffee into the fog off the river, and watching your wing bead with dew while the trout rise.

Key Takeaways

Gaston’s White River Resort (3M0) in Lakeview, Arkansas is a public-use grass strip with a ~3,200-foot turf runway along the White River, where cabins line the runway.
The resort began as a six-cabin fishing camp bought by Al Gaston in 1958; his son Jim Gaston expanded it from the mid-1960s into 100+ cottages across two miles of riverfront.
The approach demands respect: valley terrain, density altitude, and soft turf after rain all require careful planning.
There is no fuel on the field - tanker in, with the nearest fuel near Mountain Home and Flippin.
It’s a stay-a-while destination, not a quick lunch run - book a cabin and let the cold, clear trout water do the rest.