Latest / Running: A FEVER / RAF477: Saddle Up Trail at Mt. Kessler - Fayetteville, AR

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RAF477: Saddle Up Trail at Mt. Kessler - Fayetteville, AR · Running: A FEVER

0:07
Welcome to Running: A FEVER. My name is
0:09
Michael Davis. This is a show about
0:11
fitness, diet, and medicine. My goal is to
0:15
live a long, healthy, happy, active life
0:18
right up to the very end. It's just all
0:21
about living long and loving life. Today
0:28
we're back at Kessler Mountain Regional
0:33
Park. Why did we come back so soon after
0:39
the last episode when I walked the
0:41
circumference of the park? Perimeter of
0:45
the park is more appropriate, I suppose.
0:48
It's not circular. Well, another month has
0:53
gone by and I wanted to check and see if
0:59
the Razorback Greenway was open. And as I
1:04
expected, it's not. So it's been at least
1:08
five months they've been working on it.
1:09
But you know what? My past experience with
1:14
road construction is that it can go on
1:18
forever. And Sometimes it takes two years.
1:28
This is the city of Fayetteville, so I
1:33
don't know, but it's close. But I had a
1:35
backup plan because it just so happens
1:39
that here at Kessler Mountain, it's famous
1:42
for trails, specifically bike trails. But
1:51
these are All well not all And interesting
2:01
because we had you know, we had an episode
2:04
on ebikes and Here's a sign that says
2:10
exactly what kind of ebikes are allowed on
2:16
this trail So yeah my plan b was to walk
2:27
the saddle up trail and that's what i'm on
2:31
there's a nice creek as we're starting out
2:35
and i went to the parking lot closest to
2:37
the trailhead but uh to my surprise there
2:43
is no really a walkway straight there. You
2:47
don't have to go down the street and get
2:50
on the sidewalk. There's no walkway
2:53
straight across from the trailhead to the
2:59
parking lot. So your options are to go the
3:02
sidewalk or to go into a ditch with high
3:05
grass and stuff. And especially since
3:09
we've had some rain recently, I decided to
3:13
go with the sidewalk route. And so I had
3:17
to walk a little bit farther. The Saddle
3:23
Up Trail here at Kessler Mountain in
3:27
southeast Fayetteville, Arkansas is really
3:35
a bigger perimeter of the park. A portion
3:40
of the trail goes onto the park perimeter,
3:48
which I walked the last time I was here.
3:53
But here's a significant portion of the
3:57
trail. In fact, most of it that goes
4:00
through the woods. And that's where I am
4:04
right now. It's not completely isolated
4:08
like I was in the old wire road trail of
4:14
tears. which is amazing at Pea Ridge
4:20
National Military Park. Because I can hear
4:25
the traffic. It is fairly close to
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Interstate 49. And this is an easy trail,
4:35
at least for bikes. It's a green trail.
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And it is a little muddy, not too bad.
4:46
We've had some rain. I had some challenges
4:53
trying to do yard work on Monday. It's now
5:00
Wednesday. Took several more battery
5:06
charges than it normally does because of
5:08
the grass that was wet even at almost
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noon. Overcast today but no rain is
5:18
expected. 15% chance. And this trail is
5:24
wide enough for a bicycle to pass a hiker,
5:31
so that's good. Especially if they do the
5:35
right thing and notify you that they're
5:37
coming up behind you. And it's
5:40
mid-morning. Maybe not quite mid-morning.
5:46
I did take the week off. It's gonna be the
5:51
last week off for several months. I've had
5:58
kind of delayed for various reasons my
6:03
vacation and then I haven't really gone
6:06
anywhere as you probably haven't seen in
6:09
the episodes. from the state parks in the
6:20
last year or so. I've been staying close
6:24
to home, so good things about that. You
6:30
save money and you get to do some ordinary
6:32
things at different times. I could go to
6:41
the gym during the night. crowded times
6:47
although i haven't done that i can walk on
6:51
these trails and one of my favorites is to
6:55
go to the grocery store at 10 a.m.
6:58
probably won't get back in time to do that
7:01
today but i need i need to go today or
7:07
yeah won't be as convenient because I'll
7:15
have to change back. So fashion report,
7:24
I'm actually wearing my hoodie today. 60
7:33
degrees out. And it's kind of unusual for
7:39
early May. But that's been cooler the last
7:44
few days, which I'm fine with. So I got
7:52
the hoodie on. Now, choosing shoes for
7:56
today, I didn't know if I was going to be
8:00
walking on a hard trail or a soft trail,
8:06
as they say. concrete of the Razorback
8:11
Greenway or the more uneven terrain of
8:17
Saddleup Trail. So boots or walking shoes.
