Fossil Flats Trail a trek through history at Devil's Den

Tandie Bailey leads riders across Lee Creek during a ride on the Fossil Flats Trail at Devil’s Den State Park. The 5.5-mile route for hiking or mountain biking meanders through nature and history.
Tandie Bailey leads riders across Lee Creek during a ride on the Fossil Flats Trail at Devil’s Den State Park. The 5.5-mile route for hiking or mountain biking meanders through nature and history.

Mountain bikers and hikers get a healthy dose of fresh air and exercise circling the 5.5-mile Fossil Flats Trail at Devil's Den State Park near Winslow. They can also step back in time. Way, way back.

Fossils in slabs of rock are from prehistoric times. Homesteads can be explored that date back to Arkansas' early settlement days. The work of the Civilian Conservation Corps is evident on the Fossil Flats Trail and others at Devil's Den.

Biking or hiking on Fossil Flats starts at Campground A, just west of Lee Creek. Follow the path for one-half mile to a spur on the right that crosses the creek. Here the clear flow bisects slabs of flat rock embedded with tiny fossils. Some are the size of the periods on this printed page. None are larger than a pencil eraser. Look closely and cautiously. The rock slabs can be slick.

The route meanders along Lee Creek and into the hill country for a scenic, sometimes challenging ride. Some stretches are rough with wheel-jarring rocks and roots. Others are as smooth as a baby's behind. Racer's Hill is one wheezer of a climb, but the reward is an exciting downhill ride. Or, the hill can be skipped by staying on a path that follows the creek.

Fossil Flats Trail was the centerpiece for off-road cycling during the 28th annual Ozark Mountain Bike Festival held April 1-3. The event is all about riding, but the festival itself is another slice of Devil's Den history. The park was the site of Arkansas' first mountain bike festival. It hasn't missed a year since.

Tim Scott, assistant superintendent and expert rider, offered the history lesson at the festival's first group ride on April 1.

Mountain biking was just gaining a foothold in Arkansas, Scott said. He and a co-worker heard about a mountain bike festival coming up in Colorado. They headed west to investigate.

"We saw what they were doing and decided that Devil's Den was the perfect place for a festival here," he said. "We say ours was the first mountain bike festival in the state. At least we claim it is."

The festival is held the first weekend of April with guided rides, clinics, bike games and a night ride. Racers may want to pencil in the Northwest Arkansas Mountain Bike Championships held at Devil's Den each September.

History is seen right at the trail head. Here observant riders may notice a 100-yard berm between the trail and Lee Creek. The berm is part of a dam to create a 20-acre lake that was never built. Civilian Conservation Corps workers started the project in the 1940s, Scott said.

"When World War II broke out, they all got mustered out for the war and all the resources were pulled away from that project," he said. Now, eight-acre Lake Devil is the park's only lake. The hand-laid rock dam that forms the lake and a waterfall is a major attraction in the park.

Bikers and hikers pass abandoned homesteads on the Fossil Flats Trail. Riders at this year's mountain bike festival got a history lesson from Bob Cable of Wheeler. He led a group of 15 bikers to the Hale homestead during a morning ride.

All hopped off their bikes to look at the stone foundation of the family's home, plus some artifacts on display. Rugged defines the landscape.

"Can you imagine making a living here?" Cable asked.

"No way," piped some teenage cyclists.

These pioneer families raised most of what they ate. They had livestock and managed to eek out a meager living.

The Dotson homestead isn't far away. Scott said the park has a photo of the family making sorghum in what is now Campground A.

More history is found on other trails at Devil's Den. The one-quarter-mile CCC Trail meanders through the main encampment area of Civilian Conservation Corps workers who built the park in the 1930s. Hikers on the three-mile Yellow Rock Trail can take a short spur to see an overlook pavilion the men forged. These are for hiking only, but Fossil Flats is open to biking and hiking.

Jill Herrlein came to the mountain bike festival from Tahlequah, Okla., and rode Fossil Flats Trail for the first time.

" I loved it. It's perfect," she said. "I consider myself an advanced beginner rider, so for me it was challenging, but not scary. Arkansas has done an outstanding job with their trails."

The ride is a trek through nature and through history.

Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip

Sports on 05/03/2016

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