Sorry we didn't hook up O'leary. I'll be back again next Spring. Yeah, the weather was nice, although a little cool the first few days. 2nd day on the dual sport started out on CR55 near Mt. Judea Heading South on CR55 About halfway down CR55 is Ricketts Cemetary Rd. Very cool place for a hike and quite popular with the rock climbing enthusiasts. Overlook on CR55 (next road South of Ricketts Cemetary Rd) This is what I was hoping to find more of - old quad trail. Found this near the Hurricane Creek Wilderness area off CR31 Always wanted to try out NF-1821 (old 1842) from Treat going West to 1802. According to TroyWolf, it was doable: " Yup! According to my Spring 2012 tracks, I rode that exactly. I rode it on my BMW F800GS, so it's definitely doable on a motorcycle.... " So off I go. Can't be to bad if an F800 can make it. This is where 1821 leaves Treat Road Nice ole jeep road but now reduced to quad-width Still looking pretty easy up to the first creek x-ing. Good place to tighten up a loose chain. Then the trail started to veer away from the map with no sign at all of where the old road once ran. This Garmin map must be ancient data. Only about another mile to 1802, so I kept on. Things changed quickly, and I was starting to realize that this wasn't the same road Troy was thinking of. Still doable on a bike though. Creek # 2 Creek # 3 After the 4th creek crossing, I could see that I was maybe 1/2 mile from 1802 BUT it was a steep and rocky uphill climb, and there were huge downed trees in the way as far as I could see. Not having a chainsaw nor a trials bike, my only choice was to turn around. Besides, it was getting late, and I could hear a cold beer and bowl of gumbo calling me back to camp. Day 3 is in the books. More to come tomorrow.
Thanks Navaho, were you by yourself? There sure were a lot of KTM trees in those woods .Did you dump the WR?
First week I was by myself. No one else wanted to come up but all regretted it after I showed them the pictures. Fellow ADV'r DirtySanchez managed a multi-day yard pass and joined me the last three days. The WR is my dedicated singletrack bike and the KTM is my dedicated dualsport. If the WR's had a six gear, I'd ditch the pumpkin in a heartbeat.
Understood, I think I have had my last orange bike. Also, was that cabin a rental, if so do you still have contact info? Been missing you at Cravens.
Cool, Navaho! I rode EXACTLY this same "road" through those nasty, rocky creek crossings ON MY F800GS. The proof is in this thread: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=785990 Specifically Day 3: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18573073&postcount=11 You ran into exactly the same problem I did. The trail diverged from the route I had on my GPS--the same purple line you show. It gets less and less traveled and eventually you hit that uphill and all the trees down, which is also where we turned around. Well, first I climbed that hill on my F800GS (it wasn't pretty!). My buddy said "no". He was the smart one. My apologies for leading you astray, but I thought you were asking about the road that runs N & S just E of there...it's an easy, well-traveled forest road. Like you, I really want to figure out the mystery of that trail. The intel I ran with was from Zecatfish. I believe I have an actual track from him--looks like the purple route you had. Now there was a branch that headed W from that trail. It was South of where our route indicated. I ran it for a short distance--it hit a relatively deep creek crossing and was plastered with NO TRESPASSING signs. I turned around at that creek. It was traveled, though--barely. It almost has to be the way to go West to the road, though. You probably noticed on your topo map, but at that point where your track deviates from your intended route (just like I did) you can see that the topo shows you being cut off from the West by a steep ridge. The trail really would have had to headed W closer to where we thought if it is going to go through. What a BEAUTIFUL trail, though! You take/process great photos. I can tell I'd love to ride with you someday! Even solo you don't back down from the gnarly stuff!
Awesome photos! I think you have one upped yourself from last years October photos. A note on your Fs-1842 road. I have been to a cave which the locals call the Three Sisters Cave on Fs-1842 just west of where your pointer is on your GPS. We did not go any further south the day we rode it. Maybe that is because the road does not go thru. I have emailed Apostle2 who was guiding us around that day who has a camping site just off Treat Rd who knows that area very well. I have asked him if the road goes thru. It was a pretty good road to the cave from the north. Here is a link to the ride report that Bohawk did that shows the Three Sisters Cave. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19219813&postcount=5837 I also found some info the Zecatfish shared in response to your query. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19227564&postcount=5842 Looking further I found Apostle2's description of the road further south. I guess you need to bring your chainsaw if you want to get thru all of the downed trees. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19230684&postcount=5846 Didn't mean for this to be so long but I kept finding posts of interest. I hope this helps.
