NW Arkansas Trip - advice welcome

[Goodman4]

Finally I get to take a decent trip on the FJR again! We've been taking wonderful trips 2-up on the Goldwing, but the FJR gets relegated to local riding to work, which is still pretty fun here in rural KY.

My nephew lives in the Springfield MO area and a couple months ago he upgraded his street legal dirt bike to a sweet Super Tenere. I've been hoping he'd call and want to ride and he did just that. He is off Labor Day week and wants to take his first decent ride. I'll be able to take the weekend and Tues and Wed off, so we are going to meet in Harrison AR. In Arkansas, I've only ridden the upper northwest corner which was with him a couple years ago and that was just down 125 to the Peel Ferry and didn't get south of 412.

I've done a lot of research in the trip reports here and elsewhere and I think I've got some good routes planned. He hasn't ridden a lot of distance but has ridden several years of trail riding and 2 years on the street legal dirt bike. Still I don't want to push much past 250 miles per day to let him ramp up a little and get more used to the bike. I'm thinking / hoping he won't have any trouble on the mountain roads or switchbacks if takes it easy but we'll have to feel that out. He's not a big risk taker and is over 40 so I don't think he's going to push himself too fast and I won't pressure him.

Anyway, here are my planned routes:

Saturday

I'm getting to Harrison Saturday night even though he won't be there until Sunday so I can ride Push Mountain and Hwy 9 from Melbourne to Mountain View. That way I can get some more aggressive riding out of my system before we ride together.

Sunday - Pig Trail, Oark General Store, 103, lower half of 123, upper section of 7.

Monday - 123 to Sand Gap, 7 down to Dardanelle, 27 to Danville, 309 up through Mt Magazine, 23 up to St Paul and 16 back over to 7 and back up to Harrison

Tuesday - 123 to 16E to Clinton, 9N to Mountain View, 87/14 up to Push Mountain again and 101 to West Plains, MO.

Am I missing any options we should consider in this area? Any of these too challenging for a pretty novice rider?

 

[Redfish Hunter]

May I suggest a short in and out detour? In Dardanelle take Hwy 155 West out of town and ride up Mt. Nebo. This is a short ride and will not benefit your route in any way but the short ride up to Mt. Nebo State Park is a very good one. If, I say IF you like switchbacks and steep mountain roads.

If you time it right and get to stop at Mt. Magazine Lodge for lunch you will not regret it.

 

[Old Guy]

Click here for closures. It looks like it could affect your ride.

Hope you have a great one.

 

[hppants]

You've got things pretty well covered. Regarding the "Pope" road closure, hwy 7 is fantastic throughout, and especially nice between Sand Gap and Russellville. You can certainly detour around the Pope road closure easily, but another option to consider is from Sand Gap, Hwy 16 east, then Hwy 27 south. Hwy 27 is a wonderful road - not as twisty as Hwy 7 but definitely twisty enough. And it is completely void of traffic - in the Spring this year, our group really enjoyed it. You can't lose either way, though.

Definitely agree with R/H - Mt. Nebo is well worth the short detour. If you are a hiker and your time allows, just across Hwy 7 at Mt. Nebo is Petit Jean State Park. The waterfall trail there is very nice.

Since you are including the Push Mtn road on your last day (Hwy 341), on your first day, you might consider Hwy 14 West into Yellville, instead of Push Mtn. road. That allows you to avoid Hwy 412 which is not much to look at. I offer this with a little bit of trepidation. From purely a riding perspective, Push Mtn. Road in good dry weather is probably the best 20-25 miles of motorcycling in Arkansas. If you are a peg scraper, then P/M road is going to be a very memorable experience. So if the weather is really good on day 1 - consider your original plan, lest you put it off and get caught in the rain on your last day. If you are open to a change on day 1, Hwy 14 west toward Harrison - that is much better than Hwy412. If you end up with Push Mtn road on day 1, and you are making good time, take the Hwy 126/Hwy 178 loop north though Bull Shoals and shorten your Hwy 412 run (obviously I don't like Hwy 412 very much). Hwy 178 is very nice riding.

One more thought - we've visited this many times before. The roads in Arkansas EAT Fjr tires. I mean they will cut your expected mileage in half, and if you ride it like I do, MUCH MORE than half. The grip is stupid, even in wet pavement, and on a good day, the 150 hp of the bike is simply too much to resist. I would not leave home for Arkansas on less than 3/4 of a rear tire, and 2/3 of a front tire. I just wouldn't do it. As others have pointed out, the Yammie dealer in Harrison is first class - you can get a tire there and while they do charge dealer prices, they won't gouge your eyes out and crap in the hole.

Hope this helps - the route maps on my ride reports are accurate.

