Ouachita National Recreation Trail
Hiking Trail
Hard
196.57 mi
32,375 ft
An epic point-to-point trail in the Ouachita Mountains.
The Ouachita National Recreation Trail “is the longest trail in the Ouachita National Forest spanning 192 miles across its entire length,” [according to]( the USFS. An additional ~32 miles of trail on private land brings the entire trail length up to about 223 miles in total. While most of the trail is in Arkansas, 46 miles of the trail extends over the border into Oklahoma.
This epic backpacking route is extremely remote and little-traveled. You could easily spend hours, if not days, hiking the Ouachita NRT without seeing another human being! "In a ranking of U.S. long-distance trails on a number of criteria by Backpacker Magazine, the trail ranked third for solitude[3] and fourth for signage," says [Wikipedia](
This solitude is largely due to backpackers choosing to head to more famous trails, such as the Appalachian Trail, for their epic multi-day. Oklahoma and Arkansas? Not such a hot backpacking destination.
"While the heartland of America is usually dismissed as coffee-table flat, rather than coffee-table-book pretty, the Ouachita Mountains, which form the spine of this east-west trail and undulate from 600 to 2,600 feet in elevation, deny the stereotype," write Taryn Jory and Andy Dappen for [Backpacker Magazine]( "The rolling mountains and valleys, smothered with oak, hickory, maple, and pine, are carved by cobbled creeks and capped with the occasional sandstone rooster comb. This is a place that will win you over with its subtle beauty, not with its grandeur." Written by Greg Heil
The Ouachita National Recreation Trail “is the longest trail in the Ouachita National Forest spanning 192 miles across its entire length,” [according to]( the USFS. An additional ~32 miles of trail on private land brings the entire trail length up to about 223 miles in total. While most of the trail is in Arkansas, 46 miles of the trail extends over the border into Oklahoma.
This epic backpacking route is extremely remote and little-traveled. You could easily spend hours, if not days, hiking the Ouachita NRT without seeing another human being! "In a ranking of U.S. long-distance trails on a number of criteria by Backpacker Magazine, the trail ranked third for solitude[3] and fourth for signage," says [Wikipedia](
This solitude is largely due to backpackers choosing to head to more famous trails, such as the Appalachian Trail, for their epic multi-day. Oklahoma and Arkansas? Not such a hot backpacking destination.
"While the heartland of America is usually dismissed as coffee-table flat, rather than coffee-table-book pretty, the Ouachita Mountains, which form the spine of this east-west trail and undulate from 600 to 2,600 feet in elevation, deny the stereotype," write Taryn Jory and Andy Dappen for [Backpacker Magazine]( "The rolling mountains and valleys, smothered with oak, hickory, maple, and pine, are carved by cobbled creeks and capped with the occasional sandstone rooster comb. This is a place that will win you over with its subtle beauty, not with its grandeur." Written by Greg Heil
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Strava Routes
Route and Elevation
Segments
| Name | Distance | Elev. Diff. | Avg. Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potato Hills to Hwy 1 | 5.59 mi | -692 ft | -1.0% |
| Hwy 1 to Rock Garden Shelter | 1.31 mi | -331 ft | -4.0% |
| Rock Garden to Holson Valley | 6.81 mi | 738 ft | 1.8% |
| Holson Valley to Winding Stair | 6.82 mi | -344 ft | -0.1% |
| Hwy 1 to Winding Stair Shelter | 1.13 mi | 505 ft | 8.4% |
| Winding Stair to Big Cedar | 5.12 mi | -1,457 ft | -5.4% |
| U.S. 270 Climb | 0.51 mi | 253 ft | 9.3% |
| County Road 195 Climb | 0.69 mi | 144 ft | 3.9% |