Arkansas is known as a mountain bike destination, with world-class trails dotting the rolling hills in Northwest Arkansas around Bentonville and descending from mountain peaks within the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests. Though the eastern third of the state is nearly pancake flat, that hasn’t stopped mountain bikers from carving out a high-quality trail system at Craighead Forest Park, which takes advantage of a unique topographic feature known as Crowley’s Ridge.
Mountain bikers have enjoyed Craighead Forest Park for many years, and the trails got an $800K boost in 2024
The nearly 700-acre Craighead Forest Park sits five miles south of downtown Jonesboro, Arkansas, and is owned and operated by the city. Though mountain bikers have been riding trails in the park since at least 2015, a massive revamp by Rock Solid Trail Contracting beginning in 2023 and completed in 2024 added and/or rehabbed about eight miles of trails, according to Craig Rickert, Executive Director of the Jonesboro Advertising & Promotion Commission. And there are plans for another nine miles of new and updated trails on the horizon.
Ammen Jordan, Director at studioDRIFT, a non-profit which was heavily involved in the Craighead trailbuilding project from the beginning, says the idea was to improve and expand the trails while respecting the riders and builders who contributed over the years.
“We honored that legacy and used additional resources from a design and construction perspective to evaluate all the trails, to identify trails that should be abandoned or updated, and we identified new opportunities,” he said. “So this is really a retrofit plus an expansion.”
On a visit to Craighead Forest in September with another Craig, my friend Craig Durkin, we set out to ride all of the trails in the park, which is easier said than done. Though the maps and signage are excellent, and the Ferris Wheel trail essentially loops around the park, there are 21 named trails, many of which are one-way.
From the main trailhead, we headed south on Ferris Wheel, so named for the (optional) wooden features riders encounter straight away. Ferris Wheel is a beginner-rated trail, and since it loops the park, it’s a great choice for new and young riders alike. In fact, Rickert tells me that Craighead Forest Park recently hosted its first NICA race in September 2025 and will host another high school mountain bike race this fall.
As we made our way around the park, Durkin and I stumbled onto bits and pieces of legacy singletrack, no doubt etched into the dry, crusty soil by hand many years ago. Today, the park boasts an interesting mix of modern bermed trails and narrower, old-school singletrack.
Area 51 is an expert-rated trail slash zone featuring gap jumps and drops with a decidedly natural feel. Contrast that with Zippin Pippin and Roller Derby, beginner and intermediate trails, respectively, with machine-built flow that begs to be sessioned over and over again.
Though many legacy trails have been re-worked, plenty of challenges remain. Your Mom is a short, double-black-diamond jump trail that neither Durkin nor I had the courage to attempt.
“Anybody that comes here to ride, they’re blown away by how good the trails are here,” Rickert said.
Craighead Forest offers plenty of trailhead amenities like a bike wash, picnic facilities, and proper restrooms. There’s even camping on site. Visitors can also rent kayaks from a self-serve kiosk to explore the lake at the center of the park.
Ride the Ridge!
Though the eastern third of Arkansas is characterized by the flat lowlands of the Mississippi River Delta, the city of Jonesboro and Craighead Forest Park sit atop a geographic anomaly known as Crowley’s Ridge. The 250- to 550-foot-tall ridge runs north to south for about 150 miles from the Missouri state line to the town of Helena, located along the banks of the Mississippi River. The ridge was formed millions of years ago as dust blowing across the continent met Mississippi River fog, causing the dust to settle and form deposits of a type of soil known as loess.
“It’s a very challenging soil type for natural surface trail construction,” Jordan said. Loess is very susceptible to erosion, so it was important to rebuild the trails in a sustainable way.
Following initial construction of the new and updated trails, the team assessed their work to see how the trails were holding up. “We evaluated the performance of the trail and then issued an extensive punch list to address issues that occurred as a result of the disturbance in phase one,” Jordan said. Next, the team did “a reassessment and rebuilt everything that had demonstrated a lack of integrity.”
Though massive fields and farmlands characterize the surrounding region, the area around Crowley’s Ridge and Jonesboro is forested with a mix of pines and hardwood trees. Within Craighead Forest Park there’s over 100 feet of vertical elevation separating the high and low points, and the trails make good use of every bit. Not only is the park popular with local riders looking for rolling descents, it’s beginning to attract out-of-state visitors. Memphis, Tennessee, is about an hour away, with flat and fertile land separating the city from Jonesboro. Jordan notes that Craighead Forest is essentially the only mountain bike destination within a 10,000-square-mile area.
Crowley’s Ridge is quickly becoming a popular destination for gravel bikers as well, with races like the Skirmish beginning and ending in Jonesboro, and newly established routes like the Crowley’s Ridge Gravel Trail drawing riders to explore the area.
Jonesboro is a college town with great restaurants and a brewery
Though it’s not easy to bike from Craighead Forest Park to Jonesboro yet, Rickert says the city is investing in bicycle infrastructure at a rapid clip. The campus of Arkansas State University is already connected to downtown Jonesboro with a combination of bike lanes and dedicated bike paths.
Downtown, mountain bikers will find bars and restaurants and a large Gearhead Outfitters bike shop. West of downtown, there’s Native Brew Works, which offers a lunch and dinner menu featuring tacos and nachos, along with a rotating tap list and craft sodas.
The trails at Craighead Forest help anchor a growing community of riders across the Delta region
In 2025, the Jonesboro Composite boys mountain bike team, known as the Ridge Riders, won the Arkansas State NICA Championship. It’s just one sign that cycling, and mountain biking in particular, is taking hold in a region that hasn’t been associated with the sport in the past.
With the Craighead Forest Park project, “the objective is to really kind of catalyze the outdoor recreation economy, catalyze the bicycle-friendly culture,” Jordan said.
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