The current Lake Fort Smith State Park is fairly new. The original park closed in 2002 due to the enlargement of the reservoir lake. The current park opened in 2008 with all-new campsites, visitor center, cabins, and swimming pool.

Until recently, the only trails at the park were the Warren Hollow Trail and the beginning of the Ozark Highlands Trail. But in the past few years, two new trails have opened: the Boston Mountain Trail (4-mile semi-loop) and the Shepard Springs Trail.

Recently, the Boston Mountain Trail has been expanded with an additional loop. The original loop A is around 4 miles. Loop B is about 2.5 miles. It is open to mountain bikes and hikers.

The Shepard Springs Trail (hiking only) makes a 5-or-so mile loop with the first few miles of the Ozark Highlands Trail.

Maps for these trails are available at the park’s visitor center. I also posted copies here since they don’t appear to be online anywhere else.

• Trail Map – Boston Trail (Updated) and Warren Hollow Trail (pdf)
• Trail Map – Shepard Springs Loop Trail (pdf)

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The Warren Hollow Trail is a pleasant, mildly challenging wooded trail at Lake Fort Smith State Park (Crawford County, Arkansas).

The trail is just .6 miles long, making for an enjoyable 1.2-mile out-and-back hike.

Getting There

Lake Fort Smith State Park is on Shepard Springs Road, right off of Highway 71 in northwest Arkansas .  The turn off of the highway is about 7 miles north of Mountainburg, if coming from the south, or about a mile south of Artist Point if coming from the north.

Park at the visitor center. The sign for the trailhead is about 50 yards behind the visitor center, toward the right.

Before starting the trail, you might want to walk over to the nearby lake overlook. It has a great view of the Lake Fort Smith. (Lake Fort Smith serves as a water reservoir for Fort Smith and nearby areas.)

The Hike

There are basically three parts to the hike. The first is a .1-mile scenic wooded walk with a downhill incline.

The next .2 miles connects you to the main wooded part. First there is a short downhill walk along a paved road. Then the “trail” makes a left turn for a crossing over a lake inlet. There are usually some pretty views of the lake to the left on this crossing. This is close to the marina.

The rest of the trail is a scenic uphill wooded walk. There is not a lot of uphill climbing, but there is a 140-foot elevation increase.

There is a nice wooden footbridge in the middle of this uphill climb. It’s about 50 feet long and goes over a large stream bed.

At about .1 miles before the top, the trail makes a short crossing over a cabin access road.

Then at the top, the trail reaches a level area by a basketball court and a group cabin. This is where you turn around and head back.

Final Notes

These photos are all from my October 18, 2015 hike. There was a fair amount of fall foliage on the trail that day.

The trail has yellow-green blazes, is easy to follow, and was in great condition.

I had good AT&T cell coverage on the hike.

Photo Gallery

Click below for full-screen photo gallery.

Map

[Last revised: 8-29-2021.]

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Back on October 13, my son and I had a nice visit to Lake Fort Smith State Park, near Mountainburg, Arkansas. I really enjoyed the fall color in the Ozark forest.

Here are a few photos I took that day from the lake overlook behind the visitor center. (More photos after the jump. Click for larger view.)

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