Mountain Biking Celebrated At Devil's Den Festival

STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Bikers pause during a ride to pull a fallen tree off the trail.
STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Bikers pause during a ride to pull a fallen tree off the trail.

WINSLOW -- Every April, mountain bikers gather to bounce over rocks and roots where the roots of their sport run firm and deep.

The Ozark Mountain Bike Festival at Devil's Den State Park was the first of its kind in Arkansas when the inaugural event was held in 1988. Trail travelers who prefer two wheels converged on the park April 4-6 for the 26th annual festival.

At A Glance

Easy Riders

Several mountain bike trails suitable for beginners criss-cross the region. Here are a few that novice and experienced riders may want to sample. They are open for biking and hiking.

• Blowing Springs Trail: This 6.3-mile offers a mostly smooth ride over natural single-track trail in Blowing Springs Park at Bella Vista. It is open to the public. A trailhead is located at the park entrance. Features include streams, bluffs and forest.

• Lake Fayetteville Trail: Riders can choose a concrete or natural route to circle Lake Fayetteville for a ride of about 5.5 miles. The Ozark Off-Road Cyclists have toiled tirelessly to improve the riding on the single-track route.

• Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area: The Bashore Loop of the Hidden Diversity Multi-use Trail is suitable for beginners. The 4-mile ride starts at the Piney Road trailhead. Follow signs to complete the Bashore Loop. The entire multiuse trail is about 17 miles and is open to biking, hiking and horse travel.

• Slaughter Pen Mountain Bike Trail: This mountain-bike trail network in north Bentonville offers miles of riding. Follow the green routes for easiest pedaling.

Source: Staff Report

It was a first for the state, this Ozark Mountain Bike Festival. So is the Fossil Flats Trail, where most of the weekend's riding took place. As far as Tim Scott knows, the trail is the first in Arkansas built specifically with mountain biking in mind. Scott is the longtime assistant superintendent at Devil's Den and helped organize the first festival. He turned dirt when the Fossil Flats Trail took shape shortly after.

It's accurate to say mountain biking in Arkansas got started in the Rocky Mountains. As Scott tells it, he and another park staffer traveled to a mountain bike festival in Crested Butte, Colo., with the idea of holding a similar event at Devil's Den. They liked what they saw out west and brought some ideas home.

"So, basically, we just stole what they were doing in Colorado," Scott joked to a bevy of riders gathered for a group ride April 5, a chilly Saturday morning.

That first Ozark Mountain Bike Festival featured rides along some of the logging roads that criss-cross the park's rugged terrain. The Fossil Flats Trail utilized road sections when construction began in 1990.

The trail meandered three miles back then. Today, riders who pedal the entire Fossil Flats Trail cover five and a half to six miles. It depends on whose bicycle odometer you're looking at.

Fossil Flats has been a work in progress. It's been rerouted here and there to prevent erosion and to replace sections that have been washed away in floods. Some reroutes are for rider comfort.

Volunteers with the Ozark Off-Road Cyclists group have done a lion's share of shoveling, pick-swinging and raking to complete the work.

The trail features infamous Racer's Hill, a lung-buster of a climb halfway into the ride. It's being made easier by a new reroute that isn't finished yet. Racer's Hill can be skipped by taking a shortcut that shaves a mile off the ride. Or one can follow a mountain-bike mantra: There's nothing wrong with walking your bike.

OFF AND RIDING

In the world of Northwest Arkansas mountain bike trails, Fossil Flats isn't the smoothest. Consider the rough terrain of Devil's Den, and that's to be expected. Some rocky stretches may jar fillings from the molars of riders who aren't used to a bumpy route. Dirt sections are smooth as a baby's behind.

Scott's favorite piece of the trail runs high above Lee Creek at about mile four. The route offers long and beautiful views of the Lee Creek valley. The stream can be seen and heard roaring below. To some riders, it's scary.

This stretch runs along a narrow tread four feet wide in spots. It's a sheer drop of about 50 feet from the trail to the water.

A clockwise lap around Fossil Flats in the spring will likely mean two wet crossings of Lee Creek. The first is at the halfway mark far into the forest, just before Racer's Hill. The second is where the ride ends at Campground A.

Some bikers take their shoes off and cross barefooted. Others swap their shoes for sandals to cross or pack extra shoes to wear after the ride.

Creek crossings can be avoided by doing an out-and-back ride instead of the loop.

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Scott doesn't just walk the walk when it comes to mountain biking. He puts mettle to the pedals and always leads the first group ride of the festival held on a Friday afternoon. Scott and Adam Leslie, an interpretive naturalist at Devil's Den, led our group of eight April 5 around Fossil Flats.

Fast riders can zip around the trail if they wish. A slower pace offers the chance to take in the beauty of this Ozark path open for biking and hiking. There's time to enjoy the view and admire the wildflowers.

Scott and Leslie seem to have doctorates when it comes to wildflower identification. We hopped off our bikes after every few bends to look at a white, red or purplish flower: nature's bouquet along the trail.

Trout lily, Dutchman's britches, flox and sweet William were some of the kinds we saw. Riders who visit the park this coming weekend may see wild irises on the higher elevations of the Fossil Flats Trail, Scott said.

Impromptu trail maintenance was another reason for taking breaks. At one big mud puddle, two riders used sticks to dig a breach in the dirt so the water could drain. Farther along, everyone helped pull two fallen trees off the trail.

CHILL TO START

Frost covered tents in the campground when the sun rose Saturday morning April 5. Cold lingered when time for the first guided ride approached at 9 a.m. We wondered if anyone would show.

Up rolled the Webb family from Siloam Springs on their mountain bikes, ready to ride. Cole and Cade Webb and their dad, Doug Webb, came to the festival last year and were ready for more.

"We enjoy the ride, and we just like being outdoors," Doug said.

The family bikes all over the region, including trails at Lake Fayetteville, Lincoln Lake and Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area. The Webbs planned to hike the three-mile Yellow Rock Trail in the park after our ride. They understandably didn't want to get wet feet, so we did a four-mile out-and-back ride to avoid the creek crossings.

Hardcore gear heads can tackle intermediate to advanced rides of up to 25 miles that follow trails and county roads near the park. There's a ride for gals only, poker run, bike games for kids and a hamburger cookout on Saturday evening.

The first weekend of April 2015 is already one off-road riders have penciled in for the 27th annual festival.

Outdoors on 04/24/2014

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