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K-Trail and Wolf Pen Gap

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Simmons1

Simmons1

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First Name
Rich
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Simmons
K-Trail and Wolf Pen Gap Weekend Ride

After work on Thursday I picked up Scott and we headed up to Clayton, Oklahoma with our WR250R’s on the Trailer. We arrived in Clayton at around 8:30pm and the sidewalks were already rolled up. Luckily for us the diner was still open.

Day 1 Clayton to Mena on the K-Trail

We woke up early and were greeted by some pretty chilly air. Since we weren’t in any great hurry we took our time getting the bikes unloaded, and having breakfast across the street from the Hotel.

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By 9:30 the sun was out and the temperature was up to a balmy 34 degrees so we headed to the K-Trail.

http://inlinethumb64.webshots.com/6847/2007311280058042965S600x600Q85.jpg

The ride from Clayton to Mena is roughly 90 miles total with most technical portions of the ride occurring in the first 15 or 20 miles of dirt. Our little WR’s are perfect for this.

http://inlinethumb20.webshots.com/47315/2578206390058042965S600x600Q85.jpg

Stopped on an easy section shedding some gear. Pictures don’t really show the terrain very well.

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At quick break for a drink at the “Bus”. We are still going up at this point of the ride.

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Back on the trail on top of the ridge.

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At the old Fire Tire on the K-Trail. Last we rode through here the wind was so stiff that none of us were comfortable with climbing up the old tower. Part of which is because of the two guide cables that are no longer attached to the ground. Today would be a little different.

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View from the tower.

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View from inside the tower. I made sure I stayed standing on the metal supports to the old floor.

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We were soon off to our next stop at the “3 Sticks” Monument.

http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/58541/places/59018/


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We crossed Route 259 here for the home stretch of our dirt for the day. Last time we took this ride this section was hard packed fast and really fun. This ride the road had been graded the day we rode it making it very interesting to ride. The grading made the surface look smooth. In reality is was very rough and loose. Scott and both lost the front end numerous times in the loose dirt in the corners. The grading also covered up the big rocks. We would be riding along in a straight line and all of sudden get thrown off course by an immovable rock hidden by the freshly graded dirt.

After a few miles of this we were stopped by an old dead tree crossing the road. A guy in a Suzuki SUV was determined to get through and was breaking off the limbs one at time using his Suzuki and strap.

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After watching for a few minutes we jumped on the bikes rode around the stump headed for Mena. We checked in to the Ozark Inn, serviced the bikes, and then headed to the Branding Iron for a big juicy Steak for dinner.

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We finished a great day of riding with 95 miles.

Days 2 and 3 coming soon
 
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Day 2 Wolf Pen Gap

The plan was to meet some other TWT’ers at Wolf Pen Gap Cabin where they were staying for the weekend. Scott and I got up and hit the road early to make sure we wouldn’t be late. It was a bit cool out again this morning.

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We stopped at Grumpy’s for breakfast on the way out of town to make sure we wouldn’t get grumpy out on the trail from being hungry.

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After a dark cool ride out in the country we arrived at Wolf Pen Gap Cabin to meet everyone. It was a small but enthusiastic group.

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We would soon be on our way with Attoire leading us on a tour of the Wolf Pen Gap area. Our first stop would be at an overlook. Where we put some air in Attoires’ rear tire and discovered that DaJudge had lost a bag strapped to the back of his bike.

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We then headed for an out and back ride on “512” which was great fun. Attoire tried to wheelie over a big puddle and his hand came off the left grip launching him of the trail and into a tree. Since he was fearless leader for the day I was hoping this was not a bad omen for the day.

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We were soon back on our way. 512 was a great ride through the woods with lots of rocks and water crossings. I felt bad for Erica riding a TTR125, as some of the water crossings were almost as deep as the seat on her bike.

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Our next tourist stop would be another Fire Tower. This fire tower is not very tall but the views from it were great.

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I had noticed that somewhere on 512 Scott’s headlight went out. Looks like we now know why.

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Next we were headed to Blue Hole. The next photo shows some of the damage caused by the flash flood that swept away many campers in the Albert Pike area.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Media/camp...lood-albert-pike-campground/story?id=10889327

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What’s left of the Park. There were recently installed “Flash Flood Area” warning signs every where we went.

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At Blue Hole. When I was here in the Spring it was overcast. On a sunny day the colors are much nicer.

From the bottom.

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From the top.

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Scott on the way back down.

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We were running late and missed lunch so we headed for snack on some fun twisty blacktop.