8:23
I chose the walking shoes and then I
8:27
figured I would do a little more ankle
8:30
warm-up to protect my ankles from any
8:36
surprises uh didn't really do that but all
8:42
the extra i mean i did a little bit all
8:45
the extra vigilant bench by the side of
8:53
the trail here and it's not really a view
8:58
you kind of see the mountain through the
9:02
trees You can hear the train off in the
9:10
distance in addition to the traffic here.
9:18
And this trail is very well maintained.
9:23
And some of the people who do that are
9:28
Ozark off-road cyclists. And there was an
9:35
episode. couple months ago probably. I say
9:41
probably because my release schedule's not
9:46
always clear in my head, but we did have
9:49
an interview and so that was a good one.
9:57
We did a series on cycling in northwest
10:00
Arkansas. It was the only interview that I
10:02
could get, but a good one. So off-road,
10:09
Ozark Off-Road Cyclist OORC does a lot of
10:14
maintenance on these trails. I've seen a
10:18
couple of wooden bridges that they
10:19
probably built and the plenty of gravel
10:26
here and some stone probably crossings
10:33
when the water levels are high so far the
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walking shoes i chose and they will be
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just fine i think this trail is not
10:49
terribly rough so medical department after
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seeing my cardiologist for i don't know
11:01
just a checkup type thing A few weeks ago
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he ordered an echocardiogram and a calcium
11:10
score. Echocardiogram is a sonogram of
11:15
your heart. So they lube you up and put
11:21
this sonic thing that I guess makes noise
11:27
and that you can't hear and bounces back
11:31
and they see pictures of your heart. This
11:35
week, that was last week, this week I had,
11:40
in fact today, this morning, I had what's
11:44
called a calcium score, which is a CT scan
11:48
of your heart. During the echo, they
11:54
actually injected me with an agent to help
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them see things better. I was kind of
12:00
expecting that with this, but I didn't get
12:03
it. One of the things about the calcium
12:09
score is they're looking at your heart.
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The faster your heart beats, the, you
12:15
know, the less quality they get out of the
12:20
images. And so they ask you to refrain
12:23
from nicotine and caffeine for 12 hours.
12:28
Well, before I realized it this morning, I
12:30
had a little caffeine, my protein drink.
12:35
It's part of my two shakes a day diet. It
12:41
has coffee in it, and I had that. And then
12:45
I also had a sip of regular coffee. So
12:50
fortunately, my heart rate is naturally
12:53
pretty low. I'm exercising right now. My
12:57
heart rate is obscured by the minute hand
13:02
of my watch. have to unlock it which is
13:07
really hard to do when you're walking so
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anyway we'll get that in a few minutes but
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uh it can be like 50s in the 50s while i'm
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sitting down not doing anything and it was
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in the 60s there she said that was fine so
13:31
so we got that done and the calcium score
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The echo was basically unchanged from my
13:43
last echo, which is good. The calcium
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score measures calcium deposits in your
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heart or in your arteries, maybe. And this
14:02
is a predictor of potential blockage in
14:09
the future or reduced capacity in the
14:15
future. So that's a good thing to do. And
14:25
not covered by insurance. And I think I
14:30
remember having something similar. A long
14:38
time ago, back when I was with Dr. Bychak,
14:43
before he retired, and I asked him about
14:52
things, tests that would be good to do
14:55
that are not on the usual list. And I
15:00
believe that was one of them that he
15:02
mentioned. So there is some elevation in
15:09
this trail. It goes up and down. It is on
15:12
a mountain, after all. But it's not
15:16
terrible. Like I said, it's considered an
15:20
easy trail, so not too bad. So that's the
15:28
medical department, hydration department.
15:34
I unwisely had the thought that since it
15:39
was so cool, I wouldn't sweat that much,
15:41
but that's not really true. I think you
15:46
probably sweat the same amount. It's just
15:48
that it evaporates quicker in the cold. I
15:53
know I'm sweating right now under this
15:56
hoodie, even when it's 60 degrees. So.
16:06
It's a nice stone path here. I'm still
16:09
surrounded by trees. I've talked a little
16:14
bit about the history of this park and
16:22
area, and it apparently was pretty wild
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before they put the trails in, so You've
16:33
got some older trees here. And I'm coming
16:41
up on a plaque. We'll see what it says.
