Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Arkansas / Ozark Mountains

Ozark Highlands Trail: Richland Creek Wilderness (Fairview to Richland Creek)

Richland Creek Wilderness area, Ozark National Forest, Big Piney Ranger District (near Ben Hur and Pelsor)

East of Fairview Campground, the Ozark Highlands Trail heads for the Richland Creek country, which Backpacker calls a waterfall-rich wonderland of cascades over stepped limestone, with precipitous limestone gorges. The section ends at Richland Creek Campground on the edge of the Richland Creek Wilderness. From there, a user-created trail leads into the wilderness to Twin Falls and Richland Falls, which Explore the Ozarks calls the wilderness’s most popular features.

The section runs about 19 miles and ends with a waterfall side trip.

The hike

Compulsive Hiker places Fairview Campground at OHT mile 123.8 and Richland Creek Campground at mile 143.2. OuachitaMaps’ map titles trace the route: Fairview to Moore CCC, Moore CCC to Falling Water Creek, and Falling Water Creek to Richland Campground.

Explore the Ozarks calls Fairview Campground a welcome rest stop on the trail and says Richland Creek Campground borders one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in the Ozarks or Ouachitas. It lists Falling Water Falls among the district’s swimming holes, and Backpacker names the Richland Creek Wilderness as the final stretch of its featured segment.

The Forest Service says the Richland Creek Wilderness was created by the 1984 Arkansas Wilderness Act and contains 11,801 acres in the middle of the Boston Mountains. Explore the Ozarks describes a long list of waterfalls in the area: Fuzzybutt Falls, Horsetail Falls, Intersection Falls, Keefe Falls, and Six Finger Falls, all reachable from Falling Water Road south of the campground, along with Hamilton Falls and a formation it calls the Sandstone Castle. Greenbelly notes that several shuttle services for the Ozark Highlands Trail are listed on the trail association’s website, which helps with the car shuttle this section needs.

At the end of the section, Compulsive Hiker describes the trail coming out of the woods to cross Richland Creek on a bridge near the campground. Explore the Ozarks gives directions for the north approach: from Lurton on Highway 123, onto Forest Road 1200/County Road 36, and on to the campground entrance just after a bridge over Richland Creek.

For the side trip, Explore the Ozarks says a user-created trail leaves the campground to the west, into the heart of the wilderness, and reaches Twin Falls and Richland Falls. They can also be reached from the Hill Cemetery access. Because the path isn’t an official trail, plan for route-finding.

Beyond Richland Creek Campground, the trail gets harder to follow. Compulsive Hiker says the route continues northwest along County Road 14, not often used now because reaching it requires fording either Richland Creek or the Buffalo River. It describes looking for openings in the brush a couple hundred yards upstream from the mouth of Richland Creek to cross in shallower water.

Backpacker describes the Ozark Highlands Trail as running past rocky ridgelines, limestone canyons, and river valleys where elk, black bears, bobcats, and armadillos roam. It says resupply is easiest by mailing food to post offices in Ozone and Pelsor, within a few miles of the trail, and Explore the Ozarks lists Pelsor and Ben Hur among the closest towns to the wilderness.

For the section just west, see the Ozark Highlands Trail through the Hurricane Creek Wilderness.

Tips

Camping

Camping is dispersed along the Ozark Highlands Trail. Backpacker says you can camp in most places as long as you’re 200 feet from the trail or any water source. Richland Creek Campground sits just outside the wilderness boundary at the east end of the section, and Fairview Campground at the west end. We found no permit requirement. Contact the Big Piney Ranger District at (479) 284-3150.

Inside Intel: We didn’t find trip reports recommending specific backcountry sites on this section. Ending at Richland Creek Campground puts you at the start of the user-created trail to Twin Falls and Richland Falls, which Explore the Ozarks calls the most popular features of the wilderness. A night at the campground leaves a full day for the falls.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Rest up for Twin Falls:

After two days on the Ozark Highlands Trail, a good night's sleep sets up the waterfall side trip. See which pads testers recommend.

Read the full guide →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.