Am I the only Adventurer in the Ouachitas?

[Vinduroman]

Duane:

Very sorry to read of your health issues. Prayers and thoughts for marked improvement.

V-man

[arkansawyer]

Duane, I will pray for you. I didn't know you'd had any bad experiences with old enduro guys.

Anyone want to ride Saturday in spite of the cold? I'm thinking about 9am near HSV for a start point.

[Mister D]

Thanks for the prayers, guys. I think I'm getting past the medical issue, pretty much cleared by the doc as of two days ago. The issue was that I have a growth on my vocal cord and had some serious bleeding going on. Wasn't allowed to talk at all for a while, so UPS didn't want me out there unable to talk to customers. Got past that, but still had to see the doctor quite a bit. But anyway, I'm out of the woods and ready to carry on at work and hopefully get out riding again soon. Maybe even with an old enduro rider like Jeff.

[arkansawyer]

Hare scrambles and turkey runs mainly. Enduro timekeeping wasn't my friend.

I'll check back around 7am. If nobody responds I will not be at HSV at 9am.

[tx246]

Well, I'm one of those Talimaniacs who happens to have an appetite for dual sport. I am familiar with the stuff from Tali to points north of Mena. Mike Carpenter and I did a 320 mile loop that included K trail, 20 miles of Mill Creek trail, lots of beat up Polk CR and a drive through a prison. I like the hard end of the spectrum when it comes to d/s. I have a well equipped DRZ with a big tank. I'm well versed in GPS. I like to camp off the bike. It all fits in a Giant Loop. Resume includes TAT, southern section of the CDT, Copper Canyon Mx, Moab and numerous rides in Co.

The reality of all dirt routes are possible but the trail portions are always going to be bonus diversions. Lots of stuff south of the K Trail is now posted as Wherhayser has leased it to hunting clubs. There is some awesome stuff by Heavener but it all leads to nowhere.

Work up tracks toward Mena and I can hook you up the rest of the way.

[MartiniUp]

Uh Oh, hunting clubs ruined LA riding.

[Albie]

Originally Posted by MartiniUp

Uh Oh, hunting clubs ruined LA riding.

Yup, more then half the stuff I used to ride over there in OK is now closed off. Pretty much the reason I stopped riding there and and just stuck to riding in AR. That and the ODWC jacked up the land access permit prices to friggen $85/yr.

[fotobo]

There is only one person that can help you out. He is a good friend of mine and lives in the ft smith area. I just talked to him on the phone. Check your pm's he said he tried to contact you. He knows that whole area like the back of his hand and is a very good rider. He's an older dude like me but don't let that fool you. Let me know if you didn't get his pm.

[jgas]

Only way we will have singletrack in the future is if we get organized like everyone else does. I've never seen a sorrier bunch of whiners than off road motorcycle riders. Yes, I am one of the whiners. I admit it. Most don't. Off road MOTORCYCLISTS, not "OHV enthusiasts", need to get organized worldwide so we can acheive OUR goals. I know, preaching to the choir, yada-yada..

Anyway, I am happy to have gotten so many responses to this thread. I spent the weekend getting my DRZ more highway and dirt road ready so I can ride to good singletrack trail, get in a ride, and ride it home. I just hope I have places to ride. Until it all gets closed off to anything with a motor, I guess I'll just ride as much as I can, then sell my bikes and buy horses and guns. It seems to be coming down to the old wild west scenario: Ride horseback where you will, but be prepared to fight everyone that wants to stop your progress. I already have the guns but not the horses.

Anyone ever mounted a Gatling Gun to a horse? I think we'll all have to pull small artillery peices with our horses to fight off the whacko-enviros who want to keep us off of our land.

But back to riding the Ouachitas on a still barely legal mount, a motorcycle: Hopefully, before Xmas, I'll have a good route on all dirt to Talimena from Perry Co. God willing and the creeks don't rise enough to wash my bike downstream if I fall over, I intend to find a route to Talimena that is possible to do on a small DS bike so I can make a trip to Tali, camp out, ride the singletrack, and ride home. I have made it almost halfway so far. I'll keep ya'll posted.

[tx246]

Have you ridden Tali in awhile? Looks like they took a skid loader to the south side and rupture and rerouted anywhere they couldn't widen. You can drive a side by side all the way to billy creek. The only single track is the first 8 miles leaving the Sp and heading up to the drive, crossing, and down the switchbacks. All of that is bike only.

If you have not, check out the trails NW of Buck Knob. They are pretty nice. Its two track but challenging.

