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I'm wanting to go south. What I have in mind is leaving early Saturday am, heading to Bradleyville as direct as I can. I'm on the fence about trailering a small bike, or riding the GS all the way.

7 to 13 to CC to 125, ect.

Spend the afternoon in a loop of some sort through the Mark Twain Forest, including the Glade Top Trail.

Overnight someplace cheap and nearby. Sunday morning wander around Christian and Stone county back roads then ride back north after lunch. Link up some smaller black top and gravel for the return trip.

Here are some tracks I've plotted.

http://dualsportmaps.com/?link=104369

Any interest? I've posted on advrider in the swmo thread as well.

Sounds great! I won't be able to join you BUT, I offer a few tips anyway. Glean what you can from the ride I led down there last June.
http://www.rideforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1269

Also, report back any juicy Glade Top detail here:
http://www.rideforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1170

I'd definitely vote on riding the big bike all the way, but am told there are some good dirt bike trails to play on that splinter off the Glade Top Trail (road).

The actual "Glade Top Trail" was a big let down for me. It's a forest road super-highway of wide, groomed, gravel that runs mostly on the ridge and offers a couple of nice vantage points. The more interesting roads are always in the valleys. I suggest you look for the forest roads that follow the blue lines (creeks). I think you'll have a more interesting and enjoyable ride if you do.

If you decide to haul the little bike, Alissa and I are in. I had to bail on Nick and his Americade ride at the last minute due to work crap, so we are up in the air as far as plans this weekend. (And next weekend as well.)

If we go, we'll take the camper and find a spot somewhere down there in the forest to use as a base camp. You are welcome to use our extra bed if you want.

If you decide to do the big bike, no big deal- we can find something else to do. One of these days I need to get a big, dirt-worthy bike, but now I'd have to get two since Alissa wants her own bike for everything!

My wife and I just got back from some riding on the forest roads off the glade top. Like Troy said, the actual glade top road isn't anything but there are many miles of 4WD type roads off the glade top road. Nothing very difficult but some nice, relaxing roads that occasionally have some moderately difficult sections.

The problem with this area is the lack of facilities like gas, water, food, lodging etc. My wife doesn't camp so we stay in Branson which is a good 50 minute drive. I'm not sure of the nearest gas but I'm thinking a good half hour....sometimes there is gas available in Bradleyville but it is unreliable and still a half hour.

Having said this, it is very tempting to join you guys...unfortunately, I've got some family commitments that I would pay too much of a price for missing!

Hey Kendall, I'm gonna ride the big bike. I was watching the adventure summit video and thought wow, I have one of those. Then I made the mistake of watching one of those BMW commercials where they effortlessly ride a 500lb bike off into the sahara. Those guys are really good at marketing. I'm actually looking forward to the trip down and return, planning to avoid some/most of the usual highway route.

All that said, why don't you guys meet me down there? You could setup camp at Chadwick, ride knarly small bike stuff, then meet me for some back roads riding. I should be there by lunch, we could meet at Kays.

Hi Allkidd, I've got a large fuel range on the GS and likely will center some loops to connect up with fuel. I'll probably stay at Forsyth or some place down near bull shoals, I'm not too picky.

No problem, Chris. Have fun on your trip on the beemer. I'd definitely take you up on your offer if we were set up to do Chadwick, but I'm not really comfortable cutting Alissa loose there on her KLX. If she had a bike more suited to it, we'd be there for sure.

We'll probably do some mountain biking a little closer to home this weekend since that's what we were thinking before your Glade Top idea came up.

You'll have to fill us in on your ride at the TARKC meeting on Tuesday- we plan on being there.

This turned out to be a lot of fun for something really not planned out in much detail.

Started out Friday afternoon with a fuel leak that, by the time I drove to Platte City and back for parts, set me back an hour. Once sorted I was on my way, late, arriving in Bolivar at about sundown. I checked into the Super 8, then went to buy fuel when I noticed another fuel leak!

First thing the next morning I'm off to the nearest Oriellys for some repairs.



Then breakfast at Brendas, "the best breakfast in town" says the parts guys. It was pretty good.

So with another late start I'm taking a pretty direct route to Sparta. From there I rode a back route to 125, then took that all the way to the Glade Top trail entrance near Hercules Glade. BTW, the portion of 125 north of Bradleyville has a new layer of asphalt!

The trail itself was a pretty easy ride.





I took a side trail that you can read about in this post. It also has a link to my tracks for the Glade Top.

http://www.rideforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1170

I rode another interesting gravel road between H highway and 125 that ends at Garrison. There are several roads back in that area that I'd like to spend more time riding.

Ended up in Rockaway Beach for the night. Pizza at the Pizza Celler and to bed early. The next morning I found some pretty ugly clouds.



After breakfast guess what, yep, another fuel leak. What happened was last week I broke one of the fuel disconnects and decided to replace the fuel lines with the new connectors. You can't use polyurethane lines on an old GS as the fuel pressure is much higher than say a mid nineties carbureted ducati. Anyway I had bought some of the correct line Saturday just in case. Changed 'em out in the rain and was on my way.

I decided to ride back by way of Hurley, MO. Here is a photo of SpringCreek where an old water powered mill stood until it burned a few years ago.



The road north out of town..



The rest of the trip home was about making time. Not many unpaved roads in Greene county, but once north I managed to find a few. After a tenderloin sandwich at Smith's in Collins I found the most amazingly orange creek gravel road on the way to Osceola. About the same time the rain started so I didn't get any photos.

At that point it was just a haul back to Weston on the big roads.

In case anyone is interested, here is an old photo of the mill.



Used to be not very friendly looking snakes that lived in the rocks down by the water.

A friendly looking snake


Thanks for the details and photos, Chris!

Great report Chris much thanks. I was on my way to Weston Bend Friday night and thought I passed you on 273.

ozarksrider wrote:In case anyone is interested, here is an old photo of the mill.

Used to be not very friendly looking snakes that lived in the rocks down by the water.

Cool Stuff! Thanks for the pics, detailed report and tracks!

My buddy Marty showed me the location of Eagle Ranch near Collins. He told me they turn it over to dirtbiking in the winter and horse folks have it during the summer.
I saw no mention of OHV on their website, just horses and hiking. Wondering if you had any first hand info?

"....Eagle Ranch near Collins...."

Sorry Katbeanz, but the first time I'd heard of it was at the TARKC meeting last Tuesday. I think Kendall was talking about it.