Headed for NW Arkansas

[schrec]

Headed out Saturday for a week in the Ozarks. Headed to Eureka Springs area of Arkansas. This will be my first time riding in the Ozarks, but from what I have researched there should be some good riding up that way. Looks similar in geography to the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. Either way, I am not at work and I am on the bike, so I know we will have a good time.

Can anyone reccommend some good routes, and places to see, eat and whatever else?

[xr650rdriver]

Bring rain gear! I ventured about 100 miles north from my house (where it was hot and sunny) last week and I got caught in a heavy T-storm. It has been raining here all week. even if it looks good, it can rain at any time. No biggie if you bring some gear.

[varnado]

Too bad you cant wait till 8/13. A group of us are going up to Ozark for 2 full days of riding. Gonna be about 6-7 of us from Austin. Can you get sick from work and come along? Thursday till Sunday. Lots of good roads in NW Arkansas.

[bushwhacker]

A few of the places I plan to visit in September

BeaverBridge N36 28.294 W93 46.122
Blanchard Springs Caverns N35 57.578 W92 12.073
Tiger Preserve N36 18.552 W93 45.648
WarEagleBridge N36 16.045 W93 56.582

[schrec]

varnado.....If I like it up there, and I have a feeling I will, I might-could be talked into taking another trip up that way with you folks from Austin.....more than likely not, as it is I have one hour of paid time off and I am taking the whole week off...I just told the boss that it looks like I am not getting paid for this vacation...... I will try to reccommend some good routes for your trip when I get back....


Bushwacker...thanks for the tips on places and things to see.\

XR650driver.....the rain gear always goes on a bike trip, this isn't my first rodeo as they say.

[Manfred]

I've made two bike trips to northern Arkansas, in 2007 (http://brogdensmuse.menofhonorministry.org/Bikes/Captains_Log.htm) and earlier this year (http://brogdensmuse.menofhonorministry.org/Bikes/Arkansas_Part_Deux.htm). Each report has some recommendations for good roads and places to stay and eat.

Needed rain gear both times :-)

[xr650rdriver]

"XR650driver.....the rain gear always goes on a bike trip, this isn't my first rodeo as they say"

OK just giving a heads up, I am just a few miles from the Arkansas border. Have fun. I might tool around the South west corner tomorrow if it is not raining.

[soonerstan56]

If you are headed to Eureka from the South try HWY23 "The Pig Trail" into town.If you don't enjoy it I'll give you your money back!

Stan

[schrec]

xr650driver....I appreciate the heads up on the raingear. I just hope I dont have to use it.......

[ctoons]

You definitely want to ride the Pig Trail while you are here. If you can catch 62 out of Eureka Springs without traffic, it's not a bad ride. There's a motorcycle shop in Gateway right where 62 comes in to Gateway. They can give you info about area rides and it's a neat little shop.

The Harley dealership in Rogers has Sport Bike night (http://pigtrailhd.com/custompage2.asp?pg=extra1) on Wednesday nights with free food and some kind of competition or demo.

We are in NW Arkansas right now (staying with family in Bella Vista.) I hope to get a ride in this weekend. The weather looks to be pretty decent next week with just a slight chance of showers. It is definitely cooler here than when we left SE Texas two weeks ago.

[schrec]

What a most excellent trip. Left out on August 1st, later than what I wanted because of some rain in the AM, so we got on the road about 2. Decided to take the quick way to meet my friends from KS in Roland OK, so we took 75 to 40. Basically the trip consisted of two turns, a left onto 75N and a right onto 40E into Roland. Sunday would be a whole different story on the amount of turns that would more than make up for the lack of turns the day before. We headed 40E to 23N, which is also known as the "pig trail". Man I almost forgot how much fun riding the mountain roads can be. We rode the pig trail all the way into Eureka Springs. Checked out a few places in Eureka, then onto get checked into our place in Bella Vista. Monday was a riding day. We headed back over to Eureka and along the way checked out the suspension bridge off 187 in Beaver. We then took 62 over towards Harrison. 7S out of Harrison to 74W towards Ponca. That stretch of 74 between Jasper and Ponca makes you work for it let me tell you. A wrong turn took us off our planned route, but it turned out to be a pretty decent route anyway. I think we put on about 200 miles just running around that day.
Tuesday we did some of the touristy stuff around Eureka, and checked out the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Reserve. We got there about the time all the cats were waking up to be fed.
Wednesday not much went on, everybody kind of had a sore *** from the riding we had done the days before so we kinda laid low for the day.
Thursday we decided to go up into Missouri since some of the folks on the trip had never ridden there. We found a great restaurant at the intersection of 90 and E. The name of the place is the Muelenbach Steak and Rib House. We were there on prime rib night a little early, and the chef wasn’t quite ready to serve just yet so one of the guys working there told us a nice little route that would take about an hour, so we rode that and came back. This restaurant knocked our socks off. The food is awesome, three of us had the prime rib, and the fourth had a NY strip steak and everyone was making yum yum noises. If you get up around this area, make sure you check this place out.
Friday the friends from KS headed back to the land of Toto, and me and the girl headed for Mena. One thing I wanted to do on this trip was ride the Telihmena Scenic Highway. Saturday morning we got an early start to try and beat the heat in the afternoon, and what we got was fog on the mountain. So we found the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge and had breakfast while the fog burned off. Not a bad ride over the scenic road, but **** those dragon flies hurt when they hit you. The rest of the ride home was hot and bumpy. Some of the roads in OK suck!
A week on the bike for sure wore the girlfriend out. We got home on Saturday unloaded the bike. I helped her get her boots off and she curled up on the bed and took a 3 hour nap. Yeah I would say she was worn out. All in all a great trip. Mileage came out to about 1464, so we definitely did some riding. The bike ran strong and didn’t give me any troubles. Will for sure be visiting that area again, there is a lot of good riding to be done up there.


thanks for the tips on the bridge and the animal refuge bushwacker.

[bushwhacker]

thanks for the tips on the bridge and the animal refuge bushwacker.

Glad you enjoyed the Trip.

We are heading up for 6 days the third week of September and will be spending 3 nights in Harrison doing day rides.

-

[schrec]

Glad you enjoyed the Trip.

We are heading up for 6 days the third week of September and will be spending 3 nights in Harrison doing day rides.

-


Yeah Harrison seems to be the better place to stay. We had a free place in Bella Vista, and it seemed kinda out of the way a little. Plus there seemed to be better day rides out of Harrison. Get a copy of that pamphlet that lists rides out of Harrison. We did the one they call "The Jasper Disaster" it was a lot of fun. You should be up there about the time the leaves start to change, I bet that will be pretty.

[whitebread]

5 of us Texans are meeting 3 friends from Colorado in Conway, Ar. for a long Labor Day weekend the 4th-7th of September. Hope everyone gets out to ride that weekend!

[varnado]

My trip turned out perfect. We stayed in Ozark, AR and rode the Pig Trail up to Eureka Springs. We then rode into Branson and back down to 7, Harrison, Mt Judea, 374, 123 and a bunch of other roads. Mt Judea area had some real tight stuff and very technical. Next day we rode to Magazine Mountain then down to Hot Springs. We then worked our way back to Ozark for some steaks, beer and story tellin. Weather was great... Thanks to all for the information and suggestions. If you have not had the chance to ride around north-western Arkansas, you need to make plans to do so.

[whitebread]

123 to Mt. Judea is my Holy Grail of roads so far!!:rider: