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Bentonville/Fayetteville trail choices


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Heading up in October with some folks for a few days of riding. I'm planning to go up a day or two early and do some solo rides before they all arrive. Looking to ride something that I have never ridden before. Right now I have Kessler Mountain on the docket and am looking for a second trail that is not something I have ridden before, so NOT one of the following:

  • Slaughter Pens
  • Back 40
  • Blowing Springs
  • Hobbs State Park
  • Coler Mountain
  • Lake Leatherwood
  • Passion Play

Is Little Sugar worth the ride? Any other options?

 

 

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Do you like The Back 40, but wish that it had more climbing? Then you’ll like Little Sugar. The Huntley Gravity Zone is fun too and makes a good starting point.

Heard great things about Mt. Nebo but I’ve not been.

When are you going? I’ll be up there the first weekend in October. 

Edited by Teamsloan
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Went up there with Sluggo and a few others in May.  Tons of rain the day before so had to avoid the clay stuff.  Rode a new Oz trail called Hand Cut Hollow that was more chunky limestone than everything else around.  Some people were freaking on the technical descents but we felt right at home.  Rocks were wet but not slick and we had that place all to ourselves.  Something different. 

Edited by Docscotty
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1 hour ago, Teamsloan said:

Do you like The Back 40, but wish that it had more climbing? Then you’ll like Little Sugar. The Huntley Gravity Zone is fun too and makes a good starting point.

Heard great things about Mt. Nebo but I’ve not been.

When are you going? I’ll be up there the first weekend in October. 

X2 on Huntley if you like Coler. That place is super fun.  Shock and Awe is such a fun trail and it starts with a couple decent table tops that you can warm up on as there’s a return trail right after the second one. 

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Lake Atalanta seems to often get overlooked. I think is a blast. Probably only around 15 miles of trail absolute max but I like to do loops on my favorite stuff and usually end up with 20 miles or so. Nice to have a level lake (where I usually park) to spin around to warm up/cool down too. Also, I get bored before a half a lap of any pump/jump track but I can spend some time at the Railyard. Paved/wood jumps and lines from toddler to expert. The trails don't seem to get as much maintenance (maybe because of the location or it is City of Rogers?) but I think it is well worth a visit. As a bonus Ozark Beer Company is right by the trailhead, I usually pick up a sample twelve pack and enjoy a few on the porch. Good quick ride on the arrival day or in the morning before heading home.

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20 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

Do you like The Back 40, but wish that it had more climbing? Then you’ll like Little Sugar. The Huntley Gravity Zone is fun too and makes a good starting point.

Heard great things about Mt. Nebo but I’ve not been.

When are you going? I’ll be up there the first weekend in October. 

Third week of October.

I know Little Sugar has a lot of climbing, the guys I will be with are not fans of climbing, so that would not be on their list.

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11 hours ago, GFisher said:

Lake Atalanta seems to often get overlooked. I think is a blast. Probably only around 15 miles of trail absolute max but I like to do loops on my favorite stuff and usually end up with 20 miles or so. Nice to have a level lake (where I usually park) to spin around to warm up/cool down too. Also, I get bored before a half a lap of any pump/jump track but I can spend some time at the Railyard. Paved/wood jumps and lines from toddler to expert. The trails don't seem to get as much maintenance (maybe because of the location or it is City of Rogers?) but I think it is well worth a visit. As a bonus Ozark Beer Company is right by the trailhead, I usually pick up a sample twelve pack and enjoy a few on the porch. Good quick ride on the arrival day or in the morning before heading home.

This sounds like a good alternative, also wanted to check out the Railyard.

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11 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Third week of October.

I know Little Sugar has a lot of climbing, the guys I will be with are not fans of climbing, so that would not be on their list.

Little Sugar, specifically Tunnel Vision is ridable in the rain.  So keep that as an option for rainy days.

