A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas

Visitor's Guide to Coler Mountain Bike Preserve in Bentonville, AR

• Visit Bentonville • Season 9 • Episode 6

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Join host Nat Ross and special guest Matt Timboe as they dive into everything you need to know about visiting Coler Mountain Bike Preserve in Bentonville, AR. 

From world-class mountain biking and scenic trails to unique camping experiences and the hidden gems of this outdoor oasis—this episode is your guide to experiencing Coler like a local! 🌲☕🚴

Learn more about Coler Mountain Bike Preserve here: https://www.visitbentonville.com/things-to-do/parks-trails-lakes/coler/ 

A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.

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Nat Ross :

Welcome to a new American town presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm your bike host, Nat Ross. Today I joined Matt Timboe on how to have the best visit Coler Mountain Mountain Bike Preserve. Learn about the campground, parking activities and more in our show notes. So let's get into it. All right. Very special guest today Matt Timboe Coler Mountain Mountain Bike Preserve. So Visit Bentonville is really unique in the fact that we can bring in and take folks to a sanctuary, a place for people to get outside see the outdoors, Coler Mountain Mountain Bike Preserve. So I think, first of all for those guests that are new to Bentonville or haven't explored all of Bentonville yet, what is Coler? Where does it sit within the city limits? And fill us in Coler Mountain Mountain Bike Preserve.

Matt Timboe:

Sure thing. Thanks for having me here, nat. I'm excited to be a part of Coler. Mountain Bike Preserve is one of the properties that the Peel Compton Foundation owns and provides to the community as part of fulfilling our mission to connect the community through nature, education, recreation and preservation. It is basically on the west side of Bentonville and about 10 minutes from downtown Bentonville yeah Well tell us about your acreage and what the park has Like.

Nat Ross :

For me it's a very special place, so the creek itself is something that I'm attracted to. Yet alone kind of the trails and the activities that can happen Coler yet yet alone kind of the trails and the activities that can happen in Kohler.

Matt Timboe:

Yeah, we've got about 300 acres of property there Coler Creek Creek runs right down the middle of it. We've got mountain bike trails on each side of the valley. There People can come and walk the greenway along the creek. We've got maybe seven or eight bridges that cross the creek. They can. They can access the cafe Coler which is operated by airship coffee and get a coffee or a snack or whatever. We get a lot of people walking their dogs. We have tons of art that people can view along the way, along with our world-class mountain bike trails, progressive stuff from very basic beginner-friendly trails to challenging downhill technical trails and I also notice a lot of folks like like I personally walk my dogs on a leash Coler and and then through the trails.

Nat Ross :

A lot of folks run and it's just a good getaway. That's right in town. So Coler, on a general day you have several access points. And could you walk us through what that would look like if you're riding from Walton Boulevard or driving and you're just in town, like how to get to Kohler, where to park and what that looks like?

Matt Timboe:

Yeah, so if you're driving to Coler, we have three main parking lots. We have our North Gateway, our South Gateway and our Grove parking lot. The North Gateway can be accessed off of Peach Orchard Road and the South Gateway and the Grove parking lot are accessed off of 3rd Street, so they're all west of Walton Boulevard. If you're coming by bike, which is the best way to get Coler from downtown, it's probably about a 10-minute bike ride and the easiest, most simplest way that I tell people to go is, from downtown head south to 8th Street, take the 8th Street Greenway all the way to the western end. Where it intersects it basically ends at the Applegate Trail and Applegate Trail is a great, beautiful greenway running through the woods that goes all the way down into Coler to to the north end.

Nat Ross :

You know, when you bring up the greenway, which the connectivity piece is pretty special here in Arkansas, especially the communities and towns. But the greenway that connects Kohler it's really wide, it is accessible for folks that are walking, running, recreating, biking, whatever they're doing, and the greenway is just that, so it's a green trail. When you do do some dirt trails in there, you guys also have green dirt trails for walking, hiking, riding, what would those be?

Matt Timboe:

so the beginner friendly dirt trails single track would be. Ester's loop would be the primary one. Good vibrations is that is along the greenway and that runs basically from the south end to the north end of kohler the greenway and goes out towards our campground. So that's probably the most beginner friendly. It's kind of got a little pump track feel to it. You can even take a stroller on that when it's hard packed. So very simple, Esther's is maybe a tiny step up from that and takes you back into the woods off the greenway. So if you go on Esther's you're probably going to want to be prepared to be out for a little while and take a little extra water with you or some snacks.

