Trail Review: Northwoods Trails, Arkansas
If you don't care about MTB trails, then you'll want to skip this post. Go ahead, I won't be upset (but I will silently judge you and question our friendship).
These trails were super fun. And I mean SUPER fun. Turns out I don't need steps and drops and loose crunchies to have fun mountain biking. Who knew??
Northwoods Trails are miles of sweet, flowy singletrack in the heart of Hot Springs, Arkansas. I parked at the City water plant and chatted up two dudes in the parking lot ... because its the dudes in the parking lot who always have the best trail intel. Turns out they were full time City Employees who had the enviable job of maintaining and promoting the trail system. Yes, that's right, the city of Hot Springs has employees on its payroll who's actual job is to maintain the trail system. <<mind blown>>
Of course, I asked the dudes what their favorite trails in the system were. Ten minutes later, they were still rattling off the names & descriptions of their favorite trails with the enthusiasm of true shredders. I finally called them out and said "I think you just named every single trail in the park". Sheepishly, they admitted that ALL the trails were their favorite trails ..... but you know, "you should REALLY REALLY ride <insert trail name>" which went on for another ten minutes. These dudes really loved their trails.
They weren't wrong.
The trail surface was mostly soft pine needles with some small rocks here and there. No rock gardens or babyheads, and no quad-killing steps. The low-consequence surface allowed me to really rip it, which is unusual for me. The singletrack in some places was super tight and I questioned my decision to not cut down my handlebars a few times. There were no long or steep climbs, but lots of roller coaster type riding. I don't think I used my dropper post more than twice because the downhills just weren't that long or technical to bother. The ups, the downs, and the flowy corners were a great place to practice some of my skills coaching/development and I caught myself yelling "woohoooooo!" more than once. There were also nice little features on the sides of the main trails (rock rolls, etc.) that, once I figured out they were put there on purpose, had a lot of fun playing with.
I can't say enough about the trail maintenance and route-finding. Over the course of 17 miles, I didn't note a single "this needs some work" spot. The trails are also organized around "hubs", with excellent trail signage and maps, which cut down on the number of times I had to pull out my phone to consult with Trailforks. Excellent job, Northwoods Trails (and dudes I met in the parking lot)!
Favorite Trail: Cat's Meow. One-way downhill with tabletop after tabletop after tabletop. So much fun I didn't stop to take pictures.
See my ride and stats on Trailforks: https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/66845479/