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

Biking on Campus

UA is working to improve biking in and around campus, but with the topography, numerous construction sites, and more students every semester biking on campus can be quite intimidating.  The map below shows some routes that make biking around campus a more pleasant experience by avoiding steep hills and high pedestrian traffic areas.  For more details, click items on the map or click the link at the base of the map.

To make it easier for more students to bike (and not drive) the campus should:
1.  Build more bike racks at dorms and other locations where overflow has been witnessed.
2.  Mark designated bike lanes on some paths through campus and on major roads around campus like Maple St., Arkansas Ave., and Garland Ave.
3.  Close more roads through campus to non-essential vehicular traffic, at least during class hours.  Campuses feel more like campuses when there aren't lots of cars driving through them anyways.  If you've ever been on Ozark Ave. near the end of Dickson between classes, you know that cars shouldn't be trying to drive through there.  I think the rest of Garland and Ozark Ave. would be good places to start closing more roads.

For useful sites and more information on biking on campus read this.

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.

Bikes on Campus at UA Fayetteville

If you bike or would like to bike on campus at the University of Arkansas, make sure you read this carefully.  UA, according to its master plan, wants to be a bike-friendly campus where students have the option to bike, walk, and/or take the bus everywhere they need to go.  If you have been on campus recently, you know they aren't quite there yet and thanks to all the new students and construction, biking on campus might not improve drastically for a few years to come.
There are, however, some things you can do to help improve biking on campus.
1.  Register your bike with the university.  If you don't have a bike, get one and then register it.  If you don't want to buy one, borrow one from the school's Razorbikes program.  Registering your bike or taking advantage of the Razorbikes program will let the university know students are using bikes on campus and that they need places to both park, and ride, those bikes.
2. Let people know what the problems are with biking on campus.  If you are on Facebook, check-out the UARK Bicycle Infrastructure Group.  Leave a message/comment on where more bike racks are needed or where it would be nice to have a bike lane or path.
3.  Volunteer.  In order to make efficient use of limited funds, the university needs good data on bike usage on campus.  If you want to help collect this data, leave a comment on here or any of the other pages linked to in this blog and someone will get in touch with you.