“With goldenrod and reindeer lichen
Twist flowers in bloom
There’s just no place
I’d rather waste my afternoons
Than high on Ouachita”
—Dylan Earl
If a sleepy little mountain town with a cute brewery, panoramic sunset views and more bakeries than perhaps the population warrants sounds like your idea of a terrible time, keep scrolling. But if you’re someone whose knowledge of Mena comes exclusively from watching Tom Cruise’s high-flying, double-crossing, drug smuggling exploits in the 2017 film “American Made,” consider giving the town a closer look over a long weekend sometime. We’ve mapped out a few high points here, outdoorsy and otherwise.
Embrace some sheer rural weirdness. Credit: Stephanie Smittle
ON THE WAY
The lovely thing about this drive — from Little Rock, at any rate — is that about three-quarters of it is off of the state’s major highways, sparing you from Applebee’s-Walmart-Home Depot homogeneity and offering up sheer rural weirdness instead. Along the way, you’ll spot idyllic century farms, rock shops extolling the healing powers of quartz crystals, dusty antique malls and testimonies to the area’s religious and political pockets, among them a beguiling sign bearing the words “Rich Mountain Primitive Baptist Association” with an arrow to a side road and lots of “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.
Patty’s Down the Road
102 Bear Valley Drive, Royal
Unless you’re road tripping on a Monday or a Tuesday, travelers heading southwest from the Little Rock area are likely to pass by Patty’s Down the Road when its doors are open. Grab a slice of pie to go from the diner’s counter, a Cheeseburger Omelet for breakfast or one of their hand-breaded chicken fried chicken platters for supper on the way home.
Burl’s Smokehouse
10176 Albert Pike Road, Royal
This little general store and smokehouse looks like something straight outta Dogpatch, and has been serving up smoked meats and jerkies since the ’80s. If your road snack stash is noticeably bereft of a giant hunk of summer sausage, here’s your pit stop.
The journey is part of the destination on the trip from Little Rock to Mena. Credit: Stephanie Smittle
Shangri-La Resort
987 Shangri-La Drive, Mount Ida
This is the only pit stop we’ve listed that’s more than a few feet off the road, but it’s worth the 2.5-mile jaunt to grab a slice of pie or two for your cooler from the marina resort’s kitchen.
Dairyette
717 Highway 270 East, Mount Ida
This classic roadside diner’s been around since 1958, and the parking lot’s always full, which is telltale stuff about what’s being served up inside. Highly recommend ordering a cherry shake at the walk-up window and taking a photo with the vintage soft-serve ice cream cone sign while you wait.
Arkansas Rocks! Mineral and Mining Trail Scenic Drive
Across southwest Arkansas, along U.S. Highway 270 and Arkansas Highway 88
Driving from Little Rock to Mena means you’re traversing a portion of the Arkansas Rocks! Mineral and Mining Trail Scenic Drive, a route designated by the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism in 2023 to highlight the state’s “Diamond Lakes” region, which includes the cinnabar mines along Lake Greeson, the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, the mineral water-enthusiastic city of Hot Springs and the dubiously named DeSoto Bluff, around which indigenous Caddo people farmed the area’s river valleys before colonizers forced them westward into Oklahoma.
WHERE TO EAT IN MENA
Libations and snacks at The Ouachitas pizzeria and brewery. Credit: Stephanie Smittle
The Ouachitas
821 Mena St.
A stylishly airy pizzeria, coffeehouse and brewery in Mena’s historic downtown district, The Ouachitas is sleek and modern, outfitted in chestnut browns and golden blonde woodwork, with seemingly every kind of seating under the sun: coffee bar, family-style tables, two-tops, couches and barstools aplenty. The staff is ridiculously warm, their merch is super cute and the pace is as unrushed as you want it to be. Also, youʼve got no reason to fritter away your precious attention on a domestic: The Ouachitas brews an impressively wide span of beers and hard seltzers, and the samples we tried were all winners — a cloudy bock, a nutty red ale, a light lager and our fave, a cotton candy-flavored hard seltzer. If I lived in Mena, Iʼd be here all the time. Get the chicken wings.
Sweet potato chips at American Artisans.
American Artisans Eatery & Gallery
615 Mena St.
If somehow the Cross Creek Sandwich Shop in Conway did a mashup with an art museum gift shop, it might look something like this. Selling stellar sandwiches out of a 100-year-old building with exposed brick walls covered in pop art, American Artisans will sell you a piece of couture woodwork along with your chicken salad wrap, or some handcrafted earrings along with your tomato bisque. Somehow, it all works. Whatever you do, don’t skip the sweet potato chips.
Sassafras Bakehouse
207 Mena St.
When you’re only open one day a week and you’ve been in business since 2011, you’re doing something right. Sassafras Bakehouse operates out of a tiny house in Mena’s downtown area, and while it’s hard to catch during their scant business hours — from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays only — they do sell their goods wholesale to various spots around town, including The Ouachitas. They also do the occasional pop-up sale; follow them on Instagram for times and locations.
Skyline Cafe
618 Mena St.
One of Arkansas’s oldest restaurants (founded either in 1921 or 1922, depending on your source) and certainly one with a devoted crowd of regulars, the Skyline Cafe is as unfussy as it gets. It’s cash-only and serves breakfast all day, every day until 2 p.m. at a Polk County pace; consider going elsewhere if you’re in a terrible hurry. Peep the customizable “Coffee Rules” posted on the wall, a playful sliding scale depending on how long you intend to sip.
