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Clayton Trail to K-Trail to Mena, Arkansas Its Hot-- Very Hot

JQ1.0

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So Justin calls and says lets ride the K Trail to Mena again. When? Well in July of course. OK lets go.
Loaded my DR650 in bed pickup pulled trailer to Justin's house in Argyle and spent Friday night. Peter from Crowley arrived a little before 6 am riding his KLR 650 and we loaded his and Justin's KLR in the trailer and off to Hugo Oklahoma where we parked the PU and trailer at Orschein Farm and Home, with prior consent from a manager.

Leaving Hugo on OK 93 to Rattan where we took to dirt on Cloudy Road, to Cloudy Nashoba Trail, to 5 N Trail and back to the tarmac on US 271 into Clayton. Not sure of the distance but in the neighborhood of 65 miles, a little over half of it in the dirt. These roads are maintained somewhat were pretty dusty, but spread out wasn't bad at all. Temps was still very comfortable with some cloud cover. Very nice ride, fast roads just rough enough to keep it interesting. No houses and no traffic allows you to carry a good pace, and we did.

We got to the Clayton Country Store about 11:00 am filled up with gas and a quick bite. Justin and Peter went inside for chicken and a salad. There were a couple ladies out front selling cookies and cakes for a fund raiser for their veteran's memorial. Went in bought a quart of milk, back out got a half dozen homemade chocolate chip and no bake oatmeal cookies and a small donation to the memorial. There was a gentleman there looked to be about 65 or so, asked about where we had come from and where we were going. Told him about the route we were taking across the Clayton Trail and the K-Trail to Mena, and that the next day we were going to try to find the Advrider DS ride from Mena back to Clayton on the logging roads. He was curious about how we navigate through there, as he has been on those roads all his life and still gets turned around sometimes. How prophetic that would turn out to be on Sunday.
 
Well it wasn't getting any cooler so we headed out on 9 Pines Road to intersect the Clayton Trail. As soon you turn on to the trail it is pretty apparent as to what to expect, big rocks and elevation changes, followed by more rocks and elevation changes. Justin and I have been this route twice before so we knew what to expect. Peter did not. He has a friend with a V-Strom who is curious about the trail. While the trip from Hugo to Clayton is very big bike friendly, the Clayton Trail – Ktrail is not. I'm sure there are lots of folks who are capable of it and have been across on big adventure bikes. Justin did it 2 up on his KLR. That doesn't make it big bike friendly.

The first time we made the trip from Hugo to Clayton to Mena my oldest son was with us and it rained on and off the whole ride. There are some sections that get a little sloppy when wet, but for the most it is so rocky that traction is always pretty good. The 2nd time we rode started in Clayton instead of Hugo and it was barely above freezing, but warmed up nicely during the day. My grandson was 2 up with his dad. There are some fairly deep short mud puddles that appear to be there year round, but all have solid rock bottoms. There is one very long mud puddle that has a bypass and I would suggest taking it.

Neither trip was particularly tiring. This trip was different. Any exertion off the bike hit me pretty hard. Could be age I guess, but I think the heat just beat us all up. Didn't really have any problems other than getting high centered once and had to have help to get it off. I also went down once with my left leg under the bike. Took me a bit to get out from under it, but no way was I picking it up by myself. Just found some shade and waited for Justin to come back. Not the first time I've done that. I didn't fall hard, just ran into some saplings and briars, couldn't get my foot off the peg and just kinda fell over. Took both of us to pull it out of the briars.