Nat Ross :

Like up to an hour, really right? Yeah, definitely, and basically Kohler bisects your property. There is a wonderful campground. What are the amenities in the campground, if somebody wants to sign up for some camping?

Matt Timboe:

So we have elevated platforms for tent sites they're all dispersed and hike-in campsites so we have parking spaces available that are not very far but you got to hike into the campsites. We have five van pads for vans or rooftop tents, things like that. We do not allow trailers in there. We have recently added some overflow van parking just because we get such a need for that. We get such a high demand for it, so we've added some of that in our parking lot. With less amenities, you get a basically at all the regular campsites. You get a fire pit. There is a big community fire pit and then our bathrooms are probably the most fabulous part of the campground. I tell people they're the nicest campground bathrooms I've ever seen anywhere in the world. I mean, they are just world-class bathrooms hot showers we have outdoor showers in there and, yeah, they're very nice.

Nat Ross :

Kind of have a cold plunge back there that's tucked away as well.

Matt Timboe:

Yeah, that's like a hidden secret Coler that that not many people know about. We've got a spring box that is kind of like a swimming pool built out of a spring coming out of the hillside and you could probably fit 15 people in it. It's not very deep, maybe 18 inches deep or so Crawfish are in it living in it year round, so in the summer it's a great place to cool off. In the wintertime it's not frozen and it feeds into one of the creeks that most people don't get to see at Coler. It's a very beautiful spot.

Nat Ross :

Want to learn more about Bentonville? Check out our other episodes on your drive here, or go to visitbentonvillecom and plan your trip today. It is, your staff is excellent. I see them everywhere maintaining the trails. It's a very safe spot. I see a lot of kids just on their own with their friends out sessioning either Thunderdome, which is one of the most popular dual slalom courses around, all the way to folks training. You even have, like the US cycling team, so the mountain bike team bases out of Coler. That's insane, yeah it's pretty cool.

Matt Timboe:

We have a great crew out Coler that that takes care of all the trails. They're building new stuff, maintaining trails, making sure that the grass and weeds are cut back from the the ride lines, raking trails. We we also have part of our crew is just maintaining the buildings, cleaning bathrooms and and just making sure everything is safe. They're maintaining facilities. We've recently been excited to partner with usa cycling team usa and have them out for some of their training, so that's a that's pretty exciting to see them out there and they're riding a lot of the same trails that anyone can ride out there, so it's fun to be a part of that and see that.

Nat Ross :

Yeah, and we're talking kind of racing and higher end. But if we want to showcase Coler is all about, it's the experience, it's the outdoor just checking out of getting off of your phone for a while talking with your friends and family, getting outdoors. What is Airship Coffee? What is the cafe? What is the homestead and where is that located in the property? How would one just experience Kohler just for the first time, low key, how could you do that?

Matt Timboe:

Yeah, so if you're coming out and you just want to find out what's going on there the airship is in the middle of Kohler you can't get there by vehicle. You have to either walk or ride a bike or a skateboard, or however you want to get to, not in a vehicle, love it. It's about three quarters of a mile from either the North gateway parking lot or the South gateway parking lot Pretty level, um, very, very small incline from either direction, either going in or coming out. If you're parking up at the Grove pavilion parking lot, um, there's a pretty good hillside that you'll have to walk down and back up to get get in there. But, yeah, I mean, mean people come with strollers, with dogs. Um, the homestead is actually that's where Coler family family based out of when it, when it was a property that they were living on. They, their barns, are there and they've been refurbished and they're very beautiful barns that we we can actually rent out the barns at the homestead for different events, or we've had weddings out there. We've hosted lots of different groups.

Nat Ross :

Well, I noticed, like Lifetime, it's a kind of one of their most majestic starts with Big Sugar or the mountain bike race, in particular the Big Sugar Classic. They start at the homestead early in the morning and it's incredible energy out there.

Matt Timboe:

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty fun to be a part of, to see all the pro riders getting getting there early, getting set up and getting started. It's just. It's an honor that they Coler to to start from and it's a special place. One thing that we found is that people love Coler. That's the thing we repeatedly hear from almost every visitor is just, that's the key word is they love Coler.

Nat Ross :

And I love Coler.

Matt Timboe:

That's why I'm there working there. Most of our crew, the reason they even live in Bentonville is because they love Coler. They love all the trails and what Bentonville has to offer. But they've moved here from other parts of the country because they Coler so much and they want to be a part of it.

