Find the top rated trails in Joplin, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Taking residents and visitors through the natural areas in the north of Springfield, the Fulbright Spring Greenway is a hidden gem of Ozark’s Greenway System. The trail was initially named after the...
Completed in 2015, the Razorback Regional Greenway spans a large portion of Northwest Arkansas, connecting the bustling hubs of Bentonville and Fayetteville with the growing suburban communities of...
As with many of the greenways in the Ozark trail system, the Wilson’s Creek Branch trail follows the route of an eponymous waterway. The trail begins at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park down to Republic...
The Bella Vista Lake Trail forms a loop around Bella Vista Lake in the park of the same name, located along Bentonville's northern edge. Along with this popular paved fitness trail, the park contains...
The Frisco Greenway Trail runs along a portion of the former St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (the Frisco), which played an important role in the development of Joplin and Webb City. Jasper County...
The Jordan Creek Greenway is a paved 3-mile multiuse trail in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There trail exists in 3 disconnected segments: The most northerly section runs for about a mile from...
The Watco Trail, named for the short-line railroad operator headquartered in Pittsburg, stretches diagonally through the Kansas city just west of downtown. The trail is open on a portion of the former...
Ward Branch Greenway is 4.8 miles existing in 3 discrete sections in south Springfield, Missouri. The northernmost segment begins at Cox Medical Center on E Bradford Parkway, ducks underneath SR 60...
The North Bentonville Trail forms an arc around—you guessed it—the northern part of Bentonville, a growing city in northwest Arkansas. The scenic trail winds through woodlands and along a trickling...
The Wishing Springs Trail is a crucial link between two popular trails in Bentonville's extensive system. In the south, the trail begins at a junction with the North Bentonville Trail, which branches...
Fassnight Creek Greenway is a 1.2 mile multi-use east-west trail in the heart of Springfield, about a mile southwest of Missouri State University. The paved trail meanders right alongside the...
The North Bentonville Trail forms an arc around—you guessed it—the northern part of Bentonville, a growing city in northwest Arkansas. The scenic trail winds through woodlands and along a trickling...
The Frisco Greenway Trail runs along a portion of the former St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (the Frisco), which played an important role in the development of Joplin and Webb City. Jasper County...
The Jordan Creek Greenway is a paved 3-mile multiuse trail in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There trail exists in 3 disconnected segments: The most northerly section runs for about a mile from...
The Ruby Jack Trail runs for 16 miles between Carthage, MO, and the Kansas state line. The trail links the towns of Carthage, Oronogo, and Carl Junction, traversing farmland, wetland, and woodland. As...
The Watco Trail, named for the short-line railroad operator headquartered in Pittsburg, stretches diagonally through the Kansas city just west of downtown. The trail is open on a portion of the former...
Ward Branch Greenway is 4.8 miles existing in 3 discrete sections in south Springfield, Missouri. The northernmost segment begins at Cox Medical Center on E Bradford Parkway, ducks underneath SR 60...
Fassnight Creek Greenway is a 1.2 mile multi-use east-west trail in the heart of Springfield, about a mile southwest of Missouri State University. The paved trail meanders right alongside the...
As with many of the greenways in the Ozark trail system, the Wilson’s Creek Branch trail follows the route of an eponymous waterway. The trail begins at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park down to Republic...
Completed in 2015, the Razorback Regional Greenway spans a large portion of Northwest Arkansas, connecting the bustling hubs of Bentonville and Fayetteville with the growing suburban communities of...
Taking residents and visitors through the natural areas in the north of Springfield, the Fulbright Spring Greenway is a hidden gem of Ozark’s Greenway System. The trail was initially named after the...
The Bella Vista Lake Trail forms a loop around Bella Vista Lake in the park of the same name, located along Bentonville's northern edge. Along with this popular paved fitness trail, the park contains...
The Wishing Springs Trail is a crucial link between two popular trails in Bentonville's extensive system. In the south, the trail begins at a junction with the North Bentonville Trail, which branches...
Ward Branch Greenway is 4.8 miles existing in 3 discrete sections in south Springfield, Missouri. The northernmost segment begins at Cox Medical Center on E Bradford Parkway, ducks underneath SR 60...
The North Bentonville Trail forms an arc around—you guessed it—the northern part of Bentonville, a growing city in northwest Arkansas. The scenic trail winds through woodlands and along a trickling...
The Watco Trail, named for the short-line railroad operator headquartered in Pittsburg, stretches diagonally through the Kansas city just west of downtown. The trail is open on a portion of the former...
The Bella Vista Lake Trail forms a loop around Bella Vista Lake in the park of the same name, located along Bentonville's northern edge. Along with this popular paved fitness trail, the park contains...
