Description

Most of the pedal-driven trails in Bentonville are smooth, flowy, berm-filled tracks.

But if you're in search of rocky, challenging cross-country trails that give a sense of the way mountain biking used to be, one of your best bets is this loop at Coler. Combining Copperhead Road and Oscar's Loop, this 3.5-mile loop provides a healthy dose of chunky rock gardens, both uphill and downhill.

Indeed, in some places, the trail has been veritably paved with boulders, which can make for a rough-and-tumble ride.

If you look for them, there are even some ledge drop huckortunities as you rip downhill. While both of these trails are tough, Copperhead Road gets a black-diamond rating compared to Oscar's mere blue rating.

Copperhead Road does indeed earn its difficult rating, with some steep, punchy climbs straight up rock gardens and rough, off-camber descents.

If you want to keep your ride a bit easier, you could skip over Copperhead Road and stay on Oscar's Loop all the way around the hillside instead. That said, Oscar's Loop is relatively chunky for a so-called intermediate trail.

While I would give it an upper-intermediate difficulty rating, it seems laughable that Oscar's gets the same difficulty rating as trails like Bamboozled and Tunnel Vision.

These trails aren't even close to the same level of technical difficulty.

Oscar's features plenty of boulders strung along a narrow track with substantial exposure, promising a tumble down the steep cliff-filled hillside if you misplace a tire.

That wouldn't be good for your health. If you're looking for a gem of rock-strewn singletrack, check out this loop!