The Synergy of Fall & Cane Creek State Park

So now I’m sticking the last two posts together to show what we did this week. Tourism needed some fall mountain biking and hiking shots for future publication and tv ads. The state parks needed some images and video of the new multi-use trail at Cane Creek State Park. I love it when a plan comes together. I was able to enlist the help of our friends S & A to be models and Lisa & I would round out the totally cheap models. (We work for thrills!)

Last Thursday we headed down to the park early to meet the tourism photographer and a video crew from tourism’s ad agency. We showed up about 9:00 am and followed a couple of ATV’s back to the first location, one of the three suspension bridges on the trail. We spent most of the morning riding back and forth across the bridge. After only a few crashes and not much blood we changed to hiking clothing and repeated the exercise. It was a beautiful morning and riding across that bridge was pretty intense. It moves a bit while riding and only has a couple of inches of clearance on each side of the handle bars. When we “hiked” across it moved even more. The video’s should be interesting.

Next, we were off for another bridge and a board walk. We stopped at the trail head and made some sandwiches for lunch and then it was off for more hiking photos. It was beautiful. This bridge was a bit heavier and didn’t move as much. We couldn’t wait to ride the boardwalk since it curved nicely through the trees. This was also the area that I would get to wear the helmet camera. We did a lot of shooting here and I can’t wait to see the video.

The weather was beautiful. The fall color held for us and I think we got some real keepers photo and video wise. The trail opens officially in March (not all sections are quite done. It is kind of wide right now as it too some large equipment to build it but it should break in nicely. It is not very technical but is a total of 17 miles long with more trail planned for the future. It would be a great place to take someone who is learning to ride.

The trail is also great for long day hikes and backpacking. When finished it will have designated campsites. Special thanks to Americorp, the Boy Scouts and in particular the park staff headed by superintendent Mark Wilson for creating not only the only multi-use trail in Southeast Arkansas but a trail unlike any in the state. You have got to check out those bridges!