Completed in 2015, the Razorback Regional Greenway spans a large portion of Northwest Arkansas, connecting the bustling hubs of Bentonville and Fayetteville with the growing suburban communities of...
The Frisco Greenway Trail runs along a portion of the former St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (the Frisco), which played an important role in the development of Joplin and Webb City. Jasper County...
The Jordan Creek Greenway is a paved 3-mile multiuse trail in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There trail exists in 3 disconnected segments: The most northerly section runs for about a mile from...
Fassnight Creek Greenway is a 1.2 mile multi-use east-west trail in the heart of Springfield, about a mile southwest of Missouri State University. The paved trail meanders right alongside the...
Taking residents and visitors through the natural areas in the north of Springfield, the Fulbright Spring Greenway is a hidden gem of Ozark’s Greenway System. The trail was initially named after the...
The Wishing Springs Trail is a crucial link between two popular trails in Bentonville's extensive system. In the south, the trail begins at a junction with the North Bentonville Trail, which branches...
The Ruby Jack Trail runs for 16 miles between Carthage, MO, and the Kansas state line. The trail links the towns of Carthage, Oronogo, and Carl Junction, traversing farmland, wetland, and woodland. As...
As with many of the greenways in the Ozark trail system, the Wilson’s Creek Branch trail follows the route of an eponymous waterway. The trail begins at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park down to Republic...
We love riding our bikes on the Razorback Regional Greenway. You can pick and choose different places to park and ride. We enjoy riding with friends whenever we can.
The Frisco Greenway is within a mile of my house. It is supported by local volunteers and donations. The surface is hard packed gravel that is appropriate for runners and hybrid bikes. It is well traveled during the daylight and has very few road crossings. There are some connecting paved bike paths (extra wide sidewalks) at about the midpoint of the trail. There is no water on the trail, but there is a porta-potty at the mid point and the south end.
I live in Springdale and ride four miles from home through city streets to downtown where I catch the Greenway.
At the moment the trail is blocked in two places going north. Signs say the trail is closed at Pleasant Grove Road, but I continued on all the way until where it crosses under I-49. It's blocked there and will be for several months because they are widening I-49 and building the trestles under the highway.
There is a detour shown from Pleasant Grove up over and around I-49 but I'm told it's on city streets and bit hazardous. And up near Bella Vista in the north its closed by more highway construction for the new bypass.
It's called progress and when it opens again it will be possible to traverse then entire path from north to south. It is a fun and picturesque ride. In some fifteen months I've ridden some 3,000+ miles on this system on a recumbent trike. It's a lot of fun.
More and more trails are connecting to the system in the coming years. You just need to be patient. It's only going to get better and better.
We ran a 25k on this trail. Started at Carthage parking lot in the park due to more parking for race participants and entered the trail at trailhead and went to Grant St in Oranogo and back to Carthage. Round trip 15.6 miles. It was small white crushed chat similar to the Frisco Trail in Joplin. Pretty level with only noticeable incline getting on the trail at Carthage Trailhead. A few areas had some grass grown up on the trail but paths were still easy to run thru or ride a bike thru. Scenery past a salvage yard at the start then mostly farm and ranch land. No lose pets. Heard a couple dogs in 2 yards and farm with a loud rooster. Absolutely pleasant Trail experience! If it was paved I would give it a 5. Would love to have a trail similar in our community!!
I started our ride in Carthage with a couple of my grandchildren on mountain bikes. I did not know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. The trail was hard-packed gravel and was very smooth. We only went 3-4 miles west then returned. There are benches set up in several spots to rest. We all enjoyed the ride. I will be using this trail much more often. My wife will also join us on her beach cruiser.
I was there last weekend and rode from CJ to where it basically ends just past CJ heading toward Carthage. I picked my bike up and carried it over the railroad tracks then road a bit further before it became covered in large rocks that you sink into and was so overgrown with weeds it basically didn't exist.
We have just finished resurfacing 2 miles of the Ruby Jack from the Carthage Trail Head to Leggett and Platt. We placed fine gravel over the rough gravel that was there for several years. The trail is holding up well.
There are plans to extend the trail 1.5 miles to the west towards Carl Junction. We should know by the end of the summer of 2016 when this will take place.
