- Joined
- Sep 3, 2006
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- Location
- Wichita Falls, TX
- First Name
- Willum or Bill
My son, Charlie and I spent three days dual sport riding around the Mena, AR area. It was our first time there and I must say it's a great place for dual sport riding!
We didn't have any set plans or routes planned out, but I did spend several evenings looking at Google Map and getting the lay of the land before we headed out.
We decided that the 'must rides' would be the Kiamichi Ridge as much as we could, the Talimena Scenic Drive some, and the Wolf Pen Gap area Southwest of Mena.
Day One:
We arrived at the cabin a bit after the check-in time of 3:00PM. Good timing on our part. We unloaded the gear and bikes and got the cabin squared away and decided it was time to ride. It was about 4:00 by that time, so we knew we had about 5 hours of good daylight to play around with.
We decided that we would ride what we were calling the 'East Kiamichi Ridge route. Basically from Hatfield, West to Highway 259.
The 'roads' were sometimes just jeep two-tracks or less than that sometimes, but all very doable on any DS bike I would think. Not too many rocks but some climbs and descents that were pretty steep. We didn't take any pictures during the ride until we reached highway 259. The trail came out right at the Three Stick Monument. It was nice to see a little pavement after all the trail time.
Looking West from Three Sticks.
Charlie setting up some kind of photo feedback loop at Three Sticks.
After a rest and photo-op we headed North on Highway 259. Great curves and nice climb for being slab. Hooked it East on 270 to head back towards Mena. Great road and ran with a freight train for several miles. Fun stuff, man. We took a small road that lead us onto the Talimena Scenic Drive after several miles on 270. There was an RV park off to the right of the road where I had a small dog dart out from nowhere. I mean I'm always looking for dogs at rural driveways and fields where I see a farmers truck, but this dog came full bore from underneath an RV, and I was on his road. Since he was cat size, I gritted my teeth and braced for impact, it was that close. I missed him or vice versa. But I now look for dogs in places that I didn't before.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and we had burgers and bench racing when when got back to the cabin.
Taking in the view on Talimena Scenic Drive.
Charlie checking his rigging.
The gotta-do-it self portrait.
Day two is on it's way after I size and upload some more pictures.
We didn't have any set plans or routes planned out, but I did spend several evenings looking at Google Map and getting the lay of the land before we headed out.
We decided that the 'must rides' would be the Kiamichi Ridge as much as we could, the Talimena Scenic Drive some, and the Wolf Pen Gap area Southwest of Mena.
Day One:
We arrived at the cabin a bit after the check-in time of 3:00PM. Good timing on our part. We unloaded the gear and bikes and got the cabin squared away and decided it was time to ride. It was about 4:00 by that time, so we knew we had about 5 hours of good daylight to play around with.
We decided that we would ride what we were calling the 'East Kiamichi Ridge route. Basically from Hatfield, West to Highway 259.
The 'roads' were sometimes just jeep two-tracks or less than that sometimes, but all very doable on any DS bike I would think. Not too many rocks but some climbs and descents that were pretty steep. We didn't take any pictures during the ride until we reached highway 259. The trail came out right at the Three Stick Monument. It was nice to see a little pavement after all the trail time.
Looking West from Three Sticks.
Charlie setting up some kind of photo feedback loop at Three Sticks.
After a rest and photo-op we headed North on Highway 259. Great curves and nice climb for being slab. Hooked it East on 270 to head back towards Mena. Great road and ran with a freight train for several miles. Fun stuff, man. We took a small road that lead us onto the Talimena Scenic Drive after several miles on 270. There was an RV park off to the right of the road where I had a small dog dart out from nowhere. I mean I'm always looking for dogs at rural driveways and fields where I see a farmers truck, but this dog came full bore from underneath an RV, and I was on his road. Since he was cat size, I gritted my teeth and braced for impact, it was that close. I missed him or vice versa. But I now look for dogs in places that I didn't before.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and we had burgers and bench racing when when got back to the cabin.
Taking in the view on Talimena Scenic Drive.
Charlie checking his rigging.
The gotta-do-it self portrait.
Day two is on it's way after I size and upload some more pictures.