JB Hunt Park / Lake Springdale

JB Hunt Park in Springdale has roughly three miles of paved trail and a short gravel nature trail.  The paved trail contains several loops, some overlapping, so you can easily tailor the distance to your liking.  The asphalt trail is in somewhat poor shape in places, though that may change soon when the trail is connected to, and partially overlapped by, the Razorback Greenway.

The trail is steep in places with some sharp, blind turns so watch your speed if you bike it!  The lake allows fishing and the nearby nature trail has a nice wildlife viewing platform; though we saw way more wildlife along the paved trail than we did from the platform.

The park also has a playground, baseball fields, and a very clear, wide open disc golf course that would be great for beginners or people tired of hunting for their discs in the woods and high grass of Lake Fayetteville.

Lake Springdale

Geese in the Way - Lake Springdale

JK3 Riding on the Nature Trail

View Lake Springdale - JB Hunt Park in a larger map

River Trail Updates

On a recent trip to the bridge at Two Rivers Park, I noticed the large scale sculpture/model of the Arkansas River showing major points of interest along the trail.  The concept of the River Trail has recently been extended to Pinnacle Mountain State Park on the south side of the river and to Palarm Park on the north.  In fact, plans are in place for a "Grand Loop" (shown below) that would reach Conway.   Much of the existing River Trail and the Grand Loop follow roads.  As long as the speed limits on these roads are 20-25 mph, that is pretty safe, but hopefully a separate trail will be built for the stretches on larger roads with faster moving traffic.

Key Points:

• The trail follows Crystal Hill Rd. in Maumelle for a while.  This allows it to be closer to the river and gets bikers off of busy, fast moving, Maumelle Blvd.
• It looks like they are making a real trail along the edge of parts of Maumelle Blvd.
• Maumelle has a great network of existing trails that will either form part of the River Trail or make for interesting, scenic detours.  This will also make it easier and safer for residents of Maumelle to commute by bike to work in North Little Rock and Little Rock.
• On the south side, the trail extends to Two Rivers Park via the new bridge, and then to Maumelle Park.  I believe the separate trail ends there and the River Trail follows Pinnacle Valley Rd., AR-300, AR-113, AR-60, and AR-89 for most of the Grand Loop.

The original map and up-to-date info can be found at: http://arkansasrivertrail.org/maps/

View River Trail Expanded in a larger map

Lake Fayetteville Paved Loop Complete

The roughly 5.5 mi. paved loop around Lake Fayetteville is complete!  I biked it recently and it was great.  On the south side, the new section of paved trail feels more separated from the lake and woods than the dirt path and it has covered/impacted the dirt trail in places.  I assume the hiking/mountain biking trail will be rerouted to fix the spots where it is buried under 10 feet of fill and mulch, but I'm not sure.  Does anyone have any info on this?

Another update, this one a little sad: the title of State Champion Black Oak has been ceded to another massive tree after the giant at Lake Fayetteville succumbed to natural causes (or maybe death by chainsaw).

RIP Big Guy

Crystal Bridges Museum Trails

Crystal Bridges Art Museum has an impressive network of miles and miles of diverse walking and biking trails that are well connected to the city's trail system and Compton Gardens.  Dogs are allowed on the trails ("but", I was told over the phone, "not in the museum".)  If you take a pet, you might want to look at a map online beforehand, as all of the outdoor map boxes were empty today.  

It has been a year since I last visited the trails (I've been to the museum a few times since then) and I'm glad I finally got to check them all out.  The fall foliage was starting to show up with hickories, red buds, dogwoods, and sassafras providing some amazing yellows, pinks, purples, and oranges that paired beautifully with the pines and still green oaks.  Multiple empty frames placed along the trails make a point I greatly appreciate, that nature provides us with limitless, ever-changing, incredible works of art that are free to everyone.  Each trail has its own unique character and perhaps surprisingly for someone who writes hiking books, my favorite was the very manicured...

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.

Arkansas Least Bike Friendly State

  The League of American Bicyclists ranks Arkansas #50 in terms of bike friendliness.  I'm a little shocked to see that ranking given all the money and work that has been put into trails in both the central and northwestern parts of the state, but even in Little Rock and Fayetteville you don't have to look far to find tons of room for improvement.  The rankings looked at lots of variables and the report shows that Arkansas lags far behind in terms of legislation, programs, infrastructure, funding, education, and planning.  Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised we are last given that some Arkansans believe bike trails are part of a conspiracy to take away people's cars while others think trails like the River Trail are a complete waste of money and should be converted to roads to decrease commutes for people who choose to live and pay property taxes 30 miles away from Little Rock, but still want to get there and leave ASAP, with little concern for local quality of life.  If you happen to agree with that sentiment, check out these traffic numbers for the Big Dam and Two Rivers bridges.
  Last year, I was excited to see that Bicycling magazine ranked Little Rock as one of America's 50 top bike-friendly cities, but my happiness was lessened upon reading that they ranked Little Rock #49 and only because they wanted their article to have geographical diversity and not just be a list of 50 cities in California and Oregon.
  If you want to see Arkansas break out of last place:
1.  Read this piece on Master Plans in various cities in the state.
2.  Let your local, state, and federal elected officials know you enjoy trails and would like to see more of them.
3.  Push for increased funding for trails.  Make sure someone in your local government is aware of all the various funding sources for trails.
4.  Join BACA or BCO or at least check out their websites to learn more about the issues.
5.  Work to get your town or university designated as "bike-friendly".  Interestingly enough, this designation is granted by the League of American Bicyclists.  Fayetteville, Conway, and North Little Rock have achieved Bronze status in this program.
6.  Volunteer to help design and maintain trails in your community.
7.  To see the actual report for Arkansas and specific statewide policies we are lacking, click here.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park Updates

