PEA RIDGE — A bike and hike trail put on the shelf for a couple of years is back on the table.
The Baker Hayes Park, an 8-acre park given to the city in 2004 by developers Gene Baker and Tom Hayes, is underused according to city officials and trail visionaries. The park is off Greer Street adjacent to the Battlefield subdivision. The concept for a bike and hike trail was approved by members of the City Council in 2018, but nothing happened to make the trail a reality.
Now, Josh Johnson is reigniting the flame for the vision.
“Right now, as Pea Ridge is growing” is the best time to plan and build trails, Johnson, teacher and cyclist, said. “You cannot reclaim green space — you can not!
“While we’re growing, we need to put in trails because we can’t do it after the fact,” he emphasized.
Recognizing many Pea Ridge residents like the small town atmosphere, he pointed out the definition of a small town is to be able to ride a bicycle around the community but because of the lack of sidewalks and trails, residents are isolated around islands.
“There can be two subdivisions that don’t connect. The only way is to put yourself on the highway and put yourself in harm’s way,” he said. “We’re trying to find ways to increase the small town atmosphere so people can get on bikes and ride to park, get out and explore. Even now, the [Centers for Disease Control] recommends bike riding as one of the best activities for kids.”
The concept for the trail at Baker Hayes Park was begun by Anya Bruhin, former teacher and cycling coach at Pea Ridge, working with Brannon Pack, executive director of Ozark Off Roads Cyclists, who present the plan to the City Council in 2018. Pack said he worked with Erin Rushing, executive director of Northwest Arkansas Trail Blazers.
“Our project was too small to move forward with,” Johnson said, adding Bruhin moved away, Pack was promoted and moved to Fayetteville, leaving a “vacancy of bike knowledgeable people for the project.”
“I’ve been filling in Any-ah’s shoes. She was in charge of the team,” he said, adding Keln Taylor and he are now “co-conspirators for “bike things in Pea Ridge.”
Johnson said he’s received great support from city leaders, especially Mayor Jackie Crabtree and Nathan See, street superintendent. He began the Riders from the Ridge Facebook page to begin building community support.
“I was more prepared for resistance. I wasn’t prepared for initial success,” he laughed.
“The mayor and Nathan have been incredibly supportive. What’s holding us back right now is that we can’t get people together (because of the covid-19 restrictions) to work on the trails.
“The mayor and city already have plans in place, land figured out and I recently talked to representatives from NWA Trails and Walton Foundation to seek funding to help build trails. I ran into same obstacle again — we don’t have enough land allocated for projects. If we can get more land, get more funding — it’s sort of a catch
- Essentially, what the city needs is people knowledgeable about the bike scene and contacts there. That’s what Keln and I provide,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he, Taylor and the mayor have a vision for connecting the trails of Northwest Arkansas to the Pea Ridge National Military Park and eventually all the way to Eureka Springs.
“What the mayor wasn’t aware of is that Pea Ridge is located within a mile of two nationally known bike races on gravel routes — the Arkansas High Country Race … and the Big Sugar Race.”
Johnson said the Arkansas High Country Race is a 1,114-mile bike ride around Arkansas that travels on Sugar Creek Road, as does the Big Sugar Race, planned this year for the first time. “It’s nationally known and passes on Sugar Creek Road.”
He said one obstacle cyclists face is the national park wants an admission fee for passing through the park, but cyclists don’t necessarily want to enter from the highway.
“They want a bike accessible point to safely ride to the Pea Ridge National Military Park without having to ride along the highway,” Johnson said.
Johnson plans to ride in the Arkansas High Country race originally slated for June 6, but has been rescheduled for October due to the covid-19 restrictions. He said winners of that race will likely finish in six days. He hopes to finish in 14 days and “will be happy if I can finish in 10.”
As for the Baker Hayes Park trail, Johnson said the half-mile trail could easily be prepared by volunteers clearing brush and vegetation, placing orange flags, spraying grass killer. He said some of the trail can be cut in without using machinery.
“We want to do a connector trail along the creek and would like to see a pump track if the money can be raised for it,” he said. “We want to have a trail connecting down to the lower park and access trails in Pea Ridge without having to ride on roads too much.”
