Fossil Flats Trail - Devil's Den State Park

The Fossil Flats Trail at Devil's Den State Park is primarily a mountain biking trail though hikers are welcome. It has three connected loops that allow users to choose from a range of distances and difficulties. The trailhead sign lists these distances as 3, 4, and 5 miles for the Outlaw, Sawmill, and Racers Hill loops respectively. I found these distances to be rough estimates at best, especially given that Racers Hill Loop adds closer to 2 miles to the total.

The trailhead is located near the parking for the walk-in campsite, not far from the bridge and trailhead for Yellow Rock.

The map below doesn't (yet) show all the loops, but it is only missing a short section of the Outlaw loop and some connections that cross the creek. From the trailhead, I went north on the trail which begins as a wide dirt path that may have once been an old road. The wide path continues straight for awhile and a thinner path (single-track) repeatedly forks off and crosses it. Eventually the smaller trail leaves the road for good and winds through some pretty woods with lots of cedar along the creek. There are lots of dry and wet stream crossings so be prepared to get a little wet.

I found the end of the Sawmill Trail, where it overlaps with some others, to be a little confusing or tricky to follow, but just keep the creek on your right until you cross it at the campsite near your car.

This trail is scenic, but not as awesome as nearby Yellow Rock or Devil's Den trails. If you are looking to hike, I recommend doing those first, though on nice weekends, Fossil Flats can be a lot less busy.

Swimming Holes #2

I hit two swimming holes today and have now been to Wreck Hole four times!  My friend John, Buddy, and I first went to explore the Cedar Flats hole near Devil's Den State Park, then drove by Riverside Park where some people were swimming, and stopped at Wreck Hole for some more fun.

Cedar Flats looked like a great place to camp in the fall when it might be warm enough to swim during the day but cool enough to sleep comfortably at night.  The hole was a little dry but we still enjoyed swimming and using the scary looking rope swing.  There were interesting stepped rock slopes on both sides of the creek.  You can also swim in the state park at the swimming pool or at the dam.

The water at Riverside Park still seemed too low to me and the spot isn't that scenic or shaded, so we continued to Wreck Hole.  The recent rain hadn't improved the water level there, but it was still deep in places and cool thanks to a spring.  I've noticed that families tend to use the east side and come in via the park while the younger, rowdier crowd tends to park on Campbell and come in on the railroad/rock side.

After that, we stopped at the small cafe/food stand in downtown West Fork for a couple Lobo Burgers (2 patties, bacon, and ham!) with fried pickles.  Next time I hope to try a pizza and fried broccoli!  Across the street is the Little Oprey, which has country music shows every Saturday night at 7.  I still haven't been, but hope to go soon.

Devil's Den Updates

Today I was out at Devil's Den State Park as part of a IMBA Trail Building Course.  After learning some good trail design/building tips, we got in some real world practice rerouting the trail from the Visitors Center down to Devils Den Trail near the creek.  Now that the new section of trail is complete, get out there and enjoy it and the rest of the great trails in the park!  If you want to learn some trail building tips check out my Building Trails page or IMBA's online resources and books.

Devil's Den Trail - Devil's Den State Park

This Saturday, after finding out all the campsites in Northwest Arkansas were full, some friends and I decided to do a short hike at Devil's Den State Park.  We parked at the visitor center and hopped on the Devil's Den Trail, a short 1.5 mi. trail that passes some interesting geological features including caves and deep fissures.  These features also tend to have great names like Devil's Icebox and, of course, Devil's Den.