I am planning on going to the Broken Bow area this week and would like some help on where to go to ride. I understand there is a lot of logging trails, etc. and would like some directions on getting there from the Broken Bow area. What about camping in the area? Anything you can throw my way would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Check out rebeloutlaws.freehomepage.com, I think they are in the area you are looking to ride in, or they ride in that area.

 

Holy Crap, I actually used to live there!!!!

Well, here is the skinny about that area:

The best places to ride are to the north and west of Broken Bow, basically going either west from the center of Broken Bow on highway 3 towards Antlers, with the road at the North Pole grocery store (about 10-12 miles out of town) being the best way to get out there, if you hang a left and go north. Follow that road out, until you cross a low-water bridge, go up a short sharp hill on the other side, and hang a right at the Y further up(I know most of the people in this area, even though I live in Portland, Oregon now, and have lived here for the last 10 years). Follow that road until you reach the main Weyerhauser road...and you pretty much have access to any of those roads from there. Camping? Well, if you can find a spot off of the beaten path where you won't have any idiots bothering you..make sure to bring a weapon or three if you are going to try out in that area, lol. I don't think you will have any problems, but you never know. Most of the people around there are middle-class families with nice homes.
Now, going North on highway 259, from the center of Broken Bow(remember, this is only a one-road town, with highways 3 and 259 crossing in the middle of town, and that's pretty much about it), when you leave the city limits, you will pass over a bridge (I can't remember the creek name, sorry), and about a mile farther up the road, start looking for a large logging road to your left, or to the west. It should still have a weyerhauser sign with some odd number on it, along with a cattle guard crossing. This road is a major access point to all of the logging roads in this immediate area. Camping? Not here, anyway. There are a few weirdos living out in this area (my mother and father-in-law for one, live 3 miles west on this same logging road), so I would choose carefully the camping spot I was looking for. I know of several spots for camping out there, but it would be a major pain in the **** for me to give you directions, as I am not sure if all of the stumps I would have to give as direction markers are still there or not....
If you want designated camping areas, drive further north up 259, until you start seeing turnoffs for Beaver's Bend lake, or hit some of the stores along the way for camping spots, as they have offical camping spots all over the place out there. The only problem is that I don't think they allow any riding out along the lakeside, as least as far as I can remember. My thought would be to find a spot closest to the main weyerhauser road, so you could move back and forth...or just contact the Forest Service once you get there. I used to ride all the time out there, but I never remembered any specific riding area, as I just rode on all of the logging roads in the area, along with the side roads....I used to be able to take that 259 road, and be able to go to Smithville, wright city, or any number of small towns in that area, if they were serviced by 3 or 259. There are a couple of somewhat fun spots to ride, if you can find them: Flat Top, where there is something resembling a pretty cool riding spot, north off of that main logging road, but quite a ways up there, about 5-7 miles....the peach orchard, with is way out there, around the Glover River, which if it is wet out, this spot is wide open and flat, I used to take several different cars and trucks out there, and go do endless mudslinging donuts.....there are also several side roads that have been blocked off to cars and trucks, but accessible to quads, bikes and trikes...alot of these have cool water crossings (if there is any water to speak of, as they are or were having a drought...) and creek beds. I would see if you could access Yahoo maps, as they had some fairly accurate maps of the roads in that area, and some the stores there might also have better maps. Unless you are needing motocross-style tracks to race around on, you could easily be gone all day long and never hit the same road twice. Just make sure you have plenty of gas on you...there aren't a lot of people who live out there, and the folks that do are very hard to find.

If you need any other info, please email me at:
racingmoose@msn.com
I know quite a few people out there, including the assistant chief of police for Broken Bow, so I should be able to answer a question or two for you...

 

You have all been a great help. These last directions should get us off to a good start. I thought maybe there was a central gather ing place where everyone camped and rode. We will work out of the lake area until we can get our bearings and find our way around. Sounds like there is plenty of places to ride. Was hoping to be able to camp and ride from camp without having to haul the bikes to another riding area. We will take a look at the places you mentioned. I have also heard that you must purchase a permit to ride in the area. Where do you buy them? Is it a state permit or lumber company permit? Or both? Thanks again for everyones help and directions.

 

No one I know of has ever had to buy a permit to ride on the logging roads...lol...but check on it just the same...

 

Well, let us know how the trip went...lol....I am going back there in May 2006...

