Boston Mountains Scenic Loop from Fayetteville

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fayetteville Arkansas

   Fayetteville sits on the northern shoulder of the Boston Mountains, the highest and roughest part of the Ozarks, and it behaves like a college town that happens to be surrounded by hills. The University of Arkansas gives the place its energy, its Dickson Street bars and its autumn Saturdays, when the whole town seems to dress in cardinal red for the Razorbacks. With more than eighty thousand people it has every kind of fuel, food and bike shop you could want, so a ride that starts and ends here never has to worry about logistics.

   Read the complete Fayetteville Arkansas write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fayetteville Arkansas is where the day begins. Next is Winslow.

2. 2. Winslow

   Winslow, Arkansas, is a small place on a big hill. It sits at around 520 metres in the Boston Mountains, the highest part of the Ozarks, on US 71, which for generations was the main road between Fort Smith and Fayetteville, and the old highway still twists up through the town in a series of bends that every trucker once cursed. The town has fewer than five hundred people and a handful of shops and cafes, but its position makes it a natural place to pause between the valley and the high country.

   Read the complete Winslow write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Winslow comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Devils Den.

3. 3. Devils Den

   Devils Den is a state park in a cleft of the Boston Mountains, and the name comes from the rock itself: a tangle of crevices, caves and fractured sandstone ledges, where the ground opens in narrow corridors that you can squeeze through, with moss on the walls and ferns in the cracks. It is a lovely, slightly gloomy place on a wet day, and in summer the cool air flowing out of the crevices is a relief. Lee Creek runs through the valley below, clear and quick over sandstone ledges.

   Read the complete Devils Den write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Devils Den. Next is Fayetteville Arkansas.

4. 4. Fayetteville Arkansas

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fayetteville Arkansas write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fayetteville Arkansas closes the day.