Its a matter of time but I think the bikes will make an outlaw trail that resembles the old INT

[stinkfinger]

I have nothing to offer you guys but encouragement.
If you were here(N Ms) you'd say there wasnt anywhere to ride, but lo
and behold there is. With GPS and mapping software, ive been amazed
what can be pieced together and connected a lil at a time
using the backs of cornfields,old rotted bridges and sliding under gates.
I can only imagine having nearby access to what you guys have.
Good luck, I hope you guys piece together a 500 mile trail
thru the best of arkansas.............and give the tracks to me

Tony

[njoytheride]

I used to post land access issues all the time but hated being the bearer of bad news all the time. I would encourage everyone to join the AMA and the Blue Ribbon Coalition plus any local groups to make your voices heard ( the trail closing groups sure are ). I have had good conversations with our local land managers and politicians. Send emails,call, encouage others to get involved and get the word out to the folks that are trashing and destroying the public lands to pick up their beer cans and diapers. If we don't fight we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.

btw. Headed from Havana to Mena and back doing almost 500 miles with about 95% of that being dirt. Took a long time and lots of bush wacking. Was a good time.

[mouthfulloflake]

Dang, Duane

I hope all you see on that is improvement from here on out.

what do the bikes need? you and your kiddos need to be on 2 wheels again.

Originally Posted by mister deliberate

Thanks for the prayers, guys. I think I'm getting past the medical issue, pretty much cleared by the doc as of two days ago. The issue was that I have a growth on my vocal cord and had some serious bleeding going on. Wasn't allowed to talk at all for a while, so UPS didn't want me out there unable to talk to customers. Got past that, but still had to see the doctor quite a bit. But anyway, I'm out of the woods and ready to carry on at work and hopefully get out riding again soon. Maybe even with an old enduro rider like Jeff.

[jgas]

It's good to hear from others who ride the Ouachitas. I rambled around the area all day and part of the night. I started at Thornburg, where I live, hit road #86, took Link mountain road (#210), over towards Forked Mtn. I rode around there awhile, then headed towards Hwy 7 on whatever roads I found. After hitting a bunch of dead ends, I found a road that led to the "Autotour" route wh ich the USFS maintains. At Hwy 7 I went to Jessieville (pavement), for gas and a bite. Went back to the Autotour road, and back towards Lake Winona. 2 miles before Winona I took a very little used road towards Lake Sylvia, don't remember the n ame. Came out back on the Autotour approx. 4 miles from Sylvia, then headed back home on the Sylvia road, (paved), to Hwy 10 and home. About 65 miles I think.

I stopped to climb Forked Mtn along the way, looked at the waterfall behind it, and stopped on every overlook that was scenic. Round trip took about 4.5 hrs, and I didn't hurry. Soon I hope to have a fun and scenic route to the Singletrack area at Talimena which is on the west end of the Scenic Winding Staircase road which is called #1, not sure if it is state, local, or federal.

TX246, we need to get together. I have ridden with the Talimaniacs 4 times, and want some more. I am working on making my DRZ as versatile as possible so it does DS and singletrack well. It already will do both, but I can make it better. Soon I want to get a route finished with planned camp stops, and get over that way for some Talimena tough stuff. It takes alot of prep and planning to commit to a long DS ride in remote woods, ride a long 2 day singletrack ride, and get home again. I need plenty of redundency in case of busted parts. I guess in case of a catastrophic breakdown, I could walk back from Talimena to Thornburg, but I sure wouldn't enjoy it!
I hope to find this DS route to Talimena with a scenic drive in mind, but also a relatively straight shot to TMena. I intend to ride over, camp, ride some gnarly singletrack with the Talimaniacs, and ride home in a 3 day, 2 night trip. It should be epic and fun.

Hopefully, before it gets hot from summer again, I'll have a fun DS route from Thornburg to Talimena. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Jeff.

[arkansawyer]

If you had continued across hwy 7 FR132 turns into FR11. It is easy and runs all the way to hwy27. About 2 miles up hwy 27 to Aly and left on the dirt road there. Follow that to FR33 or FR134. This is all very easy dirt, doable in a 2wd pickup.

Fr11 to Fr776 to FR45. 45 turns into a major dirt road near hwy 27, but it puts you closer to FR72 or FR67. FR72 is scenic. FR67 is low and second gear on a dp bike.

FR870 is another nice E-W route. It is wide and fast. Just topped off with rocks about like railroad bedding, but you can pretend to be Scott Parker.