While at Devil's Den State Park today, I ran into Joe Jacobs of Arkansas Outside and he told me about some newish mountain biking trails at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  I hope to visit them soon and will post maps here when I do, but the map below shows where the trailheads are.  The Rabbit Ridge Trail is a fairly short and easy trail for beginners, while I'm told the Jack Fork Trail is more technical and much longer at ~7 miles.  Both are located along Pinnacle Mountain State Park Rd. on the way to the Visitors Center.  The Quarry Trail and the Ouachita Trail have trailheads nearby.  A detailed map of the trails can be viewed here.

Two Rivers Park Updates

On my quick trip to Little Rock this weekend, I visited Two Rivers Park which, with the recent completion of the new bridge, has become very, very, popular.  If you don't know, Two Rivers Park is a large city/county park in West Little Rock bounded by the Arkansas River and the Little Maumelle.  In addition to being a great place to paddle, hike, bike, bird, and ride horses, the park also has a massive community garden where you can rent plots.

The park has miles of paved and unpaved trails that travel through a variety of habitats.  The Garden of Trees in the southern half of the park will one day be a formally landscaped setting where "rooms" of different tree species turn different colors in the fall.  I helped plant a lot of the trees out there many years ago, and know first-hand that the huge deer population in the park is severely stunting the growth of the trees in this garden.

The two updates I have to share on the park are:
1)  Be mindful of locking your car and what you leave in your vehicles when parking at the Two Rivers Bridge or the Big Dam Bridge.  Break-ins are more common at those parking areas than they should be.
2)  There is a new bike lane/bike trail from Two Rivers to Maumelle Park.  I believe the idea is for this to one day continue all the way to Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  The bike lane runs along County Farm Rd. from the park entrance to Pinnacle Valley Rd.  From there, there are 5-6' wide asphalt paths along both sides of Pinnacle Valley Rd. all the way to Maumelle Park.  As I wrote earlier, these are much safer than bike lanes.

Detailed maps and descriptions of Two Rivers Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, the Little Maumelle River, and lots of other great places in Central Arkansas can be found in Trails of Central Arkansas.

Lake Sequoyah Bike and Hike

Today I biked out to Lake Sequoyah and hiked the Rookery Trail.  The bike ride out was ok, but not amazing.  The route has rolling hills, but nothing too step.  The main problem with biking to Lake Sequoyah (and Lake Weddington) is that MLK Blvd./Huntsville Rd./Hwy. 16 is a busy road without a dedicated bake lane or better yet a bike path alongside it.  Once I turned onto Lake Sequoyah Dr., the ride became much more enjoyable.
I parked my bike at the marina and went inside to get info on the trails around the lake.  There are at least two trails in the park, the Kingfisher and the Rookery.  The Kingfisher runs along the east side of the lake and begins north of the Marina.
Update 2/2014:  I believe it now goes around much of the north and west sides of the lake.

To get on the Rookery Trail, I crossed the road and walked south to the covered information sign.  This trail was hard to follow at times, but keep an eye out for light blue blazes and pink and orange flagging.  A few words of advice:
1.  A the first big open area, walk straight across the clearing and then look for blue blazes on the other side.
2.  At the second open area, after the second cattle gate, walk slightly to the left past the picnic table to the other side of the clearing to find the trail again.
3.  After the second clearing, the trail enters a wooded area and heads up a hill.  Be on the lookout for a gate in the fence (shown below).  If you miss this, you'll miss some of the most interesting parts of the trail (and you'll be lost).
4.  This later section of this trail follows a VERY long rock wall which I hypothesize to be the long-lost ancient remains of the Great Wall of Arkansas.
5.  This is probably the most interesting trail I've been on in Fayetteville since moving here in August.  It is also probably the most difficult to follow.
6.  Wear good boots, the trail can be muddy and torn up by cattle in places, but the parts past that are worth it.

