Aslinger Branch Hill South

Trail Overview

The Aslinger Branch Hill South is a trail within the Pine Union trail system as part of the eastern front of Mark Twain National Forest. It starts right at the tail end of Pine Union Spur FSR 2137A, where the road forks hard right heading west. Ultimately, it slowly turns south as you complete its trek to the creek bottom. On the trail's hilltop section, it features course gravel as a base mixed with sandy dirt. Obstacles include small rocks, 12"-24" deep mud holes, and long water collection spots amongst tight trees and exposed roots. There are also mild off-camber sections interlaced throughout all this. This section is a solid 4/10 if you choose your lines wisely, all the way up to a 6/10 if you want to push your rig. The real challenge of this trail is the final hill on the last .25 mile of the trail. This section features heavy water washing and 3'-5' deep by 5' wide ruts, extreme off-camber spots with course gravel and small rocks to make sure you have low traction, you can take the high road and bypass 75% of this, but you will still have to hit two or three extreme obstacles to make it to the creek bottoms, only to have to turn around and climb your way back out up the hill. For this section spotting is necessary and former offroading experience is needed, your vehicle needs, a lot of clearance, excellent traction control, and large amounts of suspension flex to safely traverse this. The end of this trail ends at the Aslinger Branch feeder creek bottoms which are at the southern line of the Pine Union within Mark Twain National Forest.

Difficulty

Lots of mud, and ruts, with tree roots hidden in the murky water. The tight trees make you have to calculate your moves to get around, without sliding into them on the slick mud. The hill section is the bread and butter of this trail and features some of the hardest terrain and challenges found in the eastern Mark Twain National Forest.

Technical Rating