1 for 3 ain't too bad for baseball players so I'll take that and use it as a positive. We arrived Thursday night, the original plan was to ride up the 5 mile dirt road climb and camp at the TH but the pouring rain made us grab a motel room in Mena. We got up early and got on the trail with the goal to ride from Hwy 71 (the eastern most terminus that bikes are allowed on the OT in Arkansas) and to ride as far as we can, hopefully up and over Blow Out Mountain.
It was muddy going up the double track but ridable.
The OT from 71 to Big Brushy is full of Hike a Bike...
It's not uncommon to take 6 hours to cover the first 30 miles.
We made camp about 2 hours after Blow Out Mountain. Sleeping under the bright stars for the entire trip was a huge treat.
Next day our goal was to make it to the start of the Womble Trail and ride the whole thing to the lake where we planned to make camp. The Womble is 37 miles of IMBA Epicness and is a VERY nice change from the rugged OT. We ate lunch at the Hwy 27 Fishing Village...
Lunch Break
We all were in a very dark place at some point during the day. It got really warm, we had been pushing the pace very hard and we all REALLY wanted to finish this loop. Each of us staggered into the lake either an hour before sunset or right at it. One of us walked the last few miles of the Womble because we couldn't get the valve stem off of the Stans set up to put a tube in. I was lucky enough to get there at a time when a fellow camper gave the first person to show up a beer. I was second in and there was no telling when the 3rd would be. We decided to go ahead and enjoy it for ourselves...
A cold beer at the end of a long hot day is fanfreakingtastic...
The stars that night were unbelievable. So many shooting stars and satellites.
my favorite new piece of gear, the Jetboil Sol. Sooooooo awesome.
Group camping at it's finest...
So the crux of the route is at this point. Twice I've had to take the road back to Mena from Oden. Not because I was physically unable to do the route, but because I never had enough time budgeted to get this thing done. Our group was "all in" on getting this finished. We knew good and well it was going to be very difficult with a lot of climbing. Basically back tracking on the OT back to the car and riding the trail in reverse from where we came for around 20ish miles.
Can you say hike a bike?
The OT is usually pretty dry in a lot of stretches. Even with all the rain we ran out of water for about 20 minutes before we were able to reach a spring. Did I mention it was hot out?
At this point we knew we'd make it. Yes we were all very tired and in pain from all the pushing and climbing but deep inside of me I was extremely excited to get this knocked out.
We all made it to the last "check point" with a small segment of singletrack and 5 miles of easy downhill to the car
Except we didn't take a correct turn and went down the wrong path down the mountain...on the wrong side. SHIT! We popped out and instead of climbing that long and very steep dirt road we decided to take the road back to the car. So yes, I do consider the route completed in my mind since it was all downhill that I missed, I was still pissed because not only did we take a wrong turn, but that wrong turn made us ride for an extra 45 minutes or so with MORE climbing.
Oh yeah, and 2 miles from the car, one of us decided that he was over heated and nearly fainted on the road, next to a hwy with cars coming. I walked/carried him over to a clearing and the others went to get the truck.
This is not the first time I've had to take care of my friend in dire circumstances.
The above picture would be seg 23 on the CT waiting out a nasty hail storm this summer. He fell back off the pace and 2 hours later stumbled in to my makeshift tarp/bivy set up on a ridge soaking wet.
So, the route.
Around 130 miles (97% singletrack, 2 dirt road, 1 road)
14k of climbing
22 hours moving. Done in 2.5 days
The route is totally and extremely difficult. I'm on edge of creating a "race" to see just how fast this can be done. The mileage isn't crazy long, but it's pretty much all single track, very difficult with lot's of hike a biking and this part of the country has none of the cool races the west has.
Things I learned:
1. No more steripen. I used it on the Colorado Trail and it was ok until seg 22 when it crapped out on me. I gave it another chance on the OT, but it did the same. I switching to an actual pump.
2. The Jetboil Sol is a fantastic piece of equipment. I was able to boil water so fast for food and for purification.
3. I need down booties for my feet. I have poor circulation and anything below 45 degrees and my feet get cold.
4. Sleeping without a tarp is awesome. I didn't even bring one.
5. I tried to go without a backpack, but in the end needed a small one, I used the Wingnut 2.5. It worked well though I want to change the harness system on it.
6. The trail is AWESOME!
Thanks for reading!
Travis
