The Natural State – a fitting nickname for Arkansas, which is known for its expansive and diverse wilderness areas that feature limestone caves, forests, rivers, hot springs, and mountains. With hundreds of trails to choose from, we’ve helped narrow your search by highlighting five of the best hikes in Arkansas based on recommendations from Trails.com.
Yellow Rock Trail
The Yellow Rock Trail leads hikers on a 3-mile trek up 300 feet in elevation to the top of Yellow Rock to offer the best panoramas of Devil’s Den State Park, including Lee Creek Valley and the surrounding Boston Mountains. Hikers pass huge boulders and interesting rock formations, steep bluffs, and forests of cedar trees walking the trail to Yellow Rock Overlook.
North Rim Trail
The North Rim Trail traverses 2.5 miles of the impressive bluffs of Mount Magazine, Arkansas’ highest point. This hiking trail runs along the mountain’s north rim through hardwood forest and across several creeks to Cameron Bluff Overlook Drive, which offers amazing views of the Arkansas River Valley and the Ozark Plateau.
Ozark Highland Trail
As of this writing, you can hike up to 218 miles of the Ozark Highland Trail (it will be 254 miles when complete), which runs through some of the most remote areas of the forested Ozark Mountains in northwest Arkansas. Taking this trail, hikers see wildflower fields, dozens of streams and seasonal waterfalls, and countless boulders, with points of particular interest being White Rock Mountain, Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area, the Buffalo National River, Marinoni Scenic Area, Dead Dog Bluff, and the Ozark Highlands National Scenic Byway.
Buffalo River Trail
Hikers follow the Buffalo River for 37 miles on the river’s namesake trail, which varies in difficulty as it runs through untouched wilderness areas of the Buffalo River National Park. Explorers traverse everything from old homesteads and open fields to rocky canyons and bluff lines on the Buffalo River Trail, and the scenic views of the ever-changing river are hard to beat.
Lake Ouachita Vista Trail
You will be treated to spectacular sights hiking the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail, which runs for about 40 miles along the southern shore of Lake Ouachita. The Lake Ouachita Vista Trail traverses mountain slopes covered in mixed hardwood and pine forests, and it offers hikers many opportunities to see native wildlife and birds.
Posted thanks to https://www.civilized.life/articles/best-arkansas-hikes/