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On 8/7/2022 at 5:22 PM, GFisher said:

Lake Atalanta seems to often get overlooked. I think is a blast. Probably only around 15 miles of trail absolute max but I like to do loops on my favorite stuff and usually end up with 20 miles or so. Nice to have a level lake (where I usually park) to spin around to warm up/cool down too. Also, I get bored before a half a lap of any pump/jump track but I can spend some time at the Railyard. Paved/wood jumps and lines from toddler to expert. The trails don't seem to get as much maintenance (maybe because of the location or it is City of Rogers?) but I think it is well worth a visit. As a bonus Ozark Beer Company is right by the trailhead, I usually pick up a sample twelve pack and enjoy a few on the porch. Good quick ride on the arrival day or in the morning before heading home.

You know you can easily do Lake Atalanta/Rail Yard and Mt Kessler all in the same day?  This is how it was recommended to me my first trip up to NWA.  https://www.strava.com/activities/1207861306  All of these are worthwhile additions to the main staples we typically ride.  However, I usually try to ride Kessler in the AM on my way back home (since its so far South)  

There's a newish little section of trail between Slaighter Pen and B40 called Mad Hatter.  Its a super fun steeper section of trail with some fun features.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6927906592

Edited by CBaron
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  • 1 month later...

Figured I would add to this thread instead of starting a new one. I'm heading up to Bentonville this Friday for a little solo trip while my wife is away on a girl's trip. I don't really want to drive anywhere to go ride once I'm in town so my goal is to keep all of my rides based out of my AirBnB which is near the north trails. With that in mind, what do y'all think of this itinerary? Anything I'm missing? Any hidden gems I should make note to check out?

My plan is as follows:

Friday: Getting in around 3pm so I'll do some light pedaling around the north Bentonville trails just to get a feel for the area. I don't really have a route in mind but would like to put in about 10 miles. Any must do trails that would serve as a great welcome to the area?

Saturday: This will be my big XC ride. I'll be doing the back 40 and tunnel vision back to back. Here is the route I created for my Garmin.

Sunday: Hoping to get a little more technical riding in on my last day, maybe about 40 miles total. I was planning on heading into Coler Preserve in the AM. From there, I would head back into town and hit up Slaughter Pen again. After lunch, I'm thinking I'll cycle west over to hand cut hollow before heading back to my AirBnB. I don't have a specific route in mind and looking at all these riding areas, not really sure if I should even attempt to create a specific route. I may just wing it and go with the flow. No pun intended.

Edited by WLemke
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12 minutes ago, WLemke said:

Figured I would add to this thread instead of starting a new one. I'm heading up to Bentonville this Friday for a little solo trip while my wife is away on a girl's trip. I don't really want to drive anywhere to go ride once I'm in town so my goal is to keep all of my rides based out of my AirBnB which is near the north trails. With that in mind, what do y'all think of this itinerary? Anything I'm missing? Any hidden gems I should make note to check out?

My plan is as follows:

Friday: Getting in around 3pm so I'll do some light pedaling around the north Bentonville trails just to get a feel for the area. I don't really have a route in mind but would like to put in about 10 miles. Any must do trails that would serve as a great welcome to the area?

Saturday: This will be my big XC ride. I'll be doing the back 40 and tunnel vision back to back. Here is the route I created for my Garmin.

Sunday: Hoping to get a little more technical riding in on my last day, maybe about 40 miles total. I was planning on heading into Coler Preserve in the AM. From there, I would head back into town and hit up Slaughter Pen again. After lunch, I'm thinking I'll cycle west over to hand cut hollow before heading back to my AirBnB. I don't have a specific route in mind and looking at all these riding areas, not really sure if I should even attempt to create a specific route. I may just wing it and go with the flow. No pun intended.

Think that's a pretty solid plan. Back 40+ is a great way to spend a day, and hitting coler first thing the following day is smart. We did coler after a trip to kessler and our legs were already blown out, so we only got two laps down before hanging in the towel. Slaughter is a great way to finish off since you can easily pick & choose what you want to ride and bail whenever you want.

