Arkansas Is Daring You to Drive It: ARDOT's 'Explore AR Highways' Quest Puts Five Legendary Routes on the Map
Road trips need a reason — a finish line, a story to chase, a badge to earn. The Arkansas Department of Transportation has figured that out. ARDOT has launched Explore AR Highways, an annual adventure encouraging Arkansans and visitors to discover some of the state's most scenic destinations. It's not a passive sightseeing suggestion. It's a structured, photo-driven quest across five radically different corners of the Natural State, with real rewards waiting at the end — and a clock ticking on some of them.
The program arrives at a moment when American road-trip culture is in full resurgence. Gas is manageable, remote work has loosened up schedules, and the appetite for experiences that feel earned rather than purchased is as strong as ever. ARDOT is tapping directly into that. The quest is designed to promote sightseeing and unique sights that the Natural State has to offer. What it delivers, for anyone willing to load up a truck and actually do it, is one of the most geographically varied single-state road trip circuits in the American South.
The Quest, Explained
The mechanics are simple enough that they don't get in the way of the adventure. To complete the quest, participants must visit all five of the recommended stops and snap a selfie at each one, then post their photos to Instagram or Facebook, tag @myARDOT, and use the hashtag #ExploreARHighways. Once all five destinations have been checked off, participants submit their entry through an official online form. The bar to entry is low — a smartphone, a tank of gas, and a few days of open road.
The rewards, though, have a competitive edge worth noting. Every participant who completes the quest receives an exclusive bumper sticker illustrating one of the five locations, with the winning bumper sticker artwork determined by public vote. That's a nice memento. The real prize, however, goes to the fastest movers: the first 250 participants to complete the quest will also receive a commemorative ARDOT Challenge Coin. Challenge coins carry serious weight in military and first-responder culture, and ARDOT is leaning into that tradition to give completionists something genuinely collectible.
For those who want to plan their route before hitting the pavement, the dedicated quest hub at ardot.gov/explore provides exact location coordinates, recommended places to stop, and the online form to complete the quest.
Why ARDOT Is Doing This
State transportation departments don't usually think of themselves as tourism promoters. ARDOT is clearly evolving that mindset. Director Jared Wiley summed up the philosophy behind the program in terms that go well beyond ribbon-cutting boilerplate. "Whether you are traveling to work, going on a grocery run, or taking a road trip, you have been impacted by a transportation network that has been expanding and improving for decades," Wiley said. "These destinations are connected by more than just the State they are found in. If you reached one of these scenic locations, it's because a highway brought you there."
It's a pointed reminder that highway infrastructure is the invisible frame around every outdoor adventure. Without maintained roads, bluffs stay unvisited, rivers stay unfished, and overlooks go unseen. Whether travelers are discovering historic landmarks, scenic overlooks, or hidden gems at the diamond mines, every journey is made possible by the more than 16,000 miles of highway that ARDOT maintains. Framing the quest as a celebration of that network — rather than just a tourist brochure — gives the program a distinct identity.
There's also a backstory to the destination selection. In a previous issue of Arkansas Highways Magazine, a teaser about Explore AR Highways was included in an article titled "The Five Most Instagrammable Locations in Arkansas," featuring information about City Rock Bluff, Great River Road, Highway 7, Pig Trail Scenic Byway, and the Cossatot River. These weren't randomly chosen. They represent a deliberate cross-section of the state's terrain, history, and recreational DNA.
The Five Destinations: A Closer Look at What's Waiting
City Rock Bluff — North Central Arkansas
City Rock Bluff sits off Highway 5 near Calico Rock in north central Arkansas. The White River region around Calico Rock is one of the most underrated stretches of the Ozark Plateau — a sandstone and limestone landscape carved by millions of years of river erosion. The bluffs here rise dramatically above the White River valley, offering the kind of vertical perspective that reminds you just how old and rugged this part of the country actually is. The area around Calico Rock draws trout anglers, float-trip enthusiasts, and hikers, with the bluffs themselves serving as a backdrop that photographs as well as anything in the more heavily marketed corners of the Ozarks. This is not a crowded destination, which is precisely its appeal.
The Sylamore Scenic Byway nearby offers views of mountain vistas, limestone cliffs, and white oak and hickory forests, with the route traveling to the White River at Calico Rock. The convergence of river geography and forested bluff country makes the City Rock Bluff stop a natural anchor for the northern portion of the Explore AR Highways circuit.
