Talimena Scenic Drive

A 54-mile ridge-crest run along Oklahoma State Highway 1 and Arkansas Highway 88, riding the spine of the Winding Stair and Rich Mountains through the Ouachita National Forest between Talihina and Mena.

This is one of the rare true mountain drives in mid-America, and it earns its reputation by staying high. From Talihina the road climbs onto the crest and then largely holds it, threading the Winding Stair and Rich Mountain ridgelines with frequent overlooks down into forested valleys and out across the Ouachitas. The corners are mostly flowing rather than savage, broad sweepers linked by short straights, with a generous scattering of pull-offs that make it more of a touring road than an attack road. It is justly famous in autumn, when the hardwood canopy turns and the byway fills with leaf-peepers, so pace expectations accordingly. Near the Arkansas end it passes Queen Wilhelmina State Park before dropping toward Mena. Mind leaf-fall and wet leaves on the descents in autumn, deer and free-grazing wildlife at dawn and dusk, and slow-moving sightseeing traffic that brakes without warning at the overlooks.