Review Date
November 17, 2006

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by: mountainblur ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
The trail has good elevation gains but it seems the trail has been beaten up. There are a lot of large loose rocks that beat up your bike as they fly into the frame. Other times the climbs are on loose gravel making it more of a challenge for traction. It is a trail that is shared with horses, I am not sure if that is the problem.

Review Date
September 9, 2006

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 1 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 1 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Reviewed by: rooster52478 ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
This trail has gone downhill in my opinion. Horses have torn the trails up horribly. They have rutted it up and it stays muddy as well as breaking up all of the rock. Some people call it technical but loose rocks the size of basketballs is not technical,it is just practically impossible. I live fairly close to these trails and do not even waste my time making the 30 minute trip anymore. The highlight is the creek to cool off in after finishing a ride.

Recommended Route:
none

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Sac River

Review Date
March 22, 2005

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: Walt Dizzy ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
I think the summary at the top of this review page is deceptive. This trail is difficult, but not in a way that I could enjoy. Before you make a trip to Branson to ride at Busiek State park there are several things you should think about.

One is have you ridden before on trails shared with horses? I had not, and was really disappointed in the amount of damage they have done. It really reduced the fun factor for me trying to ride through the loose, chopped up surface.

Another is most of the trail I found was not single track. I may have missed some nice stuff, but the little bit of singletrack I did find was, you guessed it, chopped to sh*t by the horse riders.

Most of the sloped trail was laid out on the fall line of the hill. It has been surfaced with broken rock (everything from gravel up to toaster oven size and beyond), in order to control erosion I would guess. Maybe at some point in time, this surface will become consolidated, but when I rode it yesterday, it was a loose pile of rock and sand. It was unstable enough that it was joyless for me to ride downhill, and more of a pain in the butt to climb than a fun challenge (my rear wheel kept spinning out on loose rock). There are places where there are solid rock dropoffs that would be a blast to fly off, if there was a solid place to land. But there usually is not.

Bear in mind that I only rode the yellow loop (plus sampled some intersecting singletrack), maybe I missed the good stuff? If I lived in the area, I'd go back, but I drove hundreds of miles to get there and I don't plan on returning.

Walt

Recommended Route:
Not the yellow loop.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Got rained out, sorry.

Review Date
March 10, 2004

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: Rookie ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Have only ridden once a couple of days after a big rain. Not a good idea as the horses on the trails REALLY tear up the hardpack. I'm new at this so take that into consideration. But the trails on the west side should be taken with caution. For the hikers, the three trails are rated as "Diificult", "difficult" and "difficult". Thanks loads. I trid the purple route and was not able to manage the first uphill. Then I tried the orange route counterclockwise. I would really like to see you young experienced guys make that climb. I know itsbeyond me and will remain so. The highlight was learning Better descriptions of the trails would help. Absoutley beautiful land.

Recommended Route:
Orange

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Sac River Trial is still the more enjoyable for a rookie.

Review Date
March 12, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once