We are embarking on a project to add another 29 miles to the Buffalo River Trail – this time a connector between Pruitt and the Richland Valley to fill the gap between the 2 existing segments and create about 110 continuous miles of trail. A rough route was developed on paper by Ken Smith many years ago. Work is expected to begin on the ground in the Fall of ’22 to survey the precise route so the National Park Service (BNR) can do compliance-checking. Construction will follow as soon as possible after approval.
This will be a multi-year project that will need the labor of many people. The initial focus will be the 14-mile segment from the Richland Valley (where the new BRT will intersect the OHT at “The Nars”) upriver to AR-123 at the Carver bridge. The trail will be on the south side of the river and all access to BNR in this segment is through the Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area. It is expected that work will initially be done on weekends, Fall through Spring, but sessions will extend into the week if there is sufficient interest.
November ’22 update: Further work on this will be deferred until NPS updates their management plan and determines what kind of trail they want.
Buffalo River Trail Crew 