North Twin - Lake Wedington National Recreation Area

Updated 4/10/15. Info here based on two trips.

Today I made an all too familiar mistake by biting off more than I could chew on a hike. I thought I'd be doing 7-10 miles on a cool, cloudy, spring day and ended up doing 11 miles on a super sunny 80 degree day. Hopefully this sunburned neck, battered feet, and sore hips will make me wiser next time. 

The Lake Wedington Recreation Area is located 13 miles west of Fayetteville on Hwy 16. The lake offers swimming and fishing and the fee area has cabins, picnic sites, restrooms, and campsites. There are two short sections of trail along the lakeshore that are mostly flat. The much more strenuous North Twin Trail is 8.5 miles one-way and located outside the fee area.

I'll have a much more detailed description in my next book, but this is a great trail. It has great views, interesting rock features, and a spring. You can break it into more manageable pieces since it crosses forest roads several times. The northernmost 3 miles can be turned into a loop using the road, saving you some miles and time, and prevents having to backtrack.

Lake Wedington Swim (Swimming Holes #3)

After biking the Lake Wedington Loop yesterday, my friend and I cooled off by swimming in the lake.  The water was clearer than I expected and the designated swim area has a nice sand and gravel bottom over much of it.  While not chilly, the water was still refreshing on a 95-degree day.  Unlike the swimming holes I described here and here, this spot has convenient facilities that are open much of the year.

Lake Wedington is about 13 miles west of Fayetteville on Wedington Dr./AR-16.  The lake has a day-use fee, but makes for a great place to swim, especially following a bike ride or hike on one of the lakes trails.

Lake Wedington Loop #2

Yesterday I got suckered into my first bike ride of the summer despite my aversion to exercising in non-aquatic environs in August in Arkansas.  My friend and I drove out to Lake Wedington and did the 19-mile loop used in the Ozark Valley Triathlon.  Though it requires driving, this route is much nicer and has less traffic than the ride to the lake from Fayetteville.  As you can see on the terrain map below, the route is fairly flat, but does have a couple significant hills.  While I enjoyed the ride, it left me wishing I'd invested in bike shorts and some cold Gatorade.  After finishing, we cooled off with a swim in the lake.

Lake Wedington Loop #1

Today, my friend Jess and I decided to take advantage of the great weather and go on a bike ride (see map below). Neither of us are avid cyclists, but we like to pretend we are in great shape and can do pretty much anything (yes this attitude has gotten us into some trouble in the past).
After packing swimsuits and a frisbee (neither of which ended up being used), we struck out for Lake Wedington without really doing much research. It turns out the lake is 17 miles west of town and that you if you take the seemingly logical choice of Wedington Dr. to get there, you have some pretty nasty hills in the way. We added an unnecessary hill, by initially deciding to take MLK west and then quickly deciding that road was too nasty and deciding to head north to Wedington Dr.

Wedington Dr. is a large road with little shade for most of the way. In the more developed areas, it does have a sidewalk and in places a nice wide bike path. After about 8 miles, the large relatively flat road begins to curve up and down some hills. A couple of the downhill sections were so great (long and steep) that we decided to find a different way home.

We arrived at the lake around 5:00 having taken a little over 1.5 hrs to get out there. At this point we admitted to ourselves that we were already pretty pooped and probably didn't have the time or energy to swim or throw a frisbee given that sunset is around 7:00 these days. So after exploring the cabins, lodge, swimming area, and campground we headed back towards Fayetteville.

This time, we took a very different route and it ended up being a lot better and also worse in places. The southern section of the loop shown on the map is much flatter, and for most of the way it is more scenic and less busy. All that comes to a nasty, screeching halt when you reach Main St./MLK Blvd. There is a bike lane for a bit in Farmington, and then ironically, around the time you see the "Fayetteville: Bike Friendly City" sign, there is no bike lane and no decent sidewalk. Needless to say, the last five miles on MLK were not fun. If you live in the northern part of Fayetteville, you might change the route a bit and take Double Springs Rd. or Broyles St. north back to Wedington Dr. for the final leg back into town.

Has anyone else done this ride? Any suggestions?
Here is another Lake Wedington Route.