Sunset Trail

Sunset Trail is the grand traverse of Hot Springs National Park — ten miles of rolling ridgeline that strings together West Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Stonebridge Road corridor like chapters in a book most visitors never open. You'll start in familiar second-growth hardwood forest, but within a mile the crowds vanish and the trail gets genuinely wild, dipping through rocky hollows and climbing exposed ridges with long views over the Ouachita Mountains. The terrain shifts constantly: shaded creek crossings give way to sun-baked saddles, smooth packed earth turns to ankle-testing rock gardens. Three road crossings break the route into digestible chunks, so you can bail or resupply without shame. The payoff is cumulative — not one killer viewpoint but a full day of quiet forest immersion in a park most people experience from a bathhouse lobby. This one belongs to the distance hikers and solitude seekers who want to earn their soak afterward.