Lake Sequoyah Mountain Bike Trail

Lake Sequoyah is a 160 acre lake on the White River located upstream of Beaver Lake. The lake is presently owned and managed by the Department of Parks & Recreation of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas and serves as a recreational fishing lake.

This singletrack trail begins next to the parking area near the Fayetteville boat ramp and marina by a sign reading "Kingfisher Trail." Built by Jacob Taylor as an Eagle Scout service project with help from his troop and others, it runs well over a mile to and beyond the dam. The start is flat and parallels the road until it dips into a deep ravine and then climbs steeply to a bench overlooking the lake.



We walked the bikes here (call it "cross training!") due to the huge boulders used to stabilize the ravine from rushing water after storms, and though this was the biggest build-up of rocks, it wasn't the last. The photo below doesn't do the rock pile justice, but gives you an idea (double click photo to enlarge.)



You’ll continue biking up and down along the hillside...



...until you reach the section overlooking the dam, at which point you are quite a bit higher than the water level (to left in photo.) At frequent intervals, the trail crosses drainages where more rocks have been placed at each crossing, making the ride pretty technical and difficult.



As you can see from the photos, the scenery is flat-out awesome. I can only imagine the beauty after the trees leaf out, but then the rare, infrequent views of the lake are probably non-existent. We both suffered minor mishaps, so nearing the dam, we left our bikes leaning against trees and walked to the dam and beyond it. I can hear you twenty- and thirty-something athletes calling us wimps for engaging in cross training, but let's see if you're still doing this sport when you are in your 60s!



This trail is not for beginners. It requires a good bike, a level of skill, and some stamina, but if you don't want to bike it, I highly recommend you at least hike it. It is well worth the drive to the trailhead and the exertion.

I read that future trail construction will route the trail all the way around the lake. (More photos and info here.)

We then drove over to the 2+ mile Mud Creek Trail to check it out, and the simple, flat, paved trail was a nice respite from the magnificent but somewhat grueling trail detailed above.