Camp Robinson News

Snow has shut down cycling in Central Arkansas for all but the hardiest few. I consider myself to be quite hardy when it comes to riding in the cold and have done some mountain biking in snow with mixed results, but I'm just going to whine this particular weather event out. Before I resigned myself to puppies and long walks at sunset, which is a romanticized paraphrasing of "walking the dogs at dark", I headed out to Camp Robinson Sunday afternoon to get a prestorm ride in and to assess the trails. I rode out Airport Loop and over to the "site formerly known as the Christmas Tree" and did a little hike-a-bike across the clearing to hit the Christmas Tree Loop. I probed Xmas Extended and soon ran into clear cut, so I turned back and rode over to Dogwood and rode it back toward the old parking lot until I hit the harvest area. Here is some good news from C.A.R.P.'s Gary Lamb on trail restoration. Dogwood is supposed to be the first trail to be restored and it should be pretty easily done with some heavy equipment or a day's work for a small crew of manly men with a chain saw and rakes.

Most of the trails still live.

This is the big cut that slashed through much of the upper trail system. It covers some ground,  but most of the trail mileage remains intact and will be reconnected to the trail head with time.

Dogwood Trail

 About 100 yards of debris is all that has to be cleaned up to reopen Dogwood Trail, marked with the yellow tape. My understanding is that the Guard forestry folks are going to clear this stretch first to open access from the regular parking lot. Once that is done and Christmas Tree is reconnected to the Center Road, things will flow much better. As for trail conditions, they were excellent on Sunday. The few muddy patches were frozen nicely and it was cold enough that my water was freezing up in the tube from my CamelBak if I didn't drink regularly, but most of what I rode had been cleared and the surface was perfect. All bets are off, now. It's likely to be sloppy for awhile if not frozen, but the upper trails should ride well. North slopes like the entry to Outer Loop and Ball o Nails may still have significant snow for a few days.

Working It Out: Ready To Ride At Camp Robinson

Bryan Shipman and I did some trail work at Camp yesterday and discussed the fact that the trails need more riders. There are a few reasons behind the usage drop off, but folks, this is a great trail system and we need to use it. Among the impediments are the transition to the Sportsman Pass system for entry, the logging operations, and the heavy leaf cover on the trails. Here's my assessment of those factors:

Sportsman Pass: Camp has transitioned away from the system that requires a C.A.R.P card, photo ID, auto registration and proof of insurance. They now require Sportsman Passes, which cost $10.00 and are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00-6:00. You will need to present your ID and auto information, but getting the card takes only a few minutes and the system makes check in much easier. You no longer need a C.A.R.P. card (but should support the club, anyway), and you still may need to display your photo ID at the gate. Go get your pass. This Thursday would be a good time. Don't wait until the first pretty Saturday or you will be S.O.L.

Logging Operations: The timber harvest is completed, but some areas are a bit of a mess. Continue to park at the winter parking area, which provides access at the Airport Loop.

Leaf Cover/ Trail Conditions: Dave London has done a lot of trail raking and I've been out there along with Bryan Shipman clearing several miles of trail. We tried to concentrate on the trails that had the heaviest cover. Several miles of Airport, Buddha, Ball of Nails, Advanced Trig, and Helter Skelter have been cleared of leaf cover and are in great shape! Check out the video of our operation below. I hesitate to share our rapid trail raking system, but here you go!



I just heard this morning that word was being spread at a local bike shop that mountain bikers are less welcome at Camp Robinson. That is not correct. We are still welcome. The change to the Sportsman Pass system was not to discourage mountain bikers, but to make the system for entry easier for the folks at the gate and consitent with the one that has been in place for other users.
Camp Robinson remains the best trail system in Central Arkansas so don't overlook it when making your plans to lay in the dirt.

C.A.R.P. Christmas Eve Camp Robinson Jingle Bell Ride

As I looked at the dismal weather forecast for Christmas Eve, this forwarded e-mail popped into my box:
Yes the Jingle Bell Ride is still on! At 1:00 p.m. tomorrow, Christmas
Eve- meet at winter parking- Range 17. Your choice of hot chocolate, tea, or cider with Crickett's oatmeal raisin cookies will be available.

The loggers have bulldozed the Christmas tree, will find another for the Photo. See you there rain or shine, sleet or snow; we haven't missed one for 15 years and we're not going to stop this year!!


Gary.

C.A.R.P.

