Arkansas - August 2008 Ozark National Forest - Buffalo River Valley Areas

[Black Eye]

So it went down like this. I made a last minute decision to run out the door and head to Arkansas for some weekend riding. Greg-O obliged my contact and was able to score a few days off. So I loaded my bike up Wednesday night, and picked up Greg the following morning at 4:30am! A quick 5 hour drive with a stop at Micky D’s for breakfast and we were in Arkansas around 10am.

Here is a map of the area, the blue marker highlights all the roads ridden. We covered 620miles of northern Arkansas on motorcycle. Enjoyed a variety excellent food locations, incredible scenery opportunities as we explored up/down the various mountain valley and peaks. We got opportunity to visit a relocated DFWSBR member, explored two hiking trails with cave exploration, waterfalls, rock formations and saw an abundance of wildlife; deer, cows, horses, buffalo, armadillo, possums, wild dogs, turtles, bats, spiders, snakes and probably a few others im forgetting.



We first visited Lost Valley State Park. We hiked the Lost Valley Trail, a 1.5 mile hike into the mountain forested area with a few caves waiting at the end of the trail. There is said to be a 35 foot waterfall in the middle of the cave. The only catch is you have to go 200feet into the cave. We made it about 50 feet into the cave as we found the cave walls narrowing, the ceiling dropping, soon to be crawling on hands/knees. With 150feet or so left of what would be crawling through the wet/cool cave we decided against only to save for another trip when we are better prepared for the conditions / appropriate attire. Here are several pictures of the Lost Valley area.




























We departed the Lost Valley area heading out on 74. I had never ridden 74 and heard good things about the road. It did not disappoint, roller coaster of a ride to say the least….simply fantastic. We pulled into Jasper for a fuel stop and lunch. We wanted to eat at the Ozark Café, but they had closed about 15-20 minutes before we arrived. Kinda weird we thought since it was mid afternoon, so we continued leaving town going to Cliffs Inn Restaurant…also found to have just closed. We headed back to Jasper and found the Pizza Pro which satisfied nicely. Very impressed with the Jasper area, can’t go wrong picking a direction to leave the town. Scenic 7 north – south offer up some great riding and we had come in on 74 west so we continued taking 74 to the east toward Mt. Judeau…..amazing!!! Here are a few pictures.
































We continued on 74 east heading over to 123 Mt. Judeau and then headed south. Here are a few road and scenic pictures from that area. 123 was amazing as always, full of different variations of riding curves up and down the peaks and valleys. 123 to the south back to Clarksville would conclude day 1 of riding covering some 150ish miles with various stops.


























Day 2 arrived and we set out to visit Josh in Mt. Home who had recently moved to northern Arkansas. We left the hotel at 7:30am set out to go hike Kings Bluff / Pedestal Rock areas. The forecast had called for scattered showers but there was nothing at present showing in the sky. We arrived at the trail head and set out on Kings Bluff, said to have a waterfall. We found the waterfall, only no much water falling at this time.














We continued on after our hiking expedition and headed for Push Mountain. This was also a road I had heard rave reviews about yet had never ridden. This had to be the best 20+/- miles of road ridden. The road offered up 20 miles of continuous curve after curve. I can see why so many would run the road only to turn around and run it back the other direction. The road continued out toward Mt. Home crossing the White River before ending. The area offered up several spectacular views only to envy those people that get to live in the homes on the river in this great area.










We continued on headed to Mt. Home where we were to meet up with Josh and family at his Restaurant “The Blu Pig”. We stopped by Lake Norfolk for some photo ops and then continued on to the restaurant. We pulled into the restaurant with Greg locating the only hole in the parking lot….lol. The Blu Pig was hands down the best barbecue I have tasted. The restaurant was top notch, and we got to spend a little over an hour visiting with Josh and family.


















We left the restaurant very satisfied and headed east on 62 headed back over to Scenic 7. The north part of Scenic 7 going back into Jasper. We continued south with the clouds starting to take a darker shade. We were about to find the scattered showers the weather channel had called for. Luckily we had just missed any showers that had fallen, but were left riding on wet roads to get back with a slight fog/mist still looming in the air. We stopped at the Scenic 7 overlook for some photos. We closed this day logging 350 miles with various stops.













We awoke on our last day, deciding to take a quick jaunt before having to check out of the hotel. We elected to explore some new roads that are less traveled. There was a nice fog in the air which made for some beautiful morning riding. We set out on 103 going north west out of Clarksville connecting to 215 going west over to 23 – pigtrail. Hwy 103 was fantastic once we got into the mountain area. It was several miles in before we hit the good stuff, but I feel this road was worth it and should not go unnoticed. 215 to the west was a good road also, with a tad bit of construction building a new bridge and repaving a section of the road – only minor issues. We tagged another 120ish miles that morning before departing and arriving back in Dallas at 4pm. Excellent trip, thanks for the company Greg. Josh thanks for the time at your place, it was our pleasure to visit and we will be back.

[FishWitch]

Both your Arkansas reports are great! It really looks like you all have some gorgeous country out that way and some fun roads.

I think Arkansas is one of those states you don't hear alot about and tend to forget it is there. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Sbyllek]

nicely done.

[ronnath]

nice report and nice pix.


this particular shot reminded me of my one and only visit to the grand canyon. we got into the park, left the car. and walked to a viewing area by the rim only to be confronted with a bowl full of fog.




to this day i like to say that i'm one of the only persons to visit the grand canyon and cannot absolutely verify that there's a hole there.

[Ally House]

Luke,
Nice report. Like Fishy said, you don't hear much about Arkansas. Looks like some cool riding country!!

Ally

[Halftrack58]

I've been on some of those roads and pictures don't do it justice. You have to be there to appreciate it. There are so many "twisties", that it is "scary". Nice pics and report.

[jblank]

Awesome report and great pics. Reminds of a similar trip I took there in '07. What stood out for me on the trip was the pavement on most of the roads. They mix sea shells or something in the pavement and it makes it super sticky, but it tore up my tires. I ended up buying new tires at a Yamaha dealer in Mountain Home on a Saturday afternoon (after closing).

[stephenwc]

Fantastic report Luke, well done



Two questions though:

1. How have you managed to post a thread with more than 5 pictures?

2. Are you completely, stark ravingly, off your rocker, barking mad to sit THAT close to perpetual doom?



It scared the willies out of me just to look at it. Please do NOT tell me where the photographer was standing,
I don't think I could take it.



Stephen

[Romey]

Awesome report with great pictures. Hopefully I will get to travel to Arkansas in the spring for some riding.

Romey