Northwest Arkansas’ surprising backbone
You probably wouldn’t guess that one of the most talked-about trail systems in the country runs through a stretch of Northwest Arkansas.
The Razorback Regional Greenway covers 40 paved miles from Fayetteville to Bella Vista, passing through seven towns, Ozark forest, lakeshores, and a few world-class museums along the way.
You can walk it, bike it, run it, or roll a wheelchair on it. The trail took 15 years and $30 million to pull together, and the route keeps growing.
From planning table to paved trail
Regional planners first drew up the idea back in 2000 through the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
The Walton Family Foundation put up $15 million, and partner cities matched it. A $15 million federal TIGER grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation pushed construction forward.
On May 2, 2015, the full trail opened after years of coordination among seven cities. By July 2018, the path reached north into Bella Vista along Little Sugar Creek.
Then, in June 2023, the U.S. Department of the Interior gave it a National Recreation Trail designation.
Starting at Kessler Mountain
The southern end of the Greenway sits at Kessler Mountain Regional Park in southwest Fayetteville. The park covers about 620 acres on and around a mountain that rises 1,856 feet above sea level.
Nearly 400 of those acres stay wild, with old-growth Ozark forest, bluffs, and rock outcroppings you can hike through.
Over 20 miles of natural-surface trails wind across the property, from easy loops to expert-level mountain bike singletrack.
A wide concrete path called the Cato Springs Trail hooks you directly onto the Greenway.
Rolling through Fayetteville
Head north, and the trail takes you straight through downtown Fayetteville, where a historic town square holds shops, restaurants, and a farmers market that draws crowds.
The Greenway runs right alongside the University of Arkansas campus, close to Old Main, the oldest building on the grounds.
Just off the trail, Dickson Street stretches from campus into downtown and ranks as one of the state’s most popular entertainment strips.
Murals, sculptures, and art installations pop up all over town.
A lake, a garden, and a butterfly house
The trail crosses Lake Fayetteville on a bridge at the spillway, and you can look down at the waterfall below. The park around the lake gives you picnic areas, fishing, and loop trails through the woods.
On the east side, the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks sits on 44 acres right off the Greenway.
Twelve themed gardens fill the grounds, including a Japanese Garden, a Children’s Garden with a climbable tree sculpture, and a Sensory Garden.
From May through October, you can walk through Arkansas’s only butterfly house and watch Monarchs and Swallowtails.
Springdale and a Trail of Tears site
The Greenway follows Spring Creek into Springdale, passing through the town’s historic Shiloh Square.
Right along the trail in a wooded, park-like setting, the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History tells the story of everyday life in the Arkansas Ozarks through exhibits on native peoples, pioneers, the Civil War, and folk traditions.
Six historic buildings stand on the museum grounds, including an 1860s homestead and a 1930s barn with antique farm equipment.
The museum carries a certified Trail of Tears designation, sitting along the route that Cherokee detachments walked in the 1830s.
Admission is free.
Open country between the towns
Between Springdale and Bentonville, the trail skirts Lake Springdale and follows Spring Creek north. This is the section where the towns fall away, and open farmland takes over.
Rolling countryside spreads out on both sides, and you get wide views of the Ozark landscape that the closer-in sections don’t give you.
The trail crosses several creeks on well-built bridges designed for clear views of the water below. Wooded stretches throw shade over you, and open meadows open up space between the towns.
Downtown Bentonville and the original five-and-dime
The Greenway runs through downtown Bentonville, one of the fastest-growing small cities in the country.
The historic square centers on the 1928 Benton County Courthouse, a Classical Revival building on the National Register of Historic Places.
On the same square, the original Walton’s 5 and 10 store still stands where it opened in 1950, now operating as a museum about the store’s early days.
You can walk the square past locally owned shops, bakeries, and coffee spots, and catch community events like First Fridays or the Saturday farmers market.
Five centuries of art in the Ozark woods
A short ride off the Greenway takes you to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, set within 120 acres of native Ozark forest.
Architect Moshe Safdie designed the building in a ravine around two spring-fed ponds, with copper-clad roofs rising from the bedrock.
The permanent collection spans five centuries of American art, and general admission costs nothing.
Over five miles of trails loop through the grounds past outdoor sculptures by artists like Louise Bourgeois and Roxy Paine.
On the property sits the Bachman-Wilson House, a home Frank Lloyd Wright designed in 1956, originally built in New Jersey and moved here in 2015.
Finishing at Bella Vista
The Greenway’s northern stretch follows Little Sugar Creek and McKisic Creek into Bella Vista. Near the trail, Blowing Springs Park holds natural springs, rock formations, small waterfalls, and limestone bluffs.
Lake Bella Vista sits close to the northern endpoint, with a loop trail around the water and picnic spots along the shore.
A Veterans Wall of Honor near the parking area recognizes service members from the Revolutionary War through recent conflicts.
The lake and the park together make a quiet place to end a long ride.
A trail network that keeps expanding
The Greenway works as the central spine of a much larger trail system still growing across Northwest Arkansas.
Each city along the route has built spur trails that connect neighborhoods and local attractions back to the main path.
In 2020, the Razorback Greenway Alliance formed with representatives from every city to manage the trail’s future and keep things consistent across all 40 miles.
The region now has hundreds of miles of paved and natural-surface trails pulling visitors from across the country.
What started as a way to connect seven towns has turned into a reason to visit Northwest Arkansas on its own.
Ride the Razorback Regional Greenway in Arkansas
You can pick up the trail at Kessler Mountain Regional Park, 2600 WC 200, Fayetteville, Ark. 72701, or at free parking areas at Lake Fayetteville and Bella Vista Lake Park on the northern end.
The trail stays open year-round, with the most popular months running from February through November. No permits or fees are needed, so just park and go.
Northwest Arkansas National Airport sits about 11 miles from the trail in Bentonville and handles flights from several major airlines.
This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.
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