Ozark Highlands Trail
218 mi long · in Arkansas · centroid 88 mi from Springfield
Arkansas's Ozark Highlands Trail runs 218 miles east-west across the Ozark National Forest from Lake Fort Smith State Park to the Buffalo National River. The Ozark Highlands Trail Association maintains it largely with volunteer labor.
- States
- Arkansas
- Length
- 218 mi
- Trail type
- Long-distance trail
- Network
- Regional (rwn)
- Centroid nearest city
- Springfield, MO · 88 mi · ~2.5 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 35.9403°, -93.2133°
- Official site
- ozarkhighlandstrail.com
- OSM relations
- 1 sub-relations on OpenStreetMap
Termini
Eastern terminus: Buffalo National River, Arkansas.
Western terminus: Lake Fort Smith State Park, Arkansas.
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked Ozark Highlands Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Stay nearby
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.