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Singletrack, K Trail, and some sweet pavement! Mena, AR June 3-5'th.

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Minus the 3'rd day, and minus the singletrack.

Still a great ride, great people, a bit warm but otherwise nice weather.

Awards for this ride-

AustinJake for sweetest bike, and being the first to bleed. (TE450)

FJRRider for essentially riding K Trail twice. (Back 'n forth, back 'n forth)

RG for not dropping his KLR once. Him and Multisurface need to have a shootout for the best KLR rider on the forum.

Post your pics people!
 
Had a great time riding with you guys and especially after not hitting the trails for so long. Thanks
 
I'm pretty sure I get the award for dumbest idea: bringing street tires to a knobby party.

Saturday was a really long day as I left my house in Rowlett at 6am and got to Clayton right before 10am. Since I rode up I opted for a street dual-sport tire with the Kenda 761. This would be a very unfortunate mistake as I soon found out after hitting the climb up the K-Trail. The most technical part of this trail is the first few miles. This is also when your bike is heaviest with topped off tanks. Combine this with the lack of knobbies and 90+ temps and it made for a very grueling first few miles. I wasn't feeling all that good but an unfortunate puncture for Rydah was good timing for me so I could sit and rest for a bit. After that the ride got much better as the speed picked up and so it didn't seam nearly as hot. We hit several mud holes that were the entire width of the trail and in one I hit a deep spot and the bike stalled. Fortunately after letting it sit for a few minutes it started back up. Then we got to the fire tower, which is when I pulled out my phone camera for the first time and got a few pics.

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After the tower we went a pretty good clip and unfortunately we had or only injury with AustinJake falling and hurting his knee. No real bike damage however and he was a trooper and carried on. Once we Mena we went our separate ways for a couple hours and met back at the Branding Iron for dinner. I was offered a stay at the Boxercup Dave's river compound and was extremely glad I didn't have to camp in the sweltering heat.

In the morning we met up at McDonalds at 8am took off to the Ouachita National Forest. Our fearless (and fast) leader AttoirRE took us down what I think is the best dual sport road I've ever been on (254 I think). We crossed a stream what must have been 20 times and it was simply dual sport nirvana. We then went by Albert Pike park where the flooding last year killed the 20+ people and then we visited the famed Blue Hole (Shady Lake).

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We then went to Langley to fill up and eat lunch. We decided to change the plans and head back towards Mena instead of doing the previously planned Ironman ride. It was probably lucky we did as it started to thunder and lightning by the time we got to this tower.

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Rob and I decided call it a day and headed back to Mena while the others wanted to do some of the trails at Wolf Pen Gap. Once we got back to camp the weather took a turn for the worse and just as we started to head home the rain came down hard. Sorry I didn’t take more pictures but I saw others with better cameras and left the picture taking to them.
 
I don't think they had bad pizza, I was just an idiot for deciding half a pizza, a coke, AND a yoohoo was fit for a lunch on a 95 degree day before riding trails.
 
:clap: Great ride!! Big thanks to Joseph for organizing it, and thanks to the great group of fellers that showed up to make it so much fun.

I had the pleasure of camping with RG at the Iron Mountain campground, and he was already there when I arrived Friday evening. The place was pretty much all ours, except for the families showing up for a kids dance recital they were having that night. The campground is owned and maintained by the Christian Motorcycling Association, and we were warmly welcomed by one of the members and his daughter (John and Alley, if I remember correctly):

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This campground is by far the best I've ever stayed at, and have the best bathrooms for sure:

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After a very fine dinner at the Mena Cafe, RG and I turned in for the night, as the gentle hum of down-shifting eighteen wheelers lulled us to sleep.

Joseph joined us in the morning, and we joined the rest of the gang for breakfast at the Skyline Cafe:

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Then, ride leader extaordinaire, Joseph, led us off to a beautiful ride along the very scenic Talimena highway on our way to Clayton:

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We stopped a couple times for some scenic pics, but pictures just can't capture the majesty of looking over expansive forests of trees from a mountain top. Here's the gang at one of these stops; ever seen a more fearsome group of bikers?:

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We got to Clayton at a good time, and were joined by the last member of the group for that day, David. Little did we know at the time that picking up a David each day was going to be the trend for the weekend :rofl:
A short pavement jaunt got us to the start of our dirt ride, and man, it was on!! The first part of the ride, going west to east, is the hardest, so sorry for the lack of pics. I was doing all I could to stay upright and moving forward at the time. With only a couple of delays at some really bad spots, and a flat rear tire (mine) we made pretty good time along the route:

