TARKC Fall 2013 Adventure Ride
October 11 - 13, Fri - Sun
NW Arkansas
NOT big bike friendly, but you are welcome to try!
DOWNLOAD 3 day route plan in GPX format
WHEN & WHERE TO MEET
KICKSTANDS UP at 9:30 AM
The ride will start at the Fort Rock Family Camp which is about 35 minutes past Fayetteville. Click here to see a GMap. The entrance to the Fort will be on your right (W side). I suggest you use GMap Street View to see what the entrance looks like so you recognize it when you get there.
If you've never seen the fort, it's pretty amazing. Mr. Terry Forsythe and his family built it themselves as a Christian family camp ministry. They offer a shooting range, archery, horseback riding, dining, and lodging. You can read about them and watch videos on the Fort Rock website.
Terry has graciously agreed to let us park our trucks & trailers at the fort during our 3 day adventure. In return, we will make a donation to the family camp. I suggest $10/head for the 3 day parking privilege. So have an extra $10 to $20 cash in your pocket Fri morning. Terry has a strict NO ALCOHOL policy on his property. If you have it, please just keep it closed in your cooler until after you leave the fort.
ZIPLINE!
Terry advertises the longest zipline in Arkansas! (I think there is a longer one now.) It is a blast! Terry is willing to give us zipline rides Fri morning before kickstands up. If you want to ride the zipline, YOU MUST let me know and be ready to ride the line by 9:00 AM. Cost is $15 per person and additional rides are only $5. What better way to kick off a 3 day dirt bike dualsport than screaming 60 MPH down a zipline?!
THE RIDE
You might ask, why not start in Fayetteville? Let me tell you why! From the Fort, we'll not touch more than about 1/2 mile of road for about 30 miles! That's right! Terry has an old ATV trail out the back of his property that runs right into the Mill Creek ATV system. We'll cut through that system then hit a lot of old ATV trails through the forest as we make our way S towards Clarksville. The entire day has about 17 miles of pavement with most of that the last 13 miles into Clarksville.
SAT route takes us South to play in the great Huckleberry Horse/ATV trail system around Mt Magazine.
SUN route takes us back to the Fort and starts out with a 20 mile highway run up 103---FANTASTIC twisties! From Oark, we hit the trails and old roads as we make our way back NW.
MOTEL
Both FRI & SAT night are at the Best Western in Clarksville. Using the same hotel both nights allows us to not carry all our stuff on the bike during Saturday's ride. There is a good restaurant next door to the motel.
The Best Western's double rooms were almost booked so Randy went ahead and reserved 6 double rooms for Oct. 11 and 12 under TAR. They will hold them until Oct 7 so you need to call and have them switch a room into your name. After some tough negotiations, we got the rate down to $58.65. ($10 cheaper than the Harley rate) If you desire a single room, you can still call and get the TAR rate.
Best Western of Clarksville 1-479-754-7900
MISC
Start firming up the carpooling plans! Let's coordinate tools, tubes, air compressors, etc. so not everyone needs to carry 50 lbs of crap!
As for lunch on the trail....there are never any guarantees. The FRI route takes us to Turners Bend store where we can fuel up and get sandwiches. However, my guess is that we will be getting there for a really late lunch...so pack snacks to get you by. The SAT route is not fleshed out yet, but it can take us to a nice gas/food stop near Mt. Magazine. The SUN route takes us right to Oark, and I was thinking to run up the 20 miles first thing in the morning to eat breakfast there. Sunday's route is relatively short so we could eat a later breakfast/brunch then run trails back to the fort. If we get back too early and you want more trails, the great news is that you can go play in the Mill Creek system as long as you want and be relatively close to the fort the whole time.
As of right now, weather forecast looks perfect!
The "IN" list
I know there are others who have indicated a potential interest so add your name to the list....open to everybody. We've had a great time on the two previous TAR rides with many stories and experiences to share!
- Randy (allkidd)
- James (jasbaum)
- Mike (HanesAnizer)
- Ryan (rycomm)
- Steve (bonanzasteve)
- Steve (Bronco)
- Bo (bohawk on AdvRider)
- Troy (troy)
- Sean (MoRidin)
- Robert (motomann)
- Todd (Rusty Jug) (Fri only)