Arkansas Ride Reports

[wayno]

Originally Posted by Dragon43

Great pictures, Thanks !!!

+1

[OLEARY]

[QUOTE=Navaho;20229089]




Great photos Navaho! Looks like you had some great weather and colors for ridin. One of these days!

[Navaho]

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.

[njoytheride]

Wow ! great ride report and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Dragon43]

Originally Posted by njoytheride

Wow ! great ride report and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Ditto again....

[MartiniUp]

Thanks Navaho, were you by yourself? There sure were a lot of KTM trees in those woods .Did you dump the WR?

[Navaho]

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.

[MartiniUp]

Originally Posted by Navaho

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.

[TroyWolf]

Originally Posted by Navaho

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.

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/showp...3&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!

[OLEARY]

Originally Posted by Navaho

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/showp...postcount=5837

I also found some info the Zecatfish shared in response to your query.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...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/showp...postcount=5846

Didn't mean for this to be so long but I kept finding posts of interest. I hope this helps.

[Navaho]

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.

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.

[Navaho]

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.

[Navaho]

Originally Posted by OLEARY

Awesome photos! I think you have one upped yourself from last years October photos........
Didn't mean for this to be so long but I kept finding posts of interest. I hope this helps.

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.

[TroyWolf]

Originally Posted by Navaho

Wow! That cabin is amazing! I had not heard of it. Here is their website:
http://www.ozarkbluffdwellers.com/main2.htm

[TroyWolf]

Originally Posted by Navaho

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?

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.