[CraigCreek]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

The only advice I can give is be prepared to be tailgated mercilessly on 2 lane mountain roads (highways) in AR. The natives drive those curves like bats out of hell and I don't think they like out of staters slowing them down. Scenic 7, The Pig Trail, 270, 62, you name it.....I've seen it everywhere..... and I'm not even close to being a grandpa behind the wheel, but I still find myself just pulling over and letting people pass whenever safely possible. Otherwise they'll ride your bumper like a bronco and it's really dangerous. One of very few criticisms I will ever level against The Natural State.

We've found common ground! I tend to visit Arkansas slightly before or after peak tourist times (under normal circumstances - can't go there now), and traffic was light on Scenic 7 - yet what traffic there was hovered on my bumper mercilessly. Like you, I pulled over, then resumed my normal pace. Speed limit was 55, which seemed about right.

[CraigCreek]

Originally Posted by Sebby24

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely check out Highway 7. I'm also hoping to do a 5 mile in-and-out on the Athens-Big Fork trail; the official Forest Service map shows the road to the trailhead as "Gravel road suitable for passenger cars". Hopefully that's accurate!

What about the area near Queen Wilhelmina State Park? Is it worth going over there, or is the scenery better on Highway 7?

Haven't been to Queen Wilhelmina (just outside of Mena, AR) but there are videos on YouTube that I watched during the early days of the pandemic - sorry, don't have links but a simple search should locate them.

The Talimena Trail connects Arkansas and Oklahoma near the park, and is said to be gorgeous (videos confirm). No doubt others can provide more info. The park's lodge atop the mountain is newish and very comfortable. The mountain has been a resort since the 1890s or so, when it was crowned by a very luxurious hotel that was popular with the social set.

Have you obtained any travel materials from the Arkansas Department of Tourism? I always stop in West Memphis and grab a handful of brochures, local magazines, maps, etc., and have found them very helpful. They make nice free souvenirs for armchair travel return trips later on, too.

Arkansas has so many beautiful, wooded mountainous areas that it's hard to go wrong with any of them. Add caves, quartz crystal mines, waterfalls, springs and spring-fed scenic rivers, and it adds up to incredible natural beauty.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

We've found common ground! I tend to visit Arkansas slightly before or after peak tourist times (under normal circumstances - can't go there now), and traffic was light on Scenic 7 - yet what traffic there was hovered on my bumper mercilessly. Like you, I pulled over, then resumed my normal pace. Speed limit was 55, which seemed about right.

Although it happens every time we visit, the worst was last year when we took 270 from Hot Springs over to Y City and then 71 from there up to Ft. Smith on the way back to NWA. Now that stretch is an absolutely gorgeous drive through the heart of the Ouachitas, but I could not go 5 miles without some yahoo flying up behind me and riding my a#$. When we came to any sort of straightaway I would try and give them every opportunity to pass and I swear they were screwing with me because they would not do it. Normally on a 2 lane highway I'd just pull over at a spot that was safe to do so and let them by, but it was dusk and that stretch of road winds like a snake with dark dropoffs......it was nearly impossible to pull over safely. It got to be so frustrating I actually considered getting a hotel for the night just to get off the road, but they are few and far between through that section of the state, so we soldiered on and were so happy to reach the 4 lane section of 71 up by Ft. Smith later that evening.

I'm really glad I never discovered Arkansas during my younger single days or else I would have been in some road rage incidents and probably would have been shot. I was an awful hot head back then, but getting older and having your wife & kids in the van tends to improve your decision making capabilities in correlation.

[Hollynla]

I live only a couple miles off of Hwy 7 in Jasper. I do not tolerate anyone tailgating or driving in a dangerous way and I rarely see or hear of that in this area, but I will point out that we do have many tourist who want to travel at 30-35mph down the highway. Just yesterday on my way to Harrison, I got behind two of them. One was doing 30mph in a 55. Randomly hitting brakes for no reason, it was ridiculously slow. Finally they pulled off to the side and we went on by only to get behind yet another driving basically the same way. It is already an hours drive to town for us so it is a bit frustrating to get behind someone who drives like this. I do understand that people from other areas may be nervous on the hilly and curvy roads but 30mph is to the extreme slow.

If it is someone driving slow to look at the views, use the pullover spots and let the traffic go by.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

I live only a couple miles off of Hwy 7 in Jasper. I do not tolerate anyone tailgating or driving in a dangerous way and I rarely see or hear of that in this area, but I will point out that we do have many tourist who want to travel at 30-35mph down the highway. Just yesterday on my way to Harrison, I got behind two of them. One was doing 30mph in a 55. Randomly hitting brakes for no reason, it was ridiculously slow. Finally they pulled off to the side and we went on by only to get behind yet another driving basically the same way. It is already an hours drive to town for us so it is a bit frustrating to get behind someone who drives like this. I do understand that people from other areas may be nervous on the hilly and curvy roads but 30mph is to the extreme slow.

If it is someone driving slow to look at the views, use the pullover spots and let the traffic go by.

Agree with everything you said, but I am always at least doing the speed limit and usually 5 to 10 over. I am no rubbernecker. The tailgaters I've dealt with have been determined to do just that - tailgate - no matter how fast they have to go to catch up to you. I'll be cruising along doing 60 something in a 55 and in the mirror I'll see some tiny headlights appear way back in the distance behind me. Then I'll say to my wife "Let's see how long it takes this guy to be on my bumper."........and it never takes long.

30 in a 55 is undeniably ridiculous, but that aint me.....not by a long shot.

[elkotronics]

Yes, I'll second Tyryztoll's emotion on that. There appears to be some demonic thing with the Arkansas hicks to drive like Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Look where that kind of driving got him.

[CraigCreek]

On my last visit to Arkansas, about a year ago, I got tail-gated on the Scenic Seven stretch between Ola and Hot Springs Village. It was an excellent two-lane road, well-graded and with a good surface, but winding. I had the same experience as others here report: driving the speed limit, pulling over for others to pass when possible, pulling into National Forest marked places of interest (site of a CCC camp, picnic area, trailheads, etc.) to let them get by me and go on down the road - yet I still had the bumper-riders.

Maybe my driving a Prius with a Kentucky plate and a "Ditch Mitch!" back window sticker had something to do with it. Dang Kentuckian, comin' here in that fancy ve-hicle and keepin' us from drivin' down the highway goin' 75! Or maybe (and more likely) the bumper-riders are just programmed to be self-proclaimed kings of the road, for whom all other traffic must make way.

For the record, no one yelled or "gestured" at me. Everyone I encountered off the highway was pleasant, helpful and courteous.

So maybe they just wanted to get up close so they read my window sticker.