Buffalo River trails – Upper River Area

General Information

The upper river area basically encompasses that part west of AR-7. This includes land managed by both National Park Service (Buffalo National River) and US Forest Service (Ozark-St Francis National Forest). I have grouped information as follows:

Ken Smith’s Buffalo River Handbook is the definitive source of information for the river, trails, and surrounding area.  Learning about the area history as he has documented it can make a hike much more interesting. His The Buffalo River Country is also well worth reading. Tim Ernst’s Buffalo River Hiking Trails has lots of great information specifically for hiking trails all along the river.

Maps

My trail maps are in a 7-page PDF and show the locations of trail heads and other points of interest along with the various boundaries.  They will be 1:24,000 scale when printed on 11×17″ paper. Here’s some general info about my maps. Every time I update the map the file will have a different name so if you want to bookmark or share it, link to this page – not the file.

Much of the trail data currently comes from NPS and hasn’t been verified but looks plausible. I will update the maps as I collect more of my own data.

April 12 2024 update: Roads data has been reorganized and generally improved. Mileage measuring points have been added for the BRT. The track for the BRT is verified (my own data), most other tracks remain unverified.

Nov 8 2023 update: An all-new base layer replaces the old scanned USGS topo maps. Much nicer looking and more legible.

Feb 26, 2023: Published v1.

Trail and Trail Head Information

Buffalo River Trail

This was the first part of the BRT completed and it runs about 36.5 miles between the Boxley and Pruitt trail heads. There is a 43-mile segment down-river between the Richland Valley and AR-14 (at Dillard’s Ferry) with about 30 miles in between. The Park Service has expressed interest in having a trail to fill the gap. A rough proposed route has been developed but further progress awaits an update to the BNR Comprehensive Management Plan (expected in 2024?).

This and the down-river segment were largely built by an Ozark Society crew that is still active, though currently doing maintenance in the upper river area pending clearance to resume construction.

The BRT runs across map pages 3-7.

Trail Heads

  • Boxley: West side of AR-43 at 35.9454°N, 93.3989°W.
  • Ponca low water bridge: East of AR-43 at 36.0209°N, 93.3553°W. Toilets.
  • Steel Creek: North of AR-74 at 36.0396°N, 93.3461°W. Campground, toilets, potable water.
  • Kyle’s Landing: North of AR-74 at 36.0550°N, 93.2818°W. Campground, toilets, potable water.
  • Erbie Campground: 36.0705°N, 93.2122°W. Campground, toilets.
  • Ozark: 36.0635°N, 93.1607°W. Campground, toilets, potable water.
  • Pruitt: West side of AR-7 at 36.0610°N, 93.1394°W. Toilets, potable water.

Trail sections

All of this trail is on the south/east side of the Buffalo River. It does not cross the river nor are there any major creek crossings.

  • Boxley to Ponca low water bridge: 11.0 miles.
  • Ponca low water bridge to Steel Creek: 1.6 miles.
  • Steel Creek to Kyle’s Landing: 8.2 miles.
  • Kyle’s Landing to Erbie Campground: 7.2 miles.
  • Erbie Campground to Ozark: 5.9 miles.
  • Ozark to Pruitt: 2.6 miles

Upper Buffalo Wilderness

As best I can tell, the Upper Buffalo River Wilderness is 13,294 acres, split between a 2,475 acre (about 19%) parcel within the Buffalo National River on the north, and 10,819 acres (about 81%) in the Ozark-St Francis National Forest to the south.

There is only one official trail but there are many social trails developed along old roads and near popular destinations.

The USFS portion of the UBW is on map pages 1 & 2, while the BNR portion is on map page 3.

Trail Heads

  • Hawksbill Crag: east side of Cave Mountain Rd at 35.8984,-93.4579

Access Points

  • Kapark (upper): Just off FS1410 in the general area of 35.8652°N, 93.4636°W.
  • Kapark (lower): 35.8614°N, 93.4585°W. May sometimes require high clearance or 4WD.
  • Boen Gulf: 35.8628°N, 93.3850°W
  • Dahl Memorial: 35.8163°N, 93.4501°W

Trails

  • Hawksbill Crag (Whitaker Point): 3 mile round-trip from the Hawksbill Crag trail head.