16:53
Custer Mountain Regional Park, Forest
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Communities. Support plant and animal
16:59
diversity. The most common habitat on
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Kessler Mountain is the oak hickory forest
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and woodland. A forest is a habitat
17:12
dominated by trees with a closed canopy
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that shades the layers beneath. A woodland
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is a habitat with an open canopy that
17:21
allows penetrating sunlight to create a
17:23
robust layer of vegetation beneath. This
17:27
is both a forest and a woodland. Both are
17:30
home to a community of plants, mammals,
17:32
birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects.
17:35
Mature Ozark forests generally have five
17:39
layers. These layers allow wildlife to
17:42
settle into pockets of habitat within the
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overall structure of a healthy forest.
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Unfortunately, non-native invasive plants
17:49
and trees, such as bush honeysuckle,
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Lonicera machi, Chinese privet, Legiustrum
17:58
cynese, and a tree of heaven, Ailanthus
18:02
altissima, threatened to overtake our
18:06
Ozark forest. Did you know? Cleaning
18:08
boots, shoes, and bike tires before
18:10
entering the forest and staying on
18:12
designated trails helps prevent the spread
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of invasive plants. The uppermost layer is
18:18
the overstory or canopy, which can include
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oak, hickory and other trees from 60 to
18:23
over 100 feet tall. The understory
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includes shade tolerant trees that grow up
18:29
to 60 feet tall, including flowering
18:32
dogwood, eastern redbud and canopy trees
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that have not yet reached overstory
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height. The shrub layer includes saplings,
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shrubs and vines that grow three to 15
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feet tall. The herbaceous layer includes
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wildflowers, ferns, sedges, and
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shade-tolerant grasses. Last, we walk on a
18:51
forest floor blanketed with decaying
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leaves, twigs, fallen trees, animal scat,
18:56
moss, and other organic matter. Black
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bears, Ursus americanus, prefer
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undisturbed forests with dense understory
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where they can avoid detection and feast
19:05
on grasses, berries, flowering plants, and
19:07
insects, and they will scavenge for
19:10
carrion. They den in tree cavities or
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under rock outcroppings. A bear may
19:16
sometimes venture into populated areas and
19:19
raid bird feeders, garbage cans, and
19:22
beehives. Barred owls, Strix varia, live
19:29
in large mature forests. They roost in the
19:32
tree canopy by day, sometimes making odd
19:34
sounds, and hunt rodents and other small
19:36
mammals at night. They nest in tree
19:38
cavities and give the classic call, who
19:40
cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?
19:45
Three-toed box turtles, Terrapin Carolina
19:50
triungus prefer large tracts of
19:52
undisturbed woodland or forest with ample
19:55
cover. They make their home among fallen
19:57
logs and decaying leaves on the forest
19:59
floor where they eat fungi, insects,
20:01
worms, berries, and flowers. And there you
20:06
go. Right in the middle of the trail,
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there's a little in-depth scientific
20:15
information. So I don't know if I was on a
20:19
mountain bike, this would be pretty
20:21
challenging to me, I think. But if I was
20:28
on an e-bike, I might just be able to make
20:31
it. I don't know, never been on an e-bike
20:40
before. I haven't been on a bicycle in a
20:44
really long time. I can now see the park
20:52
down below, the baseball fields and such,
20:57
all the big lights, so they can have night
21:01
games. And I've got a nice wooden bridge
21:06
here to go across a creek bed, which is
21:14
dry, as dry as anything is today. there's
21:18
some interesting curved trees and uh
21:23
they're on the side of the mountain the
21:24
only thing i can think of is they're
21:27
curved to get more sun but i don't think
21:32
i've ever seen trees curved like that so
21:35
much still i've not seen anybody on the
21:38
trail winds picking up The Saddle Up Trail
22:01
is only two miles long, but it's two miles
22:06
of elevation changes, so I would not
22:11
expect to go that far on the same amount
22:15
of time as I do on most of the Razorback
22:18
Greenway. Some of the parts in Bentonville
22:21
are kind of hilly on the Greenway. But the
22:30
actual distance is pretty much the same as
22:33
if I had been able to start at mile zero
22:38
and walk the first mile of the greenway
22:42
and back. And here is a trail that
22:47
branches off going up. And, uh, OK,
22:55
fortunately there's a sign here. it tells
22:58
me saddle up trail continues to my right
23:04
escalator this is the other one it's a
23:07
green trail but uh the name indicates it's
23:13
going to be an uphill climb although
23:16
presumably you have to come down if you go
23:18
up Kind of like the song, Spinning Wheel.