I'm impressed Troy. If you care to ride that beast those places, I can only imagine where you'll go on a thumper. Most of the guys I know with F8's will not leave a gravel road for a quad trail. I can understand why with the cost of parts. I just about totalled an F650 Twin the first week I owned it. It adds up quick. Side panels are $450.:eek1 I wanted to keep going on that trail but doing it solo with one hour of daylight left didn't feel like a great idea...but I thought about it for quite awhile. That's what sucks about riding alone. I didn't have topo maps on my Garmin, so I couldn't tell what the terrain was ahead. Did the trail clear up a little? I see you also went down 1810 along Mocassin Creek off Indian Creek Rd.. Talk about a rocked out road.
Started out from Jasper on 10/28 and headed for Murray. This is 167 near the Little Buffalo. Much of the dark-colored rock in this creek bed was covered with fossils of ancient sea critters. On to Daniel's Ridge Rd from Murray and stopped at the old Hoyt Thomas Cabin. Then on through the communities of Walnut, Nail, Limestone and Deer. Such creativity CR29 at Deer Awesome weather this day Hwy 327 looking North towards Parthenon and Jasper Managed to snag a weekend at the Ozark Bluff Dweller's Cabins thanks to someone's cancellation. Awesome cabins overlooking the Buffalo River Valley. I now know why they get booked two years in advance. This is the Osage Cabin. Day 4 is done. Next day's plan was to trailer down to Mocassin Gap and the Big Piney WMA.
Thank you for the comments and the research. Don't know how I overlooked those two replies. Sometimes half of the fun is not knowing exactly what's around the corner.
Wow! That cabin is amazing! I had not heard of it. Here is their website: http://www.ozarkbluffdwellers.com/main2.htm
From your description, I think we turned around at basically the same spot. I think there were 3 real creek crossings before we turned around. It wasn't too much farther past the really rocky crossing with the mud bank on the far side. (The one where we took the photo of Sean's bike stuck in the mud.) The trail was becoming less and less traveled. In fact, once I climbed that hill, the trail was immediately blocked by blow down and the trail was faint. The other trail that branched off to the W from there--the one with the NO TRESPASSING signs at the creek--was well worn. I don't risk obvious trespassing. If there are no signs, I'm willing to give the "I didn't know" answer, but not when I pass multiple signs on my way in.
Excellent on-going ride report and pictures, Navaho. I must see if I can find your route on maps. Looks like a fantastic adventure. V-man
This is actually two ride reports in one. They both involve Dan, my good friend and boss (well ex-boss now that I have recently retired after nearly 38 years of working on turbines for GE). First a little history. Dan bought his 2000 DR650 in August that had a grand total of 1100 miles on it. He last had a motorcycle back in the mid 90s, I believe. I test road this one for him before he bought it. It accelerated smoothly but would intermittently cut out while cruising. I road it from Morrilton to my house where he is keeping it since he lives in Sherwood and would be coming here to ride, anyway. The intermittent missing did not improve so I figured the carburetor was gunked up. I disassembled it and soaked it in Pine Sol for about 6 hours. It came out looking like a new carburetor. I reinstalled it and found the miss was still there when cruising but not during acceleration. Hmmmm. I pulled my carb and put it on his bike. Same problem. So then I decided to start replacing his ignition stuff with mine. Started off with the spark plugs (DR650s have 2 of em). Installed my 4000+ mile plugs in place of his 1100 milers and problem was solved. I was kind of surprised by this because I would have thought the symptoms would have been reversed, if it was the plugs. Could not argue with the results, though. Part 1 - He does not have a lot of time to ride right now so most of our rides have been short, afternoon rides (40 or 50 miles, max) when he can get away from work. He broke his 100+ mile cherry on a ride to Oark a couple of Fridays ago. We rode pavement from Dover to Hagarville and then headed north on Hwy 123 a few miles to the first dirt section, County Rd 4540. 