Took a nice little ride on Sunday. 172 miles round trip through the Boston Mountains. I have a friend in the hospital in Ft. Smith and wanted to go visit. The area I have shaded in Yellow is basically full of dirt roads and trails (actually, this whole map is full of non-paved travel ways.... Fayetteville to Ft. Smith is roughly 58 miles if you stick to pavement.
I rode through the Mill Creek area during the Black Jack Enduro at White Rock a
"A rugged and remote landmark." Tons of bikes all around the Mill Creek and White Rock areas. I figured it was best to stay off the marked trails in this area. Wouldn't want to be strolling along at a sightseeing pace and find myself in the middle of a race! So I stuck to the dirt roads until I felt like I was clear of any racers, that's when I saw this unmarked trail:
Not sure if this was private property or not, I didn't see any mis-spelled signs, so I felt relatively safe.
It started near the top of the mountain and went straight down to a small creek in the valley. Lots of storm debris in certain spots (I laid the R² down twice trying to reach the bottom), but I was surprised at how clear the trails were just 2 months after that crazy storm.
Eventually I made it to a county road and crossed the Ozark Highlands Trail at Dockery's Gap (cool 3D map).
Stuck to the main County roads from here and hit Summit Medical Center using only 8-10 miles of pavement.
Keep the visit short. I didn't want to rush back on the slab, too much dirt to explore taking the scenic route.
I saw this huge slab of rock that said "Memorial Pine Plantaion", I wonder what this is all about....
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The Memorial Pine Forest had a trail cutting right through the center of it. What is a pine forest without a trail?
I grew up riding BMX and motorcycles in a pine forest, so this was kinda nostalgic. I need to remember that riding on pine needles can be tricky!
The trail fizzled out near the back edge of the forest at a bluff line. Dark is coming soon, better haul ass...
After several miles off dirt roads in very poor shape I crossed a dirt road that was a little wider and looked pretty smooth. It branched off in a generally westward direction, so I took it. This road was fast straight stretches over the mountain connected by really wide cut-backs. WFO in 4th-5th gear for the next several miles. It has been 6-7 months since my last track day, so practicing my road racing lines was really fun and I got lost pretending I was Rossi for a minute then bam!, the road deteriorates to loose gravel, steering and braking ability disappear and a sharp 90+ degree corner comes up out of nowhere! I lock up the rear and come skidding to a stop about 3 feet from this nasty, nasty drop off:
Kinda hard to see, but the bluff on the right had a really pretty water fall. It was a little hard to enjoy the beauty of the area with shit running down my leg.
This is how close I was to the freaking edge
After taking a few pics and catching my breath, I had to climb back up to my bike
That was enough excitement to last me the rest of the journey, so I backed it way off an eased my way back to Fayetteville at a more reasonable pace. Got home just after dark and headed straight to Dickson street to meet some friends and drink a much needed beer....