 

[JSaul]

I grew up in this area and agree with the comments so much good riding. My Dad was there Yamaha dealer for over 20 years in Harrison and the owners of the Yamaha shop there are top notch. They have been there for almost 30 years. I have a few relatives that work there as well.

Great riding, be safe and enjoy.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

This may seem completely off topic but...

If you have seen either version of the movie True Grit, you might enjoy knowing this bit of trivia: Mattie Ross, the main character wanted to capture the outlaw Tom Chaney and bring him to trial in her hometown. Dardanelle, in Yell County Arkansas. Impress your nephew with that bit of useless knowledge.

 

[Goodman4]

May I suggest a short in and out detour? In Dardanelle take Hwy 155 West out of town and ride up Mt. Nebo. This is a short ride and will not benefit your route in any way but the short ride up to Mt. Nebo State Park is a very good one. If, I say IF you like switchbacks and steep mountain roads.

Switchbacks and steep mountain roads? I thought that was the definition of benefiting a route! When I was planning, I saw Mt. Nebo and remembered reading about it being a good motorcycle location, but I thought maybe that was in a different state since I didn't even see a road up the mountain on Google from 27. Now I see it is 155 from 7 on the East side. This looks like fun.

Click here for closures. It looks like it could affect your ride.
Hope you have a great one.

Thanks for the warning, I had not seen that and it would have sucked to find out last minute. I am doubtful but hopeful they will get it fixed in two weeks.

You can certainly detour around the Pope road closure easily, but another option to consider is from Sand Gap, Hwy 16 east, then Hwy 27 south. Hwy 27 is a wonderful road - not as twisty as Hwy 7 but definitely twisty enough.

Pants, I assume the easy detour from the north to Oark is still going down to Clarksville and up 103? I guess there's no decent enough dirt roads like 81 and 82 that would bypass it safely? My nephew probably wouldn't have trouble on the Tenere, but remember my only drop of the FJR was trying to turn around on gravel just about 50 miles north of this when I rode with him last time.

I think your recommendation for 27 looks like the better option and I will start planning it, but I just hate to change a route I like. I'm not as attached to the Saturday route though, so I'm looking forward to mapping out your suggestions for 14 to see what that looks like.

Also, I have new tires sitting in the garage ready for deployment next week. My front tire is cupped pretty bad and it keeps scaring me when turning into driveways and it moves funny.

I grew up in this area and agree with the comments so much good riding. My Dad was there Yamaha dealer for over 20 years in Harrison and the owners of the Yamaha shop there are top notch. They have been there for almost 30 years. I have a few relatives that work there as well.
Great riding, be safe and enjoy.

Thanks, JSaul, I plan on stopping in and will try to remember to say hi.

Lastly Redfish, I'm a fan of both versions of the movie and that's a neat factoid that I will share. I will watch for rattlers.

 

[hppants]

Hwy 27 is a great road - detour or not. I just remembered that we put a geo-cache down on that road. Check out my ride report from the spring to see that. It might be cool for ya'll to stop and get a picture there too.

Your Sunday route is spot on - The entire section of Hwy 123 is fantastic - you will catch the upper section on Monday, which is more technical. On Sunday, you will ride the lower section, which has more high speed sweepers, especially the section between Haw Creek and Hagarville. Be sure to stop on that one-lane truss bridge over Haw Creek - its kind of becoming an Arkansas riders' rite of passage. The run up Hwy 103 to Oark is also a hoot - there's a couple of 1st gear switchbacks that do require commitment, similar to the switchbacks on Hwy 155 up to Mt. Nebo. In either case, look well beyond the curve to make sure there are no camper pullers cutting the entire corner out from under you. Once you get to the switchback itself, you have no choice but to commit. If you stop, you are going to go down.

Your route on Monday is ambitious. 300 miles of Ozark twisties is a full day in any rider's book, and if you detour to my recommended Hwy 27, that might add still a few more miles. Adding the Mt. Nebo detour doesn't extend the mileage much, but it will take 45 min to an hour to run up the mountain, look around, and run back down. You can cut a few miles out at each corner, but if you do that, you will be missing some good stuff - your entire route that day is just fantastic. If it were me, I wouldn't change a thing, but I'd plan to put the kickstands up early - perhaps 7 am.

Your Sunday route on the other hand is much less time-sensitive and if you are inclined, should afford you time to stop and sniff. I can't tell which way you are planning the loop, but if it were me, I'd do it counterclockwise and again, leave early in the morning. Bring a pair of shoes and stop at the Lost Valley near Ponca and walk down that short trail to the water fall and to the cave. In the early morning, that will be very nice. The locals will all be at church and you will likely have the place to yourselves. If you do it that way, it puts you at the Oark Store mid - to late morning. Fear not - Oark's breakfast is as good as its lunch - however, that is just a matter of preference. OTOH - if you run the loop clockwise, that puts you at the Oark store for lunch. You can still walk the lost valley trail, but by the time you get there (mid-to-late afternoon), it will be packed with people (remember you are there on a Sunday). It's all good, just something to think about.