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The ol' bus, one of the "famous" landmarks along the Kiamichi Trail:

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After several grueling miles of rocks, piled on rocks, strewn on a road made of rocks, we came to another of the famous K-trail landmarks, the lookout tower:

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Views from the tower:

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Beyond the tower, the road improved somewhat, then eventually got pretty mild, so we finished out the first day in good time, and ended up back in Mena around 4ish. We all met up for diner that night at the Branding Iron BBQ, and had us a mighty fine dinner indeed. It was here that we were joined by our other Dave, who would ride with us on Sunday. We broke up that night, and I slept pretty soundly feeling very satisfied (and plumb wore out) after an amazing first day of riding.
 
I don't think they had bad pizza, I was just an idiot for deciding half a pizza, a coke, AND a yoohoo was fit for a lunch on a 95 degree day before riding trails.

Hey, don't EVER speak badly of Yoo-Hoo; it is one of the greatest inventions of our western civilization. :angryfire
 
Thanks for posting the pics and ride report. That area is in my to-do list. Wish I lived closer .
Hope your knee gets better. Those things take time.
V.

Hey, don't EVER speak badly of Yoo-Hoo; it is one of the greatest inventions of our western civilization. :angryfire
 
Dang Jake that knee looks bad. I'm no Gynecologist but its possible you did some minor damage in there!

Good job in ridin it out anyway, not sure that ace bandage helped out much.

Great ride guys...I gave Joseph a ride home Sunday and he was already planning the next ride...he wants to do a ride where no one can make it.....hes sick!

Looking forward to the next K-trail ride hopefully this fall!

Scott
 
Like the shots of the Yoohoo, pizza and out house. Glad I stuck with an enery bar. In the Southeast you're supposed to have a Moonpie with Yoohoo so maybe that's what went wrong.

Jake if your looking for low end grunt and tops out at 55mph isn't that a moped?
 
I guess most riders have a bucket list of places they'd like to track up with knobbies before they keel over. Very high on mine were the K-trail, Wolf Pen Gap and the blue hole in Arkansas. What could possibly be better than riding all three in one trip? :huh:

Doing it while trying to keep up with friends who can ride the wheels off motorcycles! :suicide:

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AttoirRE put this ride together and led our way through some of the most spectacular dualsport riding anyone could imagine. :bow: Starting down the Talimena Skyway toward Clayton and the west end of the Kiamichi Trail.

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If you have to ride pavement...a feller could surely do worse. :pirate:

We made it into Clayton Oklahoma for fuel and to meet up with TypeSH on his beautiful yeller Zuke. This little lady was out front helping her puppies adopt new families.

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Running the trail from this direction brings the gnarliest part right up front for all to enjoy. :eek2: The K-trail is made of angular rocks. The small ones are fist sized and guaranteed to move every time a bike tire comes close. Others are big angular blocks that don't move at all. They've had lots of rain lately and ruts are washed out just about anywhere the trail goes up or down hill...that's pretty much everywhere.

This nasty little up-hill stretch grabbed the yeller Zuke. :nana: It offers loose rocks with a massive boulder array right in the middle and deep ruts adding to the fun. As usual, pointing the camera down hill makes it look flat...which it assuredly is not.

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Of course, somebody is supposed to get a flat just to make it an official ride. Rydah was our designated dude for this one. It was bloody well hot right about then and most of us were getting low on liquids. That flat happened on a rare level spot with shade...I highly suspect Divine intervention. It worked.
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Lots of good advice and a camera adhere to standard flat fixing protocol.

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Another official K-trail task is getting a picture of the old bus...

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The stretch from Clayton to the fire tower is an endurance test of man and machine. If bike nor body parts don't fly off here then everyone knows you're hopelessly addicted to sniffing Locktite. :brainsnap

AustinJake and TypeSH come riding in. Compare the size of the trail rocks to that of their helmets.

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We made it to the tower and find FJRrider knocking back a cold one with Bubba the quadmeister who never leaves home without it. :party:

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Rydah coming in off the trail. After the tower the trail gets way easier and eventually starts to resemble an actual road.

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Next morning Rydah and I met AttoirRE at the local cafe for a quick breakfast. Then it's out to hunt up the crew and hit the trails. :rider:

Boxercup Dave and his WR250 joined us for the morning...excellent timing. We took off down one of the coolest twisty paved roads I've ever enjoyed. Then it was down 512...pretty much the ultimate dualsport trail imho. Words just fall short. Thought I had video from start to finish but the camera died...what a time. :tears: I'd have been tickled to just turn right around and run it the other way.

