AR-ADV Camping Thread

Preriding the Queen WIlhelmina route this Saturday so I should be posting the route Sunday or Monday of next week. I have several campsites with power and water reserved (Brett & Zach) for Friday and Saturday night the 19th and 20th. They have 40 campsites and the lady I spoke with said that only 11 had been reserved. I will check again early next week and give you an update on availability.

Diamond Rio is in concert Saturday night outside of Mena at a campground. Craig posted a link to it a few days back in this thread. Looks like a good time. Check out Craigs ride report in the AR Ride Report thread to get an idea of what the KTrail looks like. Hope to see a bunch of you'all there.

I'm planning on sleeping in my hammock. Who do I need to contact/pay for a spot?

Hhhm I have few chances left... Diamond rio ? 19th? Mena area? Riding? Pardon my delay but where can I find out more?

Craigs the expert on setting up hammocks with a little help from DHC's

I will be there Friday afternoon/evening. At this point I plan on camping. It will be pretty basic, probably in the truck, truck bed or under the truck. What can I bring?

I have to take my son to camp on Sunday so I will have to cut out after the ride on Saturday. Looking forward to riding this area, especially after seeing the pic's of the K trail posted earlier this week.

Ride is the 20th of this month at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Here is a link to the park website. http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/

Info on the concert can be found at this website. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...48705608,d.cGE

Everyone needs to make your own reservation for camping. The lady I talked to midweek said it was still pretty much wide open. I don't plan on bringing any food. There is a restaurant or grille right in the park and there was a vending trailer right next to the shower building. I should have checked it out but I do not know what they were serving up. I thought we could eat at the park or in Mena Saturday evening. I guess we will play that by ear. The concert is at a campground just east of Mena Saturday evening I believe!

Sounds good. We had a blast riding some of the trails over there yesterday. I hope the weather is half as good as it was yesterday. It was awesome as we were heading back to the park about 3 pm. Temperature was abt 70 degrees and dry.

Here are some photos and vid's of yesterdays preride. I pulled my new toy hauler to the campground Friday evening and arrived after midnight. Had a heck of a time parking in the dark with a new to me trailer so my backing a trailer skills need some work. Darel Williamson (UHDARELRIDE) and Bo Hawkins (Bohawk) pulled in before 8 am Saturday morning and we probably got riding about 8:30. It was cool on top of that mountain in the morning and felt great. Darel led us out to show us some trails and get a barometer on what level of roads we wanted to ride. Not far from the park we ran into a 'Road Closed' sign so naturally we had to see what that was all about. Turns out they were working on a railroad crossing. Only got a video of that.

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Oh, what do you know, Oleary takes a dive! I thought I had it wired and then something happened and threw me back and I gassed it. Would never have happened if I would have been up on the pegs. Still learnin fellas!

After some minor bark buster bending we were back on the road. Cool operation that they were doing to the railbed. All of the workers were way friendly and helpful.

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Down the road we stopped for a break to discuss our plans for the day. Darel was good enough to show us around the area. He lives in Arkoma. I have been told by those who know that Darel knows these woods better than anyone in the area. It was great to have a resource like that to help us find our way around.



Didn't take any more stills till after lunch when we were heading back on the Talimena Scenic Highway. Here are some videos of some of the trails we rode.

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We had lunch at a little grille on Haws Creek Road. Food was good and the people were real friendly. They all knew Darel as he frequents the place quite a bit. When we left the waitress said 'Are you heading back into the woods'. I guess they know Darel pretty well. Bo was good enough to ride sweep most of the day. I guess it had rained there a day or two before we rode so the dust wasn't too bad. There was one short stretch that was mostly powder that was pretty bad.

Hit the Talimena Scenic Highway about 2 pm or so and here are a couple of scenic shots on the way back to the park.





This is how I had to park to get within reach of the electrical outlet. Had to move from my original space after not being able to reach the power outlet there. And all of this at 1 am in the morning. I would recommend a 50 power cord if you have a RV or toy hauler and need power.





Nice campground tho. It has some elevation and is pretty compact. Lodge is closed for remodel. Darel said that they brought a bunch of refugees from New Orleans after Katrina and they trashed the original lodge. Toy hauler did good on its maiden voyage. I still have some work to do and things to add to it but it has lights and AC so I am good for now. I will post the final route tomorrow evening. Hope you all can make it. Should be a good time.

Tim, are you leaving from the campground to Mena to start the trail? I was going to stay in Mena as I'm very afraid of camping in my hammock now.

I understand your concern! But the plan is to leave the campground and go south and pick up the Ktrail and ride west to Talahina. The return leg goes to Mena crossing the Ktrail and then back to the campground. That is the way the route is laid out anyway. I am sure that everyone will do whatever works out for them on the way back.

Good stuff Oleary. Glad you didn't get hurt on your get off.

Good thing I got a 50 foot power cord.

Tim,

Any idea on total mileage and gas stops? Are you still planning on posting a track later today?

Thanks for the pre-ride and videos. Looks a little more technical than the Sylvia ride a few weeks ago.

Actually we didn't ride any of the route I had laid out. What I am thinking is that there will be options on this ride. Probably a total of three. The first half will be from Queen Wilhelmina to Talahina via the Ktrail which is about the first half which everyone will ride. We will plan on having lunch in Talahina.

On the way back folks will have the option of riding the Talamena Scenic Highway, which has a lot of vista stops and some historical places to stop and check out. Another option will be to ride the route I laid out which is primarily dirt and starts back north of the Ktrail and crosses it going south about halfway back and then ends up in Mena running south of the Ktrail. The last option will be to ride first half of the route I laid out returning from Talahina about halfway back and then riding the trails which is what you viewed in the videos.

Of course everyone will have to decide what they want to do and find someone or others that want to do the same. The way the topography lays out in that area is a series of ridges that run east to west. The good thing is that you are never far from a paved road that runs east to west that will take you back to camp when you have had enough. That is what I have in mind anyway. We will see how it works out.

There is fuel in Talahina which is about 90 miles from the campground. It is about the same distance back to the campground. There is fuel about 50 miles from Talahina on the way back if you choose to ride the trail route back.

Those look like some fun trails!
Wish I could be there but am having a big Family Party next weekend. I would really like a copy of the tracks.

It was a pleasure meeting you guys Saturday!

Scribe and I are leaving out on Friday hopefully around noon from Fayetteville on the bikes. What time you pulling out of Ozark? Any help on track down from Ozark or XNA would be helpful since my home computer is down. Looking forward to the weekend. Tim your videos are great! Thanks for the teaser

Most of y'all staying at the Ozark Inn?

Scribe and I are camping at the saturday morning meeting spot. Hope to roll in before dark to set up. Who else camping?

Thanks for your concern. You are smarter than the average bear. I'm sure you have been in the situation before when you needed a 50' cord. Now I am a toy hauler noob!

Yah! It was a pleasure meeting you as well. Come up and join us at one of our camping events sometime. You guys are more than welcome.

Lookin forward to it as well. There are a couple of trail riders for sure! You are in for a treat!

Camping at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Those guys are just meeting up with njoytheride in Ozark where he lives. Come on up and join us.

Well I'm definitely in for the trip. I got vacation time approved and hopefully will get to meet up with some of you for the trip south. Are most of you leaving Friday at some point?

BTW I'll be camping

I will be.