 

[zzzzip]

As a novice on an FJR (and most everything else) in 2004, I rode with the Hooterville bunch of rowdies and got my first taste of 123.

Fortunately it was up hill from Mt. Judea. If your riding buddy doesn't think he's comfortable in 1st gear at walk speed almost scraping the pegs to stay in his lane uphill for about 15 minutes with multiple curves (as in every hundred feet or so), you might want to skip that part of 123.

I didn't wet my pants, but something chewed a hole in my Tidy-Whiteys that day. By the time that weekend was over, I was a much better rider (not saying much when your learning curve is vertical). Everything else was a piece of cake. You have a lot of good routes.

Also, for a cool place to do breakfast or lunch, try the Neighborhood Diner at 1112 N main Street, Harrison. You might have to wait but the food is good and priced reasonable, and the waitresses and a fun bunch of girls. It has great reviews.

And, yes, wheatie, I took my wife there last year.

 

[Goodman4]

It's looking like rain. That won't stop me but it could take some fun out of the twisties. I'm headed out in 8 days. They are saying October for fixing the mudslide on the Pig Trail and I've found that the only decent option around the closure is a 16 mile dirt road. I think I've got better options even if that means I'll have to miss Oark General Store.

My nephew is unsure about 123 so I'll leave that for the end of the route and he can take 7 back up to Harrison while I do 123 if he has not got his confidence up.

I have Mt Nebo on the route in the GPS, so I'm optimistic about that.

New tires and brakes... Ready to go!

 

[Old Guy]

Best of luck to you on the weather.

If he's not confident of his abilities on 123 I would be cautious about Mount Nebo as well. A couple of the right-hand corners are uphill, low gear corners where it might be tough to reach the ground with your inside foot if you get too slow.

 

[hppants]

I wouldn't put too much in the 8 day forecast - especially this time of year. Your liable to have gorgeous blue bird skies, as much as anything else they are screaming now.

When we were there in April, the section of Hwy 23 between the intersection of Hwy 215 (which goes to Oark) and Hwy 16 (which goes anywhere) was newly paved. So you can definitely loop to Oark without worrying about the Pig Trail, unless they are planning to take the entire road out for some ridiculous reason.

If you like a little less traffic (as I do), your timing is great. The weekend after you will be SFO, an St-Owners group, a Goldwing group, and even a Concours group up there.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Those uphill right hand corners become downhill left handers on the reverse route. There is only one way in and back out.

Those corners are so tight that the inside tire on the truck would spin. I tried to not spin the tires but it was impossible.

 

[Old Guy]

You got that right, RH. It's been so long since I was a novice that I can't remember if uphill tight rights or downhill lefts are worse ...

I know I took a guy up it once who had said he was an experienced rider. At the top he said he'd rather go down another way and was downright dismayed when I said there wasn't another way.

 

[hppants]

Yeah - that Mt. Nebo road has first gear switch backs for sure. I'd rather go up hill, but alas - Sir Isaac Newton is correct.

 

[Goodman4]

When we were there in April, the section of Hwy 23 between the intersection of Hwy 215 (which goes to Oark) and Hwy 16 (which goes anywhere) was newly paved. So you can definitely loop to Oark without worrying about the Pig Trail, unless they are planning to take the entire road out for some ridiculous reason.

The section between 215 and 16 is the road that is closed on 23 until sometime in October.

That would force us to go to Oark from the south and then return back down to the south on 103 to near Clarksville to get back up to 16. Not way out of the way, but enough to push it off the radar for us, I think. I'm pretty sure that 5440 east of Oark to 21 is not FJR friendly.

I agree about the weather comments. I just liked seeing that 0% rain and high of 80 that we had this week on the forecast.

 

[Old Guy]

Correct that the roads east of Oark turn to dirt in a couple of miles.

 

[zzzzip]

When we were there in April, the section of Hwy 23 between the intersection of Hwy 215 (which goes to Oark) and Hwy 16 (which goes anywhere) was newly paved. So you can definitely loop to Oark without worrying about the Pig Trail, unless they are planning to take the entire road out for some ridiculous reason.

The section between 215 and 16 is the road that is closed on 23 until sometime in October.

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That would force us to go to Oark from the south and then return back down to the south on 103 to near Clarksville to get back up to 16. Not way out of the way, but enough to push it off the radar for us, I think. I'm pretty sure that 5440 east of Oark to 21 is not FJR friendly.

I agree about the weather comments. I just liked seeing that 0% rain and high of 80 that we had this week on the forecast.

What's the big deal? That's your average road in NE Missouri. Bet Petey could do it.