Ponca Wilderness

This 11,300 acre area is very heavily used and doesn’t feel very wildernessy. It contains popular attractions like Hemmed-In-Hollow Falls, the Goat Trail out to Big Bluff, the Indian Creek drainage, Granny Henderson’s Cabin, and much, much more!

This area is covered on map pages 5 & 6.

Trail Heads

  • Bench: south side of Compton-Erbie Rd at 36.0708°N, 93.2587°W
  • Centerpoint: east side of AR-43 at 36.0639°N, 93.3604°W. There is often additional parking available across AR-43 at a private ($) lot.
  • Compton: west of Compton-Erbie Rd at 36.0812°N, 93.3034°W
  • Kyle’s Landing: Turn north from AR-74 at 36.0308°N, 93.2528°W. Go about 2.5 miles to campground area at about 36.0550°N, 93.2818°W. The trailhead is at the far west end of the campground. A short walk west on the ORT leads to the junction with the east-bound BRT. Walk a little farther to the junction with the west-bound BRT.
  • Steel Creek: Turn north from AR-74 at 36.0300°N, 93.3418°W. Go about 1.3 miles to campground area at 36.0396°N, 93.3461°W. There is a spur about 30′ west of the toilets that goes a short distance through some cane to intersect the trail.

Trails

  • Bench: about 4 miles
  • Bench / ORT Connector: 1.0 miles
  • Centerpoint: 3.4 miles
  • Chimney Rock: 3.6 miles
  • Compton: 0.5 miles
  • Goat: 0.4 miles
  • Hemmed-In-Hollow: 2.5 miles
  • Hemmed-In-Hollow / ORT Connector: 0.85 miles
  • Horseshoe Bend: 1.4 miles
  • Indian Creek: 4.4 miles
  • Slatey Place: 1.2 miles
  • Sneed’s Creek: 4.1 miles

Erbie Area

The most visible remnant of the community that was Erbie is a church but like so much of the Buffalo River area you can find a lot of history if you look closely. This area is covered on map pages 6 & 7.

Trail Heads

  • Cecil Cove: north side of Compton-Erbie Rd at 36.0836°N, 93.2335°W.
  • Schermerhorn: north side of Compton-Erbie Rd at 36.0731°N, 93.2650°W.

Trails

  • Cecil Creek: 2.2 miles, begins at Cecil Cove trail head.
  • Cecil Cove Bench: 3.0 miles, runs from end of Cecil Creek Trail to Compton-Erbie Rd at 37.0757°N, 92.2499°W. Note that there was a landslide in 2021? and the ground in that area somewhere south of the Jones Homestead is reported to still be pretty unstable so be alert if you’re planning to hike through there.
  • Farmer: 1 mile, from Compton-Erbie Rd at about 36.0764°N, 93.2487°W to Old River Trail.
  • Goat Bluff: 0.4 miles from intersection with Farmer Trail to Goat Bluff. 0.26 miles from Goat Bluff to intersection with Old River Trail.
  • Goat Bluff Spur: 0.55 miles from Compton-Erbie Rd near the Cecil Cove trail head to Goat Bluff.
  • Hideout Hollow: 2.0 mile round-trip from Schermerhorn trail head.

Other

Trails

  • Mill Creek: A short loop trail east of AR-7 at the Pruitt bridge. The trail head is at 36.0575°N, 93.1339°W.
  • Old River Trail: Runs along the river from the Ponca low water bridge to Pruitt. Was originally a road used by residents along the river. Crosses the river many times so watch the gauges!
  • Lost Valley: A short but very sweet hike.
  • Smith Creek Preserve: A 1300 acre tract adjacent to the BNR and owned by The Nature Conservancy. Several miles of hiking trail. Get a map or read my trip log. This is a great place for wild flowers in the spring.

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