“The mayor has given permission to get started on the green line, Johnson said. “Step one is getting down there and cleaning up brush so it can be brush hogged. It’s been amazing, all the comments I’ve received. Lot of support. People are very excited.”
VOLUNTEERS CAN HELP
Johnson said one of the provisions of the Blackhawk cycling team is each member is obligated to contribute 10 hours of volunteer time helping with trails and their volunteer work would help in creating and maintaining the local trail.
“Trails that get used, get maintained,” he said.
“In order to keep that small town atmosphere, in order to bring community together, we need to have those common spaces to bring town together and not have to leave town to do it,” he said. “When you get people outside the house in community areas, community develops.”
“If our fear is that we become like Bentonville, well when I’m out in Bentonville at the Slaughter Pen Trail, I see families together, laughing, enjoying themselves — out there spending money. Right now, we have 30 to 40 bicyclists pass through town. They spend their money when they come here.”
He said a lot of the trails around Pea Ridge are on the gravel roads and he’s been sharing those routes on the Facebook Riders on the Ridge site showing how to be able to travel from Pea Ridge to Bentonville and to the east end of the greenway in Rogers as well as to the Pea Ridge National Military Park.
“As the weather improves, more people will start doing family rides into Bentonville or to downtown Rogers,” he said. “I’ve personally explored using ride with GPS. I go out and explore, then come home and fine tune the map.”
He said there is a 20-mile loop on which he took the youth riders they enjoyed. He said only about four to five miles were on pavement.
“I’ve ridden my bicycle across the United States. My wife and I have hiked the Appalachian trail,” he said. “My wife is very supportive, very encouraging.
“These last few days I have already ridden 70 miles and plan on another 30 to 40 today,” he said, adding he also plans a 100-mile bike ride for training. “Towards the end, I see myself getting 100 miles a week.
He said last year he road from Russellville to Pea Ridge, a route which is a portion of the Arkansas High Country route, to train.
BLACKHAWK CYCLISTS
The Blackhawk Cyclists team has grown and Johnson said although both he and Taylor didn’t advertise, as the group grew, the realized they needed help.
“We’re both very independent people. We were just going to maintain status quo. We didn’t advertise,” he said. “We invited back families that were preexisting. In the second year, we realized we needed to ask for help. Families stepped up offering help and support and some parents became coaches.
“That has grown and more parents are becoming coaches and people outside of that circle are becoming coaches,” he said, adding to maintain the safety of the students, they need to maintain the ratio of coaches to athletes.
The team welcomes students from sixth-grade through high school.
“We’re not a race team, we’re a mountain bike team. NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) is a mixture of adventure and racing. Some of the kids on the team don’t participate in the races and some of the kids are racing trying to get on the podium.
“We’re trying to keep the team more focused on the adventure side,” he said. “For those trying to get on podium, our goal is try to help them get there. We try to keep that atmosphere with the team — to enjoy riding bikes.”
WHY RIDE?
“I think it’s the sense of accomplishment! It’s freeing. It’s kind of liberating — you’re out there away from everything, in the woods — there’s a sense of true sense of independence.
“When I get on a bike, the world opens up. I love seeing where my body can take me whether emotionally, physically, distance,” he said. “There’s some unknown the bike allows me to find. Internally, externally — it’s only defined by the experience I have while I’m out there.”
FOR EVERYONE
“Biking has an entry point for everybody,” Johnson said. “When you’re biking the gravel roads, you’re biking through history. You can’t help but wonder who lives there.
“On a mountain bike trail, you can have no houses around. Every decision you make becomes important You have a heightened sense of awareness of who you are and what you’re capable of. It helps define what that is for you.”
“Recently, as I was preparing for a ride, I was talking with lady at a store and she said she couldn’t possibly ride.
“I told her that as cyclists prepare for a race, they know that everything they carry with them on that race is related to a fear they have. If they’re worried about the elements, they carry a tent, sleeping bag, pad, but added weight weighs you down. People’s fears weigh them down to where they don’t do something. That lady’s fear of not being able to ride a mile is keeping here from being able to do something.”
“If you can face, or plan for, those fears and manage them, it frees you to do other things. The preparation allows you to face fears and go out and do something different,” he said.
Annette Beard may be reached by email at abeard@nwadg.com .
