Just got back from a great mid-day, 15 mile bike ride hitting the Big Dam Bridge, Pfeiffer Loop, North Little Rock River Trail and Burns Park Mountain Bike Trails on a beautiful day. This is just a warm up to the late afternoon/evening eating festivities. A great ride on a cool day.
I also wanted to say that I am very thankful to live in such an awesome place where there are so many outdoor activities available. Arkansas is truly blessed with great rivers, mountains and wetlands. Also, thanks to family and friends who enjoy or tolerate our outdoor passions. Now have some food and hit a trail. Happy Thanksgiving from the folks at Arkansas Outside!
Thinking that this might be something we use at the beginning of future videos.
It was taken at Attila the Hun Mountain Bike Race at Cedar Glades near Hot Springs. What do you think?
The crunch of the drying leaves under my feet, a clear blue sky, a cool morning, the kind where as the sun warms the day you can truly feel it when it touches exposed skin. Before long we would be part of a warm and dirty day but for now, well, we were part of the grand show.
A couple of riders warming up in the background
The Attila the Hun Mountain Bike Race at Cedar Glades Park near Hot Springs, Arkansas is the final race of the Arkansas Mountain Bike Championship Series (AMBCS). Starting back in April the series includes 11 races across the state.
The Cedar Glades Park trails have long been a favorite of mine. I’ve watched them grow and improve over the years into a first class mountain biking venue. They have also added a climbing wall, BMX track, RC Airfield, Disc Golf Course, ADA trail, playgrounds and other great amenities. Any city that is looking to build a first class adventure park should take a look at the offerings at Cedar Glades. The park is managed by Garland County and is actually built on county land adjacent to the county landfill. This is an excellent use of public land to encourage outdoor play and activity.
So what does all this have to do with “Beer Fairies”? Well, I’m getting to that. You see, our friend Sarah works at a local bike shop (Chainwheel) and also does a lot of bike racing. Sarah is also insane, which is one of the things we really like about her. Saturday while in the bike shop dropping coin on things we didn’t need, Sarah invited Lisa to come out to the race on Sunday and be a “Beer Fairy.” They said that I could come along, I guess I was the fairy bodyguard, so the game was afoot.
So what is a beer fairy? From my experience, a beer fairy is someone who dresses up in a tu-tu and angel wings, goes to
Rare Photo of Arkansas Beer Fairies in their element
the last place a mountain biker would be expecting beer and hand it out in paper cups, all while ringing a cowbell and shouting encouragement to the riders. To some of the riders this appears as a hallucination but I assure you, it’s real. This is a true story.
Upon arriving at the parking lot we realized that this race was going to be awesome. The lot was full of cars carrying every assortment of mountain bikes. Riders, spectators and kids were all over the place enjoying the beautiful day. As the fairies donned their outfits, the cooler was filled to capacity, paper cups were collected and we were off through the woods to find just the right spot on the course. Having ridden this course 100’s of times it was easy to find our little piece of heaven not far from the parking lot. This was a great thing for the fairy bodyguard as I found out his job included carrying the ice chest.
What better place to find a beer fairy than the top of “Heart Attack Hill?” We would have the chance to watch the riders coming up the hill and than make the turn to the crest and suddenly……there’s BEER! We were in the early part of the course so the leaders were a bit timid to take a cup but the guys and gals in the back didn’t have much problem enjoying a sip. A few even stopped long enough to really enjoy. By the second lap we got a lot more takers, even some of the leaders. It was all fun and with only a couple of sips in each cup it was all safe. I spent most of my time wandering through the woods looking for different camera angles but heard enough of the commotion to permanently equate the sound of a cowbell with beer.
We finally ran out of cups and only had a little beer left so we walked back to the cars for a quick food break and then a lap for ourselves. The trails are in great shape and it was really nice to get out there again. towards the end of our 10 mile loop we caught up with the tail end of the kids race. With a few parents riding with them we got to watch the future of mountain biking in Arkansas. Don’t worry, they’ve got it covered.
