Great news is on the horizon for Arkansas mountain bikers who have been waiting for years to hear about the game-changing new trail system planned for Mena, Arkansas.
“It has begun,” announced Rob Grunnagle, Marketing Director for Progressive Trail Design. A plan is in place for a network of trails, making Mena a mountain bike destination for riders worldwide, just as the trails in Northwest Arkansas have done for that region of the state.
The proposal includes up to 100 miles of professionally constructed mountain bike trails. This 1,300-foot descent from top to bottom consists of 30 gravity-fed trails, optional designed jump features, and backcountry trail loops filled with high banked dirt turns that traverse the slopes of Arkansas’ second-highest mountain and connect with downtown Mena’s highest mountain.
Oh yeah, and chairlifts—up to five of them. That would mean a day of heart-throbbing, downhill mountain biking and no climbing. A facility of this magnitude could lead cyclists to associate mountain biking with Mena, just as snow skiing is to Breckenridge, Colorado.
THE LITTLE TRAIL THAT GREW
When Rick Chrisman, Mena’s Advertising and Promotion Commission Chair, invited Kenny Davis to speak to a group of business owners and other influential city leaders in 2019, no one could have imagined it would lead to the proposed trail system.
Kenny was a mountain biker who had ridden many of the most popular bike trails across the country. He proposed constructing bike trails in Mena to attract visitors, which invoked enough interest for the group to consider potential trail sites.
It took only a short time for everyone to agree that the 162-acre Ward Lake, previously the city’s water supply, was the obvious location for the trail system. “We had already drained Ward Lake and switched to another lake for our water,” explained Rick. “So, the land was just sitting there.”
The city hired premier trail builder Progressive Trail Design (PTD) to prepare a master plan for the Ward Lake Trails. After shopping the master plan to recruit potential sponsors, the Arkansas Parks and Recreation Foundation (APRF) expressed an interest. When APRF visited the site, they also scouted the surrounding area, specifically between the town and Queen Wilhelmina State Park, atop Rich Mountain. When they realized the 8,800 acres of U.S. Forest Service land was the only thing separating them, they saw it as the perfect environment to fill the one gap missing in Arkansas’ trail systems: lift-served downhill trails.
More agencies joined as the project’s scope grew to include U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands. The project became a collaboration among the City of Mena, Arkansas State Parks, the Arkansas Parks and Recreation Foundation, the US Forest Service, and the Walton Family Foundation.
With government lands now involved, the group began working to satisfy policies defined within the National Environment Policy Act. An environmental assessment is also required. A completion timeline has yet to be announced; however, at the time of this writing, rumors are that the State Parks are breaking ground for new trails at Queen Wilhelmina Lodge, the uppermost end of the proposed trail system.
WARD LAKE TRAILS
While the USFS worked to fulfill the policies and procedures to move forward on the grandiose vision for the overall project, Mena focused on constructing the trails located on city property. The Ward Lake Trails are intended to be the portal for the overall trail network.
In 2024, with matching grant funds from the Mena Advertising and Promotion Commission, Rick contracted PTD to design and build the Ward Lake Trails. In March, after four years of planning and discussion, PTD’s Rob Grunnagle proudly announced on social media, “Boots on the ground.” When I spoke to Rob five months later, he stated Ward Lake Trails would be open to the public by the end of summer.
The network currently consists of four trails. The first is a 1.2-mile aggregate surface, beginner-friendly biking/hiking trail that encircles the drained lake. A 0.7-mile single track will also route cyclists to the hub for two downhill trails; each downhill run is 0.6 miles long. One downhill trail is technical, with fun jumps and other features, while the second was built for flow. Those who have ridden the downhill trails boast they may be the best in the state.
Four miles of trails does not make Mena a destination, but give it time, and keep in mind that the organizations working on Trails at Mena are the same ones that brought Arkansans our four Monument Trails.
In the meantime, mountain bikers should keep the option open for a road trip to the Mena area. After completing several repeats on the new Ward Trails, consider the nearby Earthquake Ridge Trails and the westernmost beginning of the 108-mile IMBA Epic Ouachita Trail, just up the road.
Follow the progress of Trails at Mena at: storymaps.arcgis.com.