(so I forgot how to add photos from FB will be back soon)
 
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I’ll be here waiting for those photos.:popcorn:
 
We carried a pretty good pace early, but after a while I had to back off. The heat was intense, my hands and toes began cramping I started making mistakes. I dropped back eased up and the cramps faded some. We stopped at the Indian Hiway crossing for water and Peter replaced some missing bolts with zip ties. A few miles further we stopped and replaced the bolts on the other side with zip ties. Peter went down later on when he lost the front in a small mud slick that was hidden in the shade. He didn't go down hard, no harm no foul. It was extremely dry as it is in a large part of the central and west right now, however the solid rock bottoms in these wallows seem to just hold water for a long time. Some of the puddles can be 20 to 30 yards long and several inches of mud with a foot or so of water on top. Peter found out how stinky that mud can be when he was a little too close behind Justin going thru one of the deeper puddles. I didn't see it but when I pulled up beside them stopped in the trail I nearly fell off the bike laughing. Peter was laughing too but holding his nose at the same time.

We rode on without further incident, stopped at the fire tower, but didn't get off. Stopped at a couple overlooks for water, but didn't stay long. When we got to 3 Sticks Justin saw on the GPS that Big Cedar is just a short way north on Hwy 259 and it might be nice to run up there, have a cold drink and cool off a bit. We were making good time, so we did and we didn't. Turns out Big Cedar is just a wide spot in the road with a sign marker. We were through it without even knowing it. There is supposedly a JFK Memorial there that I would have stopped at had we known it was there. So back to the K-Trail.

Things were going too smooth. No real problems so naturally I can change that. Flat on the front. Don't know exactly where we are but we're still about an hour or so out of Mena, on very narrow 2 track with no shade on a slight downgrade and a blazing sun. The cloud cover we had earlier was long gone. There was shade off to the side if you could fight through the brambles to get to it. I unloaded to get my jack and Justin got his tire tools and started pulling the wheel. Justin pulled the tube and replaced it. I was spent and struggling just to stand up straight without tripping. If I had to fix it I would probably been a couple of hours in that heat. Justin had us back going in about 30 to 40 minutes. I checked the tube and it appears to be a pinch flat. I usually patch right away, but Justin was carrying a new front tube also, so I Just packed it with intent to patch at the motel. My intentions were spot on however my motivation was seriously lacking. It was even too hot to get my camera out to take a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

We pulled into Mena about 6:30 and filled up with gas and got a cold drink. Our only consideration for where to stay was someplace where we could walk to eat. We wound up at Sun Country Inn and walked across the street to La Villa Mexican restaurant for a very good meal. And that s the end of the first day.
 
Both the Clayton Trail and the K-Trail were really overgrown with saplings and limbs sticking out into the 2 track so zig zagging back and forth between the tracks and trying to not get the mirrors knocked off was pretty entertaining. Every time we stopped for water someone would comment that it opens up and gets a little easier just around the next turn, down the next ridge, after that rock garden, just beyond that mud puddle, etc, etc. We still had water left when we reached Mena, but it was close. Sunday we spent the day not finding the Advriders trail.
 
Sunday we spent the day not finding the Advriders trail.

I beg to differ! We found it several times, we just kept having to turn around at the closed gates. And then one time we found it just after going over a 2 foot dirt mound, which ended up being a barrier for the gated in area, and we had to bypass a gate to get OUT of the private area...

It was actually really fun exploring, except we put 50 or so miles on from Watson, and ended up back in Watson...
 
We did ride some really nice paved and dirt roads Sunday. We just couldn't get them all connected in the right direction. One of the nicer dirt / gravel roads had a very nasty left hand curve and Justin wound up wearing a bit of it on the left forearm. Again I failed miserably at being a proper adventure rider when I didn't think to get a picture before helping him pick up his bike. I don't know that I have done that since he was about 10 years old. However I do have a picture of the gravel rash on the elbow. The roads Sunday were extremely dusty and a lot of it was large gravel on hardpack. Not a great combination in the corners. I have no idea where we were I was just following and having a good time. We finally made a decision to scrap the adv ride and tarmac it back to Hugo. Peter split off and rode back to Crowley and we made it back to Hugo. We went into the Orschein Farm and Home store where we parked the pickup got a cold drink and some peanuts. That is a really nice, big store. Then on to Argyle. Justin called this afternoon and we discussed going back and making a 4th trip across the Clayton K-trail, just not in July. It is that good. Saturday we did close to 190 miles and Sunday close to 200 if my guzintas are correct. He might ride his new to him 400 next time.
 
