okearthbike.com | 10/16-17/04 Syllamo trails, Mountain View, Arkansas

Oct 16/17 2004 - Syllamo Trails
Mountain View, Arkansas

Riders: Paul, Shane, James, Marcel.
Trails: Syllamo Trails (Phase 1), Mountain View, Arkansas.
We recently read some articles about this newly developed trail system near the small town of Mountain View, just over 100 miles North of Little Rock, and decided to check them out. Well, the Forest service, in charge of building these trails, is up to something good in Arkansas. Phase 1 was completed not too long ago and encompasses just over 21 miles of trails, mostly excellent single track. Most of the Phase 1 trails are quite technical and can be compared to e.g. Greenleaf and the 'expert' section at Keystone with more climbs. The White River Bluff Loop offers spectacular views of the river in the North Sylamore Creek Valley. It's worth pointing out that in Phase 1 this section is the only one with views of the area since the other trails, the Bald Scrappy Loop and Scrappy Mountain Loop, are all 'covered up' by the Ozark Forest... Anyway, the riding is most excellent if you like rocks, as you can see in the pictures. On Saturday we covered 16 miles and on Sunday another 11, all in Phase 1.

We stayed at Jack's Fishing Resort, 6.5 miles North of Mountain View, home to approximately 3,000 residents, festivals, outdoor adventure and is the birth place of folk songwriter & singer Jimmy Driftwood...

Phase 2 has recently added another 13 miles (which we didn't ride). Eventually this place may have 75-85 miles of trails. 75% are slated for hiking & mountain biking only, with another 25% including motorized and horses. This website has information about the trails, with a link to the US Forest Website and the official trail map. The 2004 Autumn edition of IMBA's Newsletter is listing the Syllamo Trails as one of the big Mountain Biking Success Stories...

This place is well worth the 6+ hours drive from OKC.

Ps. before riding the Syllamo Trails James checked out the trail at Lake Leatherwood near Eureka Springs first. The last 2 pics are from Lake Leatherwood...