Ozarks, Ouachitas & the Bootheel
States: Arkansas
Start near: Little Rock (about 1 h 10 min to Hot Springs)
bathhouses to the Buffalo
Arkansas 7: The Scenic Seven is a ~160-mile back-roads route from Hot Springs to Harrison on AR 7, driven in 2 days, that stays off I-49 (by 80 miles) through the Ozarks, Ouachitas & the Bootheel.
One two-lane road crosses both of Arkansas's mountain ranges: out of the only national park built around a downtown, over the Ouachitas, across the Arkansas River valley, then up and over the Ozarks past a canyon-sized valley to the country of America's first national river. AR 7 has been the state's signature drive for a century because nothing about it has straightened out.
📍 Hot Springs NP interprets Bathhouse Row door by door; CCC-era overlooks carry their own plaques up the Ozark climb.
Bathhouse Row and gangster lore, then the pine ridges of the Ouachita National Forest and the river-valley crossing at Dardanelle.
Eight Gilded Age bathhouses on thermal springs inside a national park inside a downtown. Buckstaff still runs traditional baths; Superior pours beer brewed with the spring water.
Capone, Luciano and the machine that ran America's most openly illegal spa town. The baths were legal; almost nothing else was.
The long climb past Pelsor's country store to the Arkansas Grand Canyon rim, then the plunge into the Little Buffalo valley.
A 1930s stone overlook on the Ozark climb, often claimed as one of the country's first roadside rest stops. The valley view explains the whole highway.
The Big Creek valley drops away for miles below the AR 7 rim. The Cliff House Inn hangs on the edge and serves pie against the view.
The Buffalo National River crossing at Pruitt, the Boxley elk spur, and the wind-down into Harrison.
Feeding the courthouse square since 1909: chocolate gravy, excellent burgers, and every Buffalo River paddler in a 40-mile radius.
America's first national river (1972), undammed for 135 miles under 500-foot bluffs. The Boxley spur adds a wild elk herd at dawn and dusk.
Arkansas 7: The Scenic Seven is about 160 miles and takes 2 days at a back-roads pace.
It runs from Hot Springs to Harrison.
It follows AR 7.
It avoids I-49 (by 80 miles), using AR 7 instead.
6 stops are mapped, including Bathhouse Row, Gangster Museum of America, Rotary Ann Overlook, Arkansas Grand Canyon and Ozark Café.
The Scenic Seven & the Pig Trail (3 days) and The Ozark & Ouachita Highlands (6 days).
The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Buffalo outfitters and Boxley-area cabins book out for spring float season; reserve before you route.”
The Scenic Seven & the Pig Trail (3 days) · The Ozark & Ouachita Highlands (6 days)
Connects with: The Buffalo River Loop · Talimena & the Ouachitas · The Pig Trail & Eureka
More in the Ozarks, Ouachitas & the Bootheel: Crowley's Ridge Parkway · The Arkansas Delta · Talimena & the Ouachitas · The Pig Trail & Eureka · The Bootheel: US 61 North · The Buffalo River Loop