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The shelves in the store were almost empty. Tomorrow would be the last day they would be open for the season. The owner told us they had a terrible year business wise after the flash floods hit.

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Last stop before getting back to the Cabin is the Little Missouri Falls.

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From we here we headed back to the Cabin. It was around 3pm the rest of the group was talking about making another short loop. Scott and I headed back to Mena to get a head light bulb and some clear tape to patch his headlight up.

The finished product:

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We headed back to the motel serviced the bikes, cleaned up and went out for Mexican at Papa’s and called it an early night.

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We rode roughly 120 miles for the day.

Day 3 coming soon.
 
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Man... that banner gets around! :lol2: :thumb:
 
Day 3 Mena to Clayton

After two great days of dirt it was time for a great day of blacktop. We got up bright and early and we were pleasantly greeted by a much warmer morning.

Before hitting the road we fueled up at the World Famous Skyline Café.

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We left early enough that the cruiser crowd was still sleeping and with the exception of a couple cars, a couple bikes, and a couple deer we had Talimena to our selves.

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The K-Trail off in the distance on the next ridge.

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We had a blast tossing the little WR's back and forth in the tight corners with out having to slow down for any slow moving traffic. Soon enough we were at the West end of the pass.

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We wound up having an absolute fantastic weekend. The more I ride the WR the more I like it. It was the perfect bike for a ride like this.

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Great pics Rich and a very enjoyable trip. I'll be happy to ride with you guys anytime.

Next run up there may be the Fri-Sat after Thanksgiving if I can get my son and brother-in-law to commit.

How did y'all like the Ozark Inn? I'm considering it for an overnight trip since the cabin (which was very nice) is a minimum 2 nights on weekends.

Which GPS is that and how do you like it?
 
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DaJudge said:
Great pics Rich and a very enjoyable trip. I'll be happy to ride with you guys anytime.

Next run up there may be the Fri-Sat after Thanksgiving if I can get my son and brother-in-law to commit.

How did y'all like the Ozark Inn? I'm considering it for an overnight trip since the cabin (which was very nice) is a minimum 2 nights on weekends.

Which GPS is that and how do you like it?
Click to expand...

Ozark Inn was ok for us. We stayed there because everything else closer to downtown was full. No complaints.

I have been using a Garmin 60 series GPS for many years. The 60CSX is the dual sporters GPS of choice.
 
I missed this the first time 'round, great report. I really enjoyed my first time up there earlier this year... we were home literally two or three days before the flood hit :( Did you guys try trail #8 in WPG on the WRs? You'd love it. We also did #3, looks like they had just built it or something. I really liked the K-Trail as well, nothing like going for miles and miles on dirt...

Personally I think we should nuke the Dualsport "After the Ride" section and put all ride reports in one place so everybody else realizes what they're missing :) and you get more views for your work on the RR ;-)
 
Simmons1 said:
Ozark Inn was ok for us. We stayed there because everything else closer to downtown was full. No complaints.
Click to expand...

We are looking for info on cheap hotels in the area. (for d/s riding weekend Oct 13-15 2011). Prefer in/or around Mena but Clayton ok too.
Just wanting cheap beds nuttin fancy - :trust:

Any more info on it welcomed from all. Email link profile or post here.

Thanks in advance.
 
We normally trailer to Clayton after work one night and stay at A&A Hotel. K-trial to Mena, spend a night or two in Mena and then back to Clayton.

We usually try to stay at Limetree Inn in Mena if it has rooms.

Have fun. I would be going with you if I wasn't leaving for a Shadow of the Rockies ride on my KLR on the 15th.
 
EnduroRdr said:
We are looking for info on cheap hotels in the area. (for d/s riding weekend Oct 13-15 2011). Prefer in/or around Mena but Clayton ok too.
Just wanting cheap beds nuttin fancy - :trust:

Any more info on it welcomed from all. Email link profile or post here.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

We really enjoyed this place... Very close to WPG.
Www.redridercabin.com
 
Rich, any chance you still have the images for this report? All the links are dead :-(
 
Tourmeister said:
Rich, any chance you still have the images for this report? All the links are dead :-(
Click to expand...
The photo sharing company I used back then went belly up years ago. I'll look for the photos and if I have , and load them to my current provider and post a link here.
 
You can bulk upload them into one post as attachments. That way they will get pulled into the header image rotation. Or, you can just upload the ones you like instead of all of them. You can either edit the existing posts or just do it in a new post in this thread.
 
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