23:29
I don't know if it's Billy Preston who did
23:35
that. I'm not sure. Spinning Wheel, look
23:40
it up. What goes up must come down.
23:46
Spinning Wheel got to go round. That area
23:50
is kind of a ditch. Interesting noises.
24:00
Almost machine-like. Maybe a creaking tree
24:12
about to come down or something. Looks
24:18
like we're mostly downhill from here.
24:20
Getting closer to the park too. And the
24:30
trail goes around the outer north edge of
24:41
the trail up to where the Razorback
24:44
Greenway attaches. There are three
24:50
trailheads on the map. This is, I believe,
24:53
number two. so trailhead is where you
25:00
would expect signs to tell you what's
25:02
going on on the trail now i didn't see a
25:05
sign that said what who was allowed on
25:08
here other than the e-bike sign so it
25:11
didn't specifically say hikers are allowed
25:13
or cyclists are allowed except for the
25:17
e-bike sign but i have been told that Most
25:25
of the trails here are multi-use, meaning
25:29
that pretty much anyone can use them.
25:35
Hikers, bikers, runners. And this trail is
25:41
Last Call, and it is a blue trail. So, and
25:47
here is this map here. It's just like the
25:51
trail map. that you can get online. And
25:58
fortunately there's a familiar wooden post
26:09
as I go down here for the saddle up trail.
26:13
And I'm doing that and I'm coming to a
26:18
looks like some kind of composite blacktop
26:22
type trail with gravel on it and uh i'm
26:29
just gonna go to my left i don't know
26:33
where it goes off to the right but just
26:36
based on what i saw of where this goes on
26:40
the map i'm assuming it goes down this way
26:45
and around the rest of the park very
26:49
nicely made up lawns i mean this is a nice
26:51
park very nice One of the things I like to
26:58
do when I have time off is what people
27:01
without a nine-to-five job get to do, like
27:06
go to the gym during off hours, which I
27:10
haven't done. And one of my favorites,
27:16
going to the grocery store at 10 a.m.
27:20
might not be able to do that today i came
27:24
down here tail end of rush hour and i'll
27:33
be heading back should go a little quicker
27:37
but uh we'll be back by 10 o'clock i may
27:40
just do that tomorrow i've got something
27:45
planned for tonight I might take the rest
27:49
of the day to do other things like reading
27:52
or working on this podcast. This looks
28:04
like an actual road here. Saddle up
28:12
trailhead. It says back this way. Saddle
28:16
up trailhead. Can I walk down there? I
28:27
think I'm gonna see rather than walk up
28:30
the other way. It looks like this may be a
28:34
maintenance building. I know that the
28:39
trailhead was supposed to be at this
28:44
parking lot up here. I believe it's this
28:46
one on the outer side. And I do see a
28:52
sign. Not like a necessarily a trailhead
28:58
sign, but about the same. You know,
29:02
there's no post, but there's a big sign
29:05
that is at several points along around the
29:15
park. And it looks like I'm going down
29:19
right there. So I think this is
29:20
technically, this may be the trailhead
29:26
that I was looking at on the map. Seems to
29:29
be maybe a discrepancy between the map and
29:32
the signs on the trail. Looked like a
29:35
temporary sign actually. And this is an
29:39
actual road that I'm coming to, I mean,
29:42
for vehicles. And it's got a gate. And
29:47
yeah, there's the standard, you know, park
29:49
rules. Yeah, so I'm going to head over
29:59
here to the sidewalk. And I mean, you
30:06
know, walking shoes are good for this part
30:08
of the trail, so not a bad choice. It's
30:11
hybrid. Call it a hybrid trail. So I'm
30:17
still not sure. I always forget, like,
30:20
which exit to go off of and all that. If
30:22
you're in the area, it's exit 60, takes
30:26
you to Cato Springs Road. uh still try to
30:32
do to use my navigation in my ford f-150
30:41
but this park did not exist when that
30:48
thing was when that database was last
30:51
updated which was nine years ago so you
30:56
know Got to take it with a grain of salt.
