The OZ Trails Bike Park, the first chairlift-served bike park in Arkansas, has officially announced its opening day: June 12, 2026, during the Bentonville Bike Fest. “For the first time in Arkansas history, riders can load a chairlift and drop into world-class gravity trails, right here in the Ozarks,” said Gary Vernon, General Manager of OZ Trails Bike Park. “What we’ve built is something this state has never seen, and we can’t wait to open the gates on June 12.”
What will riders find at the new OZ Trails Bike Park?
While the new bike park only has 300 vertical feet to work with, world-renowned trail builders Gravity Logic have constructed over 20 miles of purpose-built downhill trails, all served by a highspeed detachable quad chairlift from Leitner-Poma. The ride to the top takes about three minutes.
The trails in the bike park run the difficulty gamut from beginner to expert. About 75% of the terrain is designed for beginners and intermediate riders (green and blue), with the remaining 25% for advanced and expert riders (black and double black). But even the easier trails include “optional features that keep lines interesting for advanced riders as well,” according to OZ Trails.
“So the idea would be, some friends could go out and ride a blue jump trail, and somebody who’s on a blue jump trail [for the first time] would feel comfortable and safe and able to progress and learn, but an expert could ride it with them as well and also have a good time,” said J. Scott King, Chief Experience Officer for the Runway Group in Northwest Arkansas.
The first trail built by Gravity Logic was a black jump trail with 22 features ranging from tabletops to shark fins, hips, drops, and more. While riders can expect plenty of big A-Line-style jumps, they’ve also built downhill trails of all varieties, including “a bunch of rake-and-ride raw,” according to Vernon. “We’re just not cutting singletrack everywhere. We’re not just doing a bunch of flow trail. We’re doing […] all types of tread surfaces.”
The build went quickly: construction began in spring 2025, and the official open comes in late spring 2026. Despite a couple of snow storms, a relatively mild winter in Arkansas helped keep the team on schedule.
When asked about future trail developments, Katie Parsons, Strategic Community Relations and Public Affairs for the Runway Group, said, “If you’ve been to Bentonville, you know our work is never finished when it comes to mountain bike trails — the same is true for OZ Trails Bike Park. We’ll continue to build and refine the park to make sure our guests walk away with thrills every time.”
More than just a bike park, it’s a new cycling hub in Northwest Arkansas
The new bike park is located at Highway 71 and Mercy Way on the Bentonville-Bella Vista border, and it’s more than just a collection of downhill trails. Instead, this is an entirely new cycling hub for Northwest Arkansas, providing connectivity to the greater 550+ mile trail system.
At the base of the lift, riders will find the OZ Trails HQ, which offers a full-service restaurant and bar, bike rentals, a retail shop, a bike school and pro-led instruction, a pump track and dirt jump zone, large-scale art installations, and private event and gathering spaces.
“The park’s full-service restaurant and bar, Ozzy’s Ride and Dine, features a rooftop deck overlooking the bike lift and will be operated by Luke Wetzel and Mollie Mullis, the team behind some of Northwest Arkansas’s most beloved dining destinations,” according to OZ Trails. “The HQ and grounds will be free and open to the public.”
Daily lift ticket and annual pass costs have not yet been released.
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