Have a good one!

 

Edited by ATXZJ
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On 8/7/2022 at 5:22 PM, GFisher said:

Lake Atalanta seems to often get overlooked. I think is a blast. Probably only around 15 miles of trail absolute max but I like to do loops on my favorite stuff and usually end up with 20 miles or so. Nice to have a level lake (where I usually park) to spin around to warm up/cool down too. Also, I get bored before a half a lap of any pump/jump track but I can spend some time at the Railyard. Paved/wood jumps and lines from toddler to expert. The trails don't seem to get as much maintenance (maybe because of the location or it is City of Rogers?) but I think it is well worth a visit. As a bonus Ozark Beer Company is right by the trailhead, I usually pick up a sample twelve pack and enjoy a few on the porch. Good quick ride on the arrival day or in the morning before heading home.

Lake Atalanta is fun, fairly climby with a great downhill run in it, and I recall quite a good brewery, as well as a bike shop with beer on tap.

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9 minutes ago, TAF said:

Lake Atalanta is fun, fairly climby with a great downhill run in it, and I recall quite a good brewery, as well as a bike shop with beer on tap.

Thanks! Looks awesome but appears to be about an hour long ride from my AirBnB. I’ll have to save this one for the next time I go to Bentonville. 
 

Edit: Realized you are not responding to me! Apologies.

Edited by WLemke
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@WLemke  Your day 2 itinerary is a MONSTER.  And this is coming from someone who like to go long.  I don't really wanna take the effort to post up all the links here, but if you send me a text I'll fwd my Strava over to you from my time(s) riding these trails.  I'd guess you'd have a  7-8 hr ride if you where pedaling with intent.  

I've gone there by myself and done rides just like you are desiring.   I can fwd you my strava links to them so you can get an idea of possibilities.  Errrr.....here is a the forum page link to my 1st trip to Bentonville (2017).  Much has been added since then and I've been back no less than 7x's since then.  You might like my B40 day there (I rode over 7hrs on B40 alone).

 

Well, since those posts can be found above, I went ahead and located my Little Sugar ride from a while back also.  On this ride I was pretty fit coming off of 2.5 weeks in CO.  Although I did stop a good bit to smell the roses, I did have 4h 40m of pedaling time.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4187038708

 

And this is what our normal Day 1 chill, fun, exploratory ride usually looks like.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5409551988

 

You can still text me if you want more info from me.

Cheers,
CJB
512-694-1319

 

Edited by CBaron
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I am going to study the little sugar. My plan is fluid at this point. Monday arrive mid day and hit Fayetteville. Either Kessler or Fitzgerald depending on the plan for when the other guys arrive. Tuesday AM is railyard, followed by little sugar, then over to the house to wait for the other guys to show up. 

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48 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

I am going to study the little sugar. Tuesday AM is railyard, followed by little sugar.

 

Little Sugar is a big solid ride (especially if your starting from town).  I have a link above to the standard full loop.  But below is a link to a more abbreviated loop we did a year ago.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5425485652

Later,
CJB

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Reading through this thread, my home base may be of some interest to riders lookin to hit the Lil Sugar > Little Bridge and Tunnel Vision Trail head ride out from the house. Huntley Gravity Zone and Area 512 two minutes away. XC miles, waterfalls, big kicker jumps, Bville down the road, and a quiet place located in the woods > 

The Drop Inn 
https://airbnb.com/h/visitthedropinn

Edited by stepneo
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What is the difference between Little Sugar and Tunnel Vision?  I thought Tunnel Vision was the big loop, but maybe the big loop is Little Sugar and Tunnel Vision is part of it?  There's other sub-trails like Tweety-Bird and such but I'm still on clear on the distinction as far as the loop name vs a subset of it.  I found that loop really hammered my quads.  I think it was done on day 4 of 4 solid days of riding for me and it was the day it rained.  I say watch the forecast and save Tunnel Vision for any days with a chance of rain because you can ride it wet.

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