Hey guys,

I brought this up in the Can Am forum, but decided this would be a better place for this topic.

The date is set Oct 18 - 21 at Wolf Pen Gap, Arkansas, which is about 10 miles or so outside of Mena, AR.

Depending on the size of the group we have spread out where we will be staying. There are two locations too choose from, and they are a few miles apart, and the major trail head to the park is right in the middle of these two locations. I am staying at Wolf Pen Gap Campground along with Ronnie and a few others.

Wolf Pen Campground is a large campground with many RV spots, Tent camping, Rustic A-Frame cabins, and a few cottages/cabins. Instead giving all the details on the campground I suggest you goto this link and see what they have.

The second location which is just down the road from WPG Campground is Heath Valley Cabins. Heath Valley Cabins has 5 cabins, two which are very large, two small ones, another large cabin, and one RV spot. They are very nice cabins. Here is the link to their cabins.

Again it doesn't matter where you stay we will all meet at the main trail head to ride each day. Again that trail head is nearly in between the WPG Campground, and Heath Valley Cabins.

I highly suggest trying to make this ride for two reasons.

1) We will be riding a large section of area outside of WPG National Forest, that will all be closed in September 2008. After Sept 08 you will only be able to ride in the National Forest. The trails we will be riding outside of the National Forest are some of the best.

2) We will have Trail Master Ronnie with us on this ride, and he knows this place like the back of his hand. He has shown me this entire area, and I have seen trails I never knew about, and I have been riding up there for the past 5 yrs. Ronnie and I will be everyone around.

This is Trail Master Ronnie

This is me incase people don't know who I am

The last ride we had was in Broken Bow, OK and we had alot of fun up there, and there is plenty of riding available that we haven't seen yet, but the fall time in October, in Arkansas is awesome. Plus, this is 95% trails, as opposed to logging roads.

As far as the riding, guys and girls, this is more technical than Oklahoma. Its very rocky, some areas are steep, there maybe some moderately deep water crossings. Keep in mind we won't do anything that the entire group can't do, and we won't push people into riding stuff they don't feel comfortable doing. Ronnie knows most of the difficult bypass areas, but it is a very rough ride. Rest assure, if you come across a section that you are not comfortable going over or up I will personally ride your machine through that section. There is no shame in asking for help.

In addition you must, must, bring extra fuel we will easily do over 50 miles to 100 mile rides in one day. If you are not up for a super long ride this event might not be for you. If you don't want to tag along with us for super long rides, but would like to come, you can ride within the National Forest which has about 32 miles worth of trails.

Here is a link to all our trips at Wolf Pen Gap, and there are number of photos of Wolf Pen Gap Campground, and Heath Valley Cabins. If this gets to be super big there is another place to stay at which is called Sugar Creek Cabins, but its about 15 miles south of where we are staying. Its not a big deal, and we can still meet up with people for the trail rides.

Wolf Pen Gap Trip Photos

That is about all I can think of right now. I will post updates here, but this is pretty much it. If you have any questions just ask.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JohnsWoodshop,

Oh, if anyone wants to go up on Wednesday afternoon, let me know, especially if they are going to be traveling some distance. I can go up Wednesday if I know people will be there.

I don't know Greg. I have heard Trail Master Ronnie is pretty rough. Not sure I can keep up with him.

He's gonna have to crack that whip to keep this group of jokers on the move. It will definantly be a good ride and we will cover some miles. If you have never ridden the trails up there this would be a good ride to be on. Like Lamigra said we won't do anything that nobody wants to do. We want everyone to return home safe and tell lies around the campfire about how hard the trail guide was on everybody. At Wolf Pen Gap Campgrounds they have some nice cabins and some decent ones. The A frame cabins do not have a shower in them and some have a small kitchen. You will need to bring everything for a shower and you also have to supply your own bedding. In the A frames they allow pets also so if you have a pet the A frames are the way to go if you want to bring them along. There is a bath house on site and a small store but they do not sell fuel there and it is apretty good drive to Mena to get gas. At Heath Valley Cabins about 3 or so miles from WPG Campgrounds they have some super nice cabins and it is fully furnished. You don't have to bring anything to these. I forgot to say the cottages at WPG Campgrounds are fully furnished also. If I remember right there are BBQ grills at all cabins. We will ride rain,sleet snow or whatever mother nature brings our way except bad lightning.The main things to me to bring will be atleast enough extra gas for you to ride all day,lunch on the trail,rain gear,flat repair kit and a camera and film. With the way the forrest service is now we won't be doing anything outside of the law. For anybody who wants to drink and ride it is a no no up there to do this so lets save that for the campground. I hope to see everyone with a helment especially the organizer of this event cause like he said there are some challenging places we will go and I don't want to see somebodys head bounch off a rock.