The Great River Road — Eastern Arkansas
If City Rock Bluff represents the geological drama of the Ozarks, the Great River Road is its cultural and ecological counterpart in the flat, fertile east. The Great River Road was established as a parkway alongside the Mississippi River and stretches 362 miles through Arkansas. Arkansas is home to twelve scenic byways, three of which are federally designated, including the Great River Road, which holds All-American Road status. That designation — the highest recognition in the National Scenic Byways program — is reserved for routes with qualities so distinctive they exist nowhere else in the country.
The designated stop along the Great River Road for the Explore AR Highways quest is Arkansas Post National Memorial. Arkansas Post is one of the most historically dense sites in the entire state — the location of the first European settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley, a Civil War battlefield, and a window into the confluence of French, Spanish, Native American, and American colonial history. Pulling over here isn't just checking a box; it's standing on ground where the American story took several decisive turns.
Other notable stops along the Great River Road include the Delta Cultural Center, Lakeport Plantation, and the WWII Japanese American Internment Museum. The quest participant who plans well can turn this leg of the trip into a genuine history immersion.
Highway 7 Scenic Byway — Central and Western Arkansas
Highway 7 has a reputation that precedes it. Among Arkansas's dozen scenic byways, the Arkansas Scenic 7 Byway is one of the most celebrated. It runs from the Louisiana state line in the south all the way to Harrison in the north, threading through some of the most geologically dramatic terrain in the American interior. The specific stop on the Explore AR Highways quest is what locals call Arkansas's Grand Canyon — a series of sweeping canyon overlooks along the Highway 7 Scenic Byway in the Ozark Mountains.
Central and western routes such as Scenic 7 and the Mount Magazine Byway deliver mountain lodges, sweeping overlooks, and lakes that shimmer at sunset. Highway 7 is one of those routes where the journey is measurably better than any single destination along it. The road climbs and drops through the Ouachita and Ozark national forests, crosses the Arkansas River valley, and passes through small towns that feel unchanged by the last several decades. Driving it solo in a truck or on a motorcycle, with no particular schedule, remains one of the finer things a man can do on a day off in this part of the country.
Arkansas established its state scenic byways program with the designation of the Scenic 7 Byway in 1993 — making it the original and in many ways the flagship of the system. Its inclusion in the Explore AR Highways quest is both appropriate and essential.
Pig Trail Scenic Byway — Northwest Arkansas
The Pig Trail has always meant something specific to Arkansas. Named for the legendary running style of University of Arkansas Razorbacks football players, Highway 23 through the Ozark National Forest has been a motorcyclist's and sports car driver's destination for decades. The Pig Trail Scenic Byway offers a natural scope for a long drive amidst a beautiful landscape. The Pig Trail Scenic Byway runs along Highway 23 through the Ozark National Forest.
The designated stop for the quest along the Pig Trail is the Ozark Scenic Overlook. This is a pull-off that earns its name — a panoramic view across folded ridges and hardwood hollows that stretches far enough to make you lose track of time. The Pig Trail's combination of tight switchbacks, forested canyon walls, and creek crossings makes it more than just a pretty road. It demands attention behind the wheel and rewards it with some of the most dynamic scenery in the Ozarks. In the north, scenic drives through the Ozark Mountains follow the Pig Trail, the Ozark Highlands Byway, and Highway 65, winding past towering bluffs, forest canopies, rivers, and waterfalls, with charming towns like Jasper and Mountain View along the way.
Cossatot River — Southwest Arkansas
The Cossatot is the wildcard in this group — and the most intense. The name comes from a French term often translated as "skull crusher," a reference to the ferocity of the river's whitewater character. The designated stop along the Cossatot River for the Explore AR Highways quest is Cossatot Falls. The falls are a series of hydraulic drops and boulder gardens that make the Cossatot one of the most technically demanding whitewater runs in Arkansas — and one of the most visually striking regardless of whether you paddle or just walk the banks.
The river runs through Cossatot River State Park-Natural Area in southwest Arkansas, a remote stretch of the Ouachita Mountains that sees far fewer visitors than the more marketed destinations in the Ozarks. That remoteness is part of its identity. Reaching the Cossatot on the Explore AR Highways circuit requires commitment — it is the southwesternmost point on the five-stop map, and there's no quick loop that makes it convenient. But that's exactly the point. In Arkansas, travelers are bound to see vast expanses of natural forests lining the state's highways, rolling hills that seamlessly blend with urban landscapes, mountainous terrain, and lakes or rivers ideal for outdoor enthusiasts. The Cossatot delivers the rawest version of all of that.
The Bigger Picture: Arkansas Highways as an Outdoor Ecosystem
The Explore AR Highways quest makes the most sense when understood against the full scope of what ARDOT manages and what Arkansas's highway network actually enables. ARDOT launched the 2026 edition of Explore AR Highways as a challenge that tasks residents with visiting five scenic locations across its 16,000 miles of roadway. Sixteen thousand miles is an enormous number — a network that stitches together the Ozark Plateau, the Arkansas River Valley, the Ouachita Mountains, the Gulf Coastal Plain, and the Mississippi Delta into a single contiguous system.
