2-state trail · Long-distance trail

Ozark Trail

390 mi long · across 2 states · centroid 37 mi from Chicago

The Ozark Trail traces 390 miles of completed trail across the Missouri Ozarks, with planned future connections to the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas and an eventual link to the Buffalo River. Maintained by the Ozark Trail Association on a mix of national forest, state park, and private land.

States: Missouri, Arkansas
Length: 390 mi
Trail type: Long-distance trail
Network: Regional (rwn)
Centroid nearest city: Chicago, IL · 37 mi · ~1.1 hr drive
Centroid coords: 41.4339°, -88.0276°
Official site: ozarktrail.com
OSM relations: 11 sub-relations on OpenStreetMap

From Wikipedia: The Ozark Trail was a network of locally maintained roads and highways organized by the Ozark Trails Association that predated the United States federal highway system. The roads ran from St. Louis, Missouri, to El Paso, Texas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, over a series of routes. These roads were maintained by both private citizens and local communities. In one case, however, the U.S. government was directly involved; it built the Newcastle Bridge in 1923 over the South Canadian River between Newcastle, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City, as the first federal highway project built in Oklahoma. Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Ozark Trail (auto trail), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Termini

Start & end

Southern terminus: Arkansas state line.

Northern terminus: Onondaga Cave State Park, Missouri.

Plan your hike

Practical notes

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 Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.

Stay nearby

Affiliate · disclosed

Driving in? The nearest documented metro is Chicago, IL — 37 miles away (~1.1 hr drive). See accommodation in Chicago on Booking.com → RoamFound earns a small commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you. How we handle affiliate links.

Other trails within 50 miles

4 nearby

Illinois · 40 mi

ADT - Illinois - I - Seg 1

13 miles from this trail's centroid

Illinois · 79 mi

ADT - Illinois - I - Seg 2

37 miles from this trail's centroid

Indiana

DLT h - N. Lake to Midwest Rd

44 miles from this trail's centroid

Indiana

DLT j - Midwest to Howe

48 miles from this trail's centroid

Sources

Public data + curation

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.