I had already made plans to take my leaf blower out to Camp Robinson, intent on contributing to an effort to clear the trails that were compromised by heavy leaf cover (by "compromised", I mean, covered to the point of invisibility), but the forecast called for temperatures in the 30's and rain. I arrived at about 11:00 to a cold, light rain and found that the trails where I had intended to start had been raked the day before (Thank you, Mr. London!), so I scouted around and started in on the northern loop of Buddha. The leaf blower is the ticket for this task, as I cleared a couple of miles of trail just about as quickly as I could walk them. After making a quick scout on the bike of some of the recently logged areas, I returned the winter parking area to meet the C.A.R.P. crew. True to promise, Gary Lamp, Basil and Crickett Hicks, Bryan Shipman, Josh Joyce and Matt (sorry, didn't get the last name!) had the rain fly up, a table spread with goodies, bikes dressed out with bells and helmets complemented with Santa hats.

Neither rain nor cold nor rowdy dogs could keep the C.A.R.P. hard core from making their annual ride. All it took to assure my presence was the promise of Crickett Hicks's oatmeal raisin cookies.

The timber cutting has left this stretch of Outside Loop in shambles, but both the woods and the riders are resilient.  

There is really only one way to negotiate the terrain left by this kind of logging operation. The forester may work with C.A.R.P. to help re-establish or reroute some of the affected trails.

Bryan and the elves evaluating the situation.

The original Christmas Tree was reduced to stump status, but its spirit lives on.

We gathered after the ride to enjoy hot beverages and tasty snacks while discussing the opportunities and challenges of the new landscape.

I think the logging operations are complete, but there will be some major clean-up to be done. Decisions will be made regarding the routing of the damaged trails and there will be plenty of work ahead before things return to near-normal. In spite of the damage, many miles of trail remain ridable and there is an effort underway to clear those trails of leaves and debris. The trails in the logged area obviously will require heavier work and riders should avoid them if for no other reason than that they are generally unridable and hazardous. I can also reliably predict that the first heavy rain will produce seas of knee deep, bike-miring shoe-sucking mud where the heavy equipment has plowed things up.

Camp Robinson

Logging continues at Camp Robinson. I went out Sunday afternoon to hide from the wind in the woods and found that the December schedule that I posted was not 100% accurate. The "inner" trail of Airport Loop was closed by logging at a point between the Airport Loop crossover (where the inner and outer legs of Airport are connected by a creek crossing) and Center Road.
I rode Airport to Buddha, then went hike-a-biked up Helter Skelter and probed Christmas tree for a short distance before hitting the timber harvest boundary.

The meaning of this pine across Christmas Tree was apparent. I expected to hit a dead-end here, but found the same on part of Airport.

This clearing is near the end of Christmas Tree and directly across the Center Road from the Port-o-Potty trailhead. As I recall, there are to be a couple of helicopter landing zones in TA2 for training and I believe this is the smaller of the two.

Camp Robinson is my favorite place to ride mountain bikes, but recently it's been a struggle to maintain the fun factor. The logging has eliminated access to some of my favorite trails and made others just a little less accessible. I'm also finding the riding just a bit harder due to the thick blanket of leaves and the fact that very few riders are out there keeping the trails ridden in. Rocks are well hidden as are the trails themselves, causing me to exercise more caution than usual and I still find myself off in the woods from time to time. A few times, I didn't even know that I'd left the trail until I ran back on to it. Those factors make it a little difficult to get a groove going at my mediocre level of  skill on fat tires.

When the logging is done, I think that there will be an opportunity to create some new trail experiences at Camp, but I may seek my dirt elsewhere for awhile. 

Camp Robinson C.A.R.P. Trail Update

As far as I know, the information is this post is still current as far as closures are concerned. I did go out last Sunday for a little spin, parking at the Winter Parking area and heading up Airport Loop to Buddha. I always find the initial rocky downhill stretch of Buddha to be sketchy and, with a thick blanket of leaves hiding many obstacles, I had only gone about 100 yards before I busted my ass (that's a technical mountain biking term that means, "involuntary and abrupt dismount resulting in significant impact with a solid mass, normally consisting of rocks, trees and/or dirt". I seem to have an affinity for landing on rocks, but most of the damage was limited to my confidence. I did the Buddha Trail loop and was heading back down Airport when I heard a wild pack of dogs, which could only mean the arrival of Basil Hicks, son Basil, Jr., and their trail running pups. We hooked up and rode over to Merlin, then Can o' Corn and part of Dogwood before working our way back to Airport.

You can lead these dogs to water and they'll take it from there!

Previously, you had to ride up the road a few yards from the lot to the trailhead. Basil and Basil had plans to cut a new piece of trail to lead directly from the Winter Parking area to Airport Loop, so we got that done at the end of our ride.   

