Construction on Arkansas’ first chairlift-served mountain bike park is in full swing at the 200-acre Bella Vista property off Highway 71. 

OZ Trails Bike Park is projected to open this summer with around 18 miles of beginner-to-advanced downhill trails designed in collaboration with some of the industry’s leading trail-building experts. About 60% to 70% of the system is complete, with crews focused on incorporating the property’s natural landscape into each trail.

Progress is also evident in the base area, where the new Leitner-Poma high-speed chairlift is nearing completion. The loading and unloading terminals at the top and bottom of the hill are in place, and the lift towers now line the hill, giving the park the early feel of a small ski resort, minus the snow.

The park’s 20,000-square-foot “headquarters” building — which will house a restaurant concept, second-story lounge deck, bike shop, rental center and event space — is nearly enclosed. With the exterior close to finished, crews will soon move inside to begin wiring and utility installation.

While the bike park is poised to draw riders from across the region and beyond, OZ Trails Bike Park General Manager Gary Vernon views the project as more than just a mountain biking destination. He envisions it as a community hub — a gathering place for live music, hiking, seasonal events, weddings and a place for friends to meet after riding any of Bentonville or Bella Vista’s trails. 

The park will offer scenic chairlift rides, and there will be a designated hiking-only trail as well as art installations throughout. And Vernon alludes to more to come in the future. “We’re going to do more than what you’ll see in phase one,” he said.

“Just the experience of hanging out here, this is going to be the coolest trailhead in OZ,” Vernon said.

While the base area is currently a noisy construction zone, a short walk uphill shows a different side of the project. Less than a 10-minute walk into the woods, the sound of machinery and highway traffic fades, absorbed by the thick stand of trees. Walking along what will be a beginner-level trail, Vernon stops at a striking feature on the property: one of the Ozark Mountains’ signature limestone bluffs running alongside the route. 

The other side of the trail dips into a deep ravine, which Vernon calls “our little Bella Vista Grand Canyon.” While the massive bluff was a challenging piece of the puzzle, Vernon said this particular trail will be one everyone will want to ride because of its scenic beauty — and since it will cater to beginners, it will be a trail everyone can do.

“This right here excites me,” Vernon said after describing the efforts it has taken to integrate the trail alongside the bluff. “And I'm the kind of guy that likes the Black Diamond expert trail.”

That’s saying a lot coming from Vernon, who has decades of experience creating mountain bike trails. Prior to his work with the bike park, Vernon was the director of outdoor recreation and trail innovation for Runway Group, the Walton-owned company behind the creation of the bike park. 

The OZ Trails Bike Park has been a dream nearly two decades in the making, Vernon said. After meeting Tom Walton on a trail 18 years ago, he volunteered to help build the first five miles of Bentonville’s mountain bike network — work that would eventually help transform the city into an international riding destination. Even in those early days, as the trail system expanded, the idea of a chairlift-served downhill park was always in the back of their minds.

“Tom would always challenge us to build a long-term strategy, and, of course, having a lift-access gravity park was part of that strategy,” he said. “The idea of building a lift-access bike park in Bella Vista was a wild dream, but we wanted to see if it was possible.”

Around seven years ago, Vernon said they had an engineering company with expertise in chairlift design come to the property to complete a feasibility study to see if they could make it happen. Rumors circulated in the years that followed until the project was confirmed earlier this year.

The trails within OZ Trails Bike Park are designed using the formula that Vernon said put Bentonville on the map for mountain biking: creating routes for every skill level, including beginners and first-time riders.

“In the world of mountain biking, normally the trails are built either by professional trail builders for themselves and their friends, or just volunteers that want to build for themselves,” he said. “To build a beginner trail takes a lot of effort — it's got to be smoother, wider, less grade. It's harder to build a beginner trail.”

Focusing on beginner experiences, as well as ways to progress throughout the trail systems in both Bentonville and Bella Vista, is why people come to this area to learn to ride, Vernon said.  

“And that's why some of the pro mountain bikers will bring their families here, because they can all ride together,” he added.

At the OZ Trails Bike Park, 75% of the trails will be beginner to intermediate level, with 25% of the trails built for the experts. “But the expert pro stuff is going to be so good that we’ll draw people here,” Vernon said.

“Everything we've learned over the past 18 years — what not to do and what to do — we're investing here,” he added. “So these will be some of the best trails we've built.”

Follow progress on the OZ Trails Bike Park here.