Hiking Hobbs State Park. Awesome adventures at the largest park.

We LOVE our Arkansas State Parks trips and hope to inspire others to visit their state parks. In Arkansas, entrance and use of all 52 state parks is FREE!

If Hobbs State Park is on your radar to visit, read more on Hiking Hobbs State Park –>

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Holding the trophy for largest state park, Hobbs State Park covers 12,054 acres. Our planned activities on a Tuesday afternoon included a trip to the visitor’s center and hiking Hobbs State Park.

At barely over an hour away, this park is an easy afternoon trip for use. We packed our hiking backpack for day use and headed out.

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Hobbs State Park- Visitor’s Center

The visitor’s center is always a good first stop. Roam around the center to learn about the park’s natural resources, play with exhibits, and (my favorite) shop at the gift store.

At Hobbs, a pleasant elderly man working the desk gave us hiking trail advice. We wanted a trail based on our specifications: not too short, too long, or too rough, with a pretty view.

With a 52-mile trail for hiking, biking, and horse riding, we welcomed the recommendations. We settled on Pigeon Roost Trail, an 8.5-mile loop, or roughly 2.25 miles out to the overlook and back.

Hobbs State Park trails:

• Hidden Diversity Multi-Use Trail – 24 miles biking trail
• Historic Van Winkle Trail– 1/2 mile
• Karst Loop Trail– 7.8 miles
• Ozark Plateau Trail– 3/4 mile
• Pigeon Roost Trail– 4 miles and 8.5 miles (double stacked loops)
• Return Trail– 1.05 miles
• Sawtooth Trail– 1.2 miles
• Shaddox Hollow Nature Trail– 1.5 miles
• Sinking Stream Trail– 1/2 mile
• Timberjack Trail– 0.9 mile
• Tunnel Connector Trail– 2.1 miles
• Wolf Den Loop (East & West) Trail– 4.2 miles

Pigeon Roost Trail

A short drive down the road from the visitor’s center is the Pigeon Roost trailhead, which offers plenty of parking.

After lacing up our hiking boots and loading a backpack with water and snacks, we sign in at the trailhead. We haven’t seen this safety feature much in our hiking quests, but we recommend taking advantage of it.

The trail to the overlook is a well-marked path with a few small, cute wooden bridges along the way. There wasn’t much remarkable scenery to look at (compared to some of our other hikes) until we arrived at the overlook.

@brandi_youre.a.fine.girl

Cancel all our plans, stops answering texts, and head out to NATURE! ❤️ #explore #november #lakelife #lake #hike #arkansas #statepark #hobbsstatepark #nature #smileyadventures #fyp #2022 #sunrises2sunsets

♬ original sound – Kyrus Keenan Westcott

Two benches situated at the top of the overlook offer a good resting spot. Paths leading down to the rock bluff and to the shoreline allow more exploration. Exploring the diverse rock formations of Arkansas has become one of our favorite activities.

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Hiking at Hobbs State Park

After playing in this area for a bit, we decided to resume our trail and head back. Misreading the map (or maybe just not paying enough attention) we headed in the wrong direction.

After half a mile, we saw another trail sign and realized our mistake. At that point, we decided to cut our losses and turn back for a 1.6-mile return instead of finishing out the remaining 2.4-mile loop.

I am not a fan of “out and back” hiking since you cover the same ground twice. But because the sun was starting to set and we were not prepared for a longer hike, it was the best choice.

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With Penny (Robert’s bernedoodle) on “point”, we headed back to the camper van.

After one rest break for water and snacks, we made it back to the van before the sun set completely.

Our 2.2-mile hike went a little longer than expected. Adding in a couple of areas of off-trail exploration, we totaled 3.8 miles

Final Thoughts on Hiking Hobbs State Park…

Overall, this trail is a cute family hike with a decent enough view at the end. With Robert liking rocks to climb and myself enjoying waterfalls and overlooks, we probably won’t return to this exact trail for more hiking.

But we did enjoy our time together looking at new scenery. With Hobbs State Park being fairly close to us, it may warrant another visit to explore other trails.

“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than trees.”

Henry David Thoreau

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Bonus Stop: War Eagle Mill

My favorite part of this trip didn’t involve hiking Hobbs State Park, but the drive to/from the park, specifically the War Eagle Mill. The mill is currently operational and houses a store and restaurant.

Returning home we crossed the bridge as the sun was low in the sky, casting beautiful colors across the sky and water. The mill is a beautiful area that I have visited before and will continue to revisit.

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