Arkansas will soon get more lift-accessed downhill riding as a new lift is officially under construction. And no, it isn’t another lift or more runs at the new OZ Trails Bike Park, which opened this year. For these new lift-accessed trails, head about 160 miles south of Bentonville to the small town of Mena.
Compared to Bentonville, Bella Vista, and the OZ Trails Bike Park, Mena has nearly four times the elevation. Over the next year, Trails at Mena will install a new lift and build 19 miles of downhill trails.
Moving forward with chairlift construction
Singltracks first covered the Trails at Mena project over two years ago. The entire scope of the project is massive — 100 miles of singletrack, with some 30 gravity-specific trails, up to 20 backcountry loops, and a “backyard” network that connects to downtown Mena.
The proposed area is a massive swath of land (nearly 9,000 acres) in the Ouachita National Forest, from just northwest of Mena to Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Here, the mountainous terrain climbs well over 1,000 feet above the city (roughly 1,300 feet between the high and low points), providing ideal terrain not only for trails but also for a chairlift.
Five proposed chairlifts, actually. However, that number shrank to three in a revised 2024 Forest Service Environmental Assessment. While two of the three proposed lifts are still very much in the “we’ll see” phase, one is now certain. An October 2nd Instagram video shows a helicopter flying the massive chairlift foundations into one of the proposed zones from the Trails at Mena proposal.
We followed up with Shae Lewis, Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, asking him to confirm the new chairlift’s location. “[The] Ward Lake Zone,” Lewis told us in an email.
Ward Lake is the closest area to Mena and the most logical place to start. When we first spoke with Lewis a few years ago, he explained that the project’s scope will depend heavily on usage. If the initial phase of trails is heavily used, more trails will follow. The same applies to the other proposed lifts.
“Any additional future lifts would be developed as demand and capital funding allocations come into alignment,” Lewis explained when asked about the four other proposed lifts.
Lewis said the lift currently being constructed in the Ward Lake Zone is a “high-speed detachable quad” stretching about 6,800 feet long. The lift will connect Ward Lake to Round Top Mountain, providing roughly 1,100 feet of descent. Along with the lift, Lewis said that the initial phase of construction will also include “base village infrastructure, guest services, and recreational improvements.”
And there are trails going in too, correct?
Why build a lift with no trails? Yes, there are trails being added to the Ward Lake Zone. Quite a few, actually.
“The initial trail system will include approximately 19 miles of lift-served mountain biking trails with approximately 1,100 feet of vertical descent,” Lewis said. Because they are still in the early stages of building the trails, the exact length is difficult to determine. That said, we can draw some conclusions about the length of the DH trails based on information the state of Arkansas provided.
We know that the distance from the start of the lift at Ward Lake to its termination at Round Top Mountain is more than 1.25 miles. So, if the trail builders simply blaze a straight line down the mountain, the trail will be at least a mile long. Fortunately, trail builders don’t do that, adding turns and traverses to manage speed and give riders challenging terrain.
And there will be some challenging terrain. Lewis said riders can expect “black diamond jump lines and steep, technical expert terrain.” That said, the Ward Lake Zone will be “designed to accommodate riders of all skill levels.” Lewis also mentioned intermediate flow trails and beginner-friendly green options.
While the folks behind the OZ Trails Bike Park told us there isn’t just “a bunch of flow trail,” and that they incorporated more “rake-and-ride raw” singletrack, initial videos show plenty of jump trails and flow. This could be an opportunity for the Trails at Mena to stand out if they build trails on the “steep, technical expert terrain” Lewis claims.
But if the style of trails doesn’t set them apart, the 1,100 feet of elevation loss will (OZ Trails has a little over 300 feet). Regardless, the trails will be good. The same builder — Gravity Logic — who built the OZ Trails Bike Park is working with the Arkansas Parks and Recreation Foundation and Arkansas State Parks to build the trails at Ward Lake. This is the same crew that made Whistler Bike Park what it is today.
You still have to wait, but not too much longer
While chairlift construction this month is a great sight, the quads won’t be spinning anytime soon. “Project construction is planned for completion in the Spring of 2028, with the opening of the bike park immediately thereafter,” Lewis told us.
The Ward Lake Zone will establish Mena, Arkansas, as a proper downhill bike park destination, with runs rivaling the distance and elevation drop found in western states. Yet it will offer riders an opportunity most (all?) bike parks in the western states can’t: when the snow starts falling, they close. Mena could easily be the next year-round riding destination.
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