With the exceptions of the hunting dates (follow"this post" link above), those trails unaffected by logging are open, and I really wish that some people would go ride them! They need some "riding in" since the big leaf drop, but are otherwise in very good shape.

Mixed Signals at Camp Robinson; Burns Park

I headed back to Camp Robinson Thursday evening, taking advantage of the dwindling daylight hours. I checked in as usual at the Visitor's Center, but...
Mixed Signals:
 It may have been my last chance for a while (or not!), as I have heard from another rider that she was turned away on Saturday and told that the C.A.R.P. trails in Training Area 2 were closed "indefinitely".  As a follow-up, I called the Camp Robinson Visitor's Center on Monday and was told that "we're just handing out passes" and that no directive concerning closure had been issued.

Riding Blind
On Thursday, I returned to Merlin's Trail via Shipwreck, the same route I'd taken a week before, but the addition of a fresh blanket of fallen leaves made the ride much more challenging as the trails have pretty much disappeared under the leaves and there has not been enough traffic to keep the trails ridden down.

It was very difficult to see the trail, much less pick out obstacles and ride the good lines. This is on Merlin's Trail and, yes, the trail is in the photo. For much of my ride, the tape tied to trees along the route was the only indication that I wasn't off-trail. I had a light, but was very concerned about getting out before dark. In most places the trail was only a faint trace.

I was able to ride Merlin's to Dogwood, and then return on Five Mile, but that option will likely soon disappear. There was tape on the west side of the trail indicating the harvest boundary and orange blazes on trees to the east.

This tape was along the western edge of Five Mile Trail

These blazes are to the east of the western-most loop of Five Mile 

It looks like things are going to be sketchy at Camp for a while, so I plan to use the opportunity to explore other options, like Burns Park. I've ridden at Burns Park some, but will be getting much more familiar with it. At this time, I'm still getting my bearings and I'm often surprised at where I pop out on to the road!

This view at sundown from above the gravel quarry near the golf course at Burns Park is hard to beat.

I had a vague notion that this was in the woods above the pump track at the quarry, but this was my first look. The see-saw looks cool, but I'll leave it to those riders with better balance and less aversion to impact than I've got.

Heat-Seeking Reptiles

This black snake was soaking up some late evening warmth on the River Trail last week. He's harmless, but it is not uncommon to see a copperhead or cottonmouth on the trail this time of year, particularly in the evening when temperatures drop and the trail is still warm. If you're not familiar with snakes, just give them all a wide berth. I'm much more concerned about a skunk encounter than snakes.

Camp Robinson: Fire out, chainsaws fired up.

Persistent fires at Camp Robinson

Last week, wildfires blazed for days at Camp Robinson, burning 2500 acres and choking the air over much of the city with smoke.

This photo was taken from Palisades Drive in Little Rock, over 12 miles away.

The C.A.R.P. trails were unaffected by the fires, but.....

Timber harvest underway

Thursday evening, I  decided to try to grab an hour on the mountain bike at Camp. I threw a headlight on the bike in the event that I pushed my luck on time or had a breakdown, but the moon is full and I figured to be out of the woods by dark. I headed down the new Shipwreck Trail to Merlin, then hopped over to Christmas Tree. Then came the Airport Loop and Ten Bridges back to the truck. I had a pretty good groove going, when I noticed a couple of trees that had been cut but had not been dropped, leaving them leaning on other trees. That's not a good situation, but it was a calm evening and the tree was stable, so I snapped a photo and rode on by.

The cut-but-standing timber was the first sign that my ride was about to change.

I didn't make it much further before I found the trail blocked.

I rolled the bike a few yards off-trail before I had to pick it up and carry it out.

I regained the trail here and found that I had jumped over to Yucca Trail from Ten Bridges, as all landmarks were pretty well wiped out .

I nosed down Dogwood and found that the skidders had already been in.

I often start my ride by going out Yucca or Ten Bridges, and almost always head down Dogwood when riding Merlin. If I had not taken what for me is an unusual route, I would have been disappointed early and probably would have packed it in since I didn't have time to explore. Instead, blissfully ignorant, I circled the affected area until I headed back to the truck and, as a result, had a really good ride.

 Nobody seems to know the full plan for this timber harvest, but it is certain to close many of the trails in the upper part of the training area. Right now, Shipwreck-to-Merlin works, and possibly Five Mile, but it will be a guess until the cut is complete. After that, there's going to be a lot of trail work to be done and some of the terrain will be very different. Perhaps the creative trail builders will have some ideas for some cool new features.