Well time to get caught up from the last 2 weeks. I'll start with the week I spent in the Ozarks of north central Arkansas near the small town of Mountain Home. I've wanted to re-visit this area since my trip here 2 years ago when torrential rain for 4 days kept me from riding
Syllamo Epic. I spent the first 3 nights camping at the Gunner Pool primitive campground, and was the only person around for miles. The first few pictures are taken from the campground or near the campground.
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| North Sylamore Creek |
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| North Sylamore Creek Trail |
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| Rocky beach and crystal clear creek 50' from my camp site |
The first trail I rode was Jack's Branch Loop which kind of put a sour taste in my mouth for the Syllamo trail system. At 14 miles long its the longest section of trail, with constant ups and downs on a loose over hard pack trail bed, which made it difficult to power up the short climbs. The trail was mildly technical in places, but otherwise fairly beginner friendly. The main negative to the trail was how overgrown in was in places with briars encroaching on the trail which caused both a front and rear flat, and left me picking a total of 8 thorns out of my front tire after the ride. I either needed to be running slime tubes or going tubeless for this trail as I normally don't have problems with briars in WNC.
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| Jack's Branch Trail |
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| A little rocky at times, but nothing too bad |
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| North Sylamore Creek from a bluff about 600' above the river |
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| Blanchard Springs Campground where I was to originally camp, but closed for bridge repair, lays just below the cliff along the river |
After missing out on a nice day Wednesday due to my battery going dead and me having to sit and wait for a couple hours on the dirt road that runs through the campground for some one to jump me off; I didn't get to ride again until Friday. On tap for my next ride was Bad Branch and White River Bluff Loop. Bad Branch at 12 miles is rated as the easiest trail, and had a much better flow than Jack's Branch with no major climbs and no technical obstacles leaving me wishing for my single speed. The only thing slowing me down was the loose over hard pack trail surface to which my tires aren't suited.
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| Arkansas Ozarks are more colorful than the Missouri Ozarks as the forests aren't Oak dominated |
From Bad Branch I rode the White Bluff Loop trail which is the shortest in the system at 4.5 miles. The highlights of this trail are the views from the bluffs of the White River and the more technical trail surface.
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| White River with JoJo's Catfish House just below, good eatin' after a day of riding |
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| This part of the Ozarks doesn't appear very "mountainous" as it is merely an eroded plateau |
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| Cliff top riding, don't lean too far left or you're in for a drop of 300' |
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| Mmm...Arkansas chunk. Something I'd become even more familiar with the following day |
The final day of riding included a large loop combined of Scrappy and Bald Scrappy Mountain trails. These two trails are considered to be the most technical and include the most climbing as the trail head starts in the valley. I had one real good down hill, but for the most part it seemed like I was climbing most of the day.
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| Climbing Bald Scrappy, the clouds just would not break up like the weathermen kept claiming they would |
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| Trail through the cedars on Bald Scrappy |
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| Easy riding Chunk |
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| Tougher to ride chunk as you're climbing, almost made it but lost momentum as you reach the tree at the top and make a sharp left turn |
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| Smoother section of trail on Scrappy Mountain Trail |
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| The chunk continued on Scrappy Mountain Trail as did the climbing |
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| Top of a little obstacle dubbed "the Stairway to Heaven" |
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| Pic from the bottom of "Stairway to Heaven" prior to riding it. Always check your run out on a new trail, especially when you're by yourself in the middle of the Arkansas Ozarks |
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| A little more chunky monkey as you approach the end of the trail, fun stuff |
From Mountain View it was south to Hot Springs and the Ouachita's. Stay tuned.