Ronnie

Greg...Do you reserve the cabins or do we.... Rachel and I would like one of the small cabins or share one of the larger ones....

Yeah, Ed I am scared to even ride with him

Just too Piggy off what Ronnie said, alcohol is out on the trail, the Rangers target people like you can't believe. You are best to drink back at camp. Yes, Helmets are highly encouraged it is a dangerous place.

Voodoo, I would call WPG Campground tomorrow morning, and reserve a cottage. You and your wife will want a cottage, they have everything.

I called this afternoon and they had three left, I reserved one for myself.

I am going to leave setting up the accommodations to everyone to do on their own. Depending on whether you want a cabin, tent, or RV. So call and reserve now they are going to go quickly.

Oh, one last thing I encourage everyone to try and stay at Wolf Pen Campground since that is where the majority of us will be. If it gets filled up or they don't have what you want check with Heath Valley Cabins next.

Greg... If these trails are dangerous... are we gonna be riding during the day or at night....and what do you mean by dangerous...

So many places to go, so little vacation. I'll still be recovering from being in Moab, UT for the first two weeks of Oct. (Work is were you go to rest.)

I don't know where you like to stay when you travel but remember the cottages have all the comforts of home and the A frames don't.I don't know if dangerous is really the word to use but there will be some off camber riding,some pretty good hill climbs,crossing creeks. I don't think anybody will have any problems. It is mainly the rocks that will cause more damage if you don't have a helment. Some teenagers on 2 wheel drives made it everywhere we will be going the last ride we had. Any halfway experienced rider will be fine. Probably the hardest thing we will do will be Greggs favorite trail called shin bone. It is full of rocks and roots and requires low gear and 4 wheel drive thru some sections of it with 1 pretty good uphill or downhill it is just according to which way we go.

Ronnie

Thx Ronnie.. That sounds OK... should be fun... //

Is your wife an experienced rider Voodoo? Mine has given up driving that is why we have the X2. She said she wouldn't ever be caught riding shin bone again. Greggs honey made it with no problem last time.

Ronnie

Ronnie.. Not really experienced no.. but she will try the harder stuff... I think she will do OK... She is a trooper for sure.........

Greg.... Is there gonna be racing this time ..or just trails.............

I second what Ronnie said. We had a large group from Houston, the last time we rode up there, and all the utility machines did well, and the sport quads had a hell of a time, flipped several times, they were beat from the trail, and it was just a nightmare for them.

Again, everyone will be okay if they just take it slow through the tricky sections, have their 4wd engage, and low gear. Helmets are a very good idea, and since it will be cool and not 95+ I ll have mind more than likely.

There are super dangerous areas, but we only tackle those spots when we have usually 3 and no more than 5 riders, and everyone is super skillful. But, with larger groups 5, 10, or 20 people we bypass those areas.

For guys that think this place is too far, I will guarantee its worth every bit of the drive. This is some of the best trail riding, and scenic views you will find, in this area. Its sort of like out West, but with smaller mountains, and full treed. The Mountains are covered with trees, and you are driving under thick canopy the entire time, its really nice.

With Ronnie as the Trail Master everyone is very lucky to have him on this ride. Like I said just be sure to look at my pics from over the last 5 yrs of riding up there, and that will give you an idea what the riding will be like.

quote:

Originally posted by Voodoo:
Ronnie.. Not really experienced no.. but she will try the harder stuff... I think she will do OK... She is a trooper for sure.........

Greg.... Is there gonna be racing this time ..or just trails.............

Just trails, no events. This is a pure trail ride, trying something different, until we get Doug's property setup for more events.

Your wife will be fine, the most important thing is having a capable machine, and she has that. If she was riding a small sport quad or small utility machine I would say she needs to be highly skillful, but her Sportsman will get her through.

There really isn't any place to have any races where we will be camped. There might be a few places on the dirt roads to cut up on. This really looks more like trail riding than anything. Where is Gregg at? Gets a ride going and just disappears.

Ronnie

Voodoo..she can follow me again...just like we did in oklahoma..lol..she can hit the same rocks i do

Don were you rock crushing in OK

Ronnie, that reminds me my TC 950 is coming in that Wednesday Oct 15, might just have it time, or pick it up the following Monday.

Thx for the info guys....I know she will be Ok.. Greg ,,,I just reserved the Cedar Cottage... for the ride...

quote:

Originally posted by LaMigraTx:
Oh, if anyone wants to go up on Wednesday afternoon, let me know, especially if they are going to be traveling some distance. I can go up Wednesday if I know people will be there.

That's my plan. I just reserved one of the cottages at Wolf Pen Gap.

Cool guys, looks like we will be next to each other. All of those cottages are right next to each other, and they are really nice.

So, it looks like you will be there then Cajun, thats great. Sounds like you need a little vacation, working way too much

This will be a good ride.