I've never learned of an encounter like mine and can't even quite call it a ufo, because it wasn't with an object and it wasn't really flying. ... during spring about 6-8 years ago (best guess), the beaver lake water had risen unusually high from rains that then abated. l was walking on a lakeside path near hickory creek park near lowell ar. the shoreline path had been submerged but now had weed-like thorny plants growing sparsely on either side. i'd been looking downward, but raised my eyes to notice a gray oval "floating/hovering" beside the path about 6 feet ahead at a height of about 18" that gently moved from the s to the n side of the path. it was about 5" tall by 15" long and seemed totally flat: in other words, 2-dimensional and not really an "object" at all. it seemed benign and i continued on the path with a sense of wonder at the apparition and my confidence in proceeding. at about 10 feet beyond the oval's crossing point, i considered looking back, curious to know if it would still be there. i remember asking myself almost verbatim: "so, what are the chances--if you do turn around, will it still be there?" i did look and found it stationed just to the n side of the crossing point as it began to reverse course and move at the same gentle pace back to the s side of the path. i turned around, and continued my walk and sense of wonder. .. my impression was that i had just passed through a gateway of some sort and that the passage had been by invitation. i felt that the purpose was to have me understand, in the friendliest sort of way, that there are dimensions of reality beyond those i was used to and that, in the future, this would help me understand, accept, and support similar shared experiences of other people. in fact, that has been a benefit because i know personally how every-day real "hallucinations" and experiences like mine can be. ... (this event happened several years ago and i alluded to it in a journal i was keeping then. i tried to find similar accounts online at the time and the best i could find was that a suggestion that an intersection between dimensions of reality might appear like the oval i witnessed. but a couple of years later when i tried to again find that information online, i was unable to.) (i couldn't answer the question about elevation since the horizon as viewed was higher than the oval; i was looking down at it.) (i was prompted to send in this report by watching a history channel tv episode re ufos.)