The Beginner’s Guide to Hiking Northwest Arkansas—2-Mile Edition

New to hiking, or new to the trails of Northwest Arkansas? This guide takes you from your first easy walk on pavement to the toughest trails in Bella Vista and Bentonville—one short hike at a time. Every hike here is about two miles or less, and there are 26 in all. Do one each week and you’ve got six months of hiking. By the end, you’ll have visited 24 of the trailheads we cover, and you’ll be ready to hike almost anything in the area.

Want a little more distance? The 3-Mile Edition follows the same idea with 52 hikes, a three-mile cap, and a full year of hiking. It’s the natural next step once these feel comfortable—and many of these same routes show up there in longer versions.

The hikes are grouped into four levels—Paved, Easy, Moderate, and Challenging—and listed generally from easiest to hardest. Each level is a little tougher than the one before it, which could mean steeper, or with more rocks and roots under your feet. To see what each level looks like in real life, check out our trail surface and difficulty examples.

First time on our trails? Read Getting Started on NWA Trails for what to bring, what to expect, and how to follow a route.

1. Start where you’re comfortable. Brand new to hiking? Begin with Paved hike #1. Already walking trails? Jump in wherever feels right.
2. Check off each hike as you finish it. Your progress saves automatically in your browser—no account or sign-in needed. As you check hikes off, you’ll see the progress bars fill in. Each level has its own bar, and the black bar at the top of the page tracks the whole guide. Just note that your checkmarks are saved in this browser on this device, so if you clear your browsing data or switch devices, your checkmarks will start fresh.
3. Move up when it feels easy. When you can finish the hikes at one level comfortably, you’re ready for the next level.

Here’s a quick look at what each part of a route card tells you.

Moderate 1

Bella Vista Museum to Lake Rayburn Waterfall 2

0.6 mi 3 · 50 ft gain 4 · 83 ft/mi 5 · Loop 6

Water Crossing Waterfall (Rain-Dependent) 7

Depending on the amount of recent rain, the waterfall may be too deep to safely cross without getting your shoes very wet. 8

View Route Details & Photos 9 View Trailhead Details 10 View Route on Komoot 11

Hike 9 of 26 — mark complete 12

• 1Difficulty → the badge color and label show the route’s level. Tap it on a real card to see what each level means
• 2Route name → tap it to open the route’s own page
• 3Distance → how far the whole hike is
• 4Gain → the total feet of climbing across the hike
• 5Steepness → feet of climbing per mile. Bigger numbers mean a steeper, tougher hike
• 6Route shape → a loop returns to where it started, an out & back turns around and retraces the same path, and a lollipop is a loop with a there-and-back stretch at one end
• 7Heads-up tags → things to know before you go, like a water crossing, a waterfall, or rocky ground. Not every route has them
• 8Route note → a tip about something specific on this route. Not every route has one
• 9View Route Details & Photos → opens the route’s page, with a photo walkthrough of the whole route, where to park, and the trails it uses
• 10View Trailhead Details → opens the trailhead page with parking details and directions
• 11View Route on Komoot → opens the route in the free Komoot app so you can follow it as you hike
• 12Mark complete → check it off when you finish and the progress bars fill in

Take note that every route name in our library begins with the trailhead where you’ll park. For example, “Scotsdale to the Bridge” means it starts at the Scotsdale trailhead. For directions to the trailhead, you can click View Trailhead Details on your desired hike, or open the route in the Komoot app and tap “Get Directions.” You can also browse all of our trailheads to see every parking location we cover.

Want more miles at any level? Use the Route Library to find longer routes starting from the same trailheads you’re already getting to know.