Ride Reports

The happy-go-lucky guys go to Berryman
Missouri trip - May 23-36, 2003

Friday, May 23rd

Steve Ancik, Kyle Bybee, David Hunter, and Rod Phillips took a Memorial Weekend trip to experience the trails of the east-central Missouri area. We left early Friday morning and headed up I-44 toward Rolla, where we made a stop to ride the Kaintuck Trail. The Kaintuck is a ridge-top trail with lots of fast, flowing sections and a few steep climbs. Here, we experienced our only flat tires of the trip. The highlight of the trail is a rocky downhill to an 80-foot long natural tunnel. This is a tunnel that is high and wide enough to ride through, once your eyes acclimate to the darkness. It’s one of the coolest things that you can ever do on a mountain bike!

Rod riding a log - Kaintuck Trail

Rod, David, Kyle, and Steve at entrance to tunnel - Kaintuck Trail

We moved on to Red Bluff Campground near Davisville, in the Mark Twain National Forest. Red Bluff is, as national forest campsites go, one of the nicer…running water is actually available! Rod brought along his pop-up camper, so we slept in style. We had considered camping at Brazil Creek Campground, along the Berryman Trail, but as it turned out, “we chose wisely”.

Campsite at Red Bluff

Saturday, May 24th

We drove about 45 minutes to Brazil Creek Campground, where there were at least 20 horse trailers and 50 horses camped…stinky! Glad we chose wisely and did not try to camp here The day we rode, there was also a trail run event occurring - a marathon, and a 50-mile ultra-marathon. Now, the Berryman is a hilly, rocky, rough trail when on wheels, and I cannot imagine running the entire trail, let alone two laps, but these people were doing it. And some call us crazy. We met quite a few runners as we rode the trail, most of them quite cordial. Except for Cucumber Boy. Cucumber Boy was starting his second lap when we encountered him. He jogged by, munching on two huge cucumbers. We asked him what they had special, and his answer was “they’re real food”. Later, we passed him on the trail, and he demanded that we stay ahead of him, because he was “racing, not happy-go-lucky”.

Kyle on the Berryman Trail

We continued on our happy-go-lucky ways.

Our lap of the 24+ mile Berryman Trail was pretty uneventful, with only a few minor crashes and very minor scrapes. Rod had the biggest crash while descending the switchbacks at the end of the trail…he lost his balance on the last turn and almost ended up in the creek, except he was saved by a tree. As for the trail, it was as fun as ever, despite heavy use by hikers, runners, and horses. There are some areas that are washed out and rutted, and a few muddy places, but overall the trail is over 98% rideable. An epic ride!

David on the Berryman Trail

David, Rod, and Kyle on the Berryman Trail

Steve at Berryman Trail sign

Overnight, the rain came down, heavy at times. We all contemplated the possibility that we’d have to give up our planned ride on Sunday, and also wondered how much rain it would take to flood the campground, since there was a sign as we drove in labeling the 100-year flood level. We were camped on a floodplain! Well, no flooding occurred, so we survived.

Sunday, May 25th

The morning broke wet and misty. Looked bad for a ride. We decided to wait until after lunch to ride, to allow the water to drain off of the trails. Meanwhile we did some bike maintenance and cleaning, and Kyle and Steve rode the short but sweet trail in the campground (the Red Bluff Trail - only 1-¼ miles but still singletrack). After lunch, we headed to Council Bluffs Recreation Area to ride the Council Bluffs Trail. Council Bluffs trail is a singletrack trail around the lake, and you rarely get over 30 feet above the shoreline. There are just a couple of long hills, and lots of short, quick descents and climbs. Lots of rocky exposure and a few really fun rock gardens awaited us. Once again, the ride was without mishap, and we finished up with no major bodily damage.

Steve on Council Bluffs Trail

David on Council Bluffs Trail

Kyle on Council Bluffs Trail

Rod on a tricky bit at Council Bluffs

Another night in camp, then we headed home...

THE END