Travel and tourism are the second largest industry in Arkansas, and a 2019 report shows that travel generated $1.42 billion in payroll supporting nearly 69,000 jobs. The same report identifies roadways and the physical beauty of the state as some of the key drivers for the success of the industry. The highways, in other words, aren't just infrastructure — they're economic drivers, and the scenic byway network is the highest-value tier of that system.
The National Scenic Byways Program, established by Congress in 1991, recognizes historic, scenic, and culturally important roads, all of which promote economic development and tourism in communities around the country. Arkansas has leaned into that framework more aggressively than most states its size. Arkansas has twelve scenic byways, including three National Scenic Byways and nine State Scenic Byways. Explore AR Highways draws from that larger system and concentrates it into a five-stop circuit accessible to anyone with a vehicle and a free weekend.
The Challenge Coin and the Culture Behind It
The challenge coin aspect of the Explore AR Highways rewards deserves specific attention, because it signals something about the audience ARDOT is reaching for. Challenge coins have deep roots in military culture — carried as proof of unit affiliation, given as recognition for service, and exchanged as a mark of respect between individuals who've shared difficult experiences. Their crossover into civilian adventure culture — used by national parks, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and now highway departments — reflects a broader desire to attach meaning and permanence to experiences that would otherwise exist only as photos on a phone.
The first 250 participants to complete the quest will receive a commemorative ARDOT Challenge Coin. Two hundred and fifty coins for a state with nearly three million people means this is genuinely competitive. If you're serious about completing the circuit, the time to start is now — not next month. The participants who drag their feet and arrive as coin number 251 will have no one to blame but themselves and their own indecision.
Planning the Circuit: Logistics for the Serious Traveler
The five stops span the entire state, which means Explore AR Highways is a genuine multi-day road trip rather than a single afternoon loop. A smart approach treats the five locations as waypoints in a larger circuit rather than isolated destinations. Northwest Arkansas (Pig Trail) and North Central Arkansas (City Rock Bluff) cluster reasonably well for a northern loop. Central-western Arkansas (Highway 7) connects naturally as a midpoint. Southwest Arkansas (Cossatot River) requires a dedicated southwestward push. Eastern Arkansas (Great River Road) anchors the opposite end of the state and pairs well with a river-bottom sunrise before heading back west.
Thanks to its central location, Arkansas is an easy drive from many major cities across the South and Midwest, reachable within a half-day's drive from places like Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, and Oklahoma City — making it perfect for a road trip or weekend getaway. For travelers coming from outside the state, the quest provides a ready-made itinerary that covers far more ground than a typical "greatest hits" tourist circuit would suggest.
The annual initiative aims to encourage residents and tourists to travel state roadways while highlighting local culture, state history, and natural landmarks. That three-part emphasis — culture, history, and natural landmarks — describes what the five selected stops actually deliver when you stand in front of them. The Natural State has always been more than its marketing. This program is a mechanism for discovering that firsthand.
The goal of Explore AR Highways is to encourage the traveling public to get out on the road to explore everything Arkansas has to offer, with a special opportunity along the way to gain a deeper appreciation for Arkansas highways and how they connect us all. That's a clean mission statement for a program that, at its core, is asking people to do something Americans have always done best: point the truck down an open road and see what's out there.
How to Enter and What to Bring
To complete the quest, participants must visit all five recommended stops and snap a selfie at each one, post photos to Instagram or Facebook along the way while tagging ARDOT and using the hashtag #ExploreARHighways, and then head back to the quest website and complete the online form to officially claim the reward. The social media component is optional for those without accounts, but the online form is required to trigger the reward process.
Before hitting the road, the dedicated Explore AR Highways website at ardot.gov/explore offers a detailed map highlighting the coordinates of where participants need to stop, as well as some of the best places to discover during travels. Coordinates matter more than addresses in the more remote stretches of this route — particularly along the Cossatot, where signage thins out and the roads narrow. Download the map before you lose cell service. Bring a full tank, water, and a willingness to slow down. Arkansas rewards that kind of patience with the kind of scenery most people only find on a screen.
The Explore AR Highways quest is annual, meaning ARDOT intends to run variations of this program in future years — potentially with different destinations or rotating stops pulled from the broader scenic byway network. Getting in early on year one, and earning that challenge coin, is the kind of thing a traveler remembers. The bluffs and rivers and canyon overlooks aren't going anywhere. But 250 challenge coins will be gone faster than you think.