Mena Hibachi & Sushi
410 Sherwood Ave., Suite 3
Those acquainted with the charms of Bamboo Hibachi and its various outposts across Central Arkansas will know this formula well: a takeaway-centric spot offering up workaday sushi for landlocked sashimi lovers alongside some unobjectionable hibachi combinations of steak, chicken and shrimp for the red-blooded, raw-fish averse. Top it all off with liberal amounts of Yum Yum Sauce and devour. Mena Hibachi (also called Rieki Hibachi & Sushi) follows the same model, DoorDashing takeout from a brightly lit little diner tucked strangely in the far reaches of an antiquated mini mall (surely among the last of its kind), next to a tattoo parlor and a vape shop. When we visited, a large family of regulars was coming in to celebrate a birthday, the front of house staff exclaiming at the eldest daughter’s new shoulder-length bob. Reliable and unfussy, the house hibachi combo is easily enough for two meals, and reheats like a champ. Pair with a Stillwell lager from The Ouachitas’ takeaway cooler.
GO OUTSIDE
The bikers, the backpackers and the retirees in RVs are already hip to this, so you should be, too: The Ouachita Mountains are where it’s at, nature-wise, blanketed in black oak, mockernut hickory, red maple and shortleaf pine. Here, ranked in order from “barely have to leave your car” to long-distance thru-hike, are but a few ways to soak up the peaks and forests in the Mena area.
A quick sunset (or sunrise) drive
Rich Mountain/Queen Wilhelmina State Park
3877 Arkansas Highway 88, Mena
Pop quiz: What’s Arkansas’s second-highest peak? If you guessed Rich Mountain, you’re aces; this ridge in the Ouachitas loses the contest to Mount Magazine by only about 70 feet. The entire 54-mile span of the nationally designated Talimena Scenic Byway, much of which is in Oklahoma, is destination driving for the motorcycle crowds, but there’s a scenery-saturated stretch along Rich Mountain’s spine. Not only are the handful of overlooks all fairly close together, but they’re situated on different sides of the mountain so you can catch sunrise, sunset or both. Also, driving that hunk of highway just makes me feel like I’m a kid again, fingers clasping the side doors of a Hot Wheels car and launching it down an orange plastic track. (While we’re on the topic, these roads are steep; keep it between the lines, yʼall, and look out for deer!) Get there by pointing your GPS to Grand View Vista in Mena on Skyline Drive, or if in doubt, just head to Queen Wilhelmina State Park and head east down Arkansas Highway 88 from there. Donʼt underestimate the high winds, especially if you want to take your time snapping photos. Bring a jacket.
Old-school maps at the East End Visitor Center. Credit: Stephanie Smittle
An accessible 45-minute loop walk on a paved path
Orchard Trail, Talimena Scenic Byway East End Information Center
Near Mena at coordinates 34.601078, -94.243223
If time is limited, or if a member of your traveling party would enjoy an accessible trail, this half-mile loop winds on a gentle grade atop a paved path through a short-leaf pine forest just behind the Talimena Scenic Byway’s East End Visitor Information Center just outside of Mena. The center is entirely staffed by volunteers and houses one of the most extensive collections of 8.5-by-11-inch trail maps we’ve seen at a visitor center anywhere in the state.
A one-hour climb with a rewarding view
Lover’s Leap Trail, Queen Wilhelmina State Park
3877 Arkansas Highway 88, Mena
If you don’t have all day but are looking for a stunning view and a chance to get your heart rate up, the Lover’s Leap Trail at Queen Wilhelmina State Park is your best bet. You’ll start at the sign near the park lodge across from the railroad tracks, stroll a smooth one-third mile out to a wooden viewing platform built for photo opps, then continue past the overlook and veer to the right to make the climb back up to the lodge.
A rigorous full-day hike
Black Fork Mountain Trail
1562-1586 US-270, Mena
This out-and-back trail covers the greatest hits of Rich Mountain scenery for those who wanna pack a lunch and a day pack and spend the day outside. It’s 11.3 miles roundtrip and features panoramic views on all sides, letting you peer all the way into Oklahoma. Note: The trailhead’s marked in Google Maps, but cell service can be spotty in this area, so it’s a good idea to screenshot your route to the trailhead ahead of time. Also, you’re hiking on high ground in a wilderness area without consistent access to the Ouachita River, so pack plenty of water.
A long weekend backpacking trail
Eagle Rock Loop Near Langley
This wildly varied 27-mile loop trail is actually a combination of three different trails — the peak-laden Athens-Big Fork Trail, the low-lying Viles Branch Horse Trail and the river-hugging Little Missouri Trail. Experienced hikers take it on in two days; I did it slowly across three days and have zero regrets, despite taking my boots off approximately 1,000 times to tackle the loops’ many water crossings. There’s good reason the loop’s trailhead parking areas are always filled with license plates from far beyond state lines; the scenery is incredible and water is plentiful.
Spotty service means it’s a good idea to screenshot your route to the trailhead. Credit: Stephanie Smittle
A long-distance, bucket list backpacking trail
Ouachita Trail
Arkansas, Oklahoma
That would be the 223-mile behemoth, the Ouachita Trail, stretching from Talimena State Park in Oklahoma to Pinnacle Mountain State Park here in Arkansas. Doing just the section that passes through the Queen Wilhelmina/Rich Mountain area would be highly rewarding and a great ramp-up for tackling the whole shebang. When it comes to planning such a venture, I’d suggest marrying the digital (GPX files and other resources from friendsoftheouachita.org) with the analog (a copy of Tim Ernst’s “Ouachita Trail Guide”).
