Just north of downtown Salida, at the end of F street is Tenderfoot hill, also known as S mountain because of the big Salida S on it.  The Arkansas hills are the rugged hills behind Tenderfoot.  Not that impressive to look at but oh lordy, perfect for mountain biking. 

Running through, over and around these hills is one of the finest trail networks in the valley, appropriately called the Arkansas Hills trails.  Depending on how you string them together you can do anything from a quick one-hour afternoon loop to a three-hour weekend epic.   The people who built the trails, Salida Mountain Trails, are truly wizards of benchcut.  They make trails that I swear feel like they go downhill both directions. And they do it in some of the steepest roughest terrain you can imagine.  The Arkansas Hills trails offer enough variety to keep even the most jaded dirt bag entertained, from smooth, fast-rolling singletrack to strap-on-the-body-armor-and-break-out-the-200mm-travel-bike double diamond gnar. 

A few pics because, you know, they’re worth a thousand words.