Gaston's White River Resort, Three Mike Zero, the Grass Strip in the Ozarks Where You Tie Down Under the Trees, Catch Your Dinner Out of the River, and the Runway Ends at the Front Door of the Restaurant

Gaston’s White River Resort in Lakeview, Arkansas is one of American aviation’s great fly-in destinations: a 3,200-foot manicured grass strip (identifier 3M0) laid alongside the White River in the Ozark hills. You can land on the turf, tie your airplane down in the shade a few steps from your cabin, walk to the dock, and catch a trout that the on-site restaurant will cook for you. It is a private, non-towered mountain-valley field that rewards a current, sharp pilot and demands real backcountry discipline.

Where Is Gaston’s and What Is the 3M0 Airstrip Like?

The resort sits in Lakeview, Arkansas, tucked into a river valley in the Arkansas Ozarks. Its airstrip carries the identifier 3M0.

The runway is roughly 06/24, oriented east-west, running parallel to the White River right down in the valley bottom. It is 3,200 feet of all-turf runway, cut and kept like a golf fairway.

What makes it special is also what demands respect. You land in a valley with hills on both sides and trees off both ends, and the river runs along one edge the entire time. This is a place to fly on speed, on centerline, with your head up and outside.

There is no control tower. It operates pilot-to-pilot: announce your position, keep your eyes outside, and fly it like the private backcountry-flavored field it is.

You Can Tie Down Under the Trees, Steps From Your Cabin

At Gaston’s, airplanes aren’t parked on a concrete ramp behind a fence. They are tied down in the grass, in the shade, right next to the cabins - roughly forty steps from airplane to front porch.

When you roll out and taxi in, you taxi toward the restaurant. The runway essentially ends at the front door of the place you’re about to eat. Turf landings are quiet and forgiving on the mains, part of the appeal for pilots who love grass fields.

Fly In, Catch Your Dinner, Have It Cooked

The White River is one of the great trout rivers in America. Below Bull Shoals Dam, the tailwater runs cold year-round and grows rainbow and brown trout that anglers travel across the country to fish.

That means you can complete the whole mission: fly into 3M0, tie down in the grass, walk to the dock, and catch a trout out of the river. Guides and boats are available to put you on the fish, and the riverside restaurant - famous for its trout - will cook your catch.

The restaurant sits right on the water with big windows over the current, making it the natural gathering point for the pilots and anglers who come through.

The History: A Pilot Built This Place

Gaston’s dates back to 1958, when Al Gaston started a small fishing camp of six boats and six cottages on the river.

His son, Jim Gaston, took over in the mid-1960s and spent roughly fifty years building it into the resort you see today. Crucially, Jim Gaston was a pilot - which is why the property has a manicured runway instead of just a parking lot. He understood that the guests he wanted to reach were up in the air, and he gave them a place to bring the airplane down.

Jim Gaston passed away in 2015, and the loss was felt across the flying community, where he was known as one of its great hosts. The resort continues to operate the way he built it: the grass stays cut like a fairway, and the airplanes still come.

More Than a Strip and a Diner

Gaston’s is effectively a small village on the river. Cottages line the bank, from small units to buildings large enough for a whole family fly-in, most with long covered porches and rocking chairs facing the water.

The property also includes a nature trail, an on-site museum with vintage cars and outboard motors that Jim Gaston collected, a swimming pool, and long docks where the guide boats line up on the White River.

Part of the culture here is the friendliest gallery in aviation: everyone on the porches looks up to watch every arrival drop between the hills and settle onto the grass. It is, after all, a field full of pilots.

How Should You Fly Into a Mountain-Valley Grass Strip Like 3M0?

Treat 3M0 as exactly what it is - a mountain-valley grass strip - and fly it accordingly.

Respect density altitude. An Arkansas summer produces real density-altitude penalties that lengthen your takeoff and reduce climb.
Account for the grass. Soft turf adds rolling resistance, so your takeoff roll is longer than the pavement number you may have in your head. Use proper soft-field technique: get the nosewheel light, let it fly off in ground effect, and build speed before climbing into the valley.
Know your airplane, weight, and the winds. A valley funnels wind, and the surface conditions in the river bottom can differ from the winds aloft.
Call ahead. Contact the resort, ask about current strip condition, the trees, and local procedures. That’s good airmanship at any private field.
Walk the strip if you’re unsure. There’s no shame in landing and then walking the runway before you plan your departure - the best backcountry pilots do it routinely.

This is a field that rewards a pilot who is current, sharp, and honest with their own limits, and it can bite anyone who flies in hot and casual because it looked easy in a magazine. Done right - on speed, over the trees, mains kissing the grass with the river off your wingtip - it’s one of the best experiences in personal flying.

Key Takeaways

Gaston’s White River Resort (identifier 3M0) in Lakeview, Arkansas offers a 3,200-foot turf runway (roughly 06/24) along the White River in the Ozarks.
The field is private and non-towered; you tie down in the grass under the trees, about forty steps from your cabin, and taxi right up to the riverside restaurant.
The White River below Bull Shoals Dam is a premier rainbow and brown trout fishery - you can fly in, fish with a guide, and have your catch cooked.
The resort was founded in 1958 by Al Gaston and built into its current form by his son Jim Gaston, a pilot, who died in 2015.
3M0 is a mountain-valley grass strip: mind density altitude, a longer soft-field takeoff roll, valley winds, and call ahead before you go.