It's that good! :thumb:

We went over to the Pike campground. Beautiful river through what was once a really cool place.

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We wound our way along the river through some spectacular forests toward the blue hole. Postcard beautiful the entire way.

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Four of us went up an exciting bit of trail to the top. FJRrider, Rydah and AttoirRE checking out the view.

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We said goodbye to Boxercup Dave, TypeSH and Rydah since they needed to head toward the house. AustinJake, FJRrider, AttoirRE and I rode over to Wolf Pen for some fun.

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That's pretty much an Arkansas classic for dualsporting in the Ouachita mountains. There is no doubt AttoirRE and FJRrider know every pig trail big enough to squeeze handlebars through in that country and they led us through the best of the best. :-D

:clap:THANKS GUYS! :clap:

Awesome ride!

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Wow real nice pics. Looks like you guys really had the worst of it on Saturday.

Jake I was just messing with you. My machine's not a torque monster
 
Nice RR guys, great pics! (although the first pics from TypeSH didn't load in my browser :ponder:) Sounds like it was hot! Kinda glad I went in April we had 40's at night and low 80's mid day. But even in the heat it is worth the trip!

Warning - you gotta watch out for AttoirRE, I think he gets a kick out of testing the group by putting them on the rough stuff early in a ride. Kinda like establishing the pecking order on the row when racing! :rofl: Must be the HareScrambles mind set :trust:

Joseph, looking forward to you planning another one soon - hopefully my schedule will be open for that one! (right now I'm facing several summer turnarounds so any long trips for me are kinda hit/miss on my schedule)
 
Sorry for the delay; life get's in the way sometimes. So day one ended with us all meeting up for dinner, and after a very fine meal, we all split up for a good nights sleep. For RG, Joseph and I however, the fun wasn't over yet. We got back to camp, and RG broke out his Dutch oven and began to make us one of his now world famous deserts, apple cobbler!

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I sat fascinated watching this procedure, as I've never seen a Dutch oven in use before. Pretty neat contraption that uses hot embers below and above to cook with.

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Sorry there are no pictures of the actual desert, but the three of us (ok, mostly me) it was gone in no time. Needless to say, it was reeeaaaaaallly good!! :eat:

The gang had decided to meet at McDonald's for breakfast, but RG had a craving for the Skyline Cafe again, so this is what we did. Just sat down and ordered, when I heard a familiar voice coming from a table nearby. Turns out it was one of the guys from my Clear Lake bike night group! Weird running into people you know when so far out on the road, but he was up there doing some street riding with a buddy on a pair of FJRs. Small world. Boxercup Dave joined us for the second day ride, so that brought our number to lucky seven:

Dave and his sweet WR250R:
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I won't bore you guys with narration of the second day, as it's already been covered. This type of riding was much more to my liking though, and we covered some fantastic twisty pavement, and very awesome dirt!! :rider:

Jake tearing up the trails:
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Quick "cool down" stop along the way:
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Lots of water crossings :thumb:
RG:
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Jake:
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Dave:
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We made the obligatory stop at one of my favorite scenic spots, Blue Hole. Looks great from the bottom, challenging ride to the top, and fantastic view when you get up there.

From the bottom:
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Joseph having fun trying the "shortcut":
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Scott showing us how it's done:
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View from the top:
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RG, proving that even a KLR can do it (with a very good rider, that is!):
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After this, we continued on to our next destination, the ol' observation tower:
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Jake on the way up to the tower:
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The gang seeking shade:
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I usually take more pics, but this was a pretty fast moving group, and the roads we were on were pretty tough, so pics on the fly were near impossible. Couldn't have asked for a better choice of routes though, nor a better group of guys to ride with. All in all, even with the steamingly hot, still weather, it was a great ride. Thanks again to Joseph for putting this on, and will be looking forward to doing it again for sure.
 
The campground is owned and maintained by the Christian Motorcycling Association, and we were warmly welcomed by one of the members and his daughter (John and Alley, if I remember correctly):

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Not sure if he let on, but that man is John Ogden and he's a motorcycle riding beast. That's the fellow who showed me a good section of K Trail while riding on his BMW1100GS.

I am serious.
 
In that ride report it mentioned a road 254, can you give me general instructions to it? Thanks
 
Thanks, show my ignorance, that said is it an offroad trail or an actual road? Also, this looks to be in Ok, so from where I'm staying probably won't travel that far anyway.
 
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