234 Big Bluff Trail and aimless meanderings

     Progressive Trails completed the expansion of the Oakridge Mountain Bike Trail System at Bull Shoals-White River State Park in early October last year.  The 14 miles of bike trails are adjacent to good ole Big Bluff Trail for hikers only.  The lake opened in 1952, the State Park came in 1955 on land leased from the Army Corp of Engineers.  Beginning in 1975 the park underwent major development, making Big Bluff Trail possibly as much as 50 years old.

White River below Bull Shoals Dam

    Today I want to hike Big Bluff Trail loop and check out some of the Oakridge MBT System.  I’ll start at the main trailhead/parking for Oakridge Bike Trails, less than half a mile down Powerhouse Road, the trailhead/parking for Big Bluff Trail is about 1.25 miles further down the road.  After a quick visit with two ladies who just finished an early morning hike, I head north on Cutthroat Shoals Trail.

Cutthroat Shoals Trail soon after leaving trailhead/parking

    This trail is in great shape, clean and obvious heading northeast parallel to the road and soon makes a sharp turn back southwest near a couple big old oak trees.  I’ll quickly learn that this aimless meandering back and forth is a design feature of the trails, it isn’t done to make travel from point A to point B easier, no, it’s done to get the most milage possible, and a bunch of meaningless hairpin turns.

a gorgeous day in the great outdoors

    This is a ‘biker’ thing of course, it’s confusing and a little frustrating for a hiker, and this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered zigzagging trails for no apparent reason (see: 49 UBMBT).  I try to take it all in stride, after all it sure is a beautiful day to be wandering around out in the woods.  I soon come to a trail junction and decide to take Powerhouse Point Trail north, to see what it’s like.

first crossing beneath powerlines (typical)

    After crossing beneath the powerlines, the trail heads back into the woods with downed timber scattered everywhere.  Obviously there has been extensive wind damage relatively recently, and once more the trail meanders aimlessly back and forth getting the most milage in the smallest area as possible.  I soon decide ‘enough is enough’ and bail out off-trail into the clean woods, and of course 100 feet or less later I’m back on the same trail.  All I’ve done is short-cut a hairpin curve.

extensive blow-down areas on Powerhouse Point Trail

    I do the ‘short-cut bushwhacking’ thing a few more times and eventually cross back under the powerline and I’m back on Cutthroat Shoals Trail.  Just over 300 yards further, I cross under the powerlines again (no trail) and after a couple hundred feet land on Big Bluff Trail.  This is more like it, on a trail that apparently has an actual ‘destination’ now I can start to enjoy the hike, going mostly north the trail gradually heads uphill.

before White River Overlook, the Tree Plaques begin

    Soon coming to an intersection, to the right about 100 feet away is a trail sign for Powerhouse Point Trail, I stay on Big Bluff Trail continuing north.  After an interpretive plaque nailed to a tree (White Oak), the trail curves around onto a ridge and heads west.  Not far is the next plaque on a dead tree (Den Tree), then a descent begins down the ridge with what appears to be the edge of the bluff about 50 feet north of the trail.

White River Overlook, note roadway @ base of bluff

    Big Bluff Trail swings to the right and heads downhill to the edge at ‘White River Overlook’ and even has a nice newer bench for a scenic rest stop.  At about 120 feet above the White River the views both up and downstream are great; across the river is a golf course and above in the hills are some bigger luxury homes.  After soaking-in the scenery for awhile I continue down the trail which swings back away from the bluffline.

downhill on trail past White River Overlook

old message board @ bottom of Big Bluff Loop

    This descent on the ridge passes two more tree plaques, (Poison Ivy and Flowering Dogwood).  About a third of a mile downhill from the Overlook is a junction with an old wood bulletin board, straight ahead south about 250 feet is Powerhouse Road.  I turn left heading back up the small drainage continuing Big Bluff Loop.  The trail immediately crosses a wood footbridge then climbs uphill slightly away from the dry creek for about ½ a mile.

crisscrossing trails can be confusing, thankfully there's lots of signs

    Checking the GPS, I see I’m getting close to where I first landed on Big Bluff Trail.  Deciding to get back across the powerlines (again, no trail) to Cutthroat Shoal Trail, I head southwest over to ‘the other side’.  Now back on a bike trail, the aimless meandering resumes, but I’m not playing this game anymore.  I backtrack a short way to where an ‘older’ section of Cutthroat Trail branches to the south.

Cutthroat eventually 'straightens out and flies right'

    This works out well enough, it does get a little confusing since the aimlessly meandering ‘newer’ Cutthroat crosses this ‘older’ trail several times.  After 330 yards everything calms down and Cutthroat Shoal Trail follows parallel and above Powerhouse Road.  Along the way is another MBT feature, an unnecessary curved and banked wooden bridge.  And from there it’s only about 400 more yards back to the trailhead/parking area on Powerhouse Rd.

interesting fungi

    Sure, it’s abundantly clear that I’m not too impressed with either Cutthroat Shoals or Powerhouse Point Trails, if I had been on a bike today it would surely be a different story.  I still had a great time hiking all these trails especially Big Bluff Trail, even when I got off-trail the woods were easy to navigate through.  My hike was 3.7 miles with 350 feet of elevation gain, an easy hike all the way with White River Overlook the ‘highlight’ of the day.

curving banked bridge

map I wish I had on the trail

Oakridge Trail System: Statistic Chart 234  Getting to the trailhead/parking is real easy, at the south end of Bull Shoals Dam turn off SR 178 southwest on well-marked Powerhouse Road 0.4 miles to Oakridge MBT trailhead and parking on the right (where I parked today).  Or continue down the hill past the entrance to Bull Shoals-White River State Park, a total of 1.6 miles to Big Bluff Trail trailhead and parking on the left.