Well it wasn't getting any cooler so we headed out on 9 Pines Road to intersect the Clayton Trail. As soon you turn on to the trail it is pretty apparent as to what to expect, big rocks and elevation changes, followed by more rocks and elevation changes. Justin and I have been this route twice before so we knew what to expect. Peter did not. He has a friend with a V-Strom who is curious about the trail. While the trip from Hugo to Clayton is very big bike friendly, the Clayton Trail – Ktrail is not. I'm sure there are lots of folks who are capable of it and have been across on big adventure bikes. Justin did it 2 up on his KLR. That doesn't make it big bike friendly.

The first time we made the trip from Hugo to Clayton to Mena my oldest son was with us and it rained on and off the whole ride. There are some sections that get a little sloppy when wet, but for the most it is so rocky that traction is always pretty good. The 2nd time we rode started in Clayton instead of Hugo and it was barely above freezing, but warmed up nicely during the day. My grandson was 2 up with his dad. There are some fairly deep short mud puddles that appear to be there year round, but all have solid rock bottoms. There is one very long mud puddle that has a bypass and I would suggest taking it.

Neither trip was particularly tiring. This trip was different. Any exertion off the bike hit me pretty hard. Could be age I guess, but I think the heat just beat us all up. Didn't really have any problems other than getting high centered once and had to have help to get it off. I also went down once with my left leg under the bike. Took me a bit to get out from under it, but no way was I picking it up by myself. Just found some shade and waited for Justin to come back. Not the first time I've done that. I didn't fall hard, just ran into some saplings and briars, couldn't get my foot off the peg and just kinda fell over. Took both of us to pull it out of the briars.

(so I forgot how to add photos from FB will be back soon)

Enjoyed the write up, heck to me on that stuff a KLR is a big bike! lol. Great job.
 
Great report. Thanks!

I learned my lesson much the same way. K trail on June 15. It was so doggone hot. Guy picked up a drywall screw in a rear tire. Hot as the mischief. We ran out of water and things got rough. We made it to the fire tower and were getting pretty shakey. There was a couple of guys on a quad there with a cooler. Thank goodness they had water and could see we were hurtin. Since then, June 1 has been my Arkansas cutoff date. Another one of life's subtle lessons.
 
so when you got stuck/centered, I found myself wondering where the road was supposed to be to and from.

great pics and nice report. I live vicariously as I can't afford to adventure. Thanks for the info about not big bike friendly. I run my Versys on gravel and I know it wouldn't make it on some of what I see in the pics. At least not with me at the controls.
 
so when you got stuck/centered, I found myself wondering where the road was supposed to be to and from.

great pics and nice report. I live vicariously as I can't afford to adventure. Thanks for the info about not big bike friendly. I run my Versys on gravel and I know it wouldn't make it on some of what I see in the pics. At least not with me at the controls.

Looks like a bad spot to be high centered!
 
Thanks guys for the pics and write up. Its always busy on a ride (nav, hydration, food, etc,) and also managing to document it. GREAT JOB as usual. :thumb::thumb::thumb:

See you on the next episode of "Queen Adventures" .
 
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so when you got stuck/centered, I found myself wondering where the road was supposed to be to and from.

The gully on right with the rocks is the track I eventually took. I was trying to side slip the ledge and take a little off camber track to the left. Peter picked up the rear and set it down in the track for me. Then he just wheelied over what I was trying to avoid. Sometimes I just overthink things.
 
The gully on right with the rocks is the track I eventually took. I was trying to side slip the ledge and take a little off camber track to the left. Peter picked up the rear and set it down in the track for me. Then he just wheelied over what I was trying to avoid. Sometimes I just overthink things.

Hey, at least your out there doing it and not sitting on your butt like me and just reading about it! :thumb:
 
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