Nat Ross :

And I noticed I got here a transplant from Colorado to have a park that is that accessible and that easy to access, but also just the amenities that you guys have in there. It's pretty special. So I Coler almost as much as you, even though I don't work there, because it is a great place to be outdoors For these families that are out there. Some folks can ride, some folks can hop, like they can hike and walk and explore If they go to airship, like what would be something in that homestead area that they could set up and do in terms of just the family having multiple activities. So you've got the I guess I'm getting at, perhaps like the incline or other experiences that are hidden away Coler are are hidden away in Coler.

Nat Ross :

Coler Coler

Matt Timboe:

Basically we're open dusk to dawn. We're open a little bit on the edge of that. If you want to come out and do a night ride or something like that, that's not a problem. We lock the bathrooms at 9 pm and we have a firefly sanctuary. That in the summer, in probably June, early June, the activity really picks up there and you'll see a lot of fireflies there. So we don't have a whole lot of lights on the property. About the only lights you'll see once you get Coler is down at Airship, at the homestead and you'll see our neon sign that says paradise found. But that's partly to aid in the firefly habitat because if there's a lot of lights around they don't like that. So we keep lights out of there. So it's very dark and we just recommend you don't probably go in there at night. Sure.

Nat Ross :

How about on social media? Because you guys have some pretty good trails in there and I think folks are. I follow on social media how to see when the new trails are going to be built or what the status is of them. Where would one follow you on social media?

Matt Timboe:

So on social media we have on Facebook, we have our Color Mountain Bike Preserve Facebook page. We we also have Color Mountain Bike Preserve Trail conditions where people can report stuff um on the trail. But we have turned to partner with flow feed to do all of our status updates and we have back end access to update closures and that kind of stuff. So if anybody's looking for trail status of what's open and closed due to either weather or we're doing construction or cutting a tree off a trail or something, it will be marked as closed on there or it'll be marked they have a really good system rating trails as either like fair, good condition, fair, fair ruddy or closed.

Nat Ross :

Yeah Well, another thing, too, is the stations that you guys have with bike pumps, with the tools, with even poop bags for dogs, with those receptacles. They're positioned in all the trailheads, they're in all the right spots and, in general, I've never seen such a clean park.

Matt Timboe:

Well, thank you, we try really hard and we have a really great team. Right now, I'd say the team is just knocking out of the park and maintaining everything and having a special eye for extra stuff like that. All the parking lots have bike stations. We have bike washes at all the parking lots and at the homestead, and then dog stations where you can get a bag to bag up your dog stuff. We have those at strategic places along the greenway and at all the parking lots.

Nat Ross :

Well, I think, in closing, anything that you want to highlight Coler Mountain Bike, preserve the thing that.

Matt Timboe:

I would just want to highlight is we have a lot going on there. There's a lot of ways that people can come out and experience Coler, whether it is just coming out on their own and setting their own schedule or being part of one of the programs we have out there. We have nature camps, we have Coler guides that you can find them at peelcomptonorg, which is our website, and instruction as well.

Nat Ross :

And instruction yeah.

Matt Timboe:

They do guided rides, they do instruction and they have certain classes that are geared mostly towards beginner level stuff, but also in developing, progressing your skills a little bit, which is one of the things at Coler. We want to be progressive in terms of our trail use. We want people to be able to grow in what they can ride out there, but we also have community partners that come in and run events. So we're we have a town series that is going on that will have short track races, races on Thunderdome, which is our dual slalom course really fun head-to-head racing on that. We've built new trails, so come out and see like all that is new Coler um um question for you your favorite trail there for all the diehards?

Matt Timboe:

It's an unpopular one. My favorite trail is Copperhead Road.

Nat Ross :

Oh man, that is beautiful, the stonework on Copperhead Road.

Matt Timboe:

Yeah, it's a challenge. It's one that it will get your heart going. It'll build your skills, but once you learn the lines through it, it gets a little bit easier and it's just really fun I'm gonna agree with matt it's uh challenging so it takes some practice and time.

Nat Ross :

Mine is uh. Here's Johnny, which is also the same. It's, it's technical and uh, you curse at yourself a couple of times till you figure out the lines yeah, that's definitely.

Matt Timboe:

Probably that is the most challenging tech trail we have out there, but the best part is is there's trails for everyone out there.

Nat Ross :

So, matt, I look forward to seeing you out Coler again. What a special place, Bentonville is is very lucky to have it right in town. Yes, definitely see you out there, see you on the trails, as always. Bentonville's here here to help you navigate things to do, where to eat and stay or what's going on in our new American town. Give us a follow on social media, sign up for our newsletter and check out our website at visitbentonvillecom. Thanks for listening.