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Slaughter Pen Phase I - Outer Loop

Slaughter Pen Trails Phase I crisscrosses the hillside with several old-school trails packed with short climbs, wooden bridges, sharp banked turns, and a short downhill run packed with many fun features.

Mountain Biking Severe

Distance
6.3 km
Ascent
106 m
Descent
106 m
Duration
0-1 hrs
Low Point
323 m
High Point
374 m
Gradient
Slaughter Pen Phase I - Outer Loop Map

Phase I of Slaughter Pen is where Nathan “Woody” Woodruff, founder of world-class trail building company Progressive Trail Design, cut his teeth on singletrack trail design and construction. With all the technical challenging trails Woody and others are currently developing in Northwest Arkansas these days, Phase I feel a little dated. But there is still great fun to be had here on a mountain bike.

Description

Beginning at the parking lot there are a couple wooden drops at the trailhead that are fun to play around on. Then I recommend riding Phase I counterclockwise, continuing your warmup on Seed Tick Shuffle’s wooden skinnies and flat terrain.

When you reach the end of this trail it’s always fun to ride Free Ride Park, with the elevated start and sweeping turns, to work on your handling before riding the short, steep climbs and high banked turns on Medusa. This rocky, narrow trail works its way up the hillside to accumulate the elevation needed for a fast run on Downhill.

For its time, Downhill was a pretty challenging run, with very sharp high dirt bermed switchbacks, table-tops, jumps, and wooden walls packed into about a quarter-mile run. I’m sure this was the first directional trail in the area because there is plenty of speed to be had here, and after you reach the bottom and go high on the wooden wall with the state of Arkansas painted in the middle, you’ll want to take the paralleling short trail to climb back up for several redos to try to go faster in the turns and higher on the walls.

After you’ve mastered the wall rides enough to leave your tire tread at the top, Tatamgouche and Armadillo’s Last Stand are next, as they crisscross the hillside loaded with dips, wooden structures, and narrow rocky singletrack.

Difficulty

Severe

Widely variable, narrow trail tread with steeper grades and unavoidable obstacles of 15in/38cm tall or less. Obstacles may include unavoidable bridges 24in/61cm wide or less, large rocks, gravel, difficult root sections, and more. Ideal for advanced-level riders.

Medium Exposure

2 out of 4

The trail contains some obstacles such as outcroppings and rock which could cause injury.

Remoteness

1 out of 4

Close to help in case of emergency.

Best time to visit

all year round

Features

  • Flow
  • Technical
  • Drops
  • Roots
  • Tabletops
  • Wooden Feature

Similar routes nearby

Guidebooks in this area