View Lake Sequoyah Bike Hike in a larger map

River Trail Updates

The River Trail is coming closer and closer to completion.  About a month ago the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge (Rock Island Bridge) was opened to the public, connecting the eastern end of the River Trail with a bridge that doesn't require bikers to compete with cars (Main St.) or take several flights of stairs (Junction Bridge).

Near the recently completed bridge, a nice new boardwalk has opened to take visitors through the William E. Clark Presidential Wetlands.  Visitors to the wetlands can learn about native plants and wildlife, while taking in nice views of the Arkansas River and downtown Little Rock.  Herons, beavers, large turtles, and massive fish can all be seen from the boardwalk.   

I was also very excited to see that Metroplan paid for plans to be drawn up for the final segment of the River Trail connecting Riverdale to Downtown.  This section of the trail currently follows unattractive roads and tiny sidewalks through western downtown Little Rock making it the least safe and least aesthetically pleasing section of the trail.  As someone who is very proud of Little Rock, this stretch of the trail has long been a source of embarrassment and shame for me given that North Little Rock stole our concerts, our baseball games, and now they have the most complete and most beautiful sections of the River Trail.

Sadly, the article about the new plans mentions that the right-of-way has not been finalized and that funding has yet to be located, meaning I may have to be embarrassed for Little Rock for a few more years to come.

Photos and map below the fold.

Scull Creek-Mud Creek-Gulley Park Loop

Today I went on a ride with a friend. We wanted something shorter than the ride out to Lake Wedington and we've already been up to Lake Fayetteville, so we decided to explore a bit.  We ended up going up Scull Creek Trail, past Gordon Long Park (that I hope to explore soon), to the Mud Creek Trail, and south on Old Missouri Rd.  From there we took a short detour down the Raven Trail which is pretty short, but passes through a scenic area and by some really nice homes.
From the Raven Trail, we continued south on Old Missouri Rd., took a right on Old Wire, and biked around the Gulley Park Trails.  We then backtracked back a bit to take Rolling Hills Dr. and Appleby Rd. back to the Scull Creek Trail since those roads are much flatter than Township St. or North St.  To make more a loop next time, I might try continuing down Old Wire Rd. to Lafayette.

Rock Island Bridge Opens at Clinton Library

The River Trail just got one step closer to being complete. You can now bike over the Rock Island Bridge at the Clinton Library instead of having to carry your bike up/down steps on the junction bridge or vie with traffic on other downtown bridges.

Next (and last?) step, do something about the crappy section between downtown and Riverdale. You can't really call it a trail if you all you have is bike lanes on busy streets.

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.

When Bikes Beat Cars

When I lived in Berkeley, it was faster to bike almost anywhere within a 4 mile radius than it was to drive and find parking.  This was due to very progressive transportation policies and road designs that put bikes first and cars second.  But what about in Arkansas, a non-progressive place where cars and trucks rule?

I used to live in the Riverdale area and worked in North Little Rock off Northshore Dr.  I commuted by bike sometimes when the weather was nice and was pleasantly surprised to find that it took me roughly the same amount of time to bike as it did to drive.  How is that possible you might ask?  Well, thanks to the Big Dam Bridge, my bike commute was 5-6 miles, while my driving commute was 9, on a road with lots of traffic lights or 14 miles taking the interstate.  Now, obviously I can't bike 60 or 45 mph or even half of that, but think about what your average speed really is during rush hour.  If I averaged 12 mph by bike, I'd get there in the same amount of time as if I averaged 20 mph on Cantrell which has lots of traffic, numerous lights, and often a 5 minute wait to get on the highway.

This got me wondering if there were other commutes in Arkansas where bikes beat cars as opposed to being 20 minutes slower, but healthier and lots more fun.

If you have a bike commute that is faster than your car commute let me know and I'll put it up here!

Here is the most drastic example I've found:

Building Bridges - Connecting Communities, Trails, and Parks

This year has been a big one for bridge building in Little Rock. The Big Dam bridge got a baby brother this summer when the Little Maumelle bridge was completed.  This attractive and already heavily used bridge connects an extension of the River Trail to Two Rivers Park.  For most Little Rockians, this makes Two Rivers Park much more accessible, as people living in Riverdale, The Heights, and Hillcrest can now bike to Two Rivers in less time than it would take them to drive.

Down the river on the other side of town, the Junction Bridge is expecting a sibling as well.  The Rock Island bridge is getting a face-lift and will soon play host to bikers and pedestrians travelling between Little Rock and North Little Rock or making the River Trail loop.  Unlike the Junction Bridge, this bridge has a continuous ramp, so bikers will no longer have to dismount and take lots of stairs or an elevator to get across the river.

These bridges and the trails they connect, will have (and are already having) a major positive impact on the quality of life and health of the citizens of Little Rock and North Little Rock.

Where should the next bridge be built?  Somewhere over Fourche Creek?  Between the Big Dam Bridge and the Junction Bridge?  Or would that money be better spent helping pave some of the many proposed trails out there?