Trans Ozark Trail proposed: 700-mile trail linking Ozark Trail in MO, Ozark Highlands Trail in AR

The Ozark Trail Association and Ozark Highlands Trail Association have started an ambitious project to link the two trails.

When complete, the "Trans Ozark Trail" will be a roughly 700-mile hiking trail stretching from near Cuba, Missouri, to Lake Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Overview of the planned 700-mile Trans Ozark Trail connecting Missouri and Arkansas (click to view full size)

• You can view the 1.5 hour presentation, hosted by the Springfield Nature Center and feature leaders of both the Ozark Trail Association and Ozark Highlands Trail Association, detailing the plans, obstacles, and current status of the project here.
   
• A tri-fold brochure (PDF) outlining the Trans Ozark Trail project

As a 700-mile hiking trail leading through some of the most beautiful, remote, and scenic sections of the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas, the trail would insantly become one of the longest and most prominent contiguous hiking trails in the U.S.

This would put the trails system in same league as the Colorado Trail (500 miles), the Finger Lakes Trail (558 miles), the Arizona Trail (825 miles), the Idaho Centennial Trail (883 miles), and the Florida Trail (1000 miles).

What about mountain biking the Trans Ozark Trail?

A 700-mile mountain biking trail connecting Missouri and Arkansas sounds tantalizing, doesn't it?

In fact, it is better than that, because if the Trans Ozark Trail were mountain bikeable, we could connect it to the Butterfield Stage Experience gravel route near Fort Smith AR, which takes us back to Jefferson City, MO--about 1200 miles total.

From Jefferson City it is fairly easy to connect back to the north end of the Ozark Trail near Cuba - for example, see the mostly-gravel Rock Island Trail Connector Route network we are working with partners across the state to develop.

On the Missouri side, we have most of the the Trans Ozark connection solved for mountain bikers, via the Ozark Trail Mountain Bike System:

On the Arkansas side, the situation is more difficult for mountain biking.  The Ozark Highlands Trail is closed to bicycling.

However, it is almost certainly feasible to do in Arkansas what we have done in Missouri: Create a parallel route using available trails, gravel roads, and low-traffic paved routes to make the same connection the Ozark Highlands Trail does for for hikers.

And by good fortune, the recently completed Arkansas High Country Trail covers much of the same ground.

Working to promote and create cross-state trails and bicycle route systems helps us reach one of the four major objectives in MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri - creating a world-class bicycle and pedestrian network in Missouri.

Your ongoing membership and generous financial support helps turn our Vision into reality.

File: 

Trans Ozark Trail - Closing the Gaps brochure