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Arkansas ADV Ride Aug 24-26

Cool, I have been planning on bringing my 690, but was wondering if I should change to my Ténéré. Still sounds to me like the 690 would be more enjoyable. Thank you for the extra info. Very excited about the ride.
 
Sounds like a plan.



What size pelican case do you have behind you on the AT? How often do you hit your back on it?



It is the 1400 mounted on the altrider rack that replaces the rear seat. The position i have it in is very comfortable to use as a little back rest. We can switch bikes for a little bit, I want to try your front forks.


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Well Rick, I guess that kind of depends. I'm sure that I have by far more pavement than the other rides, although that wasn't neccesarily my intent.



I've never been to Glenwood before but it looks to me like its a about 10-12 miles to get to what I think is the good stuff. My route goes to directly to Norman and than the fun we all wanted begins. Also on the return at Langly we have pavement probably another 12 miles back to home. Some folks may be a little fatigued and ready for a cruise back on the run in to Glenwood. I suppose I could have got a little more forest roads back but we would be duplicating some of the morning ride and I wanted all new stuff.



We pass through Mena after about 65 miles as we head further west. For dual sporters with small tanks they might appericate topping off with gas then. If we haven't eaten prior we could stop and get breakfast at the Skyway(?) diner too. Then we hit about 35% of the Talimena Scenic Byway. Some folks may have never been on this before and it can be a real treat. But its always an entertaining road (paved of course) with probably a brief stop at the Queen Wilhelmina lodge where we could have a brunch instead of breakfast or nothing at all. But the best views on the weekend will likely be on this road. To get off Talimena we'll take a forest road down the "mountain."



Next we'll use 3 or 4 miles of pavement across the valley floor before we hop on a wide forest road and climb up the side of the other "mountain" to the three sticks overlook. From there we catch the easy part of the K-trail towards Hatfield. At times this runs on top of the ridge and has some pretty cool views through the trees. This should be the most rustic road we ride on and some of it may be overgrown two-track before we get close to Zafra prior to arriving in Hatfield. Hatfield is about 70 miles after Mena and they have (last I was there anyhow) a gas station. Then it's back onto some awesome easy/fun forest roads as we wind our way back to Glenwood.



So Rick, mine is just one of the routes available to you and you are certainly not required to ride it but you would be more than welcome to come with us/me if you like. Google maps can also be your friend. I tried to include a lot of diversity into this route and I think most would be satisfied at the end of the day. If not that's what beer is for, right? All that said, if I was riding someing like a street legal YZ450 than I wouldn't be very happy.



201 miles.

Special thanks to Jarrett for posting the route.



Sounds perfect!

Forecast says partly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. That is very typical for this time of year in Arkansas and will be very spotty. The time it is soggy is when it says 100% rain and cloudy! This will be good to keep the dust down, I hate them crunchy boogers [emoji38]

I will be there Friday morning since Glenwood is only 40 miles from Hot Springs. I will get a good campsite by the trash dumpsters [emoji41]


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Sounds perfect!

Forecast says partly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. That is very typical for this time of year in Arkansas and will be very spotty. The time it is soggy is when it says 100% rain and cloudy! This will be good to keep the dust down, I hate them crunchy boogers [emoji38]

I will be there Friday morning since Glenwood is only 40 miles from Hot Springs. I will get a good campsite by the trash dumpsters [emoji41]


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My plan is to get there early enough to explore Friday myself, (that's the plan anyway, lol).
 
It is the 1400 mounted on the altrider rack that replaces the rear seat. The position i have it in is very comfortable to use as a little back rest. We can switch bikes for a little bit, I want to try your front forks.


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I thought that's what it was. I have one I was going to mount it in the same place but didn't really like where it contacted my back. Remember I am a lot bigger than you.
 
Guessing Steve and I will be there around 2pm. Could do some afternoon riding on Friday as well.
 
I thought that's what it was. I have one I was going to mount it in the same place but didn't really like where it contacted my back. Remember I am a lot bigger than you.



I was thinking you would have to scoot it back further, you may have to turn it 90 degrees. We can take mine off so you can play with it on your bike to see if it will work.

Can we take your forks off and put them on my bike. Lol [emoji23]


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Guessing Steve and I will be there around 2pm. Could do some afternoon riding on Friday as well.



Perfect!


How many campers do we have? I know of 2 right now;

myself and Super Dave.


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Are we up to 10 now?

Jarrett
woodsguy & Glenn
misterk
MacDaddy
2WheelNut
ricks77eb
BADTEX
Simmons1
Birdman44

The extended forecast looks bad at this point:

Capture.jpg


How does days of rain affect these routes?

The wetter it gets, the more it's going to make that 250 the smarter choice.

If it get's wet enough, I may bring the WR.