4540 comes out on Hwy 21 a few miles south of Ozone. We rode north up Hwy 21 to Ozone and beyond until we turned west on 5440 to Oark. Here comes Dan . .and there he goes. It was in the mid 40s when we left Dover so he wore one of my old helmets, a pair of my Carhart overalls and a pair of my insulated gloves to keep from freezing in the higher elevations. He is in the process of gearing up and is finding out that buying the bike was just the beginning of the negative cash flow. After consuming our burgers, I recommended the buttermilk pie since everyone seems to love it. This is the response I got when I asked if I could have a bite. Another satisfied customer. So with our bellies full, we headed back to Dover. Dan stood on the pegs quite a bit to keep from wearing out the comfy plank of a seat the DRs come with. Stopped for a pee break and group photo. Part 2 - Dan came up on my last official day of work. We changed the oil in both DRs, ate lunch at CJs Burgers in Russellville and then went for a short ride to Sherman Cemetery north of Dover. We rode north out of Dover on Hwy 7, then east on Granny Gap Rd about 100 yards and then north on CR 1818. 1818 drops off a mountain top and ends where several ATV trails begin. This is where the fun starts with numerous mud holes, a long stretch of serious rocks and then a crossing of the North Fork Illinois Bayou. The last time I was through here was with Oleary a while back and it had not gotten any better. So Dan got in his first mud hole crossing . and his first major water crossing. He handled it all quite well although he realized the stock gearing was a bit high for the slow going on the long rocky section. I am running a 47 tooth rear sprocket in place of the stock 42 toother to give my clutch a break in the really slow sections. The bikes got to take a break after the rocky section and crossing the Bayou. This gravel bar is a result of the heavy rains last spring and has changed what used to be a wide, fairly shallow crossing to a somewhat narrower and very deep one, if there has been much rain. Time to go. This is Sherman cemetery. There are probably over a hundred folks, young and old, buried here. Most are not identified. This one was a little spooky. Looks like part of the casket has collapsed. It reminded us to watch our steps. It was getting late so we motored back to Dover with barely 40 miles added to the odometers. It sure was a nice way to spend my last day at work, though.
bohawk: First off, a hearty congatulation on your retirement! From Dr. Spock to you: "Live long and prosper." (So you can fully enjoy your personal time!) Also enjoyed your mini-report n' pics. So much still to be seen in the Ozarks for this Oklahoma transplant. V-man
I started out heading south through some country roads...finally turned onto a dirt road after a few minutes. some of this trip is vaguely familiar from some hunting endeavors. then I see a less maintained gravelly road right turn onto (I think it was) Wash County 86...kept on cruisin, checking acceleration and deacceleration. traction etc. (still want to try some more aggressive tires). then I find a right turn that is very off the beaten path. getting exciting. oh poop! "road closed" kept going. found another one. tree had fallen but with enough space to get under. I start flying over hills back and forth and side to side...felt like I had gone through those pearly gates!!!(bike handled shockingly well) 50 yards later ...it ended I was on the opposite side of the road closed sign!....back to the road. A bit off pretty scenery then back on the 412. figure I may as well check the speed...I dropped the clutch rrrrrrrrrrrrr, second gear....rrrrrrrr3rd.rrrrrrrrrr4th.rrrrrrrrr 65....75.....85rrrrrrrrrrrr...................................................engine cuts out!!!!!!! as I pull over I quickly establish out of gas...(what a relief!!!) reserve...back to gas station ...closest one is next to home so Called it a night... not bad for a couple hours to finish off a busy weekend...beautifull sunday evening!!!!
I decided to take a morning ride before the NWA Dirty Santa brunch on Sunday. My plan: head southeast, stay on gravel, and take roads I've never been on. Nicest "new roads" for me today were Stout Mountain Rd and Koyle Cemetery Rd. Road condition was perfect, with a rain 2 days earlier. No mud, no dust. A short (72 mile) day before lunch, but way, way better than sitting at the house. "Everyone" gathered at the EZ Mart south of town. I guess I shoulda showered today?? The lack of leaves really made it nice to see where roads were going, Really hard to beat the views off of Hazel Valley Road. Koyle Cemetary road was new for me, and really was a nice surprise. Soft shoulders and no guardrails. The recent grading made soft spots appear solid. Wrong. One of my favorite roads down here is Wyola Valley Road. The only water on the trip was near the end.