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Pig Trail Scenic Byway

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
56 km
Riding-time estimate
1 h 01
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

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Why this ride

A forest byway from Ozark, Arkansas to Brashears, Arkansas, via Boston Mountains. Key character: tight curves; Ozark forest; river valleys. Surface: paved.

Scenic road chapters

Pig Trail Scenic Byway

Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 23 km this is Pig Trail Scenic Byway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.

Chapter facts
Length
23 km
Named road
Pig Trail Scenic Byway

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Ozark

    Ozark, Arkansas, sits on the south side of the Arkansas River valley, where the flat bottomlands end and the Ozark foothills begin. It is a quiet county seat of about thirty-five hundred people, with an old courthouse on a square, a few brick storefronts and a couple of cafes, and it serves as the starting point for the Pig Trail, the road that heads north through the Ozark National Forest toward Eureka Springs and Fayetteville. The name itself may come from the French aux Arcs, to the Arkansas, though the exact origin is debated.

    Read the complete Ozark write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 2.

  2. 2. Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 2

    Past Cass the road finally starts to do what its reputation promises. The forest closes in, the hills steepen, and Highway 23 begins to wind through a run of tight, banked hairpins that climb and drop through deep hardwood forest, with the Mulberry River tucked away on the left in a rocky valley. This is the Boston Mountains, the highest and roughest part of the Ozarks, a plateau cut by streams into a maze of steep ridges and hollows, and the forest of oak, hickory and maple is among the most extensive in the central United States.

    Read the complete Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 2 write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 2 comes up 19 km in. Next is Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 3.

  3. 3. Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 3

    Further north, the Boston Mountains begin to relax. The ridges flatten into a broad plateau, the hairpins ease into longer, smoother bends, and the road settles into a gentle rhythm through deep hardwood forest with occasional clearings for farms, hay meadows and small chapels. The nearest towns, Huntsville and Elkins, lie off to the north and west, and between them is some of the quietest country in Arkansas.

    Read the complete Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 3 write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    56 km in you reach Pig Trail Scenic Byway point 3.

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