Then again..... the whole point of this ride is to have an Adventure. A 1200 on muddy rocks and hills sounds like quite a bit of adventure to me. :)
 
So...looking like 10 people. I know Jarrett posted Steve's Saturday route and it looks pretty fun so maybe everyone will just ride that one route. However, I think some will ride on Friday and Sunday as well so if others have other good routes to post or an alternative Saturday route, I'm sure they'd all be appreciated.

BTW.... I'm not a fan of super big groups (10 is pushing it IMO) so if we do all decide to ride the same Saturday route, we might want to consider splitting it. 2 groups of 5 will probably work better. It's just easier to keep track of everyone. If it was road, I'd definitely want to split up. On a 50/50 ADV ride, maybe not as important but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Having said that, just because I had the idea to start this trip doesn't make me the leader and frankly doesn't mean much at all. I started this thread because I wanted somebody to show me some good dirt roads in Arkansas and it seems others wanted that too. I'm sure we'll have fun as a big group or small group but I thought I'd mention that splitting the group might be fun too.

Regardless....I'm looking forward to it. Rain or shine....it's going to be an Adventure.
 
So...looking like 10 people. I know Jarrett posted Steve's Saturday route and it looks pretty fun so maybe everyone will just ride that one route. However, I think some will ride on Friday and Sunday as well so if others have other good routes to post or an alternative Saturday route, I'm sure they'd all be appreciated.

I'm not looking to be the official route or anything (thinking Rick and his 690 or anyone else on a dedicated bike), it's nice to have options but its fine with me if everyone wants to do just this one on Saturday. Either way I'm happy.

BTW.... I'm not a fan of super big groups (10 is pushing it IMO) so if we do all decide to ride the same Saturday route, we might want to consider splitting it. 2 groups of 5 will probably work better. It's just easier to keep track of everyone. If it was road, I'd definitely want to split up. On a 50/50 ADV ride, maybe not as important but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I think 2WheelNut and I have discussed this a little bit in the past at some point, but yeah, I agree with his assessment. Smaller groups move better, less time regrouping at each turn and so on. 5 riders x potential problems is less than 10 riders x potential problems. And the biggie, less names to remember...Hey I'm getting older okay. :trust:

Having said that, just because I had the idea to start this trip doesn't make me the leader and frankly doesn't mean much at all. I started this thread because I wanted somebody to show me some good dirt roads in Arkansas and it seems others wanted that too. I'm sure we'll have fun as a big group or small group but I thought I'd mention that splitting the group might be fun too.

Regardless....I'm looking forward to it. Rain or shine....it's going to be an Adventure.

Ditto!
 
Perfect!


How many campers do we have? I know of 2 right now;

myself and Super Dave.


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If you are talking about the Arrowhead Cabins place as campers, that is where I am staying, but I will be in a small camper in an RV site not tenting. I am coming from Houston area, but plan on heading out Thursday night and driving a couple of hours, then making the rest of the drive Friday morning.
 

MacDaddy if you have that route in .gpx file format I can load it on my Garmin and have it in case we have to run multiple groups. I have already loaded up the other two routes that were posted earlier in the thread. Happy to help in any way for everyone to have a good ride.
 
2 groups could be a good thing, maybe have a lunch stop planned together. Either way I really want to run the posted route. I have no GPS so will need to tag along.
 
A bit over 2 weeks. Can't wait.

Kevin.... do we need to reserve a camping spot and if so have you done so already? I seem to remember they are first come first serve...but just thought I'd ask.



I will be there Friday morning, arrowhead is a $12 for up to 4 per site. Glen wood is $7 per site.

I will be at arrowhead, it is first come first served, no reservations.

4e6093296283c80397eb7c28de37562a.jpg
 
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Anyone staying at Arrowhead, bring your swim trunks, it's right on a beautiful river, very nice wading. Just be careful it has a good flow!! Also, please, if your bike is loud be respectful of other campers!
 
I was playing around with Google Earth and came up with this for a possible Friday or Sunday ride. 57 miles.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28342413

I'm going to modify the route Jarrett posted for me earlier (Saturday route) to lessen the highway and the beginning and end. The first part between Caddo Gap and Norman will be the same as the above route.
 
Anyone staying at Arrowhead, bring your swim trunks, it's right on a beautiful river, very nice wading. Just be careful it has a good flow!! Also, please, if your bike is loud be respectful of other campers!
Do they do day passes? Could the motelers show up for a swim?
 
Good question, this campground is basically a kayak, canoe launch point, they rent them. Whole reason for it being there. That being said, since some of us are staying there you'd probably just blend in. It's not really a swimming hole, depending on rain. But some of it is strong current. But there was nice 3 foot clam water last time.
 
I was playing around with Google Earth and came up with this for a possible Friday or Sunday ride. 57 miles.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28342413

I'm going to modify the route Jarrett posted for me earlier (Saturday route) to lessen the highway and the beginning and end. The first part between Caddo Gap and Norman will be the same as the above route.

Thanks...looks like a nice option.

I'm still trying to figure out when I'll get there on Friday. Trying to figure out how to get there around 2 without taking a day off....not sure it's going to work. :)
 
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