Scenic Highway US 72 to Wiederkehr Village (and back)

This one makes for a pretty easy day trip. As with my others, things start in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Google Maps links include a bunch of smaller towns simply to keep the map off the Interstates that are close by. It begins with going to Alma via Highway 71. As I've mentioned in other entries, 71 used to be the only reasonable way for trucks to get into Northwest Arkansas. It used to be a pretty dangerous highway. Now, with I-540, this stretch of it has been designated a scenic highway. From Alma, instead of getting on I-40, this route takes US 64 all the way to the turn off for Wiederkehr Village, a family owned vineyard, winery, and restaurant. The timing of this ride works out fairly well for lunch either at Wiederkehr, or at the bottom of the mountain in Altus (which you would have driven through on US-64). There's a nice overlook at the top of the mountain by the St. Mary's Catholic Church.


Altus has a small pub called "Kelts" that I prefer over the more tourist oriented Village restaurant. If you're just in the mood for a cool drink drink, you might want to try out a small bar right on US-64. It's kind of hard to pass up a drink at The Dead Pecker Inn....

The drive back to Fayetteville in this route goes back to Ozark and then on the scenic "PigTrail", AR-23.

Map