 

Call before you Haul. Find specifics about the area from sources on the ground there now. There are "rules" and permits to ride in the Honobia recreation area. I am not an expert and am from NE Oklahoma. The area your headed to is SE Oklahoma. I dont know if your going to Honobia exactly but I would try to make some contact w/ a State Official first....just so I could say i did. Oh its harvest time now too...be way careful. There are marijuana plots in this area. BTW Weyerhauser(sp?) may have changed their rules from the last time I was down there out of a place called "Peace of Mind Camp" you might be able to find that guy w/ a google search.

 

Funny you should mention the marijuana plots out in various Weyerhauser areas...when I still lived there, the national guard, DEA, FBI, regular Army, and even the Salvation Army would show up and do marijuana plot raids during the summer, with them taking the seized plants, and burning them on the spot...of course, there were also 150 or so guys standing REALLY close to the fire. Something a former 'user' had mentioned to me, after she had seen the front page news article showing a pic of guys burning the pot plants; the buds had already been removed...most of the raids came to a screeching halt when a speeding National Guard humvee, driven by a drunk soldier, and carrying 4 other drunk people, ran a stop sign, used a Ford Granada for a ramp, and sailed clear across the road, striking a water pumphouse, killing two or three of the occupants, and making vegetables out of the survivors. Another national guard guy just happened to be in the area, arrived on scene, and shoved everyone out of the way, grabbing up all of the beer cans (both full and empty...witnesses said he picked up about 4 cases worth), and left the area before the state highway patrol got there. Somehow or another, the state highway patrol ruled the fault for this accident was the COUNTY....the stop sign supposedly was not the correct shade of red, citing a state rule that no one had ever heard of (some local state patrolmen spoke up about it) and therefore the county was to blame for the accident. Of course, the beer and toxicology reports of the dead people were never mentioned, and the poor guy driving the granada was seen driving a new chevy truck three weeks later...

 

Exactly! A lot of "home cookin" of laws goes on down there. We were with a local guide and got hassled by the local sheriff or cop or hardass. They (locals) in Honobia did not want us "Tulsa Tourists" down there.
We were acting nice buying gas and eating in a restuarant/gas station (our money spends like everybody else) and this cop came in and started hassling our paid for guide saying that he had found some beer cans up on the logging road and wanted to match up "born on" dates with our beer! So, we all(6) went outside and dug through our trashand carry bags and produced 24 cans (we beagan w/ a case...thats 24!) some full some not w/out the same born on numbers. Okay; we were clear and obviously being good shepards of the enviroment as we were carry'n our debris back to a trash recepticle in town and this *** just went on sayin' how he would bust us about this and that. We finished our visit to this local bastion of backwardsness and left...and have not been back. Oh, we were on a scouting trip to find a place for about 18 of us to visit again; all of us from Tulsa and Austin.
Screw them. But I hope they keep growin' as that and reporting Bigfoot is all they know. Sadly they have probably taken up cookin' Meth.
Not one of my more fond stories of MY STATE.
(they pissed me off)
Duramax, sorry if I have rained on the trip but make sure you are goin to a place where you can ride/camp legally.
Perhaps the Broken Bow area is not even associated with the Honobia Rec area .I hope not; but its a beautiful area.

 

Honobia is about 40 or so miles NW of Broken Bow...you were WAY out in the sticks, if you were up there. I don't think you did anything wrong, personally, you just have to remember that the collective I.Q.'s of all of the people in some of these towns might total up to around 90...to give you an idea of how backwards some of these towns are, an area there I lived in was called Golden, Ok...the local Broken Bow cable company was going to run cable out there (they never had it before...you either got the early satellite setup, or maybe the NBC channel). The idiot "concerned citizens" of Golden turned out en masse', running off the cable company rep, as the local townsfolk didn't want "Sesame Street", and all of the Satan-worshipping characters on that TV show, to be on their TV sets, and corrupting their kids(I swear to God Almighty about this...it was even in the county newspaper). So, unless I am mistaken, Golden still doesn't have cable service...but I haven't talked to anyone in that area for about 6 years now. I am hoping that those peasants have either died off, or moved away.

Honibia/Pickens/Battiest/Smithville are all alike, I am surprised you didn't have the townsfolk show up with torches and pitchforks to exorcise the demons from your souls or something...lol...THAT is the reason I suggested Duramax stay close to the lake, and Broken Bow...although I notice he hasn't replied back yet...hell, he may still be down there, trapped in some nut's woodshed...