So in the end it was a tie. Attila the Hun vs. Arkansas Beer Fairies, everyone is a winner! Arkansan’s sure know how to conduct a mountain bike race.
Riders attacking Heart Attack Hill
Also, a quick question, what kind of beer should beer fairies hand out in the middle of a race?
Arkansas State Parks has put out a new video promoting making new memories…and sharing them on their Facebook site. Pretty cool, it gave me goose bumps. The old footage could have been our family vacations when I was a kid.
The weekend warrior is back! After not doing any working out for weeks due to an overabundance of well meaning excuses it was time to get back in the woods. Trails of choice would be our own local playground, Pinnacle Mountain State Park. We opted for a trail run/walk/crawl/drag-our-body workout starting at the eastern terminus of the Ouachita Trail near the parks’ visitor center.
The Ouachita Trail
The flat part of the trail heading toward the mountain.
The East Summit Trail, "Steepest Trail in Arkansas"
Time to go UP!
You have to remember to stop and checkout the view
We made a stop at the top to talk to and take photos of out of town visitors, "Say Cheeseburger!"
Time to head down the West Summit Trail
The new base trail is a beautiful stroll through the woods
Eventually we came back to the Ouachita Trail
Soon we were headed back up to the visitor center
“Leaf-Off” is still one of my favorite times of the year in Arkansas. Everything is so open and clear. The cool is back in the air now and it makes the senses so intense. Remember also, no bugs, snakes or any of the other reasons that might keep you from the woods. So put a coat on and head on out!
Cossatot Falls - Cossatot River State Park - Natural Area
Fall color is always a wonderful time in Arkansas. Early in the season (the second week of October) you will see the colors begin to change up in the Ozarks and on the high-points of the state like Mount Magazine and Rich Mountain. As the color continues south the Ouachita Mountains turn beautiful yellows and reds. Finally by mid November we still have color left in the lower parts of the state. Just pick a pretty weekend and head out on one of the many scenic drives or maybe a state park.
This year we had a bit of a problem with that last part. October 2009 became the wettest on record. Now for many this made for a dreary indoor where those without a true adventure spirit stayed inside and watched football and reruns. But they missed some good stuff.
Bring on the Arkansas waterfalls! With a mixture of water and fall color those who ventured out were treated with some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.
Triple Falls (courtesy of Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism
Mountain Biker enjoying the ride!
Last weekend I had the opportunity to represent Arkansas State Parks at the CARPe Diem Mountain Bike Festival at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock. Our booth was set up next to friends from FoOT (Friends of Ouachita Trail), Ozark Extreme Adventure Racing, Teen Challenge and CARP (Central Arkansas Recreational Pedalers). A more honorable group you will not find. Besides us, several cycling stores were represented.
The race organizers, Bell & Company Mountain Biking, were great to work with. They had both breakfast and lunch for us, racers and just about anyone else that showed up. As the races started a drum circle formed in the area in front of our booth. They were soon replaced with one of the three bands that would entertain us throughout the day.
The organizers had set up the stage in a fun, unique way. they had a flatbed trailer as a stage and a viewing area for people to watch and dance to the music. The race course actually passed between the stage and the viewing area just before it went to the finish line. It was a nice way of keeping everyone involved in the race. The racers seemed to have a good time and I know I did. Looking forward to this event next year, maybe I’ll ride in it.
Arkansas State Parks Booth
Mountian Biker passing the stage
Some drum circles can't be explained...this one shouldn't be explained.
The view from the stage
The Ouachita Adventure Race could become a classic! What a great race, 12 hours of running, orienteering, canoeing, rappelling, mountain biking, etc. All just about 1/2 an hour west of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Our team (ExtremeTrek) did not do as well as we would have liked but still had a great time. We think that those that finished quickly just didn’t get to enjoy the course as much as those of us who spent more time out there. I don’t have any photos of my own, heck, I was busy racing and had enough stuff to carry but you will see some photos of the race in the slide show below followed by the one photo of us.
Ozark Extreme Racing did a great job of course layout, checkpoint placement and keeping everything interesting. The volunteers were wonderful and plentiful. If you are at all interested in adventure racing I highly recommend trying one of their sprint races. If you are not so inclined please sign up to volunteer. That gives you a chance to meet some of these crazy people in their best moments.
Also, I wanted to thank Mountain Harbor Resorts for hosting the race and for supporting adventure sports. I know they have been very involved in the creation of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail which may be one of the best mountain bike trails in the state.
ExtremeTrek, coming in from the orienteering section
What a crazy week! After a bit of decorating and design work in the southern part of the state (I helped hang photos and posters in the new cabins at Moro Bay State Park) on Tuesday, Wednesday had me heading North to Mountain View, AR and the Syllamo Mountain Bike Trails. Some friends of ours and I were giving an out of state travel writer a tour of the trails and general area. It was great fun. Finished it all up with an excellent dinner at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Here are a few photos from the ride.
The group
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- The group
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- Sylamore Creek
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- Bluff View
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- Kelley, Lisa & Sarah
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- Lisa & Sarah
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- Kelley
Three days, three parks, three hiking trails, and horses. Last year we spent the entire Labor Day Weekend camping at Lake Ouachita State Park and had a wonderful time kayaking, swimming, geocaching and hiking. This year we opted for something a little different due to other commitments. Saturday started with a quick run/hike at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. Just the simple around, up and over that I have always loved. It was a little tough as I am just coming off a couple of months with little working out, I survived. Later in the day we had lunch with my daughter and her fiance at a local Mexican restaurant, Senor Tequila’s, a family favorite. We would have taken advantage of the outdoor patio but we were in the middle of our only rain of the weekend.
On Sunday we took it easy, you know gotta sit around and read the paper after sleeping in (this was Labor Day weekend after all). After running a few errands we couldn’t handle sitting around anymore so back to Pinnacle again for another short trail run on the Rocky Valley trail. L continued to run a second lap while I went and GPS’d a portion of a new trail I have been laying out in the park. She had to wait on me awhile while I bushwacked through the woods for about an hour.
Monday, Labor Day, had been somewhat planned. The plan? Head to Lake Catherine State Park and do some hiking have a picnic and see what else we could entertain ourselves within the park. Lake Catherine State Park is one of the original Arkansas State Parks and the first facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corp. It is famous for it’s beautiful campground, cabins, trails and of course, the lake. Arriving around 11:00 am we headed straight for the Horseshoe Mountain Trail. At 3.5 miles long it is the second longest in the park and has some nice elevation gain. We started up and quickly came across a family of deer. Three does and three fawns paying us almost no mind. Then it was up, up, up. We followed the trail to an overlook where we could see the lake pretty well and decided that this would be a great place to see fall color. After winding down the trail and getting back to the trailhead we headed over to the swimming area to see about a picnic lunch.
L had made some sandwiches and we had some cheddar potato chips for lunch, finished it off with some brownies, mmmmm. We had considered going swimming but it looked a little crowded so we
Getting ready to hit the trails on horseback
opted for horseback riding. The park does not have trails for people to bring their horses on but they do have a wonderful stable where a concessionaire takes guests on hour long guided trips through the woods. We arrived at the very clean family friendly operation and met Ray Lovett, the owner. Ray got us set up with horses and introduced us to our guide, Jesse.
We were accompanied by another couple and their two cute children. Soon we were meandering along the trail on well behaved horses. We saw several deer along the trail and just really had a great time. I think it was the highpoint of M’s weekend.
Afterward it was back home to grill out stack and fresh corn out on the deck. Another perfect weekend in Arkansas.