We parked one car in Joplin off North st at the beginning of trail and was able to get nice shaded parking spot and there is a porta potty in this lot. We then hoped in other car and drove to web city near broadway which was difficult to find the trail at first but ended up parking under some shade in the skating rink parking lot and walking towards broadway and cedar and saw the old rail road tracks across the road and saw the trail and began following it. It was me and my wife along with our three year old daughter. Well majority of the trail is shaded really nicely except for about just over half mile stretch when you get near Zora there is absolutely no shade and is burning hot on this stretch but other then this the entire rest of trail is nice and shaded even during hottest part of day. We started just after 3 PM and with out three year old walking herself majority of the way we finished around 4:45 PM but also between Zora and the Joplin starting point were we parked we came across a bridge were we spent some time playing in the water as well. The entire trail is all gravel and overall was an enjoyable afternoon. Would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun walk and without kids could probably be done closer to an hour.
I don't know wher to start, but it looks like this is the first review of this trail. I'll start by saying this is one of the top trails in the country. What they (whoever that group of folks may be) have done is a engineering marvel. I live in Missouri and I am a bicycle tourist. I have camped, backpacked and enjoyed the Arkansas scenery for many years.
The way I did the trail was like this...I parked near the Northern end at a Lowe's Home Improvement. They do not allow overnight parking at the trailhead at Bella Vista or Bentonville or any trailhead at for that matter. I rode my loaded touring Bike South to Fayetteville, which was a wonderful ride. The only problem I encountered, was that the 2 campgrounds in Fayetteville did not allow tent camping of any sort. I found a RV campground 6-7 miles South of Fayetteville called the "Cow Patty" and they had no problem with a tent. The only negative thing about that is that 6-7 miles on HWY 71 which is pretty much bicycle unfriendly. After spending the night at the Cow Patty, I headed back North to my vehicle parked at Lowe's which was still in the parking lot. I did call them ahead of time and had the O.K. to park there.
I'll repeat; this trail is an engineering marvel. I won't go into details because you'll have to see for yourself how they wound it through the various cities. It is 95% concrete trail, seperate from the roadway.
The only problem I had with the trail was some of the signage. It looks as though it was placed by someone who has never ridden the trail. This problem is compounded by the fact that the trail travels through many different cities and is composed of 19 trails which are listed on this website at the homepage for this trail. Why they don't get rid of the 19 trail names and just call it the Razorback Greenway and rename the side trails is beyond me.
The worse places I saw for signage problems were in Bentonville, South of the Neil compton home through the rest of Bentonville and in Springdale. I think the powers to be would be really enlightened to find someone who has not traveled the Greenway before, and follow them and see the reaction they have to the signage. they would need to do this North and South.
As it is now, the whole trail is 95% nice concrete and mostly brand new. At some point you have to get rid of the 19 trails it is composed of.
I also think that the mile markers for the trail are useless, they need to be much more often, say every tenth of a mile instead of every mile.
And lastly, they need to provide overnight parking at leat at the beginning, middle and ends. I give the city of Bentonville and Bella Vista zero stars for this matter. The suggestions I was given was to park up at the Missouri state line at the Walmart. I E-mailed the director of the Bentonville Parks and Recreation, David Wright. Much of the parking information I got was from him, another Bentonville Parks employee or the Bella Vista police Department. Mr. Wright was the only one that did not suggest the Walmart up at the Missouri state line and the dangerous highway I would have to navigate on my bicycle to get to the Northers end of the trail.
I was told over and over, no camping alsong the trail, but as I knew I would find, homeless folks are already using the trail and camping. Especially at the Southern end in Fayetteville.
Special thanks to the Lowe's in Bentonville/Bella Vista for letting me park. Even more so, Thanks to whoever engineered & designed the trail. They will always have a job. Pat yourself on the back.
In closing, I would say, fix the signage, allow overnight parking and make public those locations.
This trail through Joplin and Webb City has access points along its length. There are a couple of paved sections, but fine, graded gravel is well kept within the 'green tunnel' of trees most of the way. Deer, groundhogs, upland and aquatic birds can be found often, especially along the southern portions of the trail (near Turkey Creek, and among the sloping hills). Nearby rail is still active at the southern end, giving nostalgic calls, and occasionally views of parked rail cars on a siding that used to be the rail of this rail-to-trail.
This trail has been in the minds of Carl Junction, Oronogo, and Carthage for years. It is actively used by members of the AVA and the local Dogwood Trailblazers walking groups. I enjoy walks from the Oronogo access. From that point eastward to Carthage, the grading and gravel size are smooth, even allowing family members to ride bike comfortably at the same time I am walking. From Oronogo, westward, there is a mile of coarser, loose, larger gravel, older bridges and more overgrown vegetation. This is a section that runs under the nearby Highway 43. The Carl Junction end of the trail has received (is now still in action) a large amount of clearing, grading and new fine gravel application to make it a very strong, attractive portion of the trail. The trail is a good one. It has different character along different portions, but is still being upgraded each year.
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