31:00
It does. It will take me to Kessler
31:03
Mountain Road, which is not the road into
31:05
the park. So. Got to go another. Oh, it's
31:14
either farther or not quite as far, but
31:18
you can tell because there's actually a
31:20
sign that says Kessler Mountain Park. And
31:25
we're walking by the Kessler Baseball
31:28
complex city of Fayetteville. So when I
31:34
got here, the front parking lot had only
31:36
one vehicle and the parking lot where I
31:40
walked to the trailhead had none other
31:44
than my own. And this back parking lot has
31:47
two vehicles. So somebody may be walking
31:53
here or working here. I don't know. some
32:00
birds making some noise. Speaking of
32:05
out-of-date navigation, I am a licensed
32:11
private pilot from many years ago and I'm
32:14
trying to get back into it. And a lot has
32:20
changed in the last 30 years. There's all
32:22
kinds of additional avionics that come in
32:25
there now. If you don't have your
32:31
up-to-date database. You can't fly
32:33
instrument on some airplanes. This is
32:37
interesting. And here, this is a couple of
32:42
Fayetteville Traverse. I think we're
32:44
actually on that right now as a subtrail
32:49
of coexisting with Saddle Up. And here's a
32:52
guy on a bike. Howdy. He's headed up the
33:10
vehicle road, wherever that goes. So
33:17
interesting changes and stuff I'm going to
33:19
have to learn. I mean, it's all like
33:22
familiar technology now, GPS and such,
33:26
things like that. But everything's, you
33:31
know, they're computer screens and
33:34
airplanes that have very little other than
33:36
computer screens. They do all their
33:41
communication and navigation and checking
33:46
of airspeed and attitude and all those
33:50
things you have to do when you're flying.
33:53
It's all on the screen. I used to suggest
34:02
that you carry a flashlight, and I
34:03
actually still have the flashlight that I
34:06
used when I was flying, believe it or not.
34:11
So it could be like 30, 35 years old. It's
34:13
actually in the truck right now. I know
34:16
because it's got a shoestring attached to
34:18
it that I can put it around my neck. So if
34:22
your lights go out in the cockpit and you
34:26
can still see the gauges, by looking at
34:29
them with a flashlight. Obviously not the
34:33
case with a computer screen. If that goes
34:35
out, it's out. I think they may have some
34:40
backup gauges on there, but it'd be
34:43
interesting. I've never had that happen to
34:45
me. But flying the airplane, I guess, just
34:49
by feel, of course, would be terrible if
34:51
you're in instrument conditions that can
34:55
actually see outside. I can't see the
34:58
horizon to know. Because what happens is
35:01
your body adjusts to whatever attitude
35:03
you're in. So if you're in a 30 degree
35:05
turn, it doesn't feel any different than
35:08
flying straight and level. The only
35:12
reference you have is your gauges are
35:15
outside. Enough aviation talk, but that's
35:25
Kind of part of my happiness now, kind of
35:26
what's motivating me is the possibility of
35:30
getting back into that. Coming up upon the
35:49
closed entrance to the Razorback Greenway.
35:57
and i just realized i'm not as close as i
36:00
thought i was to the truck because it's on
36:03
the other side of the park and not by the
36:05
playground where i usually park windy
36:09
windy windy this part of the saddle up
36:14
trail looks exactly like the razorback
36:15
greenway wide concrete with a yellow
36:19
stripe down the middle Bicycle repair
36:32
station. And there it is, the post, the
36:42
mile marker zero post. Fortunately,
36:46
hopefully, we'll be able to go down that
36:51
someday and document the first mile of the
36:57
Razorback Greenway. Not today, though.
37:01
There's a nice little pond over here. I
37:03
didn't notice that before. Surprise,
37:11
there's not somebody out here mowing today
37:13
because it looks like it's a full time
37:14
job. Coming up on the playground, which
37:27
looks like it has an eagle statue on top
37:30
of it. Maybe that's to keep birds away, I
37:32
don't know. Or other critters. This is the
37:45
center line. Maybe a marker for some
37:49
utility there. Slight incline here. pretty
38:01
good workout today i think two miles up
38:04
and down the saddle up trail and another
38:08
trail in northwest arkansas that we have
38:12
been to this first time to be here at
38:14
saddle up and it's turning out to be a
38:18
nice day sun it's kind of peeking through
38:20
you can see the green kessler mountain And
38:41
now we're going to level off. Got some
38:53
rough wooden fencing down there. I don't
38:56
know why. Maybe left over from an older
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time. Who knows? Tree right in the middle
39:06
of it. 25 mile an hour speed limit around
39:11
the park seems kind of high. I think
39:15
that's for cars, not for bicycles, but
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still seems kind of high for a park. Well,
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it's been good to have you along as we
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explore the Saddle Mountain, the Saddle
39:35
Saddle Up Trail. at Kessler Mountain
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Regional Park in southeast Fayetteville,
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Arkansas. Or southwest, sorry. I guess
39:56
it's time to shut her down. So if you have
39:59
the fever, keep it burning. You don't
40:01
catch the fever. And I'll